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! 3/4  Christianity and the Military Notes    […]

Dr. John Oakes is teaching a series of lessons for the Iglesia de Cristo de Tijuana Feb 5-8 on various topics, including baptism, Calvinism, the Holy Spirit and more.  Materials will be published here. Bautismo PPT    Bautismo Tijuana Audio I   Baptism Tijuana Audio II    Baptism Audio III    Libertad en Cristo PPT    […]

Dr. John Oakes is doing a series of classes Winter, 2026 at the University of California, Merced, Wednesdays 7:30 in Rm. Granite Peak 150.  Dr. Oakes is covering topics in which Christianity interacts with modern culture.  Topics will include Bioethics, Gender Issues, War and Peace, Christianity and Race, Christianity and Politics, Abortion and more.  Some, […]

Question: Why do Catholics use a rosary? Is this unbiblical? Answer: To be honest, I am not aware of the precise history by which what we now call the “rosary” developed.  What we can say for sure is that it emerged out of a Catholic Church which had already firmly committed to the semi-deification of […]

Editor’s note: This is a response to a fairly long Jewish criticism of Christianity which included 50 “reasons” to believe that Jesus is not the Jewish Messiah.  It can be found at  https://voices.sefaria.org/sheets/624738 . Question: Please reply to criticisms # 2,3,9,10,11,14,26,30,40,44 in the following article:  https://voices.sefaria.org/sheets/624738 Response: 2. I have already responded to point 2 […]

Question: How would you respond to secular feminists who say “The ancient pagan culture was more pro-woman in comparison to the Christian culture”? Answer: This is so untrue.  I am assuming here that they are talking about the Pagan culture in the time of Jesus.  The Graeco/Roman world was extremely Patriarchal, as has been documented […]

Dr. John Oakes gave a series of eight sermons from 1 Peter in Fall, 2025 for the Merced Christian Church.  Two sermons from 1 Peter 2 were delivered by others during the series, so this series of sermons covers only about 80% of the book.   Notes, PPT and audio are included. 1 Peter I Elect […]

Dr. John Oakes did a six-part class on the history of Christianity for the campus ministry at UC Merced in Merced, CA Fall, 2025.   The class was intended to help students understand what Christianity ought to look like today–how to navigate the various strains of how church is done in the modern context.  Notes, PPT […]

Dr. John Oakes recently gave an apologetics/Christian evidence lecture at the University of California, Merced on the claims of Jesus, the miracles, of Jesus, fulfilled prophecies of Jesus, and the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus.  The PPT and audio are posted here. Claims of Jesus PPT    Who Is Jesus Lecture Audio You May […]