This website is not about me. Rather, it is about the Lord Jesus Christ and His doctrine (which is Bible doctrine). However, one ought to know who is presenting the information, so that they can be comforted that the information presented is without ulterior motive. To that end, the following is a brief biography.
My name is Paul W. Davis. At age 33, I was born again in Christ Jesus after having sat in a fundamental, independent, Baptist church for 5 years listening and digesting the messages preached. Before I was saved, I thought I was saved and had no need of anything further. However, the Lord is not slack concerning men’s souls and desires that all men come to repentance and the acknowledging of the truth. Thus, I was convicted and did not want to admit it. I fought the conviction for more than a year before that Lord made it expressly plain that I was not His, and I was bound for Hell. By the time He made that clear, I had come to know the Lord Jesus Christ for who He is, and what He is all about. I found that I desired to be with Him more than I wanted to run my own life. (One cannot have both!) Therefore, rather than continue in separation from Him, I surrendered in obedience to the Gospel.
However, since I had been deceived once, I had to know from the Lord what was different this time. After all, when I was 10 years old, I thought I had gotten saved in a Southern Baptist church. I refused to be baptised until I knew for certain what was different. The Lord waited 8 months to provide an answer. One Sunday evening service a missionary came through on deputation and preached a message from John, chapter 1. When he explained the following verses, the Lord made it crystal clear what I had done at age 10.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13)
At age 10, I decided that I was saved, because I made myself “believe” to keep from going to Hell. After all, my brothers had gone forward and professed to believe – I should too! Besides, I didn’t want to go to Hell. I had, by the will of the flesh, “believed.”
Needless to say, I was delighted that the Lord revealed that to me. Now I knew what was different and why my salvation was valid now, when it wasn’t then. This time I knew who I was believing in and it wasn’t a matter of making myself believe, rather I knowingly and deliberately chose to trust the Lord Jesus Christ with my life. At age 10, I had no idea who the Lord Jesus Christ really was, or that He was even alive. In short, I knew nothing of what the Lord Jesus Christ told the woman at the well:
Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. (John 4:9-10)
Thus, it was quite a surprise to the pastor and those who knew me in the church when I went forward to declare that I had been saved only 8 months before and needed to be baptised and join the church. After all, I had joined by statement about a year and a half earlier! (This should tell us what is wrong with fundamental churches today – they have many lost people as members.) In all the dealings I had engaged in with people in the church, no one had ever questioned my salvation, or why my actions were so inconsistent with how a born again child of God should behave.
Since then, the Lord has blessed immensely. However, it has not been without conflict and controversy. The Lord showed me what was wrong with the New King James Version I was using at the time I was born again. This began my study of the differences in bible versions, which in turn grounded me in what the true Scripture actually does state.
After that, my wife (who really was saved when she was young) took on the ministry of the church bulletin. Shortly after that I felt compelled to show my brethren what was wrong with the modern versions. When I brought this up to the pastor, he told me to put something in the bulletin. At first it was only verse comparisions. However, the Lord led me to begin writing about the differences in verses. After that, I felt compelled to write to answer challenges that people brought against the Lord and His word. Moreover, I found that writing made me understand the doctrines better. However, I also found that my writing created a lot of controversy in the church – primarily because I was (and still am) far more fundamental and conservative than the vast majority of that church. Ultimately, due to ecumenism and creeping modernism, I left that church rather than compromise.
What I have found since then has caused me great grief. There are very few “fundamental, independent, Baptist” churches that actually follow the Scripture (that are actually fundamental and independent). By that I mean that they have compromised in areas that will remove the Lord’s blessing from them. Most of the ones I have been in do not even have a proper Statement of Faith.
Does this mean that I think I am above reproach and must be in a “perfect” church? Not at all. I am, like every other child of God, a sinner saved by grace. I have my flaws and errors. However, like the Bereans, I believe that I must prove all things by the Scripture. And, once proved, abide by that truth. I do not believe in, and do not care for compromise. After all, compromise is where we get apostasy, heresy, and a “gospel” that sends people to Hell while letting them believe they are going to heaven. It is also where we get Christians that cannot present an effective gospel message because the conversation of their life states something else entirely. In short, compromise is sin!
Addendum
As of September 4th, 2005, The LORD added my wife and I to Faith Baptist Church in Harrison, Arkansas. This church is a strong, sound, fundamental, independent Baptist church. The pastor is Bro. James Watt, who believes in plainly preaching the whole counsel of God.
It is a blessing to be in service to the LORD in His house, the pillar and ground of the truth, again.
In April, 2006, the Lord moved my wife and I to Faith Baptist Church in Spokane, Missouri in preparation for a work the Lord would have me to do.
In Christ,
Paul W. Davis