The American Soul
The American Soul
The Narrow Path: Finding God's Purpose in a Distracted World
Have you ever noticed how we demand perfection in sports and academics but settle for mediocrity in faith and marriage? This powerful reflection on our misaligned priorities might be the wake-up call you've been needing.
Jesse Cope challenges us to examine why we expect children to give 100% on athletic fields while adults often give far less to what matters eternally—our relationship with God and our spouses. Using a compelling analogy of a savings account that grows more valuable over time, he questions why we don't apply the same increasing care to our most important relationships. When something increases in value, we typically treasure it more, not less—so why do our spiritual investments often follow the opposite pattern?
Diving into Paul's letter to Timothy, Jesse reminds us that Christianity isn't about immediate perfection. When Paul described himself as "foremost among sinners," he demonstrated that even spiritual giants stumble. This message offers hope for anyone who has felt inadequate in their faith journey. The pilgrim metaphor—straying from the narrow path but finding the way back—provides a powerful image of perseverance despite setbacks.
The episode explores selections from Ronald Reagan's second inaugural address, particularly examining America as "the last best hope of man on earth." Jesse argues that American exceptionalism stems not from inherent superiority but from the Christian principles that shaped our foundation. Quoting John Adams, he cautions that changing political systems without moral renewal merely "exchanges tyrants and tyrannies."
Perhaps most challenging is the call to immediate action: "If not us, who? And if not now, when?" If we can turn back to God five years from now, why not next year? Why not today? The path to personal, family, and national renewal begins with recognizing that what we've been waiting for is actually within our reach right now.
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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 and whatever part of the day you're in. I do appreciate y'all joining me, giving me a little bit of your time and a little piece of your day. I will try and use it wisely. Hopefully we'll all get a little something out your day. I will try and use it wisely. Hopefully we'll all get a little something out of it. Hopefully it'll help our nation, even if just a little bit, turn back to God and Jesus Christ and hopefully it'll help each of us draw a little bit closer to God and Jesus Christ of us draw a little bit closer to God and Jesus Christ. For those of y'all who continue to share the podcast with others, to tell others about it, thank you so much. Very, very grateful for that. For those of y'all who continue to pray for the podcast and for me, thank you so much. Extremely grateful for your prayers. Need them Very, very much. So thank you all.
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 of sins. Thank you for sending your Son, jesus Christ. Thank you for him being willing to come to die in our place for our sins. Father, thank you for the people that listen to the podcast, share it. Be with them and their families, bless them, guide them, surround them with your angels. Protect them from evil of any kind. Guide our thoughts and our words and our actions. Father, help us to flee from immorality, from greed, from lust, sexual immorality, pride, arrogance, gossip, slander, theft, vanity. Help us to think on those things which are good and pure and noble. Forgive us when we fall short, though. Father. Please, thank you for that forgiveness. Be with our leaders across the nation, here in America and around the world, wherever people are listening. Give them wisdom and courage. Help us to elect men who rule in fear of you, who turn to you for guidance, for wisdom. Help us to treasure your word, father, and thank you for those who have come before us, who set such a good example for us in that regard. Help us to realize what a privilege it is today to be able to read your word without fear of persecution. And please, be with those around the world, father, who aren't able to do that. Be with those who are suffering, dying, being tortured in prison, raped, murdered, sold into slavery because they follow your son, jesus Christ. Please comfort them, be with them, help us to help them as much as we can. Father, show us what to do and please guide my words here. Father, in your son's name we pray, amen.
Speaker 1:Have you made time for God today? Have you made time for God today? Have you made time to read his word? Have you made time to talk to him, to pray? Is he at the top of your priority list or is he just somewhere down in the middle? Or is he not even on your list or do you pretend that he is when he's really not?
Speaker 1:And then, if you're married, does your spouse know it? Do you act like it? Are they the center of your day? Folks, second only to God and Jesus Christ? You remember I've started to say this a little bit over the past few podcasts folks? You remember when you were dating and how you would drop everything. At least I hope it's still the case. It should be. But certainly when you were dating and man, if your girlfriend, boyfriend, they wanted to do something, you were all in Immediately, no hesitation. Why do we treat someone who has the potential maybe to be our husband or wife so well, and now that we're married and the longer we're married, the worse we seem to treat our spouse, the less we seem to treat them like that. I heard somebody explain it this way, folks, and this is really true both of our faith and of our marriage, and it ties in pretty well as so often as the case, the money.
Speaker 1:You think about a savings account. Right, you open a savings account, say, when you're 18, 19, 20, early 20s. You got $100 in there, right, but that's your savings account. You fast forward three or four years and now you've got $1,000 in there on a regular basis, right, maybe $2,000. Fast forward another 10 years Now. Maybe, all of a sudden, you've got $10,000, $8,000, $10,000. Maybe you've been really wise and you've got even more than that. Fast forward 20, 25 years. Now you're starting to get up around $30,000 or $40,000 in the savings account that you've been putting into day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.
Speaker 1:So what's going to be your attitude toward that savings account? The longer you have it, are you going to treasure it more or less? The more money that goes into that account, are you going to value it more or less. Are you going to put more effort into taking care of it, maybe managing it? Maybe you use the analogy of a mutual fund or something instead of a savings account. Are you going to take more care the longer you have that savings account as it's building, or are you going to take less care? And, of course, the obvious answer is you're going to take more care of it and that's true pretty much across the board of things that we have that have added value the longer we have it. Right, you think about an old car. Somebody has an old car that they've rebuilt and taken really good care of. The older that car gets, the more value it has. The more people take care of it, the more they treat it kindly gently. Why do we not do that with the two most important things in our entire life, which is our faith, our relationship with God and Jesus Christ first and foremost, and our relationship with our spouse next? Again, it makes no logical sense, as so many things today do not.
Speaker 1:Had a really interesting conversation and then we'll move on with a friend of mine recently, somebody I've known for a long time, good friends, and we were discussing a particular kid that we both know and they made the comment that they didn't feel like this kid gave 100% of the time 100% all the time on the field of endeavor, on the sport that they played. And we got to going back and forth about a number of different things surrounding this issue, and two things popped into my mind during this conversation. At what point did it become not okay for a kid to just play a sport simply because they enjoyed it and not because they were trying to play division one sports or be a professional athlete? Now, don't misunderstand. I'm not saying the kid joins a team and then goes out there and gives like 20% effort, they're up to bat and they're not even holding the bat to swing it. But I'm talking about a kid that goes out and enjoys the sport and maybe they aren't playing every single day, maybe they are only playing once or twice a week, but they have a good time and they're kind to the other kids on that team and that sport and they try and do what the coach tells them to do 80% of the time, which, if you've ever been a teacher in a classroom, you would kill for that percentage. When did that not become okay? When did we start to look down upon kids that already knew, for example, perhaps, that they wanted to do something else with life other than play sports. Play sports that were already focused on looking for a relationship, with marriage being the end goal. That knew what career they wanted to go into.
Speaker 1:And the second thing, far, far more importantly, is why we were sitting here talking about this. Why are we so quick to demand that kids give 100% on a basketball court or volleyball court or football field or tennis court or track or anything else, but when our kids turn into adults and get married, and as we're hopefully preparing them for that process in life, we don't demand that they give 100% in their marriage, and we don't demand that of ourselves. We don't even set that example ourselves. And, even more disturbing, we don't give 100% on our faith and we don't expect that of our children. We demand that a kid gives everything they've got, every drop of sweat and blood and every tear they have in athletics and maybe for some of y'all it's not athletics, maybe for some of you it's academics, maybe for some of you it's not either one of those, maybe it's something totally different, but you know what I'm talking about. We demand 100% of our kids in certain endeavors. And yet the number of people that demand adults, the people that are supposed to lead children mothers, fathers right In the reverse order, fathers and mothers, children, mothers, fathers right In the reverse order, fathers and mothers. We don't demand of ourselves 100% in our relationship with God and we don't demand 100% of ourselves in our marriage and we don't even approach the subject with our children.
Speaker 1:Sports are momentary folks. They come and go. Academics go academics too, to a certain extent. Even if they provide a pathway into a job, that job is temporary. There's there's few people that stay in the same job these days, but even the ones that do 40, 50 years. That would be a huge achievement to stay in the same job for that long. And yet marriage is for the remainder of your life and your soul is for all eternity. We have our priorities Really messed up, folks Really messed up. We Really messed up.
Speaker 1:We're going to get into Timothy 1. Timothy, chapter 1. Misleadings in doctrine and living. All an apostle of Christ Jesus, according to the commandment of God, our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope. To Timothy, my true child, in the faith, grace, mercy and peace from God, the Father and Christ Jesus, our Lord, as I urged you upon my departure from Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines. But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
Speaker 1:For some men straying from these things have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the law even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions. But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching. According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted, I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has strengthened me because he considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly, in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason, I found mercy so that in me as the foremost, jesus Christ might demonstrate his perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. Invisible, the only God be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. This command I entrust to you, timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, who I have handed over to Satan so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.
Speaker 1:I'm going to kind of jump around here today, starting in verse 15,. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost among of all. These couple of verses are pretty encouraging to me, simply because I mess up so often. But Paul obviously messed up a lot. He was going around murdering Christians and he acknowledges that, you know, claiming that he is the foremost of all sinners, the worst of all, and that the whole point of Christ Jesus coming into the world was to save us sinners.
Speaker 1:I think I forget that often. I mean, I don't in my mind maybe, but I do in my heart. I forget that Christ came to save me. I've heard I can't remember what preacher or pastor, but they said you know, if you were the only person alive, if it was just you, jesus Christ would still have come into this world. Just you, whoever you are, wherever you are listening. If it was just you alive alone, jesus Christ would still have come and died on a cross to save you Verse 16,. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me, as a foremost, jesus Christ might demonstrate his perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life.
Speaker 1:I used to say this on the podcast a lot back the first year or two that I was doing this. Some of y'all may remember that have been with me that long. But, folks, I mess up a lot, and I'm not talking about like I trip and drop a glass and it shatters. I mean, I have sinned in my life in so many different ways and so if you're looking for somebody that's perfect, that doesn't have any skeletons in their closet, I'm not it and I'm going to tell you right now, nobody is except Jesus Christ. There are people out there that are better than me 100%. There are also people out there that are worse than me 100%. So I can't give you a perfect example in myself, but I can point you to the guy who does, and that's Jesus Christ. And don't know me. I'm telling you I have sinned and fallen short in so many different ways, so many times, so often the same sins, and it's so disheartening. And yet Christ Jesus came into the world to save me, to save sinners. Paul murdered people, folks, and God still saved him and he still sinned and still had that faith in Christ. And if you're out there, folks, and you think somehow, when you become a Christian, you're supposed to magically not sin anymore, that's not the way it works. You're not going to be suddenly perfect. There's going to be pitfalls, there's going to be stumbling blocks.
Speaker 1:A great analogy I wish I need to read excerpts out of it is the Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. And this pilgrim, you know he sees the path, the narrow path. He can see it in this analogy, and yet he still goes astray. Sometimes he sees something off to the side that looks really good and he goes to check it out, or an easier way. Hopefully I'm a little bit of an encouragement to you all in your faith in that regard.
Speaker 1:And verse 17,. Now to the king eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God. Be honor and glory forever and ever. I need to stop more often so I'm assuming that some of y'all do too and remember that God is the only God, that he's king of all, King of kings, lord of lords, right God and Jesus Christ, and that he deserves honor and glory forever and ever. I need to work on that a little bit, maybe a lot.
Speaker 1:Verse 18, this command I entrust to you, timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith in a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Fight the good fight that was something my mother said for years and it kind of goes hand in hand with do what you can when you can, whatever that is, folks, whether you're working out to try and get better health, you're trying to eat better, you're trying to start reading the Bible, you're doing a better job loving your spouse, you're trying to start reading the Bible, you're doing a better job loving your spouse. You're doing a better job raising your children. You're doing a better job being an employee. For wherever you work, whatever it is, do what you can when you can, and if you constantly have that goal in mind we talk about this so often, right? If you're constantly praying, it makes it easier to focus on God. If you're constantly praying, it makes it easier to focus on God because you're constantly praying, so you can focus on him more and therefore do a better job of following his will. It's easy not to follow God's will when we don't think about him at all. It's a lot harder when, throughout the day, wherever you are working say you're working on power lines, say you're riding around building fence, say you're a teacher in a classroom If you take those moments when you have them to pray, that makes that relationship at the forefront of your mind and therefore it's easier to act in a way that God wants us to.
Speaker 1:Often there's a great story about I can't remember the author. He wrote a biography on Stonewall Jackson. If y'all are familiar with Stonewall Jackson, he was a Confederate general in the Civil War. Before the Civil War started he was a teacher, I think at VMI, but I can't remember where. But he was a teacher at a military institute and in between classes he would pray for his students and you know you just get a few minutes, I'm assuming even then, just a few minutes before the class, he would pray for them and we have all these little minutes each day. You know we only have a certain number of minutes, but we have all these little minutes. How do we spend them? Keeping faith in a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.
Speaker 1:There's a story out of Pilgrim's Progress progress part of it that I just read recently and the path, the narrow way, got kind of hard at least the way I remember this, it was a few weeks ago and christian, the main character right and his companion, they saw this other path and it it looked like it paralleled the narrow path and it was smooth and soft grass and the path they were on, the narrow path that led to heaven. It was rocky and sharp, sharp and jagged and it was just really hard going. And so they talked back and forth and they convinced each other well, we'll take this path right here. I mean, it goes the same way, it's parallel, it's going the same direction. And so they went over there and started walking and it was really smooth and easy, it was nice, and they could still see the narrow way. It was right there, it and they could still see the narrow way. It was right there, it was just a little few feet away and, you know, even every once in a while it would diverge a little bit, but it wasn't that far.
Speaker 1:But it started to get darker the day it was ending, and somehow they stayed. They figured, well, you know, we'll still be able to see it, we'll stop, we'll stop just up here and take a rest. And it got dark, just dark enough, just quick enough that they couldn't see the narrow way. And they got scared, obviously. And so they said, well, we better go back. And so they went back, but they couldn't find it and they ended up getting lost and they ended up in this castle of this really mean giant and his wife, and they were starved and beaten and tortured for a couple of weeks, I think, as the analogy goes, and then they finally managed to escape, which is interesting in itself, right, and they get back to the path.
Speaker 1:And there's always a cost, folks, when we go off the path. It doesn't mean that we can't have forgiveness for those sins, it doesn't mean that we're not still going to get to heaven, but there's always a cost in this earth, in this life. And again, I'm no theologian, I'm not a pastor or a priest, I don't have my doctorate in divinity or anything else. But that seems like a pretty logical reason for what Paul's talking about here keeping faith in a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. We definitely don't want to reject them. We can stumble from time to time, but we definitely don't want to reject. And sometimes, right, you can survive a shipwreck and get back on the path. So, at any rate, president Reagan, second inaugural address, january 21st Monday, january 21st, 1985.
Speaker 1:We're going to go through a few more excerpts. My friends, together we can do this and do it. We must. So help me God. He was talking about economic barriers, liberating the spirit of enterprise, but it just struck me reading it again. So help me God. That's the very end of the oath when you take it as an officer or enlisted in the military. Again, our presidents put their hand on the Bible.
Speaker 1:The idea, folks, that we were born a secular pagan republic as opposed to a christian republic just makes it again. It just doesn't make any logical sense when you look at our history and the mountains of evidence to the contrary. And I'm just, if you didn't remember or if you're just joining us here for the first time today, we're kind of reading through some excerpts of Ronald Reagan's second inaugural address and I'm just kind of jumping around. If not us, who, and if not now, when it must be done by all of us, going forward With a program aimed at reaching a balanced budget, we can then begin reducing the national debt. So again he's talking about finances, but I would argue, more importantly, as opposed to economic concerns, spiritual Great awakening, turning back to God and Jesus Christ, if not us, who Everybody kind of understands, has an understanding, has a knowledge that we need to be a moral and a virtuous people in order for America to work in some form or fashion. When you go back and you look at history and you see the way that liberty has been spread, you see the history of our nation, you see that that ties in directly to God, the Father, jesus Christ, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And so, if not us, who are we waiting on? If we're not going to turn back to God in our personal lives, in our marriages, in our professional lives, in our families, right Churches, our schools, our communities? Then who are we waiting on? Our kids, our grandkids? And if not now?
Speaker 1:When I read a marriage counseling book years and years ago, the husband had a lot of hangups with his father and he would take it out often on his wife and kids, not physically folks, but just when he would have some kind of confrontation with his father he would make life really miserable on his wife and his children. And he wasn't even really doing it on purpose, it was just he had so many hangups that it just happened. And one time when they had some young kids and he had blown up at the kids or something, but it was because he and his father had had a confrontation, his wife came into the office and she was tired and just kind of upset, distraught, she looked at him. You know he kind of grumbled something. She said look, can you just tell me when all this is going to be done? And he looked at me. What are you talking about? He said just tell me, so I know you talking about. He said just tell me, so I know. Six months, a year, five years, 10 years, just give me a timeline to when you're going to get over this deal with your father, so that I know how long the kids and I have to kind of suffer in this limbo. That's all I want to know. And I don't remember how the conversation ended, but I do remember at some point the husband ended up in his little home office by himself and he was just sitting there.
Speaker 1:He was the author of this marriage book, by the way. His wife wrote it with him, but he was the main author. And he said you know, as I sat there I just realized you know, what am I waiting on? My father's not going to change. Our relationship isn't suddenly magically going to get better. And as much as that hurts, I'm taking that out on my wife and kids and if I can just decide not to let him have that control over me. What am I waiting on? Why am I going to?
Speaker 1:If I can do it in 10 years, why can't I do it in five years? If I can do it in five years, why can't I do it in a year? If I can do it in a year, why can't I do it in six months? If I can do it in six months, why can't I make that decision next week? And if I can do it next week, why can't I make that decision tonight? If we know that the path forward for ourselves, our marriages, our families, our schools, our communities, our churches, our country is to truly turn back to God and Jesus Christ, what are we waiting on If we can do it five years from now? You know, if in your head you're thinking well, I can't do it right now, but just give me a couple more years and I can do it, why can't we do it next year? Why can't we do it this summer? Why can't we do it next month? Why can't we do it next month? Why can't we do it next week, this weekend, why can't we do it today?
Speaker 1:If you really sit there and think about it, folks, it'll make you smile a little bit as you think about it, kind of like a side smile, because you'll realize that you can, and a lot of these things that we've been waiting on to fall in place is really us just waiting on ourselves to get our priorities in the right order. Right order there is no story more heartening in our history than the progress that we have made toward the brotherhood of man that God intended for us. Let us resolve there will be no turning back or hesitation A brotherhood of man that God intended for us. Go back and look at our Declaration of Independence. All men are created equal. We hold these truths to be self-evident. Relying on providence, our founders turned to God. Relying on providence right, our founders turned to God.
Speaker 1:You go back to the quote by Calvin Coolidge talking about the fact that if those principles ever ceased to be practically universal, the country would fall apart, and so it has. But if you really want encouragement, folks, go back and read, and I tried to give you some of it on the podcast. But go back and read some of the history of our nation. Go back and really read for yourself from a book probably written not in the last 50 to 60 years, but before that. Go back and read about the pilgrims, read about the struggles that they went through, and I will offer up again America's Patriot Bible by Dr Richard Lee, the Founder's Bible by the Wall Builders Association by Dr Richard Lee, the Founder's Bible by the Wall Builders Association and America's God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations by William Federer Phenomenal resources, and they start to give you a clue about this heartening, remarkable history of ours here in America, in which we have striven, strove for this brotherhood of man that God intended for us.
Speaker 1:As Reagan said, let us resolve that we, the people, will build an American opportunity society in which all of us, white and black, rich and poor, young and old, will go forward together, arm in arm. Again, let us remember that, though our heritage is one of bloodlines from every corner of the earth, we are all Americans pledged to carry on this last best hope of man on earth. The last best hope and I think Reagan has used it a couple times, or used it more than once, although I'm not positive about that right now, but it's from Lincoln right now, but it's from Lincoln At least that's one of the first times that I have seen it. Let's see if I can find it Quickly. Quickly I want to say it was from his. I'm not going to lie.
Speaker 1:In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free, honorable alike. In what we give and what we preserve, we shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed. This could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous. Just is plain, peaceful, generous. Just a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud and God must forever bless. Part of his second annual address to Congress, december 1st 1862.
Speaker 1:And you see Reagan here again, in 1985, talking about this last best hope of man on earth, america. And why, though? Why is it the last best hope? What makes America better than any other country around the world? What makes us the best hope of man? What makes us the best hope of man? It's not folks because we're stronger or faster or smarter or prettier. It's not necessarily even because we're better just in and of ourselves. It's because of God and Jesus Christ at the heart of our nation, at the heart of our founding, which makes us strive to be, and therefore be, better. That hope has to be unchanging, and the only way to do that is to put the principles of Jesus Christ there at the center.
Speaker 1:Now let me turn to a task which is the primary responsibility of national government the safety and security of our people. I simply highlighted this when I was reading back through his second inaugural address, because we've forgotten that there's only two main goals of the federal government really External defense and internal justice. Defense and internal justice and anything that doesn't fall under that purview and we've, of course, widened it so much right, but that's really it. Those are the only two goals. Welfare is not right. That's the job of us as Christians, as individual citizens. There's so many different things that you could say that are not the purview of the federal government that have become the purview. It's internal justice and external defense, and that's it. Or, as Reagan said here, the safety and security of the people. Security of the people.
Speaker 1:Today we utter no prayer more fervently than the ancient prayer for peace on earth. Yet history has shown that peace will not come, nor will our freedom be preserved by goodwill alone. There are those in the world who scorn our vision of human dignity and freedom. One nation, the Soviet Union, has conducted the greatest military buildup in the history of man, building arsenals of awesome offensive weapons. There is no peaceful coexistence with communism-sl, slash leftism folks, or with Islam for that matter. If you think that there's peaceful coexistence where liberty and freedom are maintained, you're deluding yourself or others or trying to. It's not there. It's not there. It's just not.
Speaker 1:If the left had total control today, they would treat citizens. They would treat citizens the same as citizens were treated in the USSR and the Soviet Union, the same as they're treated today in China and North Korea, particularly Christians. You can look at that example. If Muslims gained control in America today, they would treat citizens again, particularly. You can look at Christians as an example the same as they're treating Christians in Syria and Nigeria and Iran and other places with dominant Muslim populations around the world. The goal is never coexistence or leftism, communism, socialism, islam. They use that until they gain control and then they no longer need to use that.
Speaker 1:And where does our hope come from? Again, what's our only hope? Reagan says we utter no prayer more fervently than the ancient prayer for peace on earth. Right, linus and Charlie Brown. Peace on earth, goodwill to men that's what Christmas is all about. There is no political solution in America without God at the center. That saves our nation. One part of this I wanted to read that I do not agree with with Reagan.
Speaker 1:Since the turn of the century, the number of democracies in the world has grown fourfold. Human freedom is on the march and nowhere more so than our own hemisphere. Freedom is one of the deepest and noblest aspirations of the human spirit. People worldwide hunger for the right of self-determination, for those inalienable rights that make for human dignity and progress. America must remain freedom's staunchest friend, for freedom is our best ally and it is the world's only hope to conquer poverty and preserve peace. Every blow we inflict against poverty will be a blow against its dark allies of oppression and war. Every victory for human freedom will be a victory for world peace. So two things, world peace. So two things. One, freedom is not our best ally. God is and Jesus Christ is, and freedom is not the goal. Liberty is the goal based on our relationship with God and Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:You look around the world, folks, all these democracies that have supposedly been born and flourished. Are we better off? Is there more liberty around the world? And if there is folks anywhere you see more liberty. You can directly tie that to the faith of those people and God and Jesus Christ, their relationship with God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. You could make every single country in the world a republic overnight, and it wouldn't ensure liberty. Wouldn't ensure liberty unless the principles of Jesus Christ are at the core of that republic.
Speaker 1:Self-determination doesn't help people if they're determined to follow evil. When we go into these countries, as we've done for the last 40 or 50 or even longer than that years, if we change the government or change the leaders, but we don't instill the principles of Christ, it won't matter. It's like let me see if I can find that quote by John Adams because it fits here it doesn't matter what we do. It doesn't matter what we do. This is June 21st 1776. Statesmen, my dear sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our people in a much greater measure than they have it now, they may change their rulers and their forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty. They will only exchange tyrants and tyrannies. If we don't have pure virtue, if we don't have morality and Christianity, then freedom won't stand. We're not going to have Lasting liberty. We can change our rulers and our forms of government all we want. We're just going to exchange tyrants and tyrannies.
Speaker 1:My friends, we live in a world that is lit by lightning. So much is changing and will change, but so much endures and transcends time. History is a ribbon always unfurling. History is a journey. As we continue our journey, we think of those who traveled before us. We stand together again at the steps of this symbol of our democracy. Or we would have been standing at the steps if it hadn't gotten so cold. Now we are standing inside this symbol of our democracy. Now we hear again the echoes of our past.
Speaker 1:A general falls to his knees in the hard snow of Valley Forge. A lonely president paces the darkened halls and ponders his struggle to preserve the Union. The men of the Alamo call out encouragement to each other. A settler pushes west and sings a song, and the song echoes out forever and fills the unknowing air. It is the American sound. It is hopeful, big-hearted, idealistic, daring, decent and fair. That's our heritage, that is our song. We sing it still. That's our heritage. That is our song. We sing it still For all our problems, our differences. We are together as of old and we raise our voices to the God who is the author of this most tender music, and may he continue to hold us close as we fill the world with our sound, sound in unity, affection and love. One people under God, dedicated to the dream of freedom that he has placed in the human heart, called upon now to pass that dream on to a waiting and hopeful world. God bless you and may God bless America.
Speaker 1:We can't have unity unless we're one nation under God. There is only one God, god, the Father of Jesus Christ, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Coexistence won't do it, folks. That catchphrase sounds wonderful, but it's not. It's just a doorway for evil to get in. Pretending that all faiths are equal won't do it. There's only one true faith and that's Christianity. Pretending that your denomination of Christianity is the only way won't do it. That's the problem of joining the church and the state together. Only the general principles of Jesus Christ, as laid out in scripture, can unify us and bring us together as a nation and help our nation to be a light to others around the world. God bless y'all, god bless your families, god bless your marriages if you're married. God bless America and God bless your nation. Wherever you are around the world listening, we'll talk to y' all again real soon. Folks Looking forward to it.