It appears to be the busy season of people telling us when Jesus will return. I have seen five dates for the period of September-December 2015 and others for 2016 or 2017. Four of those dates have already passed us by. Whether these date-setters claim to be prophets or not, they all transgress the Lord’s warning... Continue Reading →
How to Calculate when Jesus will Come – without even being a prophet!
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 →
“The Resurrection, Our Goal” 1 Thess 4:13-18 [Sermon Notes on 1 Thessalonians, Week 12]
Note: These are sermon outlines, not full messages. 13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God... 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 →
Just look at the news – isn’t it the end times?
Let's see what the Lord said: "And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come." Matt 24:14 "The end" = Christ's return. I've heard plenty of people say that the whole world has already been reached by the... Continue Reading →
“No, but wait…MY pastor doesn’t tell us how to vote!”
"My pastor doesn’t tell us how to vote! What he does is give out a score card that describes what the issues are [remember that phrase!] and then shows what each candidate stands for. But then he tells us to make up our own minds!" Anyway, that's the word on the street. The election is coming... Continue Reading →
“Four Blood Moons” and a false prophet
[Additional Note, Aug 6 2014. Of course the Blood Moon teachers are announcing, Aha! I told you that Israel and Gaza would go to war! Well, of course they predicted no such thing, but when someone says that "something will happen"; and then something, anything happens; one can then claim, See, I told you something would... Continue Reading →
Why I left political party loyalty behind, and never looked back
One of my infrequent thoughts on politics, written in 2013 and revised in 2024. It was March 20, 2003. I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. Then I walked out on my political party, the Republicans. I did so principally in protest against President Bush’s attack on Iraq that week, which was the... Continue Reading →
Obamacare, microchips, the mark of the beast and March 23, 2013
Additional note: according to an email, Wyoming children have been implanted with RFID chips: pure rumor. Now that the date has passed, and no-one seems to be implanting us with microchips, some bloggers are now saying that as of March 23 the government COULD implant chips. Of course, anyone COULD do ANYTHING - but the... Continue Reading →
Christians and myths
[this is the 2012 version of the post, and some of these are outdated] Gullibility is not a fruit of the Spirit. Yes, Paul did say that a Christian “believes all things” (1 Cor 13:7), but what he meant was, “to whatever extent possible, believe the best about other people”. It’s important to establish this... Continue Reading →