Gary Haugen on Gospel and Justice

The Russell Moore Show

Christianity Today, Russell Moore

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.8 • 914 Ratings

🗓️ 25 June 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Gary Haugen has seen the darkest things imaginable. He’s spent decades fighting human traffickers, corrupt governments, and mobs that enslave men, women, and children to sell them for sex and profit. But he’s not one bit cynical. As president of International Justice Mission, Haugen has worked to abolish modern-day slavery and to put the bad guys in jail while building the kind of institutions that ensure people are never treated that way again. In this episode, Russell and Haugen discuss the objection that “justice issues” distract from the gospel. They also talk about how people can know whether God is calling them to some area of justice and mercy and about how those who are doing this kind of work can keep from burnout or despair. Haugen quoted from C. S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters: “Despair is a greater sin than any of the sins which provoke it.” He talks about how he learned from the writings of Dallas Willard and others the kinds of spiritual disciplines he needs to stay grounded and hopeful. The two also talk about going to church 13 times a week, the complex psychology of an oppressor, the power of art and music to move us to action, practical steps toward seeking justice, and of course, Wendell Berry. Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription to CT magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you in part by The Apologetics Guy Show, the podcast that helps you find clear answers to tough questions about Christianity.
0:11.1	Learn to explain your faith with courage and compassion.
0:14.5	Join Moody Bible Institute professor Dr. Mikhail del Rosario at Apologeticsky.com.
0:24.6	Thank you. Michael Del Rosario at Apologeticsguy.com. There was something of the heart of God that I experienced when I grew closer to suffering, to human hurt.
0:34.5	Hello, this is Russell Moore, and this is The Russell Moore Show, brought to you by Christianity
0:39.2	today. Here, we look for signposts in a strange time by standing fast to what really matters,
0:46.8	kingdom over culture wars, truth over tribalism, pilgrimage over partisanship, sanity over cynicism,
0:53.6	witness over winning, and Christ over everything.
0:56.9	Today we have a conversation to do just that.
1:04.9	You know how there are certain phrases stick in your mind?
1:08.8	I wonder if you have some of those.
1:10.7	Most of the things that we hear
1:12.6	and say on any given day, we don't remember for a long time. Sometimes it'll be that one sentence
1:18.5	or that one phrase that you'll think about over and over and over again for years. For me,
1:25.0	one of those was this. The statement was, 15% of the people get up every morning
1:32.8	wanting to know how they can do good. 15% of the people get up every single morning wanting
1:39.8	to know how they can do bad things to other people. And 70% of the people sit back and watch to see who
1:47.7	wins. That was by Gary Hogan, who is our guest today, just off the cuff in a conversation in our
1:55.3	group that gets together on Wednesday nights for a book club, and I think about it all the time,
2:00.4	because he has seen some of the darkest
2:04.9	stuff imaginable in the world. He's the founder and the CEO of International Justice Mission,
2:11.9	IJM. It's a global organization that a lot of you are familiar with and a lot more of you should be familiar
	...

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