Download the entire article here: Shogren_How to calculate when Jesus will come I originally wrote this as a response to the outbreak of Blood Moon Fever and the Shemitah Virus - remember those false panics? - and more broadly, to the rapidly-spreading epidemic of predictions of Jesus’ near return between 2015-2017. And people predicted 2018, 2019,... Continue Reading →
Read the Hebrew Torah in 2015-2016!
Some friends and I are going to read through the books of Moses over the next year. We will be follow the liturgical cycle of the synagogue for the Jewish year 5776, with a set portion or parashah every week. This breaks down to a chapter-plus per day. I will be using Logos 6 with Stuttgartensia... Continue Reading →
“Be like a child, a mom, a dad!” 1 Thess 2:7-12 [Sermon Notes on 1 Thessalonians, Week 7]
1 Thess 2:6-12 NIV 2011 - 6 We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority. 7 Instead, we were like ** young children ** among you. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for... Continue Reading →
Does John 4:22 say that salvation is just for Jews?
[Note – this is a very live topic in Latin America, and I wrote this for the church there. I also offer it for the English-speaking church]. Every time I write that salvation is for all who believe the gospel; that Gentile believers are not obligated to be circumcised or observe the 613 laws of... Continue Reading →
“The First Task of the Church is to Preach the Word” [Sermon Notes on 1 Thessalonians, Week 5]
Our text for today is: 8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia – your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God... Continue Reading →
“The Cross”, a Dirty Word
You go down town to the park where there are always people begging for money; selling something; preaching some message. So you circulate around to see what new doctrines are in the air. Over there is a new guy, talking earnestly to a small group. You pick up a few words of his discourse: “Now... Continue Reading →
Why Do People Go to Heaven?
Notice that I didn't say how they get there, I mean why they have traveled there and then returned to tell us all about it. For the past few decades, people have dived into writing up their experiences of heaven – and a few times, of hell – published bestselling books and hit movies. For... Continue Reading →
“The Paranoid Style in American Politics” has its 50th Anniversary
[One of my few blog entries on politics, and how it relates to psychology, sociology, and modern apocalyptic eschatology. Here is a full pdf version: Paranoid Style Turns 50_Shogren] Because of his ability to describe and predict American political behavior, Richard Hofstadter’s “The Paranoid Style in American Politics” should be required reading for the citizen. And... Continue Reading →
The Lord’s Prayer – do we pray it or no?
There are two main approaches to the Lord’s Prayer (LP). The Lord’s Prayer was meant to be prayed verbatim. The Lord’s Prayer was not meant to be prayed verbatim, but rather serves as a model prayer. Most of the church for 2000 years has opted for the first, while also affirming that it is also a... Continue Reading →
The Proverbs 31 Woman: Have we made her something she was never meant to be?
“Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.” (Prov. 31:10 KJV) Is it ever safe – or sane? – for a man to meddle in a passage beloved by Christian women? Am I grabbing hold of a live wire? For I hear a lot of sisters referring to Proverbs 31:10-31... Continue Reading →