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 do appreciate you joining me, giving me a little bit of your time and attention, a little piece of your day. I will try and use it wisely. For those of y'all who continue to share the podcast and tell others about it, thank you Very, very grateful for that. And for those of y'all who pray for me and for the podcast, thank you Very, very grateful for your prayers.

Father, thank you for today. 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. Thank you for your guidance, even when we can't see it. Thank you for your patience when we reject your guidance.

Be with those who listen to the podcast, father. Thank you for them. Be with their families. Surround them with your angels. Protect them from evil of any kind. Guide us through the day, father. Help us to love you with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength. Help us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Thank you for those men and women who have gone before us who have sacrificed so much, given so much, that we might be able to worship you freely, without fear of persecution by church or state, that we might be able to read your word, to have your word in our homes without fear of imprisonment, torture, rape or death. Guide us, father. Be with our nation. Be with those who lead us, both in the pulpit and in the state. Watch over our pastors and our priests. Give them wisdom and courage and a strong faith. Be with their families. Be with those who are hurting and alone, father, those who feel abandoned. Comfort them, help us to comfort them. Care for them, to care for the widow and the orphan, the poor and the needy. And God, my words are Father, please, in your son's name, we pray Amen. Have you made time for God today? Have you made time to read his word? Have you made time to pray to him, to listen to him? Is God really our top priority today? Are we storing up for ourselves treasures in heaven and not here on earth? Do we strive to follow his commands? Not perfectly, folks, we're not going to be perfect. But when we fail, do we pick ourselves up and struggle on again? And do we help our brothers and sisters when they struggle, when they fail and falter.

One of the reasons that I know how desperately I need Jesus Christ is because, when I look back in my life, folks, even if I could manage which I can't to live a perfect life from here on out and never sin even one more time, I have built up such a load of sins in my life already that I have to have Jesus Christ. That's my only hope. There's no other way that I'm going to have Jesus Christ. That's my only hope. There's no other way that I'm going to get into heaven outside of him. And I've said this before. I saw it again on social media recently Folks, if somebody's telling you that you have to be part of their denomination, in addition to confessing Christ, in order to have salvation or eternal life, or if somebody's telling you that there was any other human being that ever lived a sinless, perfect life and therefore can offer you salvation and eternal life, they're following something, but it isn't Christianity, it's not Jesus Christ. You don't need anything else, because God says. The Father says that he's the one mediator between God and man, out of Timothy, I think, if I remember that correctly.

And if you're married, does your spouse know it? Do you act like it? Or are you more excited about sports or a new movie or TV show than you are about your spouse? A lot of times we like to point the finger at our spouse and blame them for our actions, for the state of our marriage, for whatever, blame them for our actions, for the state of our marriage, for whatever. A lot of times, the truth is that our lack of enthusiasm, our lack of cleaving to our spouse has as much, if not more, to do with us than them. And regardless, the bottom line is right, john Quincy Adams duty is ours, results are God's. As a husband or a wife, you have a responsibility to follow your roles and responsibilities as laid out by God, regardless of your spouse, with the only exceptions, obviously, being infidelity or violence. That changes the terms a little bit, and violence, well, anyway, that's a whole different discussion.

So today we're going to talk a little bit about Charlie Kirk, and we're actually we're not going to talk that much about him. But it's been about a week give or take, and his assassination has stuck with me longer than I thought it would, and I'm not exactly sure why. I think, if I haven't mentioned that already, then I am now and I probably will again. But one of the things that has really stuck with me about his assassination is wondering if it wasn't kind of one of those watershed moments in our country's history, and the one that always pops into my mind or not always, but often is the Boston Massacre. And in that case, right, the patriots were in the wrong, the mob, the people, the British soldiers actually were in the right. John Adams ended up successfully defending them against an extremely hostile native population. But the point was still, it illustrated the sentiment, the feelings, the frustration, the anger, the hurt, the resentment that was present in the nation at that time, in the colonies. And I wonder if this doesn't echo that it's not the same. The circumstances are definitely not the same, but if the sentiment and perhaps the result will end up being the same or leading toward that same point, which is revolution.

There's a great quote and I don't have it in front of me by a reverend back in 1969. There it is, Reverend Tom Skinner. I'm convinced America is at her crisis hour. Revolution is inevitable. It's just a matter of which faction is going to prove strongest and will win out in the end. I believe most Americans are so apathetic that they will just sit back and go to whoever wins the struggle. And I feel that statement today, folks.

So what we're going to do today is we're going to go back to Reverend Jacob Ducey and the Continental Congress back in September of 1774. And the very first act, official act, of the Continental Congress was to decide to hear prayer, was to decide to hear prayer, and they decided that that prayer should be from Reverend Ducey. And so, accordingly, on the 7th of September he came in and the interesting thing is, the psalm for that day was Psalm 35, and we're going to read through that. And then the really interesting thing is typically in those days, prayer, especially before a political body, seemed to be a little bit more formal perhaps than it is today maybe a lot. And he broke into extemporaneous prayer, and we'll read through that too, but we'll start with Psalm 35.

Contend, o Lord, with those who contend with me, but we'll start with Psalm 35. So the spear and the battle axe to meet those who pursue me Say to my soul I am your salvation. Let those be ashamed and dishonored who seek my life. Let those be turned back and humiliated who devise evil against me. Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them on. Let their way be dark and slippery. With the angel of the Lord, it shall exult in his salvation. All my bones will say Lord, who is like you, who delivers the afflicted from him, who is too strong for him and the afflicted and the needy from him, who robs him.

Malicious witnesses rise up. They ask me of things that I do not know. They repay me evil for good, to the bereavement of my soul. But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I humbled my soul with fasting and my prayer kept returning to my bosom. I went about as though it were my friend or brother. I bowed down mourning, as one who sorrows for a mother. But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered themselves together. The smiters, whom I did not know, gathered together against me. They slandered me without ceasing, like godless gestures. At a feast. They gnashed at me with their teeth. Lord, how long will you look on? Rescue my soul from their ravages, my only life from the lions. I will give you thanks in the great congregation. I will praise you among a mighty throng.

Do not let those who are wrongfully my enemies rejoice over me. Nor let those who hate me without cause wink maliciously, for they do not speak peace, but they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land. They open their mouth wide against me. They said Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it, you have seen it, o Lord. Do not keep silent, o Lord, do not be far from me. Stir up yourself and awake to my right and to my cause, my God and my Lord. Judge me, o Lord, my God, according to your righteousness, and do not let them rejoice over me. Do not let them say in their heart Aha, our desire. Do not let them say we have swallowed him up. Let those be ashamed and humiliated altogether who rejoice at my distress. Let those be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves over me. Let them shout for joy and rejoice who favor my vindication and let them say continually the Lord be magnified, who delights in the prosperity of his servant, and my tongue shall declare your righteousness and your praise all day long.

The prayer that Reverend Duchesne went into after that. Nope, I've got it. Be patient, I picked up the wrong book great resources, by the way Patriot's Bible, founder's Bible and America's God and Country Encyclopedia's quotes. Highly recommend hard copies of all of those for your house. They ought to be primary textbooks in every classroom across the nation.

Reverend Duchesne's Prayer. O Lord, our Heavenly Father, high and Mighty, king of kings and Lord of lords, who dusts from thy throne, behold all the dwellers on earth and reignest with power supreme and uncontrolled over all the kingdoms, empires and governments. Look down in mercy. We beseech thee on these, our American states, who have fled to thee from the rod of the oppressor and thrown themselves on thy gracious protection, desiring to be henceforth dependent only on thee. To thee have they appealed for the righteousness of their cause. To thee do they now look up for that countenance and support which thou alone can give. Take them therefore, heavenly Father, under thy nurturing care. Give them wisdom and counsel and valor in the field, defeat the malicious designs of our cruel adversaries, convince them of the unrighteousness of their cause and, if they persist in their sanguinary purposes of own unerring, justice sounding in their hearts could strain them to drop the weapons of war from their unnerved hands in the day of battle. Be thou present, o God of wisdom, and direct the councils of this honorable assembly, enable them to settle things on the best and surest foundation, that the scene of blood may be speedily closed, that order, harmony and peace may be effectually restored and truth and justice, religion and piety prevail and flourish amongst the people, Preserve the health of their bodies and vigor of their minds, shower down on them and the millions they hear represent such temporal blessings as thou seest expedient for them in this world and crown them with everlasting glory in the world to come. All this we ask in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, thy Son and our Savior, amen.

Quote from Adams. He wrote a letter to his wife. It's more lengthy than this, obviously, but this line I never saw a greater effect upon an audience. It seemed as if heaven had ordained that psalm to be read on the morning, talking about Psalm 35. So why this, I guess, folks? Just as simply because I wonder if we're not at that same point in history or a similar point, headed toward revolution, to remind ourselves that the only reason that we have survived and thrived as a nation is because of God and Jesus Christ, and to humbly turn to Him and beseech His aid and His help, as our founders did. You remember that this is the first official act of the Continental Congress? You remember that this is the first official act of the Continental Congress. Remind yourself of that when you hear someone tell you that this was founded as some kind of random deist or secular nation, they obviously don't know history or if they do, they have ulterior motives.

The other part of this, going back to Charlie Kirk and his assassination, is something I've talked about with my father often recently. Not the ones that are gone, but the ones that are left behind, because from all appearances and his own words, it seems like Charlie Kirk is in heaven with God and Jesus Christ. Today there is no more pain for him, no more sorrow, no more sadness, no more heartache, no more illness, no more injury, forever, for all of eternity. His wife and his children are still here and we can offer them comfort. There's a couple quotes here that I want to close out with from CS Lewis. The first one is from the Problem of Pain.

In all discussions of hell, we should keep steadily before our eyes the possible damnation, not of our enemies nor our friends, but of ourselves. We need to remember that, folks, first and foremost, that the only reason that we avoid damnation, hell is because of Jesus Christ, and that's true of every single person throughout the history of the world. The only reason that we avoid that is the Son of God, one way or another. The second quote is from the Great Divorce, again by CS Lewis.

All three of these quotes are there are only two kinds of people in the end those who say to God, thy will be done, and those to whom God says, in the end, Thy will be done. All that are in hell, choose it. Without that self-choice, there could be no hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find To those who knock, it is opened. Constantly seek Folks turn to God each day and ask Him for help doing His will above all else. The choice before every human is to choose to do God's will or to choose to do our own will. And you're not going to be perfect about it, folks, don't worry about that. If you are, I can answer that for you already. You won't be perfect, you'll fail. The important part is to get back up and dust yourself off, look toward Christ and run the race and know that he will bring you all the way home, based on his merit.

And the last quote that I think is probably pretty fitting for Charlie Kirk that is attributed to CS Lewis. I'm not sure that he actually is the one that said it, but I'm sure that he probably felt this way if he didn't say it exactly this way. My prayer is that when I die, all of hell rejoices that I am out of the fight, that I am out of the fight. There's nothing that I want more in my life, folks, than to one day hear God say well done, good and faithful servant, and I imagine that's just another way of saying that that my hope is. Whenever I'm called home, all of hell rejoices that I am out of the fight, and I would bet you that they are with Charlie Kirk being home in heaven with God. God bless y'all. God bless your families. God bless your marriages. God bless America. God bless your nation. Wherever you are around the world, we'll talk to y'all again real soon. Folks Looking forward to it.