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.

John is not Paul is not Peter is not James

Today I was discussing γεννηθη ανωθεν with some folks on Facebook. Those Greek words mean either "born again" or "born from above" in John 3:3,5. In the midst of discussing this, I pointed out that Peter twice uses αναγεννησασ, which … Continue reading

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The “Trinity” in the Gospel of John

The Holy Spirit is mentioned a lot in Scripture, but there is very little description (or none?) of how he is distinct from the Father or Son or really anything about him the way the Father and Son are described. … Continue reading

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Spiritual Gifts and John 1

John chapter 1 is not the most typical place to teach about spiritual gifts, but it turned out to be a great one for my kids this evening. John is for me the most mystical Gospel. I won’t say “most … Continue reading

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A Dream, a Life

Most mornings I wake up terribly depressed. This morning I woke up gloriously happy despite waking up from the following bizarre dream. I was in Taiwan visiting some huge school along with pretty much everyone from Rose Creek Vllage. When … Continue reading

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The Rise of Roman Catholicism

How and when was there a Roman Catholic Church? Once you know the story of the church, the rise of Roman Catholicism is easy to understand. This is a VERY short version of a one-hour video I put on Youtube. … Continue reading

Posted in Early Christianity, Roman Catholic & Orthodox | Tagged , | 12 Comments

Worship: Why Your Church Is Failing And What You Can Do About It

Originally posted on Not For Itching Ears:
From my view in the cheap seats, it seems that what it means to worship God has become open to interpretation. Can I worship God any way I want to? Does church leadership…

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Eliminate Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) has become somewhat of an epidemic in the computer age. We have become an electronic people, and everyone types. Today I want to recommend a product which, if used, would almost eliminate CTS. Oh, don’t worry. … Continue reading

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The Trinity and Nicea

Someone wrote me claiming that Theodosius I forced the whole Roman empire to believe in the Trinity doctrine in 381. He suggested a book, but the synopsis on Amazon was so bad there is no way I am going to … Continue reading

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Living Life to the Glory of God

“Humans are made to fight and overcome. We love heroes, and we all get opportunity to be one, whether in small situations or large.” I wrote that earlier in the week in a query letter for my leukemia book. Even … Continue reading

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Repentance Revisited

I was reading Wisdom today, and I ran across a really neat passage on repentance. (I’ll tell you below what the book of Wisdom is, why I read it, and why you should, too.) But you have mercy on all … Continue reading

Posted in Early Christianity, Gospel, Modern Doctrines | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments