Author Archives: Paul Pavao

Unknown's avatar

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.

He Who Fears God and Labors at Righteousness

Do you ever wake up in the night with scary revelations from God? I do. Not real often, but it has happened several times over the last three decades. At the start, I hated it. I would wake up with … Continue reading

Posted in Gospel, Modern Doctrines | Tagged , , , | 15 Comments

Americans Want Reliable History

A Digital Journas article says that a “Poll Shows American Moviegoers Demand Historically Accurate Portrayal in Biblically-Themed Films.” Honestly, I doubt that, but that’s not the point of citing the article. The article is about a new movie being released … Continue reading

Posted in Early Christianity, History | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Psalm 73: Jesus is the Light of the World

Due to a spam comment on a May, 2010 blog post, I was reintroduced to a web page I wrote a long time ago on a web site I no longer keep up. It was so long ago that I … Continue reading

Posted in Bible, Through the Bible | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A Protestant Way of Thinking

I found a coalition of house churches. They sounded pretty awesome, so I emailed the closest one, which is about an hour and a half away. I like a lot of things they do, but honestly I cannot endure this … Continue reading

Posted in Modern Doctrines | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

Teachings That Must Not Be Lost: Baptism

The issue of baptism is important in and of itself, but as a topic it is the gold standard for exposing how bizarre our modern approach to the Scriptures is. I will show you that there is no legitimate alternative … Continue reading

Posted in Bible, Teachings that must not be lost | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Turning Theology into Spiritual Life

I was asked about harmonizing NT Wright’s “New Perspective on Paul” with the Keswick Convention and Watchman Nee’s “Deeper Life.” How do I reconcile being fond of both? Here’s my answer: I don’t really worry about harmonizing NT Wright and … Continue reading

Posted in Holiness | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

St. Augustine on Science and Evolution

Augustine didn’t really write about evolution, since the evolution of all species was not proposed for another 1400 years. It almost sounds like he knew about it, though. In On the Literal Meaning of Genesis (Bk. 6, ch. 5, par. … Continue reading

Posted in Early Christianity, Evolution | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Evangelism and World Missions

There is a problem with our emphasis on evangelism. It is not the evangelism that is the problem. It is what we are skipping along the way! When I suggest what is obvious in Scripture, that “the Great Commission” was … Continue reading

Posted in Evangelicals | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

The Church, Part IV: Speaking to One Another

Let’s move from theory to some real practical matters. I want to work with two passages of Scripture today. I’m going to list them, and then I’m just going to refer back to what they say without referencing them a … Continue reading

Posted in Church, Teachings that must not be lost | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The Church, Part III

I had a plan for something much less sloppy in covering teachings that must not be lost. Apparently God did not share the same plans. Maybe by looking at Jesus’ church circumspectly, from several possible angles, we can paint a … Continue reading

Posted in Bible, Church, Protestants, Roman Catholic & Orthodox, Teachings that must not be lost, Unity | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments