Good Friday Thoughts, ApX Birthdays on Holy Thursday & Easter |
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J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here.
We’re sending this newsletter out on Good Friday, the day we commemorate Christ’s sacrificial death for our sins on the cross. It’s a solemn occasion, but … spoiler alert: He is risen!
As I sang back in 2023 in our parody “Something Goes Wrong”:
Life spins — Jesus’ wasn’t over — when He was hanging on the cross I see that horrid, cruelest day as — the best thing to happen to us all
Can I get an amen? On Thursday afternoon, I was pondering what Jesus might've been feeling on the afternoon of that original Holy Thursday, shortly before The Last Supper. I imagine it would be a combination of awful dread of what was about to occur mixed with a burning desire to finally get it over with.
As He'd said previously in Luke 12:50 when alluding to His crucifixion and death, "But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!”
And shortly after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the original Palm Sunday, in John 12:27-28, He'd said, “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!”
With apologies to Dave Grohl of The Foo Fighters, “THERE goes MY Hero!"
Two members of the current ApologetiX team celebrate birthdays on notable dates during Easter season in 2026:
Holy Thursday, April 2, was the birthday of ApX drummer Jimmy “Vegas” Tanner, who celebrated the 20th anniversary of his first concert with us last October. Jimmy is also our engineer, and he spent part of his birthday this year in the studio with me, recording my vocals for a new parody.
This coming Sunday, April 5, is Easter Sunday, and it’s also the birthday of our mixer, David Michael (the guy to the left of me in the photo below), who celebrated his two-year anniversary as our mixer last month.
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As you've probably noticed, the date of Easter fluctuates rather wildly from year to year. It can fall on any of the 35 days from March 22 through April 25.
Easter has fallen on Jimmy’s birthday only once in his lifetime ... when he was a wee lad in 1972. The next times (and the only times in this century) when it will occur are in 2051 and 2056.
Meanwhile, this will be the second time Easter has fallen on David’s birthday. The first was in 2015. After this year, it will happen again in 2037 and 2048 and then not for the rest of the century.
Did you ever wonder how the date for Easter is calculated? Here’s a good explanation from GotQuestions.org, an excellent source for answers to questions regarding the Bible and Christianity. |
The four Gospels make it clear that Jesus was crucified in conjunction with the Jewish Passover (Matthew 26:17-19; Mark 14:12-16; Luke 22:7-15; John 18:28,39; 19:14). The four Gospels also make it clear that Jesus was raised from the dead three days later, on the first day of the week (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2,9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1,19). Biblically speaking, then, Christ’s resurrection should be celebrated on the first Sunday after the Jewish Passover meal. However, this is not the case. Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox (the first day of spring). This method of determining the date of Easter often results in Easter being before Passover and/or displaced far from Passover ...
In church history, there was a significant amount of debate that went into determining when Easter would be observed. As a background, please read our article on the origins of Easter. Dating Easter in conjunction with the vernal equinox and full moon had nothing to do with the biblical account of Christ’s resurrection or the Passover. The only thing that is explicitly biblical regarding when Easter is now observed is the fact that Easter is always on a Sunday.
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But I still have some more to say about Easter in the next article below. Then we’ll get to some info about our latest single ... |
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In Defense of Easter: Info You Should Know |
J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.
This weekend, you may encounter some people who'll try to tell you that Easter is a pagan holiday or a pagan name. Although many of those people mean well, they're actually victims of some pretty widespread misinformation.
To address that, I'd highly recommend In Defense of Easter: Answering Critical Challenges to the Resurrection of Jesus by Dr. Tim Chaffey, a 216-page book I read in 2017. You can find it on Amazon, and it's also available in a Kindle edition.
Tim is a longtime ApologetiX fan. My wife, Lisa, and I met him for dinner when he visited Pittsburgh in 2019 (see photo below), and I got to catch up with him again at the Immortal II festival in Versailles OH in 2023, 2024, and 2025. |
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Believe it or not, he’s even taller than I am! No wonder he’s written the most exhaustive book (474 pages!) I’ve ever seen on the Nephilim — Fallen: The Sons of God and the Nephilim. I read that one, too, and highly recommend it.
Tim earned a BS in biblical studies and theology (2002), an MA in biblical and theological studies (2005), an MDiv with an emphasis in apologetics and theology (2008), and a ThM in church history and theology (2011). Most recently, he earned his doctor of ministry, specializing in advanced biblical and theological studies from Shepherds Theological Seminary (2023).
He’s written many other books as well, and I’m sure they’re all great. If you don't have time to read In Defense of Easter right now, check out this very brief article by another trustworthy source. |
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New Single Spoofs Aldo Nova & Paul Davis |
On Sunday night, we released our fifth single of 2026. It spoofs Top 40 hits from 1982 by a couple of solo artists. One also reached #3 on the rock chart and the other also made it to #2 on the adult contemporary chart. |
Plant a Seed - Fantasy - Aldo Nova 65 Others There - ’65 Love Affair - Paul Davis |
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The Stories Behind the Songs |
J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.
Here are the stories behind the songs on our latest single: |
PLANT A SEED
We've discussed the Parable of the Sower before in "Wherever You Will Sow" and "Jewish Farm," but this parody was more inspired by two other parables Jesus gave about planting seeds. The first is the famous Parable of the Mustard Seed from Matthew 13:31-32, Mark 4:30-32, and Luke 13:18-19.
The second is one you don't hear nearly as often, The Parable of the Growing Seed, which only appears in Mark 4:26-27, where Jesus says, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.”
I got the idea for "Plant a Seed" on February 11, 2026, but didn't recall until writing this entry that I'd used that phrase in the opening line of "What's That Supposed to Mean?" in the summer of 2025: "Your T-shirts have subtexts — but still could plant a seed.”
Released in 1982, "Fantasy" by Aldo Nova contains certain music elements that remind me of two other tunes we'd already spoofed — "Jane" by Jefferson Starship (1979) and "Rock You Like a Hurricane" by The Scorpions (1984).
Former ApX keyboardist Todd Waites suggested to me that we cover it back in October 2016 and March 2017. I just did a word search on my computer and found emails from six different fans asking us to spoof it, too. When I told the other four current ApX members in February 2026 I wanted to do it, I expected they'd all be enthused, and I was not wrong.
"Plant a Seed" features J. Jackson on lead and backing vocals, Tom Tincha on guitars, Rich Mannion on keyboards, Keith Haynie on bass, and Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner on drums and percussion. |
65 OTHERS THERE
"'65 Love Affair" was a hit (#6 pop, #2 adult contemporary) during the spring of my senior year in high school, 1982. I was in a hard-rock band by then but still liked the song, although I would've been only a year old in '65 when the singer had the titular affair.
It's actually about high-school dating (not an extramarital fling), which is probably why I liked it, as I was in the early stages of my first serious teen romance. However, I don't know if I would have considered it for ApX if two longtime fans hadn't independently asked if we’d ever cover it — Wade Bishop of Minnesota in 2020 and Brian Cunningham of Texas in 2022.
I got the "65 Others There" title on August 13, 2025. My initial concept was to talk about how some folks think they know the Bible just because they've heard some stories in Genesis but there are 65 other books in there they should check out, too. However, the final parody is basically about reading the Bible cover to cover and over and over — a practice I started in '88.
One cool moment for me while writing the lyrics was when I got to the second verse and couldn’t use “to those wonderful 65 others there” (because I hadn’t been talking about Genesis in the previous line as I'd done in the first verse), and I got the line “to that one before and 65 others there.” Thank you, God!
Three generations of ApX drummer and engineer Jimmy “Vegas” Tanner's family sang cheerleader vocals on this one: wife, Eve; daughter, Julie; and granddaughter Tessa.
"65 Others There" features J. Jackson on lead vocals; Rich Mannion on keyboards, bass, drum-programming, and backing vocals; and Eve Tanner, Julie Lloyd, and Tessa Lloyd on female crowd vocals; and Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner and David Michael on special effects. |
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Easter Season Playlist 2026 |
This year, Easter falls on April 5. Here's the 2026 edition of the ApologetiX Easter Season Playlist. We’ve added five new selections since last year, so there are now 61 songs in all. We put them in chronological/thematic order as best as we could.
We've included the CD where you can find each song. If ApX has done the song more than once, we listed the CD or single that contains what we consider to be the best version. |
10. Sadducees - Can't You See - Marshall Tucker Band |
31. Emmaus - Shambala - Three Dog Night |
32. Scars - Cars - Gary Numan |
42. Easter - Easy - The Commodores |
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New USBs Include Songbook & New CD, Too |
Two weeks before last Christmas, we offered a deluxe USB thumb drive that proved to be popular with fans.
It included the digital versions of all of our CDs, plus any singles, EPs, or rarities that aren't on CD, but it also included the latest edition of our digital songbook (1992–2024), which is not on our standard USB. We had just enough of them to get us through the holidays.
With Easter around the corner, we’re happy to announce that we have a new batch in stock.
And this time, they not only include the songbook, they also include our new CD, Everything But, plus the two new singles (four songs) we’ve released thus far in 2026.
The songbook is 1359 pages long with lyrics and commentaries for each song, photos, articles, discographies, and multiple indexes (parody title, topic, original song title, original artist, year the original was a hit, and Bible verses covered)! Sorry, no sheet music.
Emblazoned with the band's logo, the USBs have a storage capacity of 16 GB, and they’re write-enabled, so you can add more music to them if and when you get future ApX downloads.
We only have 85 of these USBs in stock. They're available for a donation of $150 or more each. Multiple copies are available for $100 each.
ALL THAT, PLUS THIS ...
If you order one or more of these USBs, we’ll also email you a PDF of our complete library AND a link to download the songbook directly to your computer. That way, if you're getting the USB for somebody as a gift, you'll also get digital copies of our library and songbook for your own collection. Or vice versa.
NOTE: If you wish to order the digital songbook or the complete library without the USB, those options are still available. |
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Get ApX Complete Library, USBs, Songbook |
To get the complete ApologetiX library, ApX USB thumb drives, and/or the new ApX digital songbook — or to get more info about them — just click on the item(s) you want below. |
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Bible-Reading Plan for 2026 |
We began our latest trip through the Bible on Wednesday, April 3. Note: If you don't have a Bible handy, you can look up these passages for free on Bible Gateway. They have about 60 different English translations/versions there to choose from, plus translations in many other languages, many of which also have multiple translations/versions. |
CLICK HERE to see the reading plan for the whole year. |
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If you'd like to donate to the ministry of ApologetiX, there are a couple ways you can do it. |
If you prefer to mail a check or money order, please make it out to "ApologetiX" and send it to:
ApologetiX
208 Charlemma Drive
Pittsburgh PA 15214-1414
Although the donations are not tax-deductible, they will be received very gratefully and used immediately. Thank you! |
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John 2:19-21 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body. |
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P.O. Box 101705
Pittsburgh, PA 15237
USA
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