Speaker 1: 0:02

Hey folks, this is Jesse Cope, back with another episode of the American Soul Podcast. Hope y'all are doing well, wherever y'all are and whatever part of the day you're in. I sure do appreciate you joining me, giving me a little bit of your time and energy, a little piece of your day. I will try and use it wisely. I know y'all have other things pulling strings on your time and attention. So thank you For those of y'all that continue to share the podcast and tell others about it. Thank y'all so much. I'm very grateful for that. For those of y'all that continue to leave kind comments, either online or in person, thank y'all for the encouragement it's needed for sure. And even more so for those of y'all that continue to pray for me and for the podcast, for God to use this however he sees fit. Thank you so much. Incredibly, incredibly grateful and humbled Not as humbled as I should be, but I'm working on that part by those prayers.

Speaker 1: 1:14

Not a lot on the homestead, I think we're about to move the chicks, but I keep thinking that, and then we don't. The snakes have all managed to stay at bay, or God has kept them at bay, so that's good, and I still haven't managed to get the last of the pears in. Hopefully I haven't waited too long. It just seems like every single time we get close to doing something, it just something else pops up. So, father, thank you for today. Thank you for you, father, and your Son, jesus Christ, and your Holy today. Thank you for you, father, and your Son, Jesus Christ, and your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your love, mercy, grace, forgiveness of sins. Thank you for your word, for the ability to read your word, for the freedom and the liberty to do that. Father, forgive us our sins. Father, forgive us our greed and our selfishness, our pride, our judgment of others. Forgive us when we choose to go our own way, when we don't give you the honor and praise you deserve. Father, help us to care for the widow and the orphan, the poor and the needy. Help us to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven, not here on earth. Father, give us the opportunity to give a cup of water to a child in your name, today and each day. Help us to see that opportunity and to take advantage of it, father, and bring us home to you and, if you're willing, turn our country and our countries of those listening around the world back to you, father, and your Son, jesus Christ and God. My words here today. Father, please, in your Son's name, we pray, amen.

Speaker 1: 3:50

I had three things that I really wanted to talk to you all about in this first little segment, and I can remember one of them. Right now, I tell you what I know. I've told you all this before. On the podcast there was a super famous author Some of you all would probably know him, it doesn't really matter who and they were being interviewed and they were asked by the interviewer if they had ever you know what was the best title of a book that they ever had. And the guy said you know what?

Speaker 1: 4:21

I was sitting at home, my wife and I were getting in bed and turned the lights out. Kids were in bed and I thought of this name and it's the best title for a book name I'd ever thought of. And you know the interviewer was getting pretty excited at this point, and so, you know, I was laid there and, man, I was like this is going to be great. I'm going to get up in the morning to work on this no-transcript. And this author said so. That's when I started to sleep with a notepad next to the bedstead. And Now if I have a thought at night, I make myself sit up and write down whatever it is he said.

Speaker 1: 5:06

I'm getting to that point I think a lot of thoughts, as I'm kind of winding down podcasts and otherwise, and so I'm working on that notebook or my phone to write something down and anyway, rate, I think I can remember two of them and these are kind of random folks, they just kind of popped into my head. One is I was sitting in a parking lot the other day and I saw an armored vehicle pull up for the money exchange right armored vehicle pull-up for the money exchange right, and I had an instructor years ago that taught me and they also happened to be in their part-time job armored guard carrier, money carrier. And they said, as they walked out each day, the last thing they, before they walked out of their little caged area where they had all their personal items, their lockers, there was a huge mirror and on that mirror was a little three by five card or something and it said something along the lines of would you want to rob you? And the guy said that the whole point was that company had a huge, that they they really emphasized making their guards a hard target, not a soft target, and making them. You know you didn't want to go out and be all squishy and pudgy and fat and just look like somebody could just walk up and just push you over with a broomstick and steal the money. Just look like somebody could just walk up and just push you over with a broomstick and steal the money. You wanted people criminals to look at you that were thinking about robbing that armored car and not just think once or twice about it, but so many times that they decided you know that's a really bad idea. That guy looks like he's going to cause me a lot more pain than I'm going to cause him and it kind of goes hand in hand. That was just a little random story I just thought of because I had sat and watched this armored guard come in and they weren't exactly overwhelming. It wouldn't. As a criminal I don't think I would be really concerned about trying to take money from them.

Speaker 1: 7:43

And that goes hand in hand with another concept in marriage, and God talks about this in the New Testament, talking about, even if you're a believer, if you believe in Jesus Christ, but your spouse doesn't, to set an example for them by following God and Jesus Christ, and you never know, they might become convinced through your actions, and it says this for both men and women. But I'm going to go ahead and go out on a limb, folks, and give you my opinion that it's even more important for men than for women, and my reasoning is what I've said on this podcast before. At the end of the day, the husband is supposed to be the head of the household. They're the leader, they're the CEO, they're the one that God's going to come to and say how did you take care of this wife and these kids that I gave to you? They're not going to ask whether the wife followed you. They're not going to ask whether the wife followed you. They're not going to ask whether the kids followed you. They're going to ask what did you do? Did you do what I told you to?

Speaker 1: 8:53

You can't make your wife follow you, folks. You can't even, to a certain extent, once your kids get older, make them follow the example that you've set. Now, if you're out there and you're setting a horrible example, you don't have any right to complain about your kids going off the rails or your wife going off the rails. But we don't live in a society where violence is acceptable in those regards, domestically. And even if we did, folks, that's not really. It's one of those things that our founders understood. You can't force a man to have faith or to not have faith. Hence the First Amendment Partially. But what you can do is you can go out and set an example.

Speaker 1: 9:47

Christ talked about this when he was washing the disciples' feet toward the end, and he was saying here I am God of the universe, your Lord and Master, and you call me that, and rightly so. But I'm washing your feet. I'm leading by example, I'm serving and you should do the same. I'm washing your feet, I'm leading by example, I'm serving and you should do the same. So what I'm trying to get the point I'm trying to get across, especially to the men out there is whether your wife chooses to fulfill her roles in your marriage and follow your lead. You have a responsibility to follow God and Jesus Christ. You're going to have an eternity of rewards, or lack thereof, based on following God and His commands, and those include the commands in marriage. So are you, are you leading? I'm not asking whether your wife's following. I'm not asking whether she's the best wife in the entire world or whether you've got literally the worst wife you could ever think of. I'm asking are you following Christ? Are you doing what God? Who you're going to spend eternity with? Who? Your bank account, eternal bank account this is going to be a huge part of it your actions. Are you following God and Jesus Christ?

Speaker 1: 11:14

You need to look in the mirror each day when you go out, like that instructor I had, that was an armed guard, and not only do you need to instead of, is the criminal going to want to rob you? The question needs to be really one of the one of the comments that I heard in the Marine Corps about being a Marine. If, if somebody accused you of being a Marine, would there be enough evidence to convict you? If somebody accused you of being a Christian man, would there be enough evidence in your life to convict you? That ought to be what you walk out to each day, myself included. Folks, I'm preaching to myself here too. Lord knows I need it, but that's really what we ought to be asking. All right, I took longer on that than I thought, but I think it's important.

Speaker 1: 12:10

I'm going to go into a letter from Sam Adams to John Adams. We're still kind of going through Samuel Adams a little bit here. This is from Boston, october the 4th 1790. Again, samuel Adams writing a letter to John Adams, and it talks about a couple things that I think are really important today politically. One is this idea from a Christian point of view, that we can set up this perfect country, and you'll notice him talking about that, and he's going to be pretty blatant about the fact that perfection is impossible in this life. But we can strive for perfection, and you'll see that in the latter part of his letter to John Adams. And the point is, today so many people think that, a think that we ought to be able to get perfection here, that there should never be any injustice, that everything should be perfect. That's just not possible until Jesus Christ comes back. Then the other thing is this idea that well, if we can't be perfect, we might as well do what we want. God talks about this in the New Testament, right, and it's the same thing. You strive for perfection, you strive for Jesus Christ, you strive for that perfect country. And so you'll see this, I think, in his comments, dear sir, with pleasure, I think in his comments.

Speaker 1: 14:00

And is the millennium commencing? Talking about the reign of Christ. I have not studied the prophecies and cannot even conjecture. The golden age so finely pictured by poets, I believe has never yet existed, but in their own imaginations, in the earliest periods when, for the honor of human nature, one should have thought that man had not learned to be cruel, what scenes of horror have been exhibited in families of some of the best instructors in piety and morals. Even the heart of our first father was grievously wounded at the sight of the murder of one of his sons perpetrated by the hand of the other. Talking about Cain and Abel, has mankind since seen the happy age? No, my friend. The same tragedies have been acted on the theater of the world, the same arts of tormenting have been studied and practiced to this day, and true religion and reason united have never succeeded to establish the permanent foundations of political freedom and happiness in the most enlightened countries on the earth.

Speaker 1: 15:16

After a compliment to Boston town meetings and our Harvard College, as having set the universe in motion, you tell me everything will be pulled down. I think with you, so much seems certain. But what, say you, will be built up? Hay, wood and stubble may probably be the materials Till men shall yet be more enlightened and more friendly to each other. Are there any principles of political architecture? Undoubtedly. What are they? Philosophers, ancient and modern, have laid down different plans and all have thought themselves masters of the true principles. Their disciples have followed them, probably with a blind prejudice, which is always an enemy to truth, and have thereby added fresh fuel to the fire of contention and increased the political disorder.

Speaker 1: 16:21

Kings have been disposed by aspiring nobles whose pride could not brook restraint. These have waged everlasting war against the common rights of men. The love of liberty is interwoven in the soul of man and can never be totally extinguished, and there are certain periods when human patience can no longer endure indignity and oppression. The spark of liberty then kindles into a flame when the injured people, attentive to the feelings of their just rights, magnanimously contend for their complete restoration. But such contests have too often ended in nothing more than a change of imposters and impositions. The patriots of Rome put an end to the life of Caesar, and Rome submitted to a race of tyrants in his stead, King John, to concede to them their ancient rights and liberties and promise to govern them according to the old law of the land. Were they free after they had wantonly disposed their Henrys, edwards and Richards, their gratified family pride, or after they had brought their first Charles to the block and banished his family. They were not. The nation was then governed by kings, lords and commons, and its liberties were lost by strife among three powers soberly intended to check each other and keep the scales even.

Speaker 1: 18:01

But while we daily see the violence of the human passions controlling the laws of reason and religion and stifling the very feelings of humanity, can we wonder that in such tumults, little or no regard is had to political checks and balances, in such tumults? I got to stop there for a second. Folks, you have to see today how little regard, or really no regard, we have in America to the checks and balances that were supposed to be established between the three branches of government. We have executive orders, we have a Supreme Court that is basically making law via decision Right. We have a Supreme Court that is basically making law via decision right and we have a legislature that's really kind of impotent, except it's spending money. And this is what 200 plus years ago 230, give or take right. And Samuel Adams is saying look, this has always been the case. And when we get to this point, even these branches that were created to keep everybody in check. We get to this point where nobody pays any regard to it and we just do what we want anyway and we end up with just different.

Speaker 1: 19:23

As John Adams, who he's writing to, said later, if we don't have virtue and morality, all we do is exchange one form for another, and really all we're exchanging is tyrants and tyrannies. That's it. Get back to the letter and will come to an end, because the kingdoms of earth have not been governed by reason. The pride of kings, of nobles and leaders of the people who have all governed in their turns, have disadjusted the delicate frame and thrown all into confusion. What, then, is to be done? What, then, is to be done, their little boys and girls? Of inculcating in the minds of youth the fear and love of the deity and universal philanthropy and, in subordination to these great principles, the love of their country. Of instructing them in the art of self-government, without which they can never act.

Speaker 1: 20:58

A wise part in the government of societies, great or small. In short, of leading them in the study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system, which will happily tend to subdue the turbulent passions of men and introduce that golden age, beautifully described in figurative language, when the wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard lie down with the kid, the cow and the bear shall feed their young ones, shall lie down together and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. None shall then hurt or destroy, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord. When this millennium shall commence, if there shall be any need of civil government, indulge me in the fancy that it will be in the republican form or something better. I thank you for your countenance to our friend Lide. Mrs Adams tells me to remember her to yourself, lady and connections, and be assured that I am sincerely your friend. For that last part, yeah, I knew we were over. I hadn't looked at the clock. I apologize.

Speaker 1: 22:24

We could talk about this for quite a bit, but the bottom line is, folks, we're not going to have perfection, but we want to strive for perfection, and probably one of the most important arenas and it's really two different arenas is culture and education, because both affect the development of our children, and we've given that over to the left, which is the antithesis of the values of the left or the antithesis of the values of God. You see that we go through this list so often abortion, lgbtq lifestyles, rejection of God, communism, socialism, critical race theory, dei, identity politics, feminism, abortion, if I didn't say that already, illegal immigration, right. And so the idea of values neutral education is a fraud. It's a myth. There's no such thing. We're either going to be a little bit more like Christ or a little bit more like the devil.

Speaker 1: 23:44

So what Samuel Adams is saying is education ought to give our young boys and girls right fear of God, love of God, he says, universal philanthropy, right Love of our neighbor and then last, love of our country and within that love of our country, instructing our children in the art of self-government. And he said all of this, basically summed up together, is leading them in the study and practice. Practice that's important folks study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system, Not Islam, not atheism, not Buddhism, not Hinduism. Really, what we've done with public education today is we've made it an atheistic system and we like to blame the teachers and the administrators and the counselors and the coaches folks, and there's some blame to be had there. But there's a lot of really good administrators and teachers and coaches and counselors out there in that public education system.

Speaker 1: 24:39

The problem is we've turned the system and control of the system over to people who either don't recognize, because of ignorance, or refuse to recognize because of malevolence, that the only way we can create a solid public education system in the United States and we need that, we talked about that in a previous podcast is based on God and the Bible. We have to get that back, folks. We can't have a Republican form of government without a people that follow the principles of Christ. So we'll get back into Sam Adams some more. On the next one. I know I went over. I apologize. Hopefully y'all got something out of it. God bless y'all. God bless your families. God bless your marriages. God bless America. We'll talk to y'all again real soon, folks Looking forward to it.