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.

Christian History Timeline: First Century

Thanks to those who pitched in and pointed out things I missed or didn’t realize the importance of. I’m just one guy. I miss all sorts of things. I keep track, however, when corrected, so my picture of history keeps … Continue reading

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The Apostles and the Rise of the Papacy

I’m going to buy myself some time to work on the early church timeline and the notes on the timeline by posting this related video. The video is an hour long. I try never to do that, but it’s one … Continue reading

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Super-abbreviated Christian History Timeline

Don’t miss yesterday’s post. It has much more information. Here’s a very general timeline of Christian history as I see it: AD 33-70: Apostles/apostolic era AD 70-325: Pre-Nicene Era. Persecuted The church, with exceptions unavoidable in a world of humans, … Continue reading

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Christian History Timeline

This is a complete overview of Christian history. I am trying my best, on this page, to make each line equal 25 years so you can feel the passing of time better. As we drill down over the next few … Continue reading

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The Unity of the Spirit

I was in a discussion on Facebook concerning the nature of the church. I am holding this discussion with a couple of Orthodox church members. One of them provided a bunch of quotes on the church from the “church fathers.” … Continue reading

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Daily Passage on Works: Days 37-43

I’m playing catch-up again. As I said last time, I don’t mind. I need to provide 8 passages today, but I think what I will do is just 7, then catch up again in a few days. I want to … Continue reading

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Living the Christian Life: Revelation and the Release of the Spirit

This post was inspired by an email I received. There’s no personal information in my response, but paragraphs that start with something like “If you’re going to fight for any teaching …” refer to points in the email I received. … Continue reading

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Daily Passage on Works: Days 32-36

I got behind again. I’m going to do that more. I will probably do this once per week and list seven verses rather than one per day. To catch up, we are doing five passages today. There are actually six … Continue reading

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Behavior Is Better Than Belief

The last time I posted on this subject, someone complained that behavior is not better than belief. Godly behavior is the produce of belief and cannot be obtained without belief, so how can behavior be better? Okay, that’s true. “Apart … Continue reading

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What Is the Word of God?

We tend to use the phrase “the Word of God” interechangeably with “the Bible.” There are several problems with this: 1. The Bible does not do it You will find places where Scripture is quoted, and then the writer will … Continue reading

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