The American Soul
The American Soul
Reflecting on Christmas: Connecting Festive Lights to the Light of the World
Discover the overlooked connection between the festive lights and the Light of the World as I, Jesse Koch, guide you through a heartfelt exploration of Christmas's true significance. As the dust settles on another season's festivities, let's pause to reflect on the Prince of Peace's birth and the profound impact it should hold in our lives. This episode of the American Soul Podcast isn't just a post-holiday debrief; it's an invitation to place Christ firmly at the center, not just for the season, but every single day.
Join me on a journey beyond the tinsel, where we unpack the historic concerns that our founders had about the holiday's excesses, and their deep reverence for Jesus that molded the early American celebration of Christmas. We don't just reminisce; we draw remarkable parallels between FDR's unifying words on faith from the past and the divisive political landscape of today. Together, we consider how a shared belief in Christian values once unified the nation and how a return to these bedrock principles could mend the rifts that currently divide us. It's more than a conversation—it's a call to action for realignment with the foundational values that once shaped our society.
The American Soul Podcast
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This is Jesse Koch, back with another episode of the American Soul Podcast. Hope y'all are doing well, wherever y'all are, whatever part of the day you're in. I do appreciate you joining me, giving me a little bit of your time. We'll try and use it wisely. Hope that y'all are recovering as bad as that is to say, from all the craziness and maybe, before you head off back to work or school, you get a little bit of rest and peace Probably one of the things that we're supposed to get out of this season, considering we're celebrating the birth of the Prince of Peace.
Speaker 1:I just, I can't help again, folks, if I just I don't understand the people that want to celebrate Christmas but not Christ. Some of us do it out of omission, based on ignorance, some of us do it purposefully, with some kind of malevolent intent, and some of us do it just out of daisy-cleness or lukewarm attitude. But you can't truly celebrate Christmas, understand Christmas, have Christmas in your heart without Christ. It's an impossibility. Otherwise it just becomes a party, an excuse for extravagance, which our founders were concerned about, which is why they did not make Christmas a national holiday, why our nation didn't. For quite a while they were concerned, especially before we were even a nation. Those that came over from Europe were very concerned about what Christmas had turned into the opulence, the extravagance. They don't don't let anybody dissuade you or try and trick you or lie to you, folks, it wasn't that they didn't celebrate Christmas the way we do today because they didn't revere Jesus Christ. Quite the opposite, they revered Him so much as the Son of God that they couldn't stand the idea of this celebration of His birth being turned into an excuse to merely eat and drink and spend money. Well, thank you for today. Thank you for you, father, and your Son, jesus Christ and your Holy Spirit. Thank you for the time to record this podcast and the people that listened to it. Thank you for your love, your mercy, your grace, your forgiveness. Be with the people that listen, be with their families. God us and protect us. Hope us truly to seek you first, your righteousness, your kingdom, each day. Give us the willpower, assistance, perseverance to get up each morning and get our priorities in line, starting with you, to build our lives around you. I'm not trying to cram you in at the very end when we can find your effort or are so bored with other things. I'll return to you, god my word to your father and guide our nation back to you in your son's name.
Speaker 1:We're going to get back into this statement by FDR on the 400th anniversary of the printing of the English Bible and kind of go back and talk about a few things. We read through it on the previous podcast and it's pretty phenomenal. I think those of y'all that listened to it yesterday or the day before, whenever it was, would agree. Most of y'all would. The statements are pretty astounding for a number of reasons, one of which, not the least, of which is the fact that FDR was a member of the Democratic Party, and one of the things that this really illustrates to me, that's so clear today, is you know, despite our political differences and this was really about the time it was changing 1930s, the 40s, it really especially with the 47 decision of the Supreme Court about separation of church and state and it's always been there, folks, it's always been a fight. It's the same fight on the surface, we see. We see on the surface, politically, societally, the deeper fight right, the spiritual battle between good and evil. But what it does show us is there was a time, a century ago I guess there have been times throughout our country's history where we shared the same core values, regardless of our political leanings. We had faith in God and Jesus Christ, not folks, not Allah. Allah not Buddha, not Hinduism, mother natureism not some random deism like you hear so many supposedly intellectual learned people talk about today. But the core values, the principles of Christ and we talk about it on this podcast repetitively and FDR is going to talk about it here. But it's just interesting. We used to share these values and we don't anymore today and it really is ripping us apart. So I'm going to go through and just read some sentences and paragraphs here and there.
Speaker 1:Well, that day, october 4th 1535, when Miles Coverdell, an Augustine friar, later the Bishop of Exeter, produced this book in the common vernacular, we trace not only a measurable increase in the cultural value and influence of this greatest of books, but a quickening in the widespread dissemination of those moral and spiritual precepts that have so greatly affected the progress of Christian civilization, western civilization, christian civilization, america, leading that path for the last few centuries, at least last couple or one and a half, depending on who you talk to, all of the progress that you want to talk about, human rights, right, just basically the standard of living the bill of everything that goes back to our bill of rights. All of this was produced by people that were looking to the Bible. That's where those principles came from. Those moral, spiritual precepts have guided the positive progress really, and I shouldn't even use that, really use positive, because true progress can only go in the right direction, in the positive direction. And so all of this goes back FDR saying to what? To the Bible? And cattle in the background, if you can hear them, not impressed that I just walked by and didn't bring any food.
Speaker 1:There's a reason that the left has kicked the Bible out of schools and no, it doesn't have anything to do with trying to be with the First Amendment and them trying to adhere to it, which they don't understand. The First Amendment to begin with, and we've talked about that a number of times in the part. The reason that the left has worked so diligently for so many decades to kick God and Jesus Christ out of schools is because if they can cause a break there in that next generation, then they can take us toward socialism, communism, fascism, nazism, left, and you can see it just throughout history. Folks, every time you take God's word away from people as a whole, you retrograde, you go backwards.
Speaker 1:It would be difficult to appraise the far-reaching influence of this work and subsequent translations upon the speech, literature, moral and religious character of our people and their institutions. It has done much to refine and enrich our language. To it may be traced the richest and best we have in our literature. Poetry, prose, painting, music and oratory have had in it their guide and inspiration. In it Lincoln found the rounded, euphonious phrases for his Gettysburg address, speaking of its place in his life, he says. In regard to the great book, I have only to say it is the best gift which God has ever given to man.
Speaker 1:We can't have free institutions in America today that help promote liberty without God and Jesus Christ. That's why you see less and less freedom in our institutions, whether you're talking about the medical community, you're talking about law enforcement, military, particularly education, you're going to lose liberty and freedom in each of those institutions. Without the Bible, you lose the qualities of literature, poetry, prose, painting, music, oratory. There's a reason that the most phenomenal, longest lasting works in our civilization have come from Christians, or people looking to the Bible for guidance in each of those arts. And so, as we've taken, and you don't even have to go that far back, folks. We were watching my girls and I were watching the sound of music a week or two ago and it's a film that obviously has lasted for decades. I think it was made in the early 50s, so it's about 70, almost 80 years now. It's a perennial favorite.
Speaker 1:Why Can you talk about the acting? Yes, can you talk about the singing? Yes, you can talk about a number of issues, but when you look at it, those moral and spiritual precepts of Jesus Christ are inundated. In that movie, were the actors perfect? No, was the message perfect In the sense like, was it completely biblical in every single facet? I don't know, folks, I haven't gone through and checked it all, but the point is, when you have the Bible in music, speech, literature, painting, everything improves. And when you take it away and you can, lord, you can see it today in our society everything gets worse, and that's the same for our institutions.
Speaker 1:One cannot study the story of the rise and development of the men and women who have been and continue to be the pathfinders and benefactors of our people and not recognize the outstanding place the Bible has occupied as the guide and inspiration of their thought and practice, apart from their professed allegiance to any particular form of Christian doctrine or creedal expression of faith. They have found in it that which has shaped their course and determined their action. Look where we will. Even in periods that have been marked by apothecy and doubt, still men have found here, in these sacred pages, that which is refreshed and encouraged them as they prosecuted their pilgrimage and sought for higher levels of thinking and living. We talked about this briefly in the last podcast, last few minutes of it.
Speaker 1:But if you want to make yourself a better person, if you want to think at a higher level, if you want to live at a higher level morally, spiritually, your character you want to have a better understanding of great literature, music, whatever it is, read the Bible. You can make different arguments for different versions of the Bible, but read the Bible. After a little plug in there the other day, if you don't know where else to start, especially if you're not a professing Christian, start with Proverbs. It's a great place to start. Read a chapter a day, verse 31 of them, which is shocking. Right that it matches up to the numbers of days in the month.
Speaker 1:But this comment by FDR. You know he knew so many of our leaders. They knew the place the Bible had occupied for these great men and women, not just politically but business and journalism and education. You go back and you look at these people and I wish I had the kind of brain folks that I could just rattle off these folks that are knocking around in the back of my head and names and dates. But I don't. I don't have that kind of retention. One of them I remember off the top of my head is Horace Greeley, talking about that.
Speaker 1:It was impossible to enslave a Bible reading people right, and that goes back to why the left is pushed so hard to get rid of the Bible. Why do you think there's such a push today for phones and social media, instagram, tiktok, reels? Why do you think there's such a huge push for Amazon and Hulu and all of these entertainment streaming services? Why do you think there's such a push away from God in the Bible and church? Because we're easier to control, we're honestly folks. We're dumber, and not just in the sense of less intelligent, but dumber in the sense of closer to animals. We're easier to manipulate, we're easier to trick into poor decisions, whether that's in our personal lives or the way we vote, the decisions we make in our professional life, and there's so many others that go along with this. Oh Lord. Washington Carver, the peanut scientist, talked about how overwhelmingly influential the Bible was in his career, and there's just so many others. And Morris, the man that came up with Morris Code, talked about how influential the Bible was in his professional career, not just his personal life.
Speaker 1:And FDR's laying this out here, folks, you know he's talking about these great what does he say? The past minders and benefactors of our people. You know, if you want to be and this seems to be such a common theme today, especially among our younger people if you really want to be a radical, you really want to be a rebel, you want to stand out and be recognized today in society, follow Jesus Christ. Dying your hair, any types of piercings, tattoos, following the most leftist, you know, pretending that you're a woman when you're a man or vice versa, none of that stuff is going to make you stand out in society. But following Jesus Christ today absolutely will, and it'll be really hard. Folks, people will attack you for it. You ought to hear some of the things that I hear just from this very small podcast. God be with y'all. Bless your families, your marriages. You, god bless America. We'll talk to y'all again real soon. Folks Looking forward to it.