Author Archives: Paul Pavao

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About Paul Pavao

I am married, the father of six, and currently the grandfather of five. I teach, and I am always trying to learn to disciple others better than I have before. I believe God has gifted me to restore proper theological foundations to the Christian faith. In order to ensure that I do not become a heretic, I read the early church fathers from the second and third centuries. They were around when all the churches founded by the apostles were in unity. My philosophy for Bible reading is to understand each verse for exactly what it says in its local context. Only after accepting the verse for what it says do I compare it with other verses to develop my theology. If other verses seem to contradict a verse I just read, I will wait to say anything about those verses until I have an explanation that allows me to accept all the verses for what they say. This takes time, sometimes years, but eventually I have always been able to find something that does not require explaining verses away. The early church fathers have helped a lot with this. I argue and discuss these foundational doctrines with others to make sure my teaching really lines up with Scripture. I am encouraged by the fact that the several missionaries and pastors that I know well and admire as holy men love the things I teach. I hope you will be encouraged too. I am indeed tearing up old foundations created by tradition in order to re-establish the foundations found in Scripture and lived on by the churches during their 300 years of unity.

Good People Go To Heaven; Bad People Perish

As an evangelical, I was taught that good people do not go to heaven; saved people do. Now that Jesus died, it is all about faith. Saved people go to heaven, no matter what they do, and people who do … Continue reading

Posted in Evangelicals, Protestants, Rebuilding the Foundations | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

You Do Not Win Battles Without Battling

This blog was a Facebook post, and the FB post was supposed to be just the quote from Micah in the next paragraph. My mind and fingers raced forward almost on their own. I sure hope that was God moving … Continue reading

Posted in Bible, Holiness, Modern Doctrines | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Faith, Works, and the Early Church Fathers

A friend told me a couple times recently that the early church fathers disagreed among themselves a lot. I hope to get a chance to finish that conversation with him because that statement is just not true. They were far … Continue reading

Posted in Early Christianity, Gospel, Modern Doctrines, Protestants | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Toning Down 1 John: the Docetist Proto-Gnostics

I generally avoid big words on my blog, but “proto-gnostic” is necessary to this post; so is docetist. 1 John is one of the harshest letters in the New Testament. “The one that says, ‘I know him,’ but does not … Continue reading

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The Origin of the Roman Catholic Church: A Brief History

Someone suggested the Roman Catholic Church began with the Edict of Thessalonica in 380 and cherry-picked a quote to prove it. Here is a quick but much more accurate description of the origin of the Roman Catholic Church. The Theodosian … Continue reading

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Which Church Will the Gates of Hades Not Prevail Against?

Despite the importance the early churches put on the Eucharist (communion) meal, I stand by the following argument, which I sent in answer to an email question about which church the gates of Hades will not prevail against: I think … Continue reading

Posted in Church, Holiness, Protestants, Roman Catholic & Orthodox | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Quick History of the Roman Catholic Church

Someone asked me how the Roman Catholic Church “took over” from  the early apostolic church. The following response gives you a brief (and, I think, very interesting) history of the rise of the Roman papacy. As for when the Roman … Continue reading

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Becoming a Christian

This is the Bible study on becoming a Christian that I sent to my (very small) mailing list at RebuildingTheFoundations.com. I think it is worth posting here as well. Becoming a Christian In previous Bible studies, we have talked about … Continue reading

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The Glory Which Shall Be Revealed in Us

The Apostle Paul said, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us” (Rom. 8:18, WEB). Whether it is the glory that will be revealed for us, as … Continue reading

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Earning Heaven and Being Worthy

I think it would be good to voice (write) my agreement with the idea that we will never be good enough, in ourselves, to earn heaven. This does not negate the fact that God rewards eternal life to those who … Continue reading

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