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, whatever part of the day you're in. I sure do appreciate you joining me, giving me a little bit of your time and attention, a little piece of your day. Hopefully you're able to share it with somebody else and gives you all some extra tools for your toolbox. It does for me. I enjoy spending time with y'all. So, for those of y'all who continue to share the podcast and for those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast, thank you very much, very grateful for your prayers, father. Thank you for today, thank you for this day that you have made. Thank you for you, father, and your Son, jesus Christ, and your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your love and your mercy, your grace and your forgiveness of sins, for all the many blessings that you bestow upon us, the ones we admit and the ones we don't, for whatever reason. Please guide us through the day, father. Help us to do your will and the ones we don't, for whatever reason. Please guide us through the day, father. Help us to do your will. Help us to follow the commands of your son, jesus Christ most of all, to love you with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Forgive us when we fail, either by choice or omission or anything else. Father, have mercy on us, have pity on us, draw us close to you, give us strength and courage, wisdom, give us the serenity to accept the things that we cannot change, the courage to change the things that we can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Father, guide our steps. Be with those listening, wherever they are, across the nation, here in America and around the world. Be with those who are being persecuted because they follow your Son, son Jesus Christ, wherever they are around the world. Father, help us to offer them comfort and encouragement and strength to know that they are not forgotten. Help us to do that, father, with actions and deeds, not merely words. Guide my words here, father, and help us to remember each day to pray as your Son has taught us. Our Father, who art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom, come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Have you made time for God today? Have you made time to read his word? Have you made time to pray, to talk to him, to listen to him?

Folks, even if you just just three minutes, and if this podcast when we read through scripture, if that's what you got each day, that's awesome. But make a point to make that a priority in your day and to actually pay attention to what you're reading. Some days you know it's going to everything's going to click. And some days you're going to read through it and nothing's going to click. And some days you're going to read through it and you're going to forget what you read five seconds later. You do it over and over and over again. You develop the muscle memory, and this is true, folks, of our faith, and it's also true of our marriage.

Every single hyper successful individual that I have ever heard interviewed comes back to the same thing over and over again, and that is discipline Doing the stuff, the little things that make a difference when nobody else is paying attention when nobody else believes in you, but doing them over and over and over again. Marine Corps beat that into us. Muscle memory, muscle memory. Marine Corps beat that into us. Muscle memory, muscle memory, muscle memory. Every sport, every business, and it may look different for different people. It's not always going to be the exact same thing all the time, but the point is that effort, whatever it is, doing that each day, showing up each day, using God each day, turning yourself over to him and his son each day and trusting them, folks like that, that's my only hope, and I hope this is encouraging to you, because I have no hope outside of Jesus Christ. There's no way. Even if I lived my life perfectly from this day forward, I have messed up, which is impossible, by the way. If anybody tells you that they're going to live the next 24 hours perfectly, without a single angry thought that shouldn't be out there without a single bit of gossip, without a single lustful or covetous thought, without a single sin, man, I'd tell you to be really careful around that person. I, man, I'd tell you to be really careful around that person. But even if I could, I've messed up so much in the past, it wouldn't matter. I can't balance the scales, folks. I've got to have Christ and he covers it and he can cover, and he's going to cover it because God promised. So be encouraged by that.

And your spouse, you know the same thing here. Folks, if you're going to be married, be married, good Lord. Don't like just be married in name only, right, like, actually fulfill your roles as a husband or a wife and do it as a privilege, not as a burden. Don't whine about oh, I don't feel like it today. You know what, neither does your spouse, neither does your spouse. Marriage verse for today comes from Ephesians 5, 22-33.

Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives. Just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body just as Christ does the church, for we are members of his body. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Two things here, folks One the two will become one flesh Like. That's not minor. That's the only relationship you get like that out of seven billion people alive today. Even if you lived in a country where polygamy was legal and you had two or three wives, that's still two or three out of 7 billion, but it's one out of 7 billion. Folks Like that person ought to be worth more to you than every single ounce of gold in the entire world. That's a big deal to become one flesh to cleave to one another.

And the second thing is folks. We both have responsibilities. Husbands do, wives do. We have different responsibilities, different roles to fulfill, but we have a job to do each day and if you didn't want to do that, you shouldn't have gotten married. And if you're already married, I hate to tell you this, but you already put yourself in that situation. So now you have roles and responsibilities to fulfill. It's not just one side or the other, it's both. You both have a job to do each day and really, whether it's a burden and chore or a privilege and blessing, pretty much all depends on your outlook. That's a much longer conversation, but anyway.

Scripture reading for today Not 2 Thessalonians, maybe, yes, 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 1-17. Now, dear brothers and sisters, let us clarify some things about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet him. Don't be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don't believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation or a letter supposedly from us. Don't be fooled by what they say, for that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the one who brings destruction. He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call God and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God claiming that he himself is God. Don't you remember that? I told you about all this when I was with you? And you know what is holding him back, for he can be revealed only when his time comes, for this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and it will remain secret until the one who is holding it back steps out of the way. Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed, but the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by the splendor of his coming. This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them. So God will cause them to be greatly deceived and they will believe these lies. Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth.

As for us, we can't help, but thank God for you. Dear brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, we are always thankful that God chose you to be among the first to experience salvation, a salvation that came through the Spirit who makes you holy, and through your belief in the truth. He called you to salvation when we told you the good news. Now you can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. With all these things in mind, dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching we passed on to you both in person and letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say Psalm 84, verses 1 through 12.

How lovely is your dwelling place, o Lord of heaven's armies. I long, yes, I faint with longing, to enter the courts of the Lord with my whole body, with my whole being, body and soul. I will shout joyfully to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young at a place near your altar, o Lord of heaven's armies, my King and my God, what joy for those who can live in your house, always singing your praises. What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord, who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When they walk through the valley of weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs. The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings. They will continue to grow stronger and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem. O God of heaven's armies, hear my prayer. Listen, o God of Jacob In Jerusalem.

Proverbs 25, 15. Proverbs 25, 15. 15, patience can persuade a prince and soft speech can break bones. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 15,. With all these things, dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching. We can't do that, folks, if we don't read the Bible each day. We can't be discerning. We can't be discerning. We're easily manipulated and enslaved to addictions when we don't read the Bible each day. It's hard enough when we read the Bible each day, folks, to resist certain temptations to figure out what's fact and what's fiction. It's really hard when we're not reading the Bible each day.

Psalm 84, verse 10, always makes me smile. I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked. When I was younger and I guess even still now I always had the thought I would rather be the smallest mouse in the smallest mouse hole in the smallest cupboard, in the smallest house in heaven than to be anywhere in hell one day. And then verse six actually kind of ties into something else we're going to do today. The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings.

I know it's not autumn and I know some of y'all are going to roll your eyes at this, but I love fall autumn. It's my favorite season. Cannot wait for it to get here. I am more than done with summer, and so I stumbled across a poem Autumn Fires by Robert Louis Stevenson. It's very short, don't give up on me. In the other gardens and all up the vale, from the autumn bonfires see the smoke trail, pleasant summer over and all the summer flowers. The red fire blazes, the gray smoke towers Sing a song of seasons something bright, and all flowers in the summer fires. In for fall. No-transcript.

Captain Bennett was the pilot of a light aircraft flying an artillery adjustment mission along a heavily defended segment of route structure. A large concentration of enemy troops were amassing for an attack on a friendly unit. Captain Bennett requested tactical air support, but was advised that none was available. He also requested artillery support, but this too was denied. Due to the close proximity of friendly troops to the target. Captain Bennett was determined to aid the endangered unit and elected to strafe the hostile positions.

After four such passes, the enemy forces began to retreat. After four such passes, the enemy forces began to retreat. Captain Bennett continued the attack, but as he completed his fifth strafing pass, his aircraft was struck by a surface-to-air missile which severely damaged the left engine and left main landing gear. As fire spread in the left engine, captain Bennett realized that recovery at a friendly airfield was impossible. He instructed his observer to prepare for ejection but was informed by the observer that his parachute had been shredded by the force of the impacting missile. Although Captain Bennett had a good parachute, he knew that if he ejected, the observer would have no chance of survival. With complete disregard for his own life, captain Bennett elected to ditch the aircraft into the Gulf of Tonkin, even though he realized that a pilot of this type aircraft had never survived a ditching. The ensuing impact upon the water caused the aircraft to cartwheel and severely damaged the front cockpit, making escape for Captain Bennett impossible. The observer successfully made his way out of the aircraft and was rescued.

Captain Bennett's unparalleled concern for his companion, extraordinary heroism and intrepidity, above and beyond the call of duty at the cost of his life were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the US Air Force Accredited to Lafayette, lafayette, parish, louisiana, awarded posthumously Presented August 8, 1974, blair House by Vice President Gerald R Ford to his family. Born April 22, 1946, palestine, anderson County, texas, died June 29, 1972, gulf of Tonkin, vietnam. Buried Lafayette Memorial Park, lafayette, louisiana, united States. Stephen Logan Bennett.

Folks, it's worse than shameful that we know statistics about NFL quarterbacks, major League Baseball players, nba players, that we know song lyrics to every single song sung by our favorite singer, that we celebrate every move they make on social media and that we don't know the names of men like this or what they did by heart. It just is. It's shameful, no-transcript and so little to men like this. So we got two quotes to kind of wrap this up. Today, june 21st 1776, john Adams Statesman, my dear sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our people in a greater measure than they have it now. They may change their rulers and their forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty. They will only exchange tyrants and tyrannies. There's two things out of this, folks. We could talk about a lot.

This is one of my favorite quotes by John Adams, and he has a lot that I really like. One is he's talking about Christianity when he says religion. That was don't let anybody tell you otherwise. We've talked about that on the podcast a number of times. When this generation was talking about religion, they were talking about Christianity and only Christianity. The second thing is, you could read this part about virtue to us today, if we don't figure out how to get virtue back into ourselves, our marriages, our families, our children, it doesn't matter who we elect and it doesn't matter what great form of government we design, it doesn't matter what wonderful policies we craft. All we're going to do is exchange tyrants and tyrannies. We have to get virtue back in ourselves, in our marriages, in our families, in our nation. There's no alternative there, folks. It's an absolute must. I'm going to end with a quote I'm reading we've talked about it, it's been a while a biography on Winston Spencer Churchill by William Manchester.

This is the second volume in a trilogy called Alone. The title of the whole trilogy is the Last Line. The title of the whole trilogy is the Last Line. This covers the years from 1932 to 1940. There was a man named Leslie Corr Belisha who from, I think, 1937 to 1940, somewhere around there was the Secretary of State of War for Britain and he was on the war cabinet with Churchill before Churchill became prime minister and was one of the only members that recognized the real danger, even very late in the game by Hitler and the Nazis in Germany.

And he made this quote once. We are concerned with the frontiers of the human spirit. Only the defeat of Nazi Germany can lighten the darkness which now shrouds our cities and lighten the horizon for all Europe and the world. There's no negotiation with evil folks. There's no middle ground. There's no peaceful coexistence with Nazism, fascism, socialism, communism, leftism, islam. There's no way that you can meet in the middle with people that support those evils and peacefully coexist. It is impossible and there's going to come a point. Maybe we're close to it, maybe we're not. Where the choice is either to willingly submit to those tyrants and tyrannies going back to John Adams' quote or to fight.

Manchester writes this. There's a sentence, a couple sentences from him. So Horvalicia was going to be relieved. He eventually got relieved of his post by Chamberlain because a couple reasons. One, he was too antagonistic, even at that point when they were already at war with Germany, for Chamberlain and a number of other politicians. And two, he was a Jew, and this is Manchester's comment in his biography. Chamberlain wanted to offer him Horbalisha, the Ministry of Information, but Halifax objected to the appointment. It would have had quote a bad effect among the neutrals, he said, because HB Horbalisha is a Jew. Being a Jew was worse in Germany, of course, but under His Majesty's government at the time it was no character reference.

Why do I read this? Because there are a number of people in America today, a lot of them that hide behind some form of what they call Christianity, that are blatantly anti-Semitic. And it is very scary because there were a number of churches in Germany going into World War II that were anti-Semitic. There were a number of people in Britain going into World War II that were anti-Semitic, that wanted to give Hitler, that wanted to give Nazi Germany a free hand, a free reign, and it's just. It should be scary folks. It should be scary, which would be scary, and if we don't know history, then we're going to repeat it and we're going down a very, very strikingly similar path for a number of reasons today in America.

On a lighter note, if you are looking for a family-friendly, clean, wholesome, middle-grade fantasy, I would humbly recommend that you check out Countryside. You can get it on Amazon, barnes Noble I think. It's $3.99 on the Kindle now, but there's also paperback and hardback. If you enjoy it, if you leave a review, I'd be very grateful for that. That helps a lot. God bless y'all. God bless your families. God bless your marriages. God bless America. God bless your nation, wherever you are.