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.

Far-Fetched

You’re probably explaining away more of the Bible than you realize. Baptized in Bickering I became a Christian in northern Florida in 1982. I was excited, filled with joy, and rarin’ to go. I was excited about Jesus, and I … Continue reading

Posted in Bible, Evangelicals | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Christian History in a Nutshell

Ready? Let’s go! The apostles formed churches. Those churches formed churches. These churches had no leadership higher than the local city or town. Nonetheless, they were taught to carefully preserve the apostles’ teaching. Over time, as the churches grew, some … Continue reading

Posted in Church, History, History (Stories), missions, Protestants, Roman Catholic & Orthodox | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Obama Tricked Me!

Al Francken’s book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them makes a point about how he was fooled into supporting the Iraq war by George Bush. Boy, was he mad about that, and rightfully so. I was tricked into … Continue reading

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Christ in Us, the Hope of Glory

What does “Christ in us, the hope of glory” mean? We quote it, but do we think about it? The surface meaning is plain enough. Our hope of glory is the Anointed One living in us. But do we live … Continue reading

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Divorce and Remarriage in the Church

There is a strong and growing voice against divorce and remarriage in the United States. The case that Jesus, the apostles, and the early churches all forbad remarriage after a divorce is strong. I won’t bother making a case because … Continue reading

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Witnesses of the Resurrection

We terribly underestimate the importance of the primary job of the twelve apostles. In fact, most of us don’t even know what it was. It is written in the book of the Psalms, “… Let another take position.” Therefore, from … Continue reading

Posted in Early Christianity, Gospel, History, Modern Doctrines | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Becoming Deceit-Proof

When I wonder if I’m off track, here is a sure-fire test for me. Hopefully, we all wonder, at least at times, if our faith is fake. It is a command of Scripture to examine ourselves to see whether we … Continue reading

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Outing Martin Luther

The outing of Marting Luther is long overdue. Why I have not thought to out him long ago is a mystery to me, but I thought of it today, and I feel I must follow through. Martin Luther did not … Continue reading

Posted in Evangelicals, History, Modern Doctrines, Protestants | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Sneering, Honesty, and Homosexuality

Is homosexuality inherited or acquired? This New Scientist article is among the most honest I’ve seen. WARNING: 1.) This blog post is not suitable for children. 2.) I’d love to say I outlined this and stayed on topic, but this … Continue reading

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

Spiritual Things

I get an email every day from Austin-Sparks.net. Today I was convicted of forgetting some of the importance of spiritual things. There are many things to which the name of the Lord is being affixed which are being constructed, and … Continue reading

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