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.

Will Christians Be Judged by Their Works

“The claim is that Revelation has a series of Judgments, and the one who has faith in Christ avoids the judgment based on works.” A friend wrote this to me. Here is my brief answer. I say brief because I … Continue reading

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

The Primacy of the Roman Church

Why do I write on Roman Catholicism? Because of claims like these: I still have yet to see a good Protestant response to Irenaeus, who predates Cyprian: “Since, however, it would be very tedious, in such a volume as this, … Continue reading

Posted in Roman Catholic & Orthodox | Tagged , , | 21 Comments

Q&A: When Did The Roman Catholic Church First Claim Peter’s Primacy?

“When did the RCC begin to claim that Peter was the first pope of Rome?” Cyprian and 80+ overseers that met with him at the Council of Carthage discussed Stephen’s claim to be the bishop over all bishops. They rejected … Continue reading

Posted in History, Roman Catholic & Orthodox | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Church Life and the Harper Valley PTA

There is a difference between admonishment and condemnation. We Americans have a lot of trouble distinguishing between the two, but there is one. Church Life and the Harper Valley PTA If you don’t know what the Harper Valley PTA is, … Continue reading

Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

God’s Not Disappointed

I watched Ragamuffin last night, and it reminded me of a teaching I did a few years ago. It took root in a lot of people’s hearts, and it would do most of us good to root it there as … Continue reading

Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

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

Posted in Bible, Miscellaneous | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

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

Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged , | 8 Comments

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