The American Soul
Are you tired of hearing the myth about separation of church and state? Are you tired of being told that America is not and never was a Christian nation? Do you want to have the information to stand up for the truth and fight back against this fundamental lie that’s invading our culture and education? Each week, host Jesse Cope will dive into quotes and excerpts from our great leaders and documents throughout our history showing how in President Woodrow Wilson’s words “America was born a Christian nation.” We have the truth on our side and together we can absolutely turn our nation around. Follow Jesse @jtcope4 on X for daily doses of the truth to help fight back. Subscribe to The American Soul and share the show with someone who needs to hear it. We're on a mission to spread the truth and get our nation back on the right track — and you can help us make this possible.
The American Soul
Swords, Scripture, And Small-Town PTA Meetings Walk Into A Podcast
Headlines can numb the soul, but they can also wake it. We open with prayer and move straight into the hard reality of targeted violence and public fear, then trace a path that blends courage with compassion. Our focus is local and concrete: how to strengthen law enforcement, firefighters, EMS, and communication networks so communities are ready before a crisis, not after. The goal isn’t alarm—it's stewardship. When neighbors talk, train, and plan, the ground under our feet steadies.
From there, we ground public life in private covenant. We read the marriage passages from Corinthians and Genesis, exploring how a husband and wife, joined as one, form a stable center for children and community. That foundation links to a journey of prudence: Joseph, Mary, and the child Jesus flee danger, wait for God’s timing, and return only when it’s safe. Obedience here looks like preparation, patience, and movement guided by wisdom. It’s a blueprint for modern families facing uncertainty without surrendering to fear.
Scripture keeps widening the frame. Psalm 2 reminds us that rulers rage, but God reigns; Proverbs calls us to humility and discipline. We pause to honor a Medal of Honor recipient whose brief citation hints at decisive bravery, then hear FDR’s Christmas reading on radical grace—an invitation that stretches even to the hardest hearts. We hold both truths together: salvation is offered to all, and love protects the vulnerable. That’s why moral clarity and community readiness belong side by side.
If this conversation stirred you, share it with a friend, subscribe for future episodes, and leave a review so others can find the show. Tell us one step you’ll take this week—support a first responder, read the marriage passages with your spouse, or start a neighborhood safety chat. Your action matters.
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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, 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, tell others about it, thank you. Hope y'all are getting to listen to it with someone else today. 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.
SPEAKER_01: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, the merit of your son, Jesus Christ. Thank you for all the blessings that you bestow upon us, the ones we admit and the ones we don't, for whatever reason. Forgive us our lack of gratitude, pride, greed, vanity, arrogance, judgment of others, gossip, slander, hypocrisy, lust, covetousness, rash words and actions. Our cowardice and our unbelief. Help us to overcome them all. We do believe. Guide them and bless them, strengthen the marriages of those who are married. Help those who have children to raise them to know you. Walk beside us, help us to feel your presence, Father. Fill us with your Holy Spirit. Jesus, please walk beside us. Be with our military and our law enforcement, firefighters, EMS. Keep them safe. Be with the families of those who have lost loved ones recently. Help us to turn our nation back to you, Father. Prepare us for whatever storms are coming. Help us to cling to you and your son, to trust you always. To know that you have us in your hands and that you will bring us home safely because you've promised to, because of your son, not because of anything we've done. And please, guide my words here, Father. Your son saying we pray. Amen. So we come back to this again and again.
SPEAKER_00:There's yet again news stories, both in the United States and Australia, that y'all have probably heard over the last week.
SPEAKER_01:A shooting at Brown University that appears to be targeted and a mass shooting in Australia. Folks, there's no pretty way to paint this.
SPEAKER_00:There's no other way to angle this. Peaceful coexistence with people who insist on following leftism, that whole bucket of isms that we talk about all the time: leftism, communism, socialism, Nazism, fascism. Because Nazism, fascism, folks, people try and claim their way on the right, but if you really want to go far right, far right is Jesus Christ. That's as far right as you can go. And so all these buckets of isms, they're on the other end of the spectrum, folks. And you can call it whatever you want, but all that bucket of isms and Islam, which go hand in hand, hand in glove together, you're never going to have a society which has liberty that peacefully coexists with those ideologies.
SPEAKER_01:It's not going to happen. The actions defy clinging to that fantasy.
SPEAKER_00:And so again, whatever you can do in your Christian and conservative area to increase the quality, quantity, training, equipment of your local law enforcement, firefighters, EMS, and militia, do talk to somebody, anybody, just a friend or a neighbor, at least the conversation's been had.
SPEAKER_01:District attorney, sheriff, find people that you can talk to. Communicate in your own community, between communities. And I would argue probably we ought to be doing a pretty good job of beefing up our law, lawyers, judges, etc., in our local areas, although that path is only going to buy time and more opportunity for the left and for Islam. Not for those who actually love God and America and liberty. Marriage verses for today.
SPEAKER_00:First one that we're going to read is from 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verses 7 through 9. For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of man. For man does not originate with from woman, but woman from man. For indeed man was not created for the woman's sake, but woman for the man's sake.
SPEAKER_01:And then you go all the way back to Genesis.
SPEAKER_00:And you start with chapter or verse, yeah, chapter two, verse 22. The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which he had taken from the man and brought her to the man. The man said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
SPEAKER_01:Scripture reading for today comes from Matthew 213 verses three six.
SPEAKER_00:After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Get up, flee to Egypt with the child, and his mother, the angel, said, Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him. That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary his mother. And they stayed there until Herod's death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken to the prophet. I called my son out of Egypt. Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the wise men's report of the star's first appearance. Herod's brutal action fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah. A cry was heard in Ramah, weeping in great mourning. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted, for they are dead. When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. Get up, the angel said, Take the child and his mother back to the land of Israel, because those who were trying to kill the child are dead. So Joseph got up and returned to the land of Israel with Jesus and his mother. But when he learned that the new ruler of Judea was Herod's son, Archelaus, he was afraid to go there. Then, after being warned in a dream, he left for the region of Galilee. So the family went and lived in a town called Nazareth. This fulfilled what the prophets had said. In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was repent of your sins and turn to God, for the kingdom of heaven is near. The prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when he said, He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord's coming, clear the road for him. John's clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey. People from Jerusalem and from all of Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to see and hear him.
SPEAKER_01:And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River. Psalm two, verses one through twelve.
SPEAKER_00:Why are the nations so angry? Why do they waste their time with feudal plans? The kings of the earth prepare for battle, the rulers plot together against the Lord and against his anointed one. Let us break their chains, they cry, and free ourselves from slavery to God. But the one who rules in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. Then in anger he rebukes them, terrifying them with his fierce fury. For the Lord declares, I have placed my chosen king on the throne of Jerusalem, on my holy mountain. The king proclaims the Lord's decree. The Lord said to me, You are my son. Today I become your father. Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the whole earth as your possession. You will break them with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots. Now then, you kings, act wisely. Be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with reverent fear, and rejoice with trembling. Submit to God's royal son, or he will become angry, and you will be destroyed in the midst of all your activities. For his anger flares up in an instant. But what joy for all who take refuge in him. Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. My child, listen when your father corrects you. Don't neglect your mother's instruction. What you learn from them will crown you with grace and be a chain of honor around your neck.
SPEAKER_01:Medal of Honor for today is Hugh Patterson Boone, Captain U.S.
SPEAKER_00:Civil War Bravo Company, First West Virginia Cavalry, U.S. Army. Medal of Honor date, April sixth, eighteen sixty five, place Deatonsville, Sailors Creek, Virginia, USA. Capture of Flag Accredited to Washington, Washington County, Pennsylvania, not awarded posthumously, presented may third, eighteen sixty five, born july twenty fourth, eighteen thirty four, Washington, Washington County, Pennsylvania, died january fourteenth, nineteen oh eight, buried Washington Cemetery, McKinnon Circle twenty two, Washington, Pennsylvania, United States. One of those, right, that you wish we knew a little bit more about besides just capture a flag.
SPEAKER_01:Hugh Paterson Boone.
SPEAKER_00:Franklin D. Roosevelt, a radio address to the nation, delivered during the National Christmas tree lighting ceremony. Last night, before I went to sleep, I chanced to read in an evening paper a story by a columnist, which appeals to me so much as a Christm Christmas sermon that this afternoon, on the occasion of lighting the National Christmas tree in Lafayette Square in front of the White House, I am going to read it, read to you from it. Here is his parable. We were sitting in a high room above the chapel, and although it was Christmas Eve, my good friend, the Domini, seemed curiously troubled. And that was strange, for he was a man extremely sensitive to the festivities of his faith. The joys and sorrows of Jesus were not to him events of a remote past, but more current and living happenings than the headlines in the newspapers. At Christmas he seems actually to hear the voice of the herald angels. My friend is an old man, and I have known him for many years, but this was the first time the nativity had failed to rouse him to an ecstasy.
SPEAKER_01:He admitted that something was wrong.
SPEAKER_00:Tomorrow, he said, I must go down into that chapel and preach a Christmas sermon, and I must speak of peace and goodwill toward men. I know you think of me as a man too cloistered to be of any use to my community, and I know that our world is one of war and hate and enmity. And you, my young friend, and others keep insisting that before there can be brotherhood there must be bashing of heads. You are all for good will to men, but you want to note very many exceptions. And I am still hoping and praying that in the great love of God, the final seal of interdiction must not be put on even one. You may laugh at me, but right now I am worrying about how Christmas came to Judas Iscariot. It is the habit of my friend when he is troubled by doubts to reach for the book.
SPEAKER_01:And he did so now.
SPEAKER_00:He smiled and said, Will you assist me in a little experiment? I will close my eyes and you hold out the Bible to me. I will open it at random and run my fingers down a page, and you read me the text which I blindly select. I did as he told me, and he happened on the twenty sixth chapter of Saint Matthew and the twenty fifth verse. I felt sorry for him, for this was no part of the story of the birth of Christ, but instead an account of the great betrayal.
SPEAKER_01:Read what it says, commanded the Domini. And I read. Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said. My friend frowned, but then he looked at me in triumph.
SPEAKER_00:Now I remember, my hand is not as steady as it used to be. You should have taken the lower part of my finger and not the top. Read the twenty seventh verse. It is not an eighth of an inch away. Read what it says. And I read, and he took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it. Mark that, cried the old man exultantly. Not even to Judas the betrayer was the wine of life denied. I can preach my Christmas sermon now, and my text will be drink ye all of it. Good will towards men means good will toward every last son of God. Peace on earth means peace to Pilate, peace to the thieves on the cross, and peace to poor Iscariot.
SPEAKER_01:I was glad, for he had found Christmas, and I saw by his face that once more he heard the voice of the herald angels. Franklin D. Roosevelt's nineteen thirty four Christmas greeting to the nation. Don't forget Hugh Patterson Boone, captain in the Civil War, who captured a flag.
SPEAKER_00:Don't forget our scriptures. Marriage verses in particular. If you're married, go back and look at them. Look at what God says about marriage, not what the world says. Remember Joseph having to get Mary and Jesus out of Israel away from Herod and then spending however much time in Egypt and then coming back. I think we often overlook Joseph's efforts there. And also we often overlook what it must have been like for Mary and Joseph to live in another country with Jesus for however long, waiting on God to call him back, or not even knowing perhaps if he was going to. And remember the song and the fact that we can have great joy, those of us who take refuge in God. And then look at this Christmas message again, folks, from FDR in 1934, and you're going to continue to see the intensity and the purposefulness of these messages as we get closer to World War II during the 30s. But there's a couple of really good points. One that this author that FDR read, this newspaper columnist, I don't think was trying to make, but is actually true. And then another that he was trying to make that's also very true. Christ offers all of us salvation and eternal life. Or God offers it to us through Christ, however you want to look at that. And it's our choice, our decision as to whether we accept that or not.
SPEAKER_01:Every single individual across the world.
SPEAKER_00:But there is a responsibility that we have as Christians, a very Christian responsibility in a very secular world, and that is to care for the widow and the orphan. And sometimes that does require bashing of heads, folks. You know, you have to remember here that there's a lot of people that want Christ to be some weak, soft man, but he sent his disciples out with swords at the end. And he chased the moneylenders out of the temple with a whip. And he tells us specifically, God does to care for the poor and the needy, the widow and the orphan. And sometimes, often sadly, in this dark world, fallen world, that requires standing up to men and women who are evil. We likely have that time coming again. In the United States, on a large scale, that doesn't mean that Christ doesn't offer those people salvation just like he offers it to us. That doesn't mean that we need Christ any less than they do in order to get into heaven. Everybody needs Christ to get into heaven and eternal life. He is the only way, the only path. The only reason I have eternal life is because of Christ.
SPEAKER_01:At any rate.
SPEAKER_00:If you're looking for a family-friendly middle grade read, if you would check out the countryside series, it's along the lines of Narnia The Hobbit, Percy Jackson, and Harry Potter. There's two books in the series so far. And if you enjoy one of them or both of them, if you would leave a review online, those help immensely. I would be very grateful for that. And if you feel like you're getting something out of the podcast and you have three or four or five dollars a month to donate, there is a webpage on the Buzz Sprout website for the podcast, where you can set up that monthly donation. And I would be very gracious or grateful for that as well.
SPEAKER_01:Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
SPEAKER_00: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 to temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever. God bless y'all. God bless your families. God bless your marriages if you're married. God bless your nation, wherever you are around the world. Listen. God bless America. We'll talk to y'all again real soon, folks. Looking forward to it.