Question: Does God have the power to choose evil?  Two conflicting theories are:  God DOES have the power to choose evil, but it is so contrary to His nature that He is incapable of actualizing that potential.  Other theory is God does not have the power to choose evil yet still has free will because […]

Quito, Cali, Lima and Santiago,  Summer, 2009 .   Quito, Ecuador July 20-24 Quito is a city of 1.8 million nestled in a high valley in the Andes.   Being at such high elevation situated exactly on the equator, it always has days exactly twelve hours long and virtually unchanging weather.  It is surprisingly cool-in the […]

June 18-July 6, 2009  John and Jan Oakes   Teaching Trip to Madrid and Berlin Madrid and Spain June 19-July 1 I am blessed to be able to travel with my wife Jan.  Part of the purpose of the trip is to celebrate our 25th anniversary.  Our first stop is Madrid.  Here we are met […]

 Teaching Trip to Monterrey, Mexico 1/30-2/1/2009    Teaching Trip to Monterrey, Mexico 1/30-2/1/2009 Jan and I traveled for a teaching weekend in Monterrey, Mexico.  Unfortunately, the airline cancelled our flights without informing us.  A last-minute standby flight got me to the city nearly on time, but left Jan behind in Tijuana, to fly through Guadalajara.  […]

Click for a review by John Oakes of the book Pagan Christianity by Viola and Barna     Pagan Christianity by Viola and Barna A Review Those who follow trends in Christianity will soon notice that ideas on how to do church come and go much like the fickle fads of fashion.  In the late nineties […]

A journal for John Oakes’ trip to teach in Korea and the Philippines 1/2-1/18/2009   Seoul/Manila 2009 Journal Seoul, Korea Jan 3-6, 2009 I arrived in Incheon Airport, one hour from Seoul.  Seoul is a city of 12 million + inhabitants.  It is a prosperous industrial city where everyone is in a hurry.  Korea appears […]

Review by Dr. John Oakes of a debate 11/13/08 between Rabbi David Wolpe and Richard Hitchins Debate Between Rabbi David Wolpe and Christopher Hitchens A Review On Thursday Nov 13, 2008 a debate was held between Rabbi Wolpe and Christopher Hitchins on the question Does Faith Matter at the Jewish Community Center in La Jolla, California.  Rabbi […]

Hi John, Excellent review of the debate. I think you summarized it all very well, and I particularly like your reflections on the “injustice” of God punishing the innocent Jesus for our sins. I thought about that a lot also, and we have to remember that Jesus volunteered to take the punishment for us. It […]

Hello John, I was so excited to hear about your visit. I am sure that you had heard from Vangjel how grateful he is, but still, here is what he wrote…(please read the forwarded message) p.s.: thank you again for all your effort and love. Love, Petra   Dear Petra! I am so happy to […]

Hi John, It ‘s good to know your head is  better.We appeciate so much your visit.The classes are so deep , helpful and encouraging.I know it helped and encourage so much all the churches you’ve had been.We hope you can come back some day. We wish this trip could encourage Liz. We really want her […]

Hi John, It ‘s good to know your head is  better.We appeciate so much your visit.The classes are so deep , helpful and encouraging.I know it helped and encourage so much all the churches you’ve had been.We hope you can come back some day. We wish this trip could encourage Liz. We really want her […]

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On a recent visit to Rio de Jainero, John Oakes gave a talk on the question, “Who Is My Brother?”  Notes are included below Who Is My Brother? Editor’s Note:  The author of this outline is John Oakes, but in giving this talk he acknowledged that the inspiration for this outline comes quite directly from […]

Teaching Trip to Brazil by John and Elizabeth Oakes 8/15-8/26/08 Report on Teaching Trip to BrazilAugust 15-26, 2008 Rio de Jainero Aug 16-18              It took my daughter Liz and I 24 hours to travel from San Diego to Dallas, to Sao Paulo, switching airports in order to fly to Rio de Jainero.  We are pretty […]

John Oakes  June 20-July 14, 2008   Report on Missionary Visit John Oakes  June/July 2008 London and Scotland  June 20-30 This is my fourth visit to the UK, so by now I have many established friendships with which to be reacquainted.  My wife Jan and I traveled first to London.  We visited the South region […]

On Saturday June 7, 2008 a ground-breaking debate was held between Dr. Douglas Jacoby, Imam Shabir Ally and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.  Below is a review of that debate with commentary by Dr. John Oakes   Review of the Debate Judaism, Christianity, Islam:  Which is the True Legacy of Abraham? Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: author, scholar, TV […]

There has been a lot of hype in the Christian community surrounding the recently released movie Expelled.  Conservative Christians are thrilled to finally have a movie which tells the truth about how the Christian view of origins is treated by the intellectual elite in this country.  On the other hand, those excoriated by this movie […]

Dear John, I would like to send you a mail to say thank you for changing my life 20 years ago. I was a 1st year student in UCSD when you delivered a lecture on "Does God Exist?" on the campus in 1988. I was a Biochemistry major back then and logic (evidence) was very […]

John: Last year, a co-worker gave me this Newsweek article to read, Can God Love Darwin, Too? (Sep 17, 2007 Issue).  I have shared a few of Doug’s CD sets with him and I guess he expected me to be resistant to evolution because of my religious convictions. He was quite surprised to learn that […]

Dear John, As you are aware that here in Malawi we are thirsty about being taught and hearing the word of God. I read that you were in South Africa, but some of us were unable to come and attend. Can’t you make a program to come to Malawi to teach us also as you […]

Dear Dr. John Oakes, This note is simply to express my heartfelt thanks to you for making that incredible teaching trip to Douala-Cameroon last month. The truth is that disciples in Cameroon were greatly impacted by the deeper insights in to the Scriptures that came out of everything you taught and shared. The young Church […]

John, I just wanted to thank you for the absolutely EYE OPENING study of the Book of Hebrews on Saturday at the conference. I always enjoy hearing you speak and could sit for HOURS listening to your awe-inspiring perspectives. I was the one who asked the question about the one thing that could cause a […]

Dear John: Recently my Dad passed away and I made a trip to Guatemala for his funeral. During that trip I visited an Aunt. When I went into the room she had prepared for me, there was your book Reasons For Belief. I immediately started to "devour" it because that is an area that intrigues […]

In my mental list of evidences for Christianity, there are few things more powerful than the book of Isaiah. In my mental list of evidences for Christianity, there are few things more powerful than the book of Isaiah. I vividly remember discovering its messianic prophecies as a sophomore while flipping through a Bible in my […]

My son Ben and I left for Hong Kong on Jan 2. Hong Kong is a very modern and VERY crowded city of about seven million. My son Ben and I left for Hong Kong on Jan 2. Hong Kong is a very modern and VERY crowded city of about seven million. It is a […]

The most famous atheist in the world today is almost certainly Richard Dawkins (see the review of his book in the "What’s New" section). Up until three years ago, the honor probably went to Antony Flew. That is, until he publicly announced that he has become convinced of the Anthropic Argument and of the existence […]

Point Loma Nazarene College Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the Genome Project and author of “The Language of God,” gave a public lecture at Point Loma Nazarene College in San Diego on 4/11/2008. The talk was titled “The Language of God: A Believer Looks at the Human Genome.” I was privileged to attend a dinner […]

Question:   It says in Deut12:21 "…you may slaughter from your cattle and your flocks that the Creator has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it in your cities…".  The question is:  This verse explicitly says that animal slaughter shall be done in the manner "as I have commanded you", […]

Click below to open or download a power point presentation which is pictures from the mission/teaching trips of John Oakes  

Hi J.Oakes,   Thanks for the email. We were touched by your concern and "tears" for our welfare and that of our children as ministry staff. We cannot forget that. Thanks for the inspirational classes as well. Hope you will make Lagosthis year either during AFRICAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE or later in the year. Titi, Philip […]

ARS Evidence for Christianity Newsletter Letters to the Editors September 2006   John, I’m at AIM in Athens(Online course) and I just wanted to say "thanks" for the lesson today. It was very inspirational and it fueled my desire to study more so that I can get some evangelistic "Evidence" classes going when I get […]

Who are the Gnostics?   ?For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.?  If he had not given himself away before this, the writer of Judas makes it clear what his philosophical perspective is when he put these words into the mouth of Jesus.  This is a clear statement of the Gnostic idea.  It […]

Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2006 6:04 PM Subject: RE: Da Vinci code book   Thanks my brother – another great resource is the one put out by John Oakes’ wife in the form of the newsletter from last month – I just finished the Da Vinci code book last night, and it was fun to […]

Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2006 6:04 PM Subject: RE: Da Vinci code book   Thanks my brother – another great resource is the one put out by John Oakes’ wife in the form of the newsletter from last month – I just finished the Da Vinci code book last night, and it was fun to […]

This newsletter will be posted soon.

Question: Mark 16:16 says that signs would be with those who believe and John says that we can do greater work then Jesus Christ. What are these greater works? Answer: Although I can certainly see how one might make the connection, I would be cautious about using Mark 16:16 to interpret John 14:12. Let me […]

ARS Evidence For Christianity Newsletter Letters to the editor Sun 4/9/2006 12:41 AM   Letter to the editor   Greetings to you all.   May God continue to bless you for your love for us all.  The site is very helpful.  I ?lead our church in Warri, Nigeria.  Please can you help me with the […]

Brown makes a number of other equally unsubstantiated claims, but probably the most outrageous is that Jesus had sexual relations with Mary Magdalene which led to her giving birth to a son.  He claims the ?Holy Grail? which Christian mystics searched for the past two thousand years was actually the secret that Mary Magdalene had […]

I was rereading your article on the ID debate after reading through an interesting article found at the link below   http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/archive/0 0002583/  It made me reconsider your statement: "There is no experiment one can even conceive of which can test the design hypothesis. What could one do in a laboratory to test whether a system […]

Letters to the Editor, December Edition Is Christmas A Christian Holiday? When people claim a late date for NT writings, another great question for them is why there is no mention of the Jewish Temple being destroyed, the ritual sacrifices with it, and the scattering of the Jews. To most people who understand the Jewish […]

                Consider a second example of a criticism of the Qur’an which was raised by a questioner.  This involves what the Qur’an appears to say about the nature of earth’s mountains and their purpose.  Examples include Suras 16:15,21:31,31:10,78:6- 7.  Sura 16:15 says, "And He has cast great mountains in the earth lest it might be […]

AIM WEST COAST Registration Form Apply by downloading, completing form, then emailing it to:  joakes01@san.rr.c om.  Or print and complete the following form and mail it to AIM WEST, 1074 7 Cariuto CourtSan Diego, CA92124.  Include:  $50 fee.  Make checks or money orders to Apologetics Research Society.  Memo: For AIM WEST   1. Full name (as […]

ATHENS INSTITUTE OF MINISTRY AIM WEST COURSE DESCRIPTION & READING ASSIGNMENTS   CHURCH HISTORY As one wise person said, ?Those who ignore the lessons of history are bound to repeat them.?  There is so much to learn from two millennia of church history?a valuable course indeed.  Includes sections on; the early church, Patristics, Restoration Movement, […]

BOOKS ON APOLOGETICS  Book titles which are highlighted are linked to a book review or to a place to buy the book. GENERAL APOLOGETICS Reasons for Belief:  A Handbook of Christian Evidence, by John M. Oakes, PhD (GCI Books, 2001) The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict, by Josh McDowell (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999) Know […]

What was the birthplace of the prophet Daniel?               That is a good question!  Because I wrote the book, "Daniel, Prophet to the Nations" I have had to research this question somewhat carefully.  The best I can tell, the Bible gives absolutely no direct information as to the lineage of Daniel, or where he […]

Where in the Bible does it say that the disciples will sit at the right hand of Jesus?             The answer is that the Bible says that they will NOT necessarily sit at his right hand.  The relevant passage is in Matthew 20:20-23 in which James and John, "the sons of Zebedee" asked Jesus to […]

? Why was 1 John 4:1-3 written?  Which people does he refer to who did not believe Jesus came in the flesh?  If this was written in the first century, why would anyone not believe that he came in the flesh with so many eye-witnesses still alive?  Is it because they could not understand or […]