Ministers of Jesus Christ Church of The Lord Jesus Christ Assemblies of The Apostolic Faith Atlanta, Georgia - USA Apostle Dennis G. Smith, Pastor and Spiritual Overseer

 Date: April 9, 2023

 To all the Saints of God,

      Grace and peace be unto all the Saints of God around the World.  As this Coronavirus Pandemic continues, we are continually reminding the Saints of God that we are obeying the magistrates and following the guideline of the health and governmental authorities for the safety of all people. 

       Health authorities and governmental officials are now advising people to wear face mask in public gatherings, use social distancing, and get vaccinated for your own health and safety from the Covid-19 virus.  In some places wearing face mask is no longer mandatory in indoor public spaces. 

·   April 6, 2023, community transmission of Covid-19 remains in the green zone in Fulton County and in the city of Atlanta, Georgia. This means that the spread of the virus is at a low level in Atlanta, and you should continue to take precautions based on for your individual health condition. Some officials are reporting that we are moving from pandemic which is worldwide spread to endemic which is localized community spread.

·         Face masks continue to be recommended for individual safety based on your individual health condition and risk.  

·         Gatherings indoors is allowed without face mask, but each individual should be aware of their individual health risk.

·         Vaccinations and boosters remain the recommended most effective way for individual safety for dealing with the spread of Covid-19 according to health authorities. 

·         Covid-19 vaccinations and boosters are offered to everyone in the State of Georgia. 

      We are open for indoor in-person services. Saints will be attending with facemask and without face mask based on their individual choices.  Social distancing, temperature checks and Covid-19 testing are available when needed. Each person attending in-person services should be fully aware of their own health risk as mask may be removed during singing and speaking, and some may attend without mask. We are also continuing online services through Zoom, Facebook, and YouTube.   

In-person Baptism and prayer service are available by attending our local service on site, attending our services on Zoom, or emailing your request to:

                          info@ministersofjesuschrist.com or prayerrequest@ministersofjesuschrist.com.

         As we obey the Magistrates, we have complete faith that God will continue to hear our prayers and provide a way for us through these uncertain times.

   Romans 13:2-4 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

   TITUS 3:1-2 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.

   This week’s encouraging words of growth focuses on: 

 A Reminder of the Truth about Easter

Edited Apostle Dennis G. Smith

Original by Apostle S. C. Johnson

     This Holiday called Easter is a day set aside to celebrate or commemorate an event of religious significance in which we have no actual date to commemorate.  As many people attend religious services and enjoy time with their family and friends, we should all remember to only spread the truth and not continue to spread statements that are false.  Holidays may be designated by governments, religious institutions, or other groups or organizations. The degree to which normal activities are reduced by a holiday may depend on local laws, customs, the type of job held or personal choices.

     The concept of holidays often originated in connection with religious observances. The intention of a holiday was typically to allow individuals to tend to religious duties associated with important dates on the calendar. In most modern societies, however, holidays serve as much of a recreational function as any other weekend days or activities.

What is commonly called Christian holidays are defined as part of the liturgical year or Christian calendar of services, the chief ones being Easter and Christmas. Some Churches do not celebrate holidays whose origin are associated with false pagan festivals such as Easter, Christmas, or New Year's.

Lent

     The English word Lent is a shortened form of the Old English word lencten, meaning "spring season", as its Dutch language cognate lente (Old Dutch lentin) still does today. A dated term in German, Lenz is also related. Lent is associated with Fasting, which is the willful refrainment from eating or some activity for a period of time. Fasting is a practice among Christian denominations that is done both collectively during certain seasons of the liturgical calendar, or individually as a believer feels led by the Holy Spirit.

      Among the many errors which crept in after the Apostles died was Lent and its false connection with the sufferings and crucifixion of Christ. It is supposed to represent the forty days of fasting of Christ in the wilderness. However, the people do not fast as Christ did, but they only give up one or several things which they like, or sometimes do not like. If they really wanted to commemorate the death and suffering of Christ, they would fast the entire forty days.

     Christ nowhere in the Bible tells us to commemorate the forty days of fasting as an annual church festival. In earlier times it was only adhered to by the Roman Catholic Church and those churches that were closely connected to it in religious form. However, the celebration has reached such popularity until now even some of those who claim Pentecostal ties announce their holy week services.

     Lent could not even begin to compare with those forty terrible days which God spent proving that He could live without yielding to temptation, because in most cases those who keep it, when tempted hard enough, will quickly get what they want. But we find, Jesus, when the devil came to tempt Him again and again, He would rebuke him. We find on one occasion when He had become hungered, the devil came to Him and showed Him the stones, which were in Jerusalem and closely resembled bread. The devil boldly told him “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” Matthew 4:3. Jesus answered him saying “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4. The devil showed the Lord the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, but He would not lower His testimony to the children of men for worldly goods and a morel of food. The Bible does not at all endorse Lent, it is only a tradition devised out of carnal intentions of men. It has no place in the Church of God.

Lent was established at the council of the Catholic Church at Nicaea, 325 A.D. but was not well instituted until the middle of the fourth century. It was near this time that the birth of Jesus was celebrated on December 25, first in Rome, and before the end of the century, it was celebrated in the East also.

The actual meaning of the word Lent comes from the Latin lengthen, lencten, meaning spring.

It denotes the spring period of fasting in preparation for Easter; in the Western Catholic Church, a penitential period extending from Ash Wednesday to Easter. Some writers associate it with the middle ages.

PALM SUNDAY

Palm Sunday, also called Passion Sunday, in the Christian tradition, the first day of Holy Week and the Sunday before Easter, commemorating Jesus Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It is associated in many churches with the blessing and procession of palms (leaves of the date palm or twigs from locally available trees).

Toward the end of this vain worship is a week known as Holy Week, which lasts from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday.

Palm Sunday is usually distinguished by the wearing of palm. They say this is derived from the time when Jesus entered into Jerusalem, the people spread their garments in the way and others cut down branches of the trees and strewed them in the way. They went before Him and followed Him crying, “Hosanna; Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord:” Mark 11:8-9. To show how quickly people can be persuaded to change their minds, some of these people were with the mob, who a few days later cried out, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” Yet the people are so deceived as to commemorate something done by murderers of Christ by pinning on palms.

But the Spirit tells us not the outward man but the hidden man of the heart. To those who were baptized in Jesus' name and have the Holy Ghost, palm is not necessary for us to cry Hosanna to the Lord. But the Holy Ghost which is in our souls is crying a constant Hosanna, not only on one Sunday of the year, but every day of lives.

GOOD FRIDAY

Good Friday, the Friday before Easter, the day on which Christians annually observe the commemoration of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. From the early days of Christianity, Good Friday was observed as a day of sorrow, penance, and fasting, a characteristic that finds expression in the German word Karfreitag (“Sorrowful Friday”).

One of the earliest references to Friday's being a holiday is found in the Mithraism cult, an off shoot of Zoroastrianism. In Persia, during the sixth century, this day was called Black Friday and the story goes that Mithras slew a bull one Friday. Subsequently, the bull laid in a tomb for three days and supposedly arose on the third day. The Mithras cult believed that from the blood of this bull sprang forth all life. It was this same pagan cult that was very powerful in Rome before and after the rise of the Catholic organization. The influence of Friday was so strongly felt until the Catholic Church associated it with the death and resurrection of Christ. So then, five days after this day they call Palm Sunday, comes a day which the people refer to as "Good Friday." However, the Bible tells us everything the Lord made was very good and

Paul, speaking in Colossians, blasts out against keeping of holy days. The world ignored these scriptures and claims the Friday before Easter to be a holy day because they believe Christ was crucified on that day. They say Christ was hung on the cross from 12:00 Noon to 3:00 P.M. and was taken down, buried and arose the third day which they call Easter Sunday. Have you ever stopped to count the days from Friday to Sunday? Let us count: A part of Friday, one day; Friday night, one night; Saturday, two days; Saturday night, two nights. Now, even if we counted Sunday morning as a day, it would still only be three days and two nights. But, we hear Jesus speaking from Matthew 12:40, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” This means then that Christ had to be crucified on Thursday to have been in the earth three days and three nights. It is no use of the world trying to get around it, there is absolutely no other way for Him to have been in the grave three days and nights unless He was placed in the grave on a Thursday. The thing that confuses the people, is the Scripture says the day on which Jesus was crucified was the preparation for the sabbath because it was the day before the sabbath. Nevertheless, we must remember Paul speaks of sabbath days. There was the seventh day sabbath and there were other days of rest, observed under the Law, which did not occur on the seventh day and they were called high sabbaths. It was for one of these such days that the Jews were preparing.

EASTER

Easter, Latin Pascha, Greek Pascha, is a principal festival of the Christian church, which celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his Crucifixion. The earliest recorded observance of an Easter celebration comes from the 2nd century, though the commemoration of Jesus’ Resurrection probably occurred earlier. The English word Easter, which parallels the German word Ostern, is of uncertain origin. One view, expounded by the Venerable Bede in the 8th century, was that it derived from Eostre, or Eostrae, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and fertility. In the Christian calendar, Easter follows Lent, the period of 40 days (not counting Sundays) before Easter, which traditionally is observed by acts of penance and fasting. Easter is immediately preceded by Holy Week, which includes Maundy Thursday, the commemoration of Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples; Good Friday, the day of his Crucifixion; and Holy Saturday, the transition between Crucifixion and Resurrection.  Liturgically, Easter comes after the Great Vigil, which was originally observed sometime between sunset on Easter Saturday and sunrise on Easter Sunday. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Easter-holiday

Easter Eggs

The use of painted and decorated Easter eggs was first recorded in the 13th century. The church prohibited the eating of eggs during Holy Week, the week from Palm Sunday to Holy Saturday, but chickens continued to lay eggs during that week, and the notion of specially identifying those as “Holy Week” eggs brought about their decoration. The egg custom arose in western Europe during the Middle Ages as a result of the fact that Western Christians were prohibited from eating eggs during Lent, but were allowed to eat them when Easter arrived.  Eastertide customs include decorating Easter eggs, a symbol of the empty tomb, egg hunting, eating special Easter foods and watching Easter parades. The decorated Easter egg, for example, is an evolution of the egg as an ancient symbol of renewed life.

The Easter Bunny (also called the Easter Rabbit or Easter Hare) is a folkloric figure and symbol of Easter, depicted as a rabbit bringing Easter eggs. Originating among German Lutherans, the "Easter Hare" originally played the role of a judge, evaluating whether children were good or disobedient in behavior at the start of the season of Eastertide. The Easter Bunny is sometimes depicted with clothes. In legend, the creature carries colored eggs in his basket, candy, and sometimes also toys to the homes of children. The hare was the sacred beast of Eastre (or Ēostre), a false Saxon goddess of Spring and of the dawn."  The belief that Ēostre had a hare companion who became the Easter Bunny was popularized when it was presented as fact in the BBC documentary Shadow of the Hare (1993).

 The Bible nowhere states that the day Christ arose was Easter. Have you ever considered that Easter comes at a different time each year? Then how could He be crucified on one date one year and on another date another year? That does not make good sense! Herod planned to bring Peter before the council after Easter as stated in the bible, but it does not say that Jesus arose this day. Herod and the Jews were not interested in the commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus. The very reason the people wanted to kill Peter and the Apostles was that they were preaching the power of the resurrection. It was through the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus that the power of hell and sin was broken. Jesus died a natural body but arose a spiritual body and told the Apostles “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15.

Acts 12:1 - 5 Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. Acts12:2 And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. Acts 12:3 And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)  Acts 12:4 And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Acts 12:5 Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.

Acts 12:4 is the only place in which “Easter” appears in the King James Version of the Bible, translated from the word “pascha ,”  which is referring to the Jewish Passover, because the same word is translated as “Passover” the other times it is found in the Bible.  The goal is to know the truth that the Easter celebration was not taught as a substitute for the Passover by any of the Biblical Apostles of the Lord God Jesus Christ.

The name Easter is traced back to the old German word, Eastre, (plural) Eastron, from the name of the old Teutonic “goddess of spring,” who was called - Eastra. NOTE THIS CAREFULLY: Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon that falls on or the next after the vernal equinox (March 21 in the Gregorian calendar); if the full moon happens on Sunday, Easter is celebrated one week later.

We do not find the actual festival or Easter associated with the resurrection of Christ until the year 300 A.D. It was then looked upon as a joyous festival and sermons were preached on it. So then, Easter was simply a spring festival to the goddess, Easter which came around the time of the Jewish Passover and was later incorporated in the backslidden church.

Dear reader, be not deceived and carried away by the customs of this world, for the people's customs are vain. Never use holidays as a point of judgement for sin and salvation. The Pope, himself, cannot prove Lent and all it stands for to be sanctioned or required for salvation by the scriptures, nor can anyone else. You may commemorate the Gospel, the acts and earthly life of Jesus Christ through holidays without lying. Jesus Christ wants us to be baptized in His name and to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost speaking in other tongues according to Acts 2:38. He wants us to be holy and serve Him, not only on certain days and seasons of the year, but to live holy every day of our lives.

Luke 1:73-75 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, Luke 1:74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, Luke 1:75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.

May the Lord Bless you and Keep you and eternally hold you in the center of his will. 

May he open your understanding that you will come to know that you must repent of your sins and be baptized by immersion in water in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. 

 Then you must continue in prayer to the Lord God Jesus Christ asking him for the Holy Ghost, calling on His Name which is the Lord Jesus Christ and waiting or tarrying until you receive the gift of the Holy Ghost with the sign following speaking with other tongues as the spirit gives you utterances.  This experience with God will endow you with power.

 Then you must leave the principles of the doctrine and go on to perfection overcoming the love of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.

 Then you must continue steadfastly in the Apostle’s Doctrine, remembering always that he that endures until the End, the same shall be saved.  In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ who is God Almighty. Amen

 With perfect love,
Apostle Dennis G. Smith

   The online service Zoom link is sent out each Sunday at 9:50 am for Eternal Life Church of the Living God and 12:00 noon for the general Ministers of Jesus Christ Church services to the Saints and friends who sent in email addresses.  If you wish to worship with us, please send you email address to: info@mininstersof Jesuschrist.com and we will email you a link to join the service.  We start the zoom services 10 am each Sunday morning. 

  We also start the Thursday Evening Bible Study and Auxiliary meetings at 7:30 pm.  You should attend the meetings for as long as you can to learn all the Doctrines and Rules of the Church and to participate in the operation of the Church. Thank you.

       You are invited to attend and be a part of the Ministers of Jesus Christ Church Services each Sunday which are also published on Facebook through Holy Tabernacle, Ministers of Jesus Christ Apostolic Church, and Ministers of Jesus Christ Church or Dennis Smith Facebook timeline.  

 You will need to download the zoom app to your cell phone, laptop computer, or tablet to activate your connection.  Go to Google Play Store to get your free zoom app and install it on your cell phone, laptop computer or tablet.  When you see the zoom link sent to your email address, click, or tap on the link to open the connection.  Then click or tap on the camera and microphone icon to join the service and select internet.  We look forward to seeing you and worshipping with you in the Lord!  

 You may also give freewill tithing and offerings through Givelify, Cash App, Visa, Master Card, American Express Credit and Bank cards or PayPal.  For cash app use the cash app link name ($MinistersofJesus935).

  ONGOING GUIDANCE 

 (1) Wear a well-fitting mask indoors in public, regardless of vaccination status if you are high risk for severe disease.

(2) consider avoiding non-essential indoor activities in public,

(3) talk to your medical provider about other precautions to take,

(4) have a plan for rapid testing if you are exposed and experiencing symptoms,

(5) talk to your medical provider about treatments like oral antivirals, PrEP, and monoclonal antibodies. If you have household or social contact with someone at high risk for severe disease: consider self-testing to detect infection before contact and wearing a mask when indoors with them. Maintain improved ventilation throughout indoor spaces when possible. Follow CDC recommendations for isolation and quarantine, including testing guidance.

 Everyone should remember the phrase: “My mask protects you; your mask protects me.”