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. Sure do appreciate y'all joining me and giving me a little bit of your time, a little piece of your day. I will try to use it wisely. For those of y'all who continue to share the podcast with others and tell others about it, thank you. Very grateful for that. For those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast, thank you. Definitely need those 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 all your many blessings, Father, the ones we admit and the ones we don't, for whatever reason. Thank you for those listening to the podcast. Be with them and their families wherever they are around the world. Bless them. Guide them. Protect us from evil, Father. Help us to do your will. Help us to follow the commands of your Son Jesus Christ. To love you with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Be with those around the world, across our nation here in America who are hungry. Thirsty. Cold. Naked. In prison. Sick. Heartbroken. Help us to clothe those who are naked. To feed those who are hungry. To give water to those who are thirsty. To visit those who are sick and in prison. To care for the widow and the orphaned. Or the needy father. Help us to look for those in our own communities in our own backyards who need our attention and care. Our own families, churches, schools, communities. Be with the least of these, Father. Be with the children who are abused, taken advantage of. Help us to care for them, protect them. Show them you, Father, and your son Jesus Christ. And God, my word here, Father, please. 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? Have you made time to talk to Him in this crazy world, folks? All the things that we see, the storm clouds that seem to be brewing on the horizon. Are you making God your top priority each day throughout the day? Are we praying continuously? Are we seeking to do His will? Are we seeking to trust Him? Maybe, especially right now, when maybe times aren't so bad for us. So that when times are bad, we already have that faith and that trust in God regardless of the outcome. Because we know that since we put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, as the risen Son of God, that we've already started eternity. And no matter what happens in this temporal body, we're going to get to spend all of eternity with God and Jesus Christ. And if you're married, folks, how many days do you have left with your spouse? Do you know? I know the answer to that question already. You don't know. You don't know whether you're going to have them tonight tonight, through tomorrow night, through next week, through next year. You have no idea. There's not a single one of you listening to this podcast, there's not a person in the world that's married that knows how long they're going to have their spouse. Especially if you add in the completely dysfunctional, no fault divorce that we see now. Are you treating them each day the way God tells us to treat our spouse as a husband or a wife? Marriage verses for today are from one Peter chapter three, verses one through seven. Wives in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands, so that if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold, jewelry, or fine clothes. Rather it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great work in God's sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, like Sarah who obeyed Abraham and called him her Lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear. Husbands, in the same way, be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner, and as heirs with you of the generous gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers. Bible verses for today Second Timothy two twenty two through three hundred seventeen. Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts. Again I say don't get involved in foolish, ignorant arguments that only start fights. A servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people. Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people's hearts and they will learn the truth. Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil's trap, for they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants. You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times, for people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving, they will slander others and have no self control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that. They are the kind who work their way into people's homes and win the confidence of vulnerable women who are burdened with the guilt of sin and controlled by various desires. Such women are forever following new teachings, but they are never able to understand the truth. These teachers oppose the truth just as Janus and Jambus opposed Moses. They have depraved minds and a counterfeit faith. But they won't get away with this for long. Some day everyone will recognize what fools they are, just as with Janice and Jambus. But you, Timothy, certainly know what I teach and how I live, and what my purpose in life is. You know my faith, my patience, my love, and my endurance. You know how much persecution and suffering I have endured. You know all about how I was persecuted in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. But the Lord rescued me from all of it. Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil people and impostors will flourish. They will deceive others, and will themselves be deceived. But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. You have been taught the holy scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. Psalm ninety four verses one through twenty three. O Lord, the God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, let your glorious justice shine forth. Arise, O judge of the earth, give the proud what they deserve. How long, O Lord, how long will the wicked be allowed to gloat? How long will they speak with arrogance? How long will these evil people boast? They crush your people, Lord, hurting those you claim as your own. They kill widows and foreigners and mortar murder orphans. The Lord isn't looking, they say, and besides, the God of Israel doesn't care? Think again, you fools. When will you finally catch on? Is he deaf, the one who made your ears? Is he blind, the one who formed your eyes? He punishes the nations. Won't he also punish you? He knows everything. Doesn't he also know what you were doing? The Lord knows people's thoughts. He knows they are worthless. Joyful are those you discipline, Lord, those who teach you teach with your instructions. You give them relief from troubled times until a pit is dug to capture the wicked. The Lord will not reject his people, he will not abandon his special possession. Judgment will again be found on justice founded on justice, and those with virtuous hearts will pursue it. Who will protect me from the wicked? Who will stand up for me against evildoers? Unless the Lord had helped me, I would soon have settled in the silence of the grave. I cried out, I am slipping, but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me. When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer. Can unjust leaders claim that God is on their side? Leaders whose decrees permit injustice. They gang up against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death. But the Lord is my fortress, my God is the mighty rock where I hide. God will turn their sin, the sins of evil people back on them. He will destroy them for their sins. The Lord our God will destroy them. Proverbs twenty six verses six through eight. Trusting a fool to convey a message is like cutting off one's feet or drinking poison. A proverb in the mouth of the fool is useless as a paralyzed leg. Honoring a fool is as foolish as tying a stone to a slingshot. three verse one from Second Timothy. You know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times, for people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving. They will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. Verses twelve and thirteen Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil people and impostors will flourish. They will deceive others and will themselves be deceived. If we're following Christ and there's not something in our life that is painful, folks, you have to question whether, you know, we have to question whether we're really following Christ or not. Because there is going to be some kind of suffering. And it can take a lot of different ways, folks. It can be missed promotions, it can be lost love, it can be loneliness, it can be actual torture and imprisonment. There's a lot of different ways where you can suffer for following Jesus Christ. But there ought to be something in your life that is a struggle because you're choosing to follow Christ. And then the 13th verse there, deceive others and themselves be deceived. It's just another reason why it's so important for us to read the Bible each day, folks. Medal of Honor for today, Vito R. Bertoldo, Master Sergeant, World War II, Alpha Company, 242nd Infantry, 42nd Infantry Division, U.S. Army. January 9th to the 10th of 1945, Hatton, France. He fought with extreme gallantry while guarding two command posts against the assault of powerful infantry and armored forces which had overrun the battalion's main line of resistance. On the close approach of enemy soldiers, he left the protection of the building. He defended and set up his gun in the street there to remain for almost twelve hours driving back attacks while in full view of his adversaries. And completely exposed to eighty-eight millimeter machine gun at small arms fire. He moved back inside the command post, strapped his machine gun to a table, and covered the main approach to the building by firing through a window, remaining steadfast even in the face of eighty eight millimeter fire from tanks only seventy five yards away. One shell blasted him across the room, but he returned to his weapon. When two enemy personnel carriers led by a tank moved toward his position, he calmly waited for the troops to dismount, and then, with the tank firing directly at him, leaned out of the window and mowed down the entire group of more than twenty Germans. Sometime later, removal of the command post to another building was ordered. Master Sergeant Bertoldo voluntarily remained behind, covering withdrawal of his comrades and maintaining his stand all night. In the morning he carried his machine gun to an adjacent building used as the command post of another battalion and began a day long defense of that position. He broke up a heavy attack launched by a self propelled eighty eight millimeter gun covered by a tank and about fifteen infantrymen. Soon afterward, another eighty eight millimeter weapon moved up to within a few feet of his position, and placing the muzzle of its gun almost inside the building fired into the room, knocking him down and seriously wounding others. An American bazooka team set the German weapon afire, and Master Sergeant Bertoldo went back to his machine gun, dazed as he was, and killed several of the hostile troops as they attempted to withdraw. It was decided to evacuate the command post under the cover of darkness, but before the plan could be put into operation, the enemy began an intensive assault supported by fire from their tanks and heavy guns. Disregarding the devastating barrage, he remained at his post and hurled white phosphorus grenades into the advancing enemy troops until they broke and retreated. A tank less than fifty yards away fired at his stronghold, destroyed the machine gun, and blew him across the room again. But he once more returned to the bitter fight and with a rifle single-handedly covered the withdrawal of his fellow soldiers when the post was finally abandoned. With inspiring bravery and intrepidity, Master Sergeant Bertoldo withstood the attack of vastly superior forces for more than forty eight hours without relief or rest, time after time escaping death only by the slightest margin while killing at least forty hostile soldiers and wounding many more during his grim battle against the enemy hordes. Accredited to Decatur, Macon County, Illinois, not awarded posthumously. That's shocking. December eighteenth, nineteen forty five, presented at the White House by President Harry S. Truman. Born december first, nineteen sixteen, Decatur, Macone, Illinois, died july twenty third, nineteen sixty six, Martinez, California, buried Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, California. Fifty years old. Makes you wonder how he died. Seems young. Vito R Bertoldo Bertol Bertoldo. Another name, folks, that we ought to remember more than pop stars or athletes, especially those who stand against our nation or their song lyrics for that matter. Quote today is from President John Quincy Adams on the death of President Thomas Jefferson. The president with deep regrets announces that it has pleased the disposer of all human events in whose hands are the issues of life to remove from the scene of earthly existence our illustrious and venerated fellow citizen Thomas Jefferson. This disposition of divine providence afflicting to us, but the consummation of glory to him occurred on the fourth of the present month, on the fiftieth anniversary of that independence, the declaration of which, emanating from his mind, at once proclaimed the birth of a free nation and offered motives of hope and consolation to the whole family of men. His father, President John Adams, died that same day. And this was his quote there, President John Clincy Adams. It has become the painful duty to announce to the army the death of another distinguished and venerated citizen. John Adams departed this life on the fourth of this month. Like his compatriot Jefferson, he aided in drawing and ably supporting the Declaration of Independence. With a prophetic eye he looked through the impeding difficulties of the revolution, and foretold with what demonstrations of joy the anniversary of the birth of American freedom would be held. He was permitted to behold the verification of his prophecy and died as did Jefferson on the day of the Jubilee. A coincidence of circumstances so wonderful gives confidence to the belief that the patriotic efforts of these illustrious men were heaven directed, and furnishes a new seal to the hope that the prosperity of these saints is under the special protection of a kind providence. Those are some of the things, folks, that make it very hard for me to look at the history of our nation and not see God's hand and also not strengthen my own personal faith. How in the world do Jefferson and Adams both die on the same day on the fourth of July, on the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence? And the quotes just seemed relevant to recent events. Do we trust God even when we lose those we love, even in hard times? Folks, I can't I cannot say this enough. The only hope we have as a nation and as individuals is turning back to God and Jesus Christ. If you're looking for a middle grade, uh fantasy, family-friendly book series, kind of like Narnia The Hobbit, if you would check out Countryside, I would appreciate it. And if you enjoy it, if you'd leave a review, I'd appreciate that as well. 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. Listen, folks, we'll talk to y'all again real soon. Looking forward to it.