This is a one hour lesson on Faith, based on Hebrews Chapter 11 taught by Dr. John Oakes.   The class was taught in Port Elizabeth, South Africa January, 2015.  The theme is that faith is belief in things unseen–that it requires that we deny our senses. Living by Faith Port Elizabeth...

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This lesson was taught by Dr. John Oakes in Harare, Zimbabwe, January, 2015 on the Kingdom of God.  It is a one hour 15 minute lesson.  The lesson covers 35 points on the theme The kingdom of God is….   and The kingdom of God is not…. The Kingdom of God Harare...

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This is a two hour lesson taught by John Oakes January, 2015 in Capetown, South Africa on types, prefigures and foreshadows of Jesus and the Gospel in the Old Testament.  The material comes from John’s book From Shadow to Reality. From Shadow to Reality Capetown...

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This is a two hour class on the Book of Acts in Durban, South Africa in January, 2015, focusing on the factors which led to the miraculous growth of the early church, pulling several examples from Church History to illustrate those factors, such as personal contact with Jesus, indisputable evidence, ethical superiority, intellectual triumph and...

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This is a one hour 15 minute lesson on the book of Daniel given by Dr. John Oakes January, 2015 in Harare, Zimbabwe.  It focuses principally on the interpretation of the prophetic visions of the book, but also on the practical teaching of the book. Daniel, Harare...

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Question: An argument that is used by atheists comes from the situation concerning Pilate, Judas and others associated with condemning Jesus to be crucified.  The point that is made is that none of these people had a choice in what they would or would not do. If any of these had changed what they were […]

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Questions: I have a couple of general questions below I wanted to ask: 1.) How can Jesus be a Divine Person when He had a literal human body made of flesh. Wouldn’t His fleshly body violate His divine nature and status? 2.) Why did Jesus have to be a male in physical terms to begin […]

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[Editor’s note: The comment and response below are a follow-up to an earlier question and answer in which some terminology produced a bit of a miscommunication.  For completeness, the original exchange is below this comment and response.] Comment: I was at a roundtable discussion that included Denis Lamoreaux.  I definitely aggree with his thinking on evolution.  But […]

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Robert Carrillo and Dr. John Oakes taught a class on Christian Theology in San Diego in the fall of 2011.  The audio for the last three classes is attached.   Christian Theology PartIV      Christian Theology Part V      Christian Theology Part VI

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Dr. John Oakes will be doing a teaching weekend May 1-3 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  There will be an evangelistic event on Friday evening:  God and Science, an in-depth Bible class on Daniel on Saturday and an evangelistic sermon for the Vancouver Church of Christ on Sunday.  For locations or more information, contact Brian […]

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Question:  Is there historical evidence that the apostle Paul was a real person?  Posted on May 12, 2013 by John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Questions and Answers, Reliability of the Bible.   You gave no evidence for Paul being a real person.  I’ve searched and have yet to find any historical information outside of […]

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Question: Why does the church follow the doctrine of the divine right of kings, in this country (USA) ?   The founding fathers established a government based on limited government and a free market economy.   Did the first century church believe in no king but king Jesus ? [editor’s note: This question included a […]

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Question: How do you know for sure that the Bible and Jesus is really the truth of God? – I was a Christian for a long time , not just religious.  I thought I was a born again and experienced things but nowadays some things (Objective info from psychology, learning about suffering, etc.) brought doubts […]

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Question: Can you comment on the Cepher Bible translation and the claims that I have heard that it is the most accurate as well as the most complete Bible translation available today? Answer: This is a fairly obscure translation of the Bible which was published quite recently.   I have not used it (or even seen […]

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Question: I have a question on God’s will.  Romans 12:2 and many other passages suggest that doing God’s will can be pleasant, pleasing and perfect, yet It was incredibly hard even for Jesus to do God’s will. Also there are many passages that suggest that doing God’s will entails suffering and hardship. How do we […]

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Question: I have been guilty of skipping over the Old Testament but am reading it now with renewed vigor.  I love that I can now search for Jesus in the old testament as well.  My problem comes in with Jesus’ teaching about the greatest commandment being that we must “love God with all our hearts”. […]

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Editor’s note:  The comment below comes from a Muslim who does not believe in Jesus. Comment: Acts 4:25 to 27 and psalm 2.   God was angry with them because they plotted against his messiah.  This means God did not want them to plot against his messiah.  This means God did not send his messiah to […]

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Question: In the works of Celsus recorded by Origen, Celsus tells of a Jew he obtained certain information from concerning the possibility that Mary was impregnated by a solider named Panthera. In addition the Talmud records an individual named Jesus ben Pandera or Pandira. Does this affirm that the Jews knew who Jesus’ biological father […]

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Editor’s note:  This Q & A was of sufficient interest, that I have decided to post it as an article as well. Question: If evolution and abiogenesis have simply naturalistic explanations behind the origins and development of life itself, then wouldn’t this replace any need for a god? Abiogenesis for example gives forth purely scientific and […]

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Question: If evolution and abiogenesis have simply naturalistic explanations behind the origins and development of life itself, then wouldn’t this replace any need for a god? Abiogenesis for example gives forth purely scientific and naturalistic reasons behind how life came into existence, why at this point would there be a need for such a deity? Same […]

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Question: I was so grateful for your sermon yesterday in the Cape Town church. I was wondering how you would assist someone who comes from the quantum physics background to believe the Bible.  In particular my friend adheres to the teachings of Bruce Lipton “The Biology of Belief”? Answer: Bruce Lipton is a well-qualified molecular […]

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John Oakes has been traveling in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia.  Below are some of the audios as well as some notes and power points for the lessons on this teaching trip.   Daniel audio Harare    Daniel PPT     Kingdom of God audio Harare   Kingdom of God notes   Living by Faith audio Harare   Living by […]

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Question: Dr. Oakes, I have a question about Isaiah 11. I understand that the chapter is a messianic prophecy, but how do you interpret verse 14? Is it fair to say that this would conjure up images of a restored kingdom of Israel (God) and is symbolic of the breaking in of the kingdom in the […]

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I have passed through Windhoek, Namibia, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth Durban and Johannesburg, and am heading back to San Diego.  The final report is posted below.   John Oakes Picture is from the monument to the tribal leaders who achieved independence for Botswana from the UK in 1966.

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Question: Did the concept of punishment and judgement in Christianity originate from the teachings of Plato as expressed in this article? Thanks    http://www.bibleorigins.net/millenium.html Answer: The simple answer to this question is no, the concept of punishment and judgment in Christianity did not originate with Plato. This idea came to Christianity from God–the one who […]

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Question: I recently came across a video titled “A History of God” and it suggests that Josiah ordered religious reforms commanding the Deuteronomists to delete all Polytheistic themes in the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, and Kings. Additionally the Israelites were supposedly always polytheistic and that the “Yahwists” apparently enforced strict monotheism as late as the 8th, […]

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Question: Does the account of the Last Supper as a Passover meal indicate biblical errors and historical unreliability? 1. Matthew 26:17-30, Mark 14:12-26, and Luke 22:7-38 call the Last Supper a Passover Meal as described in Deuteronomy 16:5-6, occurring on Thursday Nisan 14, and that Jesus was crucified on Friday and resurrected on Sunday.2. John 13:1 […]

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Dr. John Oakes gave a lesson about Freedom in Christ, on the use of gifts and Christian membership for the Iglesia de Cristo en Tijuana 12/14/14.   The class is in English, with Spanish translation.    Libertad para que audio    Libertad en Cristo PPT  

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Question: If miracles are to be considered divine singularities, is the scientific method appropriate for evaluating the occurrence of miracles?    Does recognizing the occurrence of miracles halt scientific progress since doing so would require recognizing the miracle as a divine singularity instead of a repeatable regularity, and also result in the scientist’s giving up being […]

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Question: Does god play dice?  Quantum events are random. So how can God know who is going to heaven? The Bible mentions that those who are saved have been written in the book of life before creation. You also mention the universe has a sort of free will so how does God know about events […]

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SUBJECT: Contradictions in Luke and John according to Muslims    In (John 16:7) the criteria for the coming of the Holy Spirit is that Jesus has to go away, but it was already present as stated in (Luke 4:1,14,18) for example.  Isn’t this a contradiction?  Please reply as soon as possible because I am in […]

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QUESTION: Recently I was browsing an article on Wikipedia titled “History of ancient Israel and Judah” and I read some passages I extracted and wanted to know of you could tell me if there is any actual historical credibility to them. 1 The religion of the Israelites of Iron Age I, like the Canaanite faith […]

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