Dr. John Oakes is now leading a church planting in Merced, California.  His lessons and sermons will be posted here.  There is another, earlier article, with many sermons and lessons from 2022 to 2025.  Here is the link:  Earlier Merced Sermons       More  recent sermons are below. 9/27  1 Thess VI Pray Continually Notes  […]

I am traveling Oct 2-19 in Pakistan and Nepal.  Below is my journal. Pakistan and Nepal Fall, 2026 Lahore, Pakistan October 2-5 This is my first visit to Pakistan.  My thanks to my friend Molly Mostert who worked on me for several years to visit our churches in this great country.  Pakistan is a country […]

Dr. John Oakes is on a teaching trip to both Pakistan and Nepal.  He will be in Pakistan, in Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Karachi Oct 2-12, and in Katmandu Oct 12-18.  He will be posting his materials, including notes, power points and audio.  The audio will be in Urdu and English while in Pakistan.    […]

Question: In several ancient Greek manuscripts of the Gospel of Matthew (specifically Matthew 27:16–17), the prisoner’s full name is listed as Jesus Barabbas, i.e., “Jesus, son of the father”, which means this fabricated narrative perfectly mimics the ancient Jewish ritual of the Scapegoat from the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16) in which the High Priest […]

Question: Christian Apologists often combine two separate facts to create a false impression: they point out that the earliest fragments date to the 2nd century, and then state that there are over 5,000 manuscripts. This leads people to assume there are thousands of 2nd-century documents. In reality, the earliest centuries are represented by a mere […]

Question: Jesus said: “Perhaps people think that I have come to cast peace upon the world. They do not know that I have come to cast conflicts upon the earth: fire, sword, war.” Doesn’t it mean that later Christian writers removed the combat teachings of Jesus from the Gospels? Answer: This is an egregious example […]

Dr. John Oakes is delivering a lecture for students and the community on how to respond to the truly hard questions raised by Christianity.  This includes the question of trinity, the question of evil, the question of suffering, of violence in the Old Testament and the question of hell.  Here is the power point, the […]

Dr. John Oakes gave two classes at a conference “ONE” in Portland, Oregon 8/22/2026.   The notes, power points and audio are below (audio for the first class will come soon): Apologetics and the Christian World View Notes     Apologetics Class: Defense of the Christian Worldview PPT        Dealing With Difficult Topics Biblically PPT  […]

Dr. John Oakes is giving a class at a Jubilee Conference in Queretaro, Mexico July 31 and Aug 1.  The notes in English, as well as the Power Point in both English and Spanish are here.  I will upload the audio after teaching the class. Answering Calvinism Notes    Answering Calvinism PPT      Respondiendo […]