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.

Abandonment

Most of this post is from an email I sent today. All the personal information has been removed except what applies to me. I hope that it is personal enough to be moving to you spiritually. When I was young, … Continue reading

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The Power of Almost True

This post is in reference to this article, published in the Huffington post. Bernard Starr, the author, claims that the Catholics suppressed the reading of the Bible because they did not want individual members to see just how Jewish the … Continue reading

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The Gospel of Salvation?

Someone told me that CharismaMag.com had some great articles this month. I agree, it did. One of them inspired yesterday’s post. Today, though, I want to disagree with one, or at least make it more direct. The article is called … Continue reading

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The War on the Flesh

It has dawned on me after more than 30 years of walking with the Lord that we may not need to dig so deep into the word “flesh,” attempting to translate it as “sinful nature” or interpret it in some … Continue reading

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Premarital Sex and the Commands of God

I really just want to share this article from charismamag.com. It talks about the premarital sex has on the brain. The best reason for avoiding illicit sex is that Jesus told us to. However, I think it’s nice to have … Continue reading

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Saying What the Apostles Say

I’ve talked about this on the blog before, but this is worth talking about over and over. Here’s the issue I’m asserting: If the apostles said something that you can’t repeat without explanation or caveat, it is because your theology … Continue reading

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Mark 13: The End of the World, Part 3

Okay, just one more thing I want to cover: In those days there will be oppression, such as there has not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will be. Unless … Continue reading

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Mark 13: The End of the World, Part 2

Well, I used up all my confident interpretations yesterday. Today, just some food for thought (I hope). In Mark 13, the apostles do not specifically ask about the end of the age. They asked about when the temple would be … Continue reading

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Mark 13: The End of the World & False Prophets

Mark chapter 13 is one of three chapters, one in each of the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, & Luke) that gives Jesus’ description of the “end times.” I am only going to give one definitive, “on this I take a … Continue reading

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Wrestling with Reformation

A friend of mine—I hope “friend” is acceptable, as I don’t know him real well—for whom I have immense respect wrote the following in an email: I have stayed involved in traditional churches with the belief that God uses me … Continue reading

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