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.

Letter of Ignatius to the Ephesians: Chapter Two

If you haven’t been following this series, it begins with Ignatius’ introduction 3 or 4 posts ago on June 28. The Text of Ignatius’ Letter to the Ephesians 2 We’re on chapter 2 today. It reads as follows: As to … Continue reading

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Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Back Pain, and Trigger Point Therapy

I don’t normally write health blogs, but health is an interest of mine, especially muscle and joint pain. I don’t normally write blogs to sell things, but this is something everyone needs to know about. Yesterday on the radio I … Continue reading

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The Letter of Ignatius to the Ephesians: Bishops and Ecclesiastical Authority

"Bishops and Ecclesiastical Authority." Sorry for the pompous sounding name of this post. I wanted to pull in the liturgical folk who might be searching for a topic like this. We’re going to tackle Ignatius of Antioch’s comments about bishops, … Continue reading

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The Secret of Unity

I already posted today (at 1:30 a.m.), but I ran across a teaching on my The Rest of the Old, Old Story web site that I thought was worth reminding people of. It’s called The Secret of Unity for the … Continue reading

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The Letter of Ignatius to the Ephesians: Chapter One

I started this series yesterday with an introduction to the early Christian writings. This is Ignatius’ epistle to the Ephesians, written in A.D. 107 or 116, about 50 or 60 years after Paul wrote his epistle to the Ephesians and … Continue reading

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The Letter of Ignatius of Antioch to the Ephesians, Introduction

This letter is taken from THE ANTE-NICENE FATHERS, Volume I, and updated to modern language. The original translation is about 120 years old and is in university-style English. We’ll begin with the introduction by Ignatius, and then there’s 21 chapters … Continue reading

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The Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians

It’s fascinating to me that we have letters from early Christians to some of the very same churches Paul wrote to. Ignatius wrote to the Ephesians and Romans, Clement wrote to the Corinthians, and Polycarp wrote to the Philippians. And … Continue reading

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Can the Gates of Hell Prevail Against the Church

So the idea of Matthew 16:18 is not that the church won’t fall. The idea is that when and where the church exists, she will assail the gates of Hades and bring back the dead.
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Brand Loyalty to Christ

The problem is, Roman Catholic tradition and Orthodoxy do produce a brand you can recognize. They reliably produce worldliness, carnality, idolatry, and an indifference to the commands of Christ. Continue reading

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Catching Up …

I haven’t written a blog post here in almost 3 weeks. It’s not from lack of things to write about. Quite the opposite. There’s been LOTS to write about, but I’ve been so busy doing it that I haven’t been … Continue reading

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