Jonathan Alexander Benjamin Paul (Gartz (Oder), May 12, 1853 - Lauter / Sa., April 25, 1931) was a German pastor who played an important role in the establishment of the Pentecostal Movement in his country.
Paul was born as the son of a Lutheran minister. He himself also went to study theology. In 1890 he underwent an experience known as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In addition, he was involved in the Gemeinschaftbeweigung. This was an orthodox-protestant movement against emerging modernism in the German churches. In October 1898 Paul began publishing his own magazine Die Heiligung. In that he emphasized the message of sanctification. He moved to Steglitz, Berlin, and began a traveling evangelism.
In 1904 Paul recalled articles in his magazine, in which he witnessed a new experience of sanctification. This experience would have freed him from all inclination to sin. As a result, he was suspected of perfectionism. Despite the criticism, the tent meetings continued to attract many people. In Mülheim an der Ruhr, a new church congregation created the success of the meetings.
In 1906, Paul received messages from the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles. In 1907 he traveled to Oslo and became involved in the Pentecostal movement. This was co-introduced by him in Germany. The first meetings were terminated by the police and this led to a permanent stigma and a breach with the Gemeinschaftbeweigung. On September 15, 1907, Paul began to speak in tongues and publicly testified. As a result, the criticism of the young Pentecost movement further increased. In December 1908 a Pentecost Conference took place in Hamburg with representatives of the Pentecostal movement from England, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. During the conference it was decided to publish the magazine Pfingstgrüsse. Paul became editor-in-chief of the magazine. In September 1909 the Pentecostal Movement was sentenced at a conference of the Gemeinschaftbeweigung in Berlin. The criticism was that she came from Los Angeles, many manifestations shared with spiritism, allowed women leadership, learned perfectionism, and accepted Paul as leader. At a conference held in response to the statement in Mülheim almost ten thousand people came down. They removed from the Berlin Declaration, although they acknowledged that not all that was happening within the Pentecostal movement was good. Eventually, the Berlin statement made it possible for Paul to leave the Gemeinschaftbeweigung.
During the First World War, the Pentecostal monarchs were removed from the different countries. Among other things, Dutch Pentecostal leader Gerrit Polman introduced after the war to reassemble the various leaders. In August 1919, a first international conference took place in Mülheim. There came a reconciliation. Paul also called his own teachings on perfectionism. He proposed to develop a doctrine that was intended as a personal experience of sanctification.
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