The American Soul
The American Soul
Soul of a Nation
Have you ever noticed how the same stubborn resistance that makes us reluctant to do the dishes or take out the trash also shows up when God asks something of us? In this thought-provoking exploration of personal faith, biblical marriage, and America's Christian heritage, Jesse Cope connects our individual spiritual disciplines to the health of our families and ultimately our nation.
At the heart of this episode lies a challenging question: how often do we claim we "don't have time" for God while freely spending hours on social media, streaming services, or other distractions? Jesse gently but firmly points out that our reluctance often isn't about inability but unwillingness—a subtle rebellion against divine authority that manifests in various aspects of our lives.
The conversation turns to marriage, examining 1 Peter 3's guidance for husbands and wives with refreshing candor. Jesse unpacks how submission isn't just a wife's burden but part of God's hierarchical design where everyone submits to proper authority. He argues that treating one's spouse as a precious "one out of seven billion" treasure reflects Christ's love while strengthening the foundational unit of society. Through poignant examples, including a family tragedy where three members were killed in an accident, he reminds listeners never to take loved ones for granted.
Most compelling is Jesse's examination of America's undeniable Christian roots through Justice Josiah Brewer's 1892 Supreme Court ruling. From colonial charters to state constitutions requiring officers to profess faith in Christ, the evidence demonstrates America was established as a Christian nation. Jesse clarifies that the First Amendment wasn't designed to remove God from public life but to prevent governmental favoritism toward specific denominations while maintaining general Christian principles in law and education.
This episode serves as both a personal spiritual check-up and a passionate call to preserve America's godly heritage. Whether you're seeking to strengthen your marriage, understand constitutional history, or simply deepen your faith walk, Jesse offers practical wisdom rooted in timeless biblical truth.
The American Soul Podcast
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1791934/subscribe
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. It's very to appreciate y'all joining me, giving me a little bit of your time and a little piece of your day. We'll try and use it wisely. Hopefully it'll give us all some extra tools for our toolbox. Hopefully it will help us, as individuals and as a nation, to move back closer to God and Jesus Christ, even if just a little bit. For those of y'all who continue to share the podcast with others, tell them about it. Thank you so much, very grateful for that. For those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast, thank you Very, very grateful for your prayers, need them and want them. And for those of y'all who are new here glad you're here. Hope you enjoy it. Hope you get something out of it. Hope you come back.
Speaker 1: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. Thank you that you hear us, even when we don't feel like it, even when it feels like we've been abandoned. Thank you for knowing that you have told us you will never leave us nor forsake us. Help us to do your will, father, to truly strive to do what you want us to each day. Help us to turn to you for forgiveness when we fail. And thank you for all the wonderful examples that you have given us throughout history of men and women who followed you, albeit imperfectly. Be with those, father, who are hurting and scared and alone and anxious. Comfort them, bless them. Be with those who are being persecuted simply because they follow your Son, jesus Christ. Comfort them, give them courage, help them to feel your presence. And thank you for all the people that listen, father, to the podcast, who are here today. Be with them, be with their families, surround them with your angels, give them comfort and peace. Psalm spirit. Help us to be still before you, father, and please guide my words here. In your son's name, we pray Amen.
Speaker 1: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? Are you asking him what he wants you to do? How often do we ask God? How often do we not even ask God what he wants us to do. But how often, even when we ask him, is there a little bit of hesitation in the back of our mind, a little bit of reservation going I'll do what you want me to God. Just don't ask me to do that. I really want to do what you want me to God. Just don't ask me to do that. I really want to do what you want me to God, but make sure it's not this thing over here. You can feel it when you pray, right, you're talking to God, telling him man, god, just show me what your will is, help me to do it, just as long as it's not this. Or maybe the better way we say it is just make sure it's not this, god, let's not do that part. We don't even know if God wants us to do that or not. We just want to make sure he knows we don't want to.
Speaker 1:At what point do we realize that we know what God wants us to do? Not always. I can't tell you how many times in my life I feel like I truly have no clue, at least not specifically. But how many times do we make excuses? It's not out of right. We get to the point and it's not out of anything other than rebellion and stubbornness. We're not doing what God called us to because we really can't or because we're unable. When we get down to the root cause, we just really don't want to. We don't feel like it.
Speaker 1:If you're a parent or if you're a kid, who's honest enough with themselves, but from the parent's side, how many times have you been interacting with your children and you're going through this list of excuses about why they don't want to do the dishes or take out the trash or help out in the field, to do the dishes or take out the trash or help out in the field? And you've answered all these questions and you finally get down to the point they just don't want to, right. And if you're not a parent, if you're a kid, how often have we done that as kids to our parents? What have you done today and yesterday? How have you spent your time? Do you really not have time for God? How much time did you spend on your phone scrolling social media? How much time did you spend watching Netflix? How much time did you spend reading for pleasure, not something that you had to read right for school or work? How much time did you spend watching sports? Just in the last day, much less.
Speaker 1:Go back and look at your track record over the last week, last month, last year, last five years, last 15 years, and then you think about your spouse to second to God and Jesus Christ. You ask yourself the same questions this, this person, the spouse that's supposed to be your? One out of seven billion, lord. Even in nations around the world where polygamy is still legal, it's still two or three out of seven billion, and I would bet that most of us in Christian nations don't even treat our spouse that good. Do we treasure them? Do we take them for granted? How often do we just assume that they're always going to be there?
Speaker 1:I told this story recently. It's been on my heart and mind a lot, though. Told this story recently. It's been on my heart and mind a lot, though. There's a family in our area, and I'm going to tell it again for those of y'all that are new. There was a mother and father and a son driving from one sporting event to the next one weekend, and they got hit by an 18-wheeler. All died. Their daughter, slash sister, was home at that point. She wasn't in the car with them and so in a matter of seconds she lost her mother and her father and her brother. You know, one of the things to cling to.
Speaker 1:I was reading through Pilgrim's Progress again and there was a great line this is the second book he wrote, I think talking about the wife's journey, and she's describing these great comforts that await in the kingdom, and it's really encouraging to be able to eat at the Lord's table, to be able to spend time with God and Jesus Christ and your friends and family who are there, to have your own mansion, your own place to live that God prepared specifically for you, you know. And she's also crying tears over the way that she treated her husband while he was alive. See, he's gone on, he's passed on, already gone over the river, as they said in that book, and he's in on, already gone over the river, as they said in that book, and he's in heaven already. And the wife is left with the kids at home, having degraded and belittled her husband, certainly not followed scripture right 1 Corinthians 7, ephesians 5, ephesians 5, titus 2, 1 Peter 3, which I think we're going to read today, actually Hebrews 13, 4. And so she's very tearful, she's upset about her past conduct because she didn't believe at that point.
Speaker 1:But how many of us do believe and yet we don't treat our spouse well. But there was encouragement, right, there was encouragement. My point was that those of us that have chosen to put our faith in Jesus Christ, to believe, to confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we have eternity and that's so encouraging. But we don't have eternity here with our spouse. We don't have endless amounts of opportunities to get things right. And it's a bitterness when you wake up one day and you realize that you have missed an opportunity to love someone and you passed it up and you can't get it back now. And some of you all know that when you've lost a parent or grandparent or sibling, or maybe even your spouse, there's a pain there that doesn't quite ever go away. When you realize that you've missed an opportunity to love someone, especially if you gave your time to something less important, right, and that that opportunity is gone now and you have the comfort in knowing that in eternity all of those tears and that pain will go away. But as we've said on the podcast, often here, eternal forgiveness does not wipe away earthly consequences.
Speaker 1:One Peter, three, I believe. I hope if I can get there, yeah, godly, living In the same way, you wives be submissive to your own husbands so that, even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. Your adornment must not be merely external braiding the hair, wearing gold jewelry or putting on dresses but let it be the hidden person of the heart, where the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God, for in this way, in former times, the holy women also who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands. Just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, and you have become her children. If you do what is right, without being frightened by any fear, you husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way as with someone weaker, since she is a woman, and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered. To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind-hearted and humble in spirit, not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead, for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit.
Speaker 1:A blessing For the one who desires life to love and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. He must turn away from evil and do good. He must seek peace and pursue it, for the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears attend to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed, and do not fear their intimidation and do not be troubled, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks, to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet, with gentleness and reverence. And keep a good conscience so that, in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. And keep a good conscience so that, in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. For it is better, if God should will it, so that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong, for Christ also died for our sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit, in which also he went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison who once were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that baptism now saves you, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to him. There's a ton here.
Speaker 1:I'm going to go back to the marriage stuff just because we talk about it so often and it's so important If you're new to the podcast. President Reagan made a quote in which he noted that the family was the cornerstone and I paraphrase that often of the nation made a quote in which he noted that the family was the cornerstone and I paraphrase that often of the nation. Well, if the family is the cornerstone of the nation. The marriage is the cornerstone of the family and that's why we talk about it so often, because so many of our issues I've got a good friend I've talked about here on the podcast from time to time that works in a juvenile prison and he'll tell you absolutely and if you, if you really want to go, go, go find a counselor at a school that you trust and ask them what percentage of the problems that they run into involve kids that come from broken families, broken marriages, and they're going to tell you, if they're honest, they're going to tell you 99% around there give or take a percentage, and this is a huge problem. It's the problem in public education. There's a lot of problems. In fact, it seems like a lot of times we've basically done everything exactly the opposite way that we should have done in order to make public education successful, and the biggest problem certainly is that we've taken God out of it over the last 80 years. That's perfectly clear now if you're honest. But the other thing is marriage and the family, and so these verses we're going to read back through them again.
Speaker 1:But one of the things they talk about, for example, is wives being subject to their husbands submissive. This last verse, verse 22, right, jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to him. It made me think of some commentary by CS Lewis. See, we're all subject to authority. Every single person alive on the planet is. There's a hierarchy of order and we all have an authority. Right, even in marriage, wives are supposed to be submissive to their husbands. Right, even in marriage, wives are supposed to be submissive to their husbands. Right, children are supposed to be submissive to their parents. Husbands are supposed to be submissive to God and Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:The problem today in marriage, in this particular aspect, isn't really wives being submissive to their husbands, so much as the very general human tendency of us all that we don't want to be submissive to anybody. And really what we're saying as husbands? Right, we don't want to submit to God and Jesus Christ. And that's really what wives are saying too, when they say that they don't want to submit to God and Jesus Christ. And that's really what wives are saying too, when they say that they don't want to submit to their husbands. What they're really saying is I don't want to do what you tell me to do, god. And we can go back to the example I talked about it from a sermon a couple weeks ago of Moses and the burning bush, right, and Moses, god, told him hey, I want you to go get my people out. And Moses starts coming up with all these excuses and basically what it is is he doesn't want to do it. I don't want to do what you tell me to do, god. I don't want to do it your way. Everybody is under authority, folks. Everybody is subject to authority.
Speaker 1:This idea that, particularly that feminism, has spread this boss, babe, idea, ceo, whatever you know, I don't need a man telling me what to do. Okay, well, how about God? How about God telling you what to do? Right, are we willing to go along with what God tells us to do? I'm not great at it, folks. I'm working on it pretty desperately.
Speaker 1:Verse one we'll just read through these again In the same way, you wives be submissive to your own husbands, so that, even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. How true is this really, both of wives and husbands. How many spouses have been won over not by words, but by actions? And if this person is supposed to be our one out of seven billion, this treasure beyond price, I mean, shouldn't that be our goal each day, to win them over, especially if they're not believers? Right, which just a little side note here if you're not married yet and you're looking for someone to marry, marrying someone who doesn't believe in God and Jesus Christ, that's going to make marriage really hard. God tells us specifically not to be yoked with unbelievers, and I think a lot of my generation who claim to follow Christ ignored that warning, ignored that instruction, to their own peril, to their own peril.
Speaker 1:It makes life really hard to be married to someone who doesn't believe in because there's no, who doesn't believe in God and Jesus Christ because there's no fundamental foundation, there's no basis. This is the problem we're having as a nation. Right, you can really look at the nation as a marriage right now between basically left and right, and the problem is politically, we used to differentiate, right, it's not that we haven't had parties, although that's dangerous. George Washington warned us against that but it's not that we haven't had parties, although that's dangerous, george Washington warned us against that. But it's not that we haven't had political parties throughout the history of our nation, with some really strong disagreements, obviously. But the difference is that we always used to have the same bedrock principles to come back to that were laid out in the Bible and we don't today, and that's why we're going to have a fight for slavery under the tyranny of the love right. Those are the two basic outcomes, barring a miracle by God, which would be wonderful. But in marriage, if you don't have that same foundation of principle, it makes life really hard because you don't have like a, like a base. You know, like when you're playing tag as a kid and you had home base and you could run back to and you could be safe at home base, right, if you got the home base, nobody could tag you, they couldn't get you. If you marry someone that doesn't truly believe in Jesus Christ and and that's not their goals, aren't God's goals right, they don't want to submit to God. There is no home base. You can go back to home base, but they're still going to be out there, your teammates going to be out there, running around willy nilly with the devil chasing them, with the devil chasing them.
Speaker 1:Verse 3, your adornment must not be merely external braiding the hair and wearing gold jewelry or putting on dresses but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. How many today, ladies, how many of y'all would say that you're worried about a gentle and quiet spirit? How many of y'all are worried more about that than the way you look and what you wear? That hidden person of heart, a gentle and quiet spirit Is that your goal each day, especially regarding your husband? Is your goal to be gentle and quiet or is it to be right and in charge and making sure that you don't have a man that tells you what to do? Verse 5, for in this way, in former times, the holy women also who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, just as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord. Being submissive to their own husbands, just as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord. And you have become her children, if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.
Speaker 1:I think there's a great tendency to kind of use I know this is true, y'all know this is true to use laughter as a defensive mechanism, right, and I think a lot of people here would be like well, of course nobody's saying that you ought to call your husband Lord or master, you know, depending on the translation. That's just ridiculous, but what it really means. There was a lady at our church who's kind of a pillar been there for a long time. She and her husband have, and we were. We had a little game night or dinner one night, I can't remember, and for whatever reason it was either early or late, it was either getting ready for it or closing down, and it was just her and her husband and a couple other people there and they were talking about marriage for some reason, I don't know their, their particular relationship actually, and I made the very common joking comment Well, you know, we know who's running the house, or something like that. And this very kind lady, she looked up and she goes no, I don't, I don't, I'm not in charge, I do what he tells me to. That's my job and I took the criticism, I think pretty well, I understand what she was saying and I think too often we make light of Scripture and we kind of joke in today's setting, when we ought to just read Scripture for what it is right when we ought to just read scripture for what it is right For in this way.
Speaker 1:In former times, the holy women also who hoped in God used to adorn themselves being submissive to their own husbands, just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, and you have become her children.
Speaker 1:If you do what is right without being frightened by any fear, if you're married as a woman or if you want to be, are you submissive to your husband? Do you obey your husband? Do you view him call him Lord, master, depending on the translation? Are you trying to do what God says is right, or are you allowing fear to control your life and your marriage? All questions you have to answer, folks. You husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way as with someone weaker, since she is a woman, and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered that last part really ought to hurt a little bit so that your prayers will not be hindered. Are you understanding with your wives, even when they don't deserve it, even when you don't feel like it? Do you acknowledge that she's weaker and therefore you need to treat her in an understanding way, and not even necessarily just physically. I talk about this often in the military. I can go out and find some women that can pass the physical standard 100% guaranteed pull-ups, run-time, sit-ups, push-ups, the whole nine yards. Not very many, but I can find a few.
Speaker 1:The greater problem is the dysfunction really comes from a psychological aspect in the military of co-ed units. They just don't function well together. Probably the best example that most people would know is if you took an all-male football team and you threw one female on that team. Or if you took an all-female volleyball team and you threw one male on that team. By the way, I'm not talking about transgender. I'm not talking about someone that's mentally ill, that thinks that they're a man when they're really a woman or thinks that they're a woman when they're really a man. I'm talking about if you took one of those teams, those sports teams, and you put one person of the opposite gender on that team, how much that would disrupt the camaraderie, the good order and discipline of that unit Right order and discipline of that unit right. And so, when they're talking here, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way as with someone weaker.
Speaker 1:There's another verse in the New Testament talking about women being deceived. Right, adam and Eve. Do you live in an understanding way or are you harsh? Do you not have patience and do you show her honor as a fellow heir, not as a, as a subpar heir, not as a second class citizen, as women are treated in so much of the world, particularly in Muslim countries, if you haven't been there but as a fellow heir, an equal heir of the grace of life? Do you really look at your wife that way? Because, as far as I can tell from reading the Bible and this verse is a great example of fellow heir of the grace of life.
Speaker 1:In God's eyes, men and women are equally valuable in the kingdom of heaven. It's not like we're going to get there and he's going to say oh well, y'all are more important One way or the other. The men aren't going to be more important. The women aren't going to be more important. One way or the other. The men aren't going to be more important. The women aren't going to be more important. But it is very much going to matter if we followed our different roles and responsibilities. And then the last part right, so that your prayers will not be hindered Gents, how many of us feel like our prayers aren't being heard? How many of us feel like our prayers aren't being heard? How many of us are treating our wives with honor? I know I've gone over this section, folks. I mean I've gone over the time limit for this segment, but it's really important. Our marriages in our nation are dysfunctional, to say the least. Be the example that your kids want to have, not the example of what they don't want to have in a marriage.
Speaker 1:And before you listen to anybody myself included read Scripture. While you're listening to people, you go to a marriage conference, you listen to marriage counselors. Read scripture at the same time. Go to those verses constantly. What does the Bible say? What does God say about how marriage is supposed to function? And if somebody you're listening to is telling you something different, they're wrong 100%, without question, every single different. They're wrong A hundred percent, without question, every single time they're wrong. All right, I know I went over to big deal. So just like marriage right, and going back to scripture and just all aspects of life. And you go back to scripture and you check what people, what your pastor's teaching your priest, whoever you're listening to, right, somebody that wrote a book and you always check it against scripture. That's the point. And you remember how many people have suffered before us so that we could have the Bible in our hand. Are we using it? Are we honoring their sacrifice? Same way with our founding documents.
Speaker 1:Instead of just listening to somebody on CNN or MSNBC or Fox News or New York Times or LA Times or Wall Street Journal or whatever, when you hear somebody talking about, well, this is what our nation was intended to be, go back and actually look at some of the founding documents, and I hope that this podcast helps with that. I hope it gives you some of these tools to work with. But go back and read this stuff. The last few days, we've been talking about this Supreme Court case from 1892, holy Trinity Church versus the United States and Justice Josiah Brewer, talking about all these different examples throughout our history, before we were a nation and after we became a nation, about how we are a Christian nation. And so when somebody tells you, oh, no, we were mostly founded by deists, okay, well, you go back and you look at, for example, the Patriots Bible edited by Dr Richard Lee, and you look at the page where he talks about, okay, well, the constitutional delegates? Well, there's 55 of them. They were representative of the body as a whole and over 90% of them were Christians. So that's not true. You know that that's not true. We weren't founded by a bunch of random deists, and even the ones who were deists had a biblical worldview. And then you say well, you know, for example, columbus, we talk about him each year. Well, columbus, he didn't want anything to do with God, he was just coming to rape, pillage and plunder.
Speaker 1:You look at this particular Supreme Court case and Josiah Brewer talks briefly about Columbus. Or you go back and you look at some of Columbus's own writings, right? So anyway, we're going through this. We've gone from Columbus. First colonial grant made to Sir Walter Riley, first charter of Virginia granted by King James, first Charter of Virginia granted by King James. Follow-on charters Mayflower Compact in the early 1600s, fundamental Orders of Connecticut shortly thereafter, charter of Privileges by William Penn, declaration of Independence, state Constitutions. We've looked at Illinois, indiana, maryland, massachusetts, and so we'll just keep going in this Supreme Court case. So this is a great tool to add to your tool bag.
Speaker 1:Still talking about state constitutions, right here, or as in sections 5 and 14 of Article 7 of the Constitution of Mississippi, 1832, no person who denies the being of a god or a future state of rewards and punishments shall hold any office in the civil department of this state. Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government, the preservation of liberty and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged in this state. That's pretty huge folks. How do we maintain good government? How do we maintain, how do we preserve liberty, how do we maintain the happiness, or the ability for happiness, of mankind? Well, we need religion, christianity, right, that's what they're talking about. They're not talking about Islam, judaism, hinduism, buddhism. They're talking about Christianity, about Islam, judaism, hinduism, buddhism. They're talking about Christianity.
Speaker 1:And even if they weren't folks, even if somehow you pretended for the moment that they were just talking about religion, in general history shows that it's got to be Christianity, the general principles of Christ, not denominational doctrine, because America has produced the most pure strand of liberty that any country ever has around the world in the history of the world, and so if it could have been done through islam, for example, or hinduism or buddhism, it would have been done, but it wasn't if it could have been done via denominational doctrine, ie Roman Catholic Church, orthodox churches. It would have been, but it wasn't. And so you need the general principles of Jesus Christ as laid out in the Bible, not denominational doctrine and not any other false, heretical religion, certainly not atheism or communism, leftism, socialism or Satanism. Right, you need those general principles of Christ and so you need to teach them. You've got to have them in schools. You've got to have that means of education and it's got to be centered around the Bible. Fisher Ames, the guy that actually worded the Establishment Clause as opposed to all the people telling you today in Ivy League colleges and on news and in the paper this guy actually was there at the Constitutional Convention. He actually worded the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment and he said the Bible should be the primary text, not just even an important text, the primary text in our schools.
Speaker 1:And then the Constitution of the State of Mississippi, here, 1832. And then a constitution of the state of Mississippi, here, 1832. Religion, morality and knowledge are necessary for good government, preservation of liberty and happiness of mankind. Or by Article 22 of the Constitution of Delaware, 1776, which required all officers, besides an oath of allegiance, to make and subscribe the following declaration I state your name, do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God blessed forevermore. And I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration. Hard to get around that, folks. Constitution of Delaware, 1776. And again, you've got to remember where is this coming from? This is coming from a Supreme Court case in 1892. Constitution of Delaware if all officers, besides an oath of allegiance, all officers, besides an oath of allegiance, they had to acknowledge faith in God the Father and Jesus Christ, his only son, and in the Holy Spirit, and acknowledge that the Holy Scriptures, the Old and the New Testament, were given by God, by divine inspiration. And if you didn't acknowledge that, if you weren't willing to swear that oath, you couldn't be an officer in Delaware.
Speaker 1:I, folks, when somebody tells you that we weren't specifically born a Christian republic, this would be a great tool If you can, if you can talk about it kindly, if they're really willing to listen. And I think that's another thing. I hammer this often, folks, this last election didn't end the war. This was not a atomic bomb type event like Hiroshima right Nakasaki. This was the do-little raid after Pearl Harbor.
Speaker 1:At best. This was the Doolittle raid after Pearl Harbor, at best and we need to be doing everything we can do to use this very probably brief nation based on the teachings of Christ, whether it's leftism or Islam or anything else. The idea of peaceful coexistence with them inside the United States. It's just not logical folks, it's not feasible. It's not logical folks, it's not feasible. But when you do and most of them folks, it's kind of like us, like we talked about the other day on the podcast. Maybe we've talked about it for a few days. There's so many times where we just don't want to do. We know what the truth is, but we just don't care. But if you find somebody that truly does care, this is a great thing.
Speaker 1:This Constitution of Delaware out of the Supreme Court case at the beginning of our nation, if you're going to be an officer in Delaware, you have to have faith in God, the Father, jesus Christ, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and you have to acknowledge that the Bible, both the Old and the New Testament, were given by divine inspiration, by God. Even the Constitution of the United States, which is supposed to have little touch upon the private life of the individual, contains, in the First Amendment, a declaration common to the constitutions of all the states as follows common to the constitutions of all the states as follow Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, etc. And also provides in Article 1, section 7 of Provision, common to many constitutions, that the executive shall have ten days Sundays accepted within which to determine whether he will approve or veto a bill. So why Sundays accepted? Right, because that's the Sabbath, that's the Holy Day, right, and that's why. And so even in the Constitution of the United States there is indirect reference to Christianity. But this other part, first Amendment Constitution shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
Speaker 1:Who worded that? Fisher Ames, congressman from Massachusetts, right. And what did he say about the Bible? He said the Bible should be the primary textbook in our schools. Same guy, it's a good thing to know, so that when somebody tells you that our publicly funded schools in America shouldn't have anything to do with God, you can say well, actually, the guy that worded the Establishment Clause and the First amendment said that, that it should, said that the bible actually ought to be the primary textbook in our schools.
Speaker 1:There is no dissonance in these declarations. There is a universal language pervading them all, having one meaning they affirm and reaffirm that this is a religious nation. These are not individual sayings, declarations of private persons. They are organic utterances. They speak the voice of the entire people, while, because of a general recognition of this truth, the question has seldom been presented to the courts. Yet we find that in Uptograph.
Speaker 1:If I'm saying that, right versus Calm, I'm not familiar with this Supreme Court case, or at least not enough to know what the last name was. I'm sorry, folks, but you can read it here. It was decided that Christianity, general Christianity, is and always has been a part of the common law of Pennsylvania. I think we have read that court case on here, but I can't remember it right now. I think we have read that court case on here, but I can't remember it right now.
Speaker 1:Not Christianity with an established church and tithes and spiritual courts, but Christianity with liberty of conscience to all men, folks. That's a huge point right there. That's what we talk about so often. Regarding the 1947 Supreme Court case of Everson v Board of Education, they used the guise of separation of church and state, but what they really meant was separation of God and state. They took something that Thomas Jefferson wrote 13 years after the ratification of the Constitution. They twisted it to mean what he didn't mean it to mean in the first place. Right, get your head wrapped around that. But this quote here from Updegraff, from the Supreme Court case Christianity, general Christianity, is and has always been a part of the common law of Pennsylvania. Not Christianity with an established church and tithes and spiritual courts, but Christianity with liberty of conscience, installment. That's the crux of the whole thing, folks. The First Amendment religious freedom. It wasn't meant to equalize all religions. It wasn't meant to drag Christianity down to the level of imposters. It was meant so that the state didn't favor a particular church Roman Catholic, orthodox, anglican, etc. It was meant so that you could be a Baptist or a Methodist or Lutheran or Catholic or Orthodox or Anglican. It was meant not to separate the general principles of Jesus Christ out of the law but to make sure it was the general principles of Christ that were in the law, that were associated with the law, and not the denominational doctrine of a particular church.
Speaker 1:And in People vs Ruggles. Chancellor Kent, the great commentator on American law. Chancellor Kent, the great commentator on American law, speaking as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New York, said the people of this state, in common with the people of this country, profess the general doctrines of Christianity as the rule of their faith and practice, and to scandalize the author of these doctrines is not only in a religious point of view extremely impious, but even in respect to the obligations due to society is a gross violation of decency and good order. The free, equal and undisturbed enjoyment of religious opinion, whatever it may be, and free and decent discussions on any religious subject is granted and secured, but to revile with malicious and blasphemous contempt the religion professed by almost the whole community is an abuse of that right.
Speaker 1:Nor are we bound by any expression in the Constitution, as some have strangely supposed, either not to punish at all or to punish indiscriminately the like attacks upon the religion of Muhammad and of the Grand Lama, and for this plain reason that the case assumes that we are a Christian people and the morality of the country is deeply engrafted upon Christianity and not upon the doctrines or worship of those imposters. We just read through this recently. If y'all have been here on the podcast you're quite familiar with it. So there's no responsibility in the Constitution not to punish people who revile christianity. And and chancellor kent here, right, he says it's strange that people would suppose that that we have some duty not to punish those who attack christianity, or that we have a responsibility to punish all indiscriminately right, like, like Islam or Buddhism, hinduism, because our country, the morality of our country, almost universally, was founded on and grafted upon Christianity, not upon the doctrines or worship of those imposters, because they're imposters, folks.
Speaker 1:It's not the truth. There is just one truth Jesus Christ. Right. I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the only way to the Father, the only way that you're going to get to salvation and eternal life. And it's not kind, folks. Just a little side note and we'll wrap up. It's not kind to encourage people to go along with the fallacy of belief, whatever it is right. It's not kind to tell people there's a lot of different ways to God and to eternal life. There's not. There's one way. You can't get there being a Muslim. You can't get there being a Buddhist or Hindu. You can't get there being an atheist. It's not because of your own good works, you can't just do a good job and get there. The only way you can get there is through Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:It's not kind or loving to go along with somebody who's a man that thinks they're a woman. It's like playing a game with a kid and you know the kid's wrong. Right, this is a cruel thing. A lot of kids do this. You'll see them. There'll be one kid that just isn't quite smart enough to figure it out and they start to say something and everybody knows it's wrong and the bully in the classroom goes along with it and pretends like the kid's right to make even more fun of them. Some of you have experienced that in your life. That's not kind or loving. It's not kind to look at this person that's obviously a man but they want to pretend to be a woman and go along with it, be like, oh yeah, you're totally a woman. It's cowardly or cruel or both. It's not loving folks to go along with abortion, with murdering a child, pretending it's a right. You think that's kind to that child as they're being ripped apart, to that child, as they're being ripped apart.
Speaker 1:It's not kind or caring to go along with the left's lie that our nation was founded as a secular nation and required the separation of God and state, as opposed to this list of examples Justice Josiah Brewer has given us and, for example, fisher Ames, who actually worded the First Amendment and said that the Bible should be the primary textbook in our schools. That's loving to tell the truth. Telling the truth, regardless of tone of voice, is always more loving than going along with a lie, and that may hurt some people's feelings, folks, but just again, telling the truth, even in ways that are kind of abrasive or very abrasive, telling the truth is always more loving than going along with a lie. God bless y'all. God bless your families. God bless your marriages, if you're married. God bless America. God bless your nation, wherever you are around the world. Listen, we'll talk to y'all again real soon, looking forward to it.