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.

Our Very Real God

The quotes used below are from the Jan. 15 posting at a blog at http://www.beautyfromtheheart.org/index.html. Great blog, and I’ll add it to my blogroll as soon as I get a chance. Back in 1982, at the tender age of 21, I had … Continue reading

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The Presence of God

The comments are turned back on. I found a much better spam filter that I was able to add as a plugin. They had great instructions, so it wasn’t too hard to figure out how to do it. I have … Continue reading

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God’s Not a Legalist

The high places were not taken away out of Israel; nevertheless, Asa’s heart was perfect all his days. ~2 Chronicles 15:17 God’s not a legalist. Other kings were commended for getting rid of their high places, but Asa didn’t do … Continue reading

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Righteousness Is Its Own Reward

We will not require that you punish our accusers; they being sufficiently punished by their present wickedness and ignorance of what is right. ~Justin Martyr, c. A.D. 150 Yesterday my son, upon hearing that a fellow student had ignored a … Continue reading

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Try Jesus

Note: comments are enabled again; I found a better filter.  Today we passed a church marquis that read, “For a happier year, try Jesus in 2009.” I understand the mentality that wants to ask people to try Jesus, but something … Continue reading

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Prayer Answers #7 – Last Post of 2008

I visited a local church tonight with three other adults and about 10 of our teenagers. We were only there for about an hour and a half, which was completely filled by the testimony portion of their New Year’s Eve … Continue reading

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Prayer Answers 6

This is another old story, but it addresses well the fact that there are some people God listens to more than he does others. In case you didn’t know that, it’s true. In fact, it’s very true. As a very … Continue reading

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Kicking Over Sacred Cows: The Desperate Need for Change in Evangelical Christianity

If this is your first trip to my blog in the last 24 hours or in the last few days, don’t forget to scroll down past this article and see the ones on answers to prayer. They are encouraging and … Continue reading

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Prayer Answers #5

Here’s another one that got emailed to me. I have some comments at the end about what I like about this one. About ten years ago, while still living at home shortly after graduating from my undergraduate studies. My mother, … Continue reading

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Answers to Prayer, Part 4

Today I had to ransack my memory all the way back to, uh, today. My wife’s had sciatica off and on for a couple of years. She’s been seeing a chiropractor in Memphis, and for a while that was helping. … Continue reading

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