Gary Shogren's Blog
Jerry Falwell was fond of describing his Liberty University as “conservative as Harvard is liberal.” In other words, if Harvard University is on the far left, then the appropriate Christian response is to run in an equal and opposite direction. It is Newton’s Third Law of Motion as applied to a Christian political and social... Continue Reading →
By Gary Shogren, Seminario ESEPA, San José, Costa Rica Newt Gingrich is on record as saying: There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia. The time for double standards that allow Islamists to behave aggressively toward us while they demand... Continue Reading →
By Gary Shogren, Seminario ESEPA, San José, Costa Rica I have at last spotted a creature that until now I’d only read about. It is the reappearance of a style of preaching which does an end-run around the rational mind and appeals to the non-rational. I’m probably the last one of my social set to... Continue Reading →
8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’... Continue Reading →
Note: In November 2012 I published a commentary of 1-2 Thessalonians for Zondervan (click HERE). The advice given below is applicable to all preaching and writing projects. I used to do business at a local office building. On the wall was an engraved map of the New World from the 1600s. It was a real... Continue Reading →
By Gary Shogren, Seminario ESEPA, San José, Costa Rica The Bible does not tell us to refrain from correcting our elders; this is a misunderstanding that arises from 1 Tim 5:1 KJV, “rebuke not an elder”. We should understand that there is more harshness implicit in “rebuke”; the NIV for example says “Do not... Continue Reading →
The following was published as "The Wicked will not Inherit the Kingdom of God”: a Pauline Warning and the Hermeneutics of Liberation Theology and of Brian McLaren in Trinity Journal 31NS (2010) Abstract: Emergent spokesman Brian McLaren promotes a view of the kingdom of God that draws near to and often merges with Liberation Theology. An examination... Continue Reading →
Let us say then that a Christian believes that God is calling him or her to the mission field. One of the most pressing questions, always, is: I know I’m going...but where do I go? How can I be sure when the whole needy world lies before me? The church does not have the privilege... Continue Reading →
I'm not a prophet, and I try to tread very carefully with these sorts of questions. Who am I to claim an inside track on what his reaction would be? That's how Holy Wars get started! Nevertheless, I will go out on a limb with a few things that our Lord probably would be unlikely... Continue Reading →
By Gary Shogren, Seminario ESEPA, San José, Costa Rica Is government intervention and restriction of free enterprise always diabolical? It seems to me we can come up with some positive examples of it: the government regulated banks (Jefferson, Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, many others); freed enslaved labor (Lincoln); introduced anti-trust law and passed the Food and... Continue Reading →
Open Our Eyes, Lord! 