The American Soul
The American Soul
God's Presence in America's Soul
The beating heart of America's exceptionalism isn't found in its economic might or military power, but in a revolutionary idea: our rights come from God, not government. When we lose sight of this foundation, we risk losing everything that makes America unique.
Drawing on Ronald Reagan's powerful 1974 "City Upon a Hill" speech, Jesse explores the extraordinary sacrifice of our founding fathers – ordinary citizens who valued freedom more than security. These 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence weren't revolutionaries seeking power; they were lawyers, merchants, and farmers who pledged "their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor" for liberty. Their stories are humbling: John Hart never saw his children again, Carter Braxton died in rags, and Nelson begged Washington to fire on his own home when the British used it as headquarters. Yet none expressed regrets.
This episode challenges us to examine our priorities through the lens of 1 Timothy 6, which teaches that "godliness with contentment is great gain." Jesse asks thought-provoking questions: How much time do we devote to entertainment versus studying our heritage or deepening our relationship with God? Do we know celebrities' names but forget heroes who suffered in service to freedom?
The message is clear and urgent – America's challenges aren't primarily political but spiritual. Without reconnecting with the divine source of our rights, we're building on shifting sand. As John Adams wisely noted, without finding more virtue in ourselves, we'll merely exchange one tyranny for another, regardless of who we elect.
What would you sacrifice for the principles of liberty? Are you faithful with what you've already been given? Join this soul-searching exploration of America's spiritual foundation and discover why acknowledging God remains essential to preserving freedom.
The American Soul Podcast
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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. I hope y'all are. Whatever part of the day you're in, I truly appreciate y'all joining me, giving me a little bit of your time and attention and a little piece of your day. I will try to use your time well. I know y'all have probably a billion other things pulling you in two million different directions.
Speaker 1:It seems like life these days. It seems like life these days For those of y'all that continue to share the podcast and to tell others about it. Thank you so much For those of y'all who continue to pray for the podcast and for me. Thank you so much Very, very grateful. Good night me. Thank you so much, very, very grateful. You know, father, thank you for today. Thank you for you, father, and your son, jesus christ. Thank you for your love and your mercy, your grace, forgiveness and your mercy, your grace, your forgiveness. Thank you for the time to record this podcast. Thank you for the people who have listened to it and shared it. Be with them, be with their family, bless them, guide them, surround them, parent them, protect us from people. Father, help us to follow the commands of your Son Jesus Christ, to truly love God, to love you with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Forgive us when we fail, father. Forgive us when we fail, father. Forgive us when we are insincere in our prayers and our repentance. Forgive us when we fall back into the same trap time and time and time again. Be with those around the world, please, father, who are suffering In the name of your Son, jesus Christ. Comfort them. Help us to help them. Help us to relieve their pain and suffering as best we're able to. Forgive us when we turn a blind eye to the suffering of those around us. Be with our leaders. Be with our leaders. Be with our judges, governors, senators, representatives, staff, police chiefs, fire chiefs. Give them wisdom, courage and strong faith that help them to turn to you for guidance and perseverance. And God, my work to you. Father, please, I today have your Son Jesus Christ. Be as he is in the world. Have you made time for God today? Have you made time to read his word? Have you made time to pray? Are you sincere about it? I think that's something I need to go back and read through. Maybe we'll do that. Maybe we'll do that I need to read through some of George Washington's prayers, but he talks about in one of them the fact that he needs to seek forgiveness for those days on which he actually did read the Bible.
Speaker 1:Those days he actually did pray, but he wasn't sincere, he was just doing it as a check in the box. I can't remember exactly how he worded it, but I want to say it was something along the lines of you know, I need more forgiveness now, at the end of spending time reading my Bible and praying than I did before, because I did it with such a half-hearted attitude. You know, in the attitude, I'm a big fan of do what you're supposed to do, whether you feel like it or not, and I think this is again, folks, I'm not a theologian, not a pastor or a priest or somebody that has a doctrine of divinity. But reading through the Bible, when you look at it as a whole, I think God's probably a pretty big fan of doing what we're supposed to do, even if we don't feel like it sometimes. You know, jesus Christ definitely did not feel like climbing up on that cross, getting nailed to a cross. He even asks his Father if there's any father, if there's any way. If there's any other way that we can do this, can you please, you know, take this cup from me, but not my will, but thy will be done, and so I hope. I think God is a pretty big fan of actions, even if our heart because our heart is deceitful right, the Bible tells us that too it's deceitful above all else, even if our heart isn't exactly enough, and this is definitely true in your marriage I have found over the years, so many times that if I will just do what I'm supposed to do, if I will love my wife, nourish my wife, cherish my wife, you know, just be present, spend time with her.
Speaker 1:She often uses the word or has, over the years of, you know, I just need you to be present, to be here, which shouldn't be a hard thing, right? I mean, you would think this person that you married, one out of seven billion, being present for them wouldn't be a hard thing. And it's not really folks, it's our selfishness that gets in the way. It's not a hard task, but anyway, I I've found over the years, multiple, multiple, I mean just so many times if I will just do what I'm supposed to do, the heart will follow my actions, right. The emotions, the feelings that we all look for so often follow the actions. That said, your attitude when you are executing those actions. If you don't have a good attitude, you do need to work on that. If loving your spouse isn't your second priority each day after serving God, you need to work on that. That's a you problem, that's not a problem with God, that's not a problem with your spouse. No-transcript. That's a, that's a us problem and it's a pretty good indication that we've got our priorities out of whack.
Speaker 1:We're listening to a sermon I don't know, maybe a week ago, a couple weeks ago and one of the lines I've heard it a lot of times over the years. Haven't heard it recently, but it really caught my attention and the pastor said you know, are we faithful in the little things? In the little things he was talking about Moses at this time in particular, but just in general are we faithful in the little things? Do we expect more responsibility, more prestige, more whatever, you know, when we're not even being faithful with the things that God has already given us, with what we already have? You know, if we have one car and this is probably a really bad analogy because it's so materialistic, but it's the one that popped into my head.
Speaker 1:If we have one car and we really want to or we really think we need to maybe you've got a spouse that started a job, or maybe you've got a kid that's turning into a teenager and you really feel like it's a need Are you taking care of what you already have? If you have a car that's sitting in your driveway and you're not taking care of it, you're not getting the oil changed, you're not keeping it filled up, it's just a total pigsty on the inside, etc. Etc. Whatever angle you want to take, why would God give us more? You know, and there's God's words and they're talking about if you've been faithful.
Speaker 1:You know, I think it's the parable of the servants. It comes in a couple of different forms in the New Testament, but basically, you know, the master gives these servants different levels of responsibility and they come back and they talk to him and they tell him what they've done and with the first two at least, I believe he says well done, good and faithful servant, you've been faithful with a few things. I'm going to put you in charge of many things and I know for myself, at least too often and I think probably for a lot of us. We want God to go ahead and put us in charge of many things, even when we haven't been faithful with a few things. And often I think that our idea of what getting more, that I'm going to put you in charge of many things because you've been faithful in a few things, are we thinking about it from the world's point of view or from God's point of view? Are we thinking about it from what's important to the world materialistic kind of point of view money, power, fame? Are we thinking about it from a spiritual point of view, from God's point of view, because that makes a pretty big difference.
Speaker 1:John the Baptist, right. Jesus Christ said of him that of all men born of women, there was no one greater than him. By the way, he said that even the least in heaven is greater than him. Right, which has really always been interesting to me and kind of encouraging, comforting as we head that direction Every day one step closer, right. But from a worldly point of view, john was not anything, he was nothing. He didn't have a lot of money, he didn't have any power, at least as far as the world was concerned. He wasn't a governor or a general, and he did become famous in a sense, but it was through God, it wasn't because of him, it wasn't because he was a great singer or a phenomenal athlete or you know. I guess at that time, whatever their version of plays, this great actor, he became famous because he followed God's design, which ended up killing him right, and that doesn't seem like that would be a very great thing to most of us. You become successful at whatever you're doing, you're still poor, you have no power and you end up getting your head chopped off. That doesn't sound like a great day from an earthly point of view. At any rate, I think I've belabored that point.
Speaker 1:At the end of the day, folks, I think John Quincy Adams' quote really sums it up Duty is ours, results are God's. Do we apply that to our faith, to our marriage, to our children, to our job, to our bank account? Are we doing the best we can with what we've got and just leaving the rest of it up to God? I need to work on that a ton, so again, I'm assuming some of y'all do as well. 1 Timothy 6 Instructions to those who minister.
Speaker 1:All who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against. Those who have believers as their masters must not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren, but must serve them all the more because those who partake of the benefit are believers and beloved. Teach and preach these principles. If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing. But he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.
Speaker 1:But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment, for we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering with these, we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil and some, by longing for it, have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called. And you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you, in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord, jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the proper time. Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the proper time, he who is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion, amen. Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life. Indeed, o Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you. Verse 3. If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing. But he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions and the constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment, for we have brought nothing into this world, so we can take nothing out of it either. If we have food and covering with these, we shall be content. How many of us are content with food and covering? Hmm, I would argue not many of us, I don't. If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing.
Speaker 1:If you run into somebody that preaches something other than the gospel of Christ, right. What does Timothy say? One Timothy, right, he is conceited and understands nothing, but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil, suspicions, the constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth. Folks, if somebody's telling you the gospel of Jesus Christ is not true. If somebody's telling you something outside of it, right.
Speaker 1:If they're claiming that their denomination is the only way to Jesus Christ, or they're claiming that someone other than Jesus Christ was sinless and perfect, jesus Christ was sinless and perfect. They're claiming that you can have repentance of sins, salvation, forgiveness, through some other name besides Jesus Christ. Whatever they're teaching you, you can be sure of one thing it is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter whether it's somebody that claims to be a Christian or somebody that claims to be an atheist. It doesn't matter whether they're telling you there is no such thing as sin, or that sin's merely objective, or if they're telling you that you can only be forgiven of your sins if you belong to their denomination or if you pray to the person that they tell you to other than Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter who that person is. It could be a pope, a priest, mary Joseph, one of the apostles, paul, peter, it doesn't matter. They're not teaching you scripture, they're not teaching you the gospel of Jesus Christ, for we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.
Speaker 1:I don't think I think about that often enough. I didn't bring anything into this world and I'm not going to be able to take anything out, no matter how much I want when I die, I can't take anything into this world and I'm not going to be able to take anything out, no matter how much I want. When I die, I can't take anything with me. Thankfully I really, at least in this moment in time, I don't want to. Going to heaven and being with God and Jesus Christ and whatever he's got prepared there sounds a heck of a lot better than anything I can think of to bring with me. Sounds a heck of a lot better than anything I can think of to bring with me. But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. Do we try and be content?
Speaker 1:The love of money is a root of all sorts of evil and some, by longing for it, have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. Being rich isn't a vice, being poor isn't a virtue. Just because somebody has money doesn't mean that they're evil folks or that they're addicted to evil. And just because somebody doesn't have any money doesn't automatically make them virtuous and good and noble. Actions, actions. What does the rich person do with what they have? What does the poor person do with what they have? Do they follow the commands of God? Are they kind to the widow and the orphan, the poor and the needy? And they love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength? Neighbors as themselves? Those are the questions we should ask, not how much money they have or don't have.
Speaker 1:Verse 12, fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Jesus, of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate. Fight the good fight of faith was one of my mother's favorite little verses, so it always makes me smile a little bit. The second part of that take hold of eternal life, to which you were called. We already. If you choose, jesus Christ, you've already started eternity. We're just this part of it, this little insignificant part as far as time goes, but very significant part as far as how we act goes. It just lasts for a little while, folks.
Speaker 1:I go back to this example so often because I feel like it was one of the best visual representations of eternity I've ever seen. It was a pastor I can't remember the guy's name. I saw this a few years ago I've talked about it on the podcast a couple of times and he was given a speech, slash sermon somewhere where there was a stage Maybe it was a school, I really don't know and he came out on stage with this rope and the rope disappeared off stage and at the very end of the rope, maybe like three or four inches of it was taped in red and then the rest of it was just your normal yellow, golden flax, whatever color, but it disappeared off stage. He held one end of it with a little red tip on it and then the rest of it just went off stage and just kept going and he said this is your life, this little bitty part here like three or four inches. And then the rope, and he was on a pretty good size stage at least the way I remember it and this rope stretched all the way across it and just kept going Right and he said and that's your life in heaven or hell. And that's your life in heaven or hell. I thought that that was a pretty good, pretty solid representation.
Speaker 1:Verse 17, instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves a treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life. Indeed, right, we need to focus on what's coming, not what's here. We need to do good here, but we need to focus on what's coming, not what's here. We need to do good here, but we need to focus on eternity. We need to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven where raw rust and moth don't destroy. And if we are blessed folks and if you live in america, you almost assuredly are blessed compared to a huge percentage of the population around the world. And you don't use that to be conceited or prideful or to fix your hope on that wealth, which I do far too often but you use those blessings God gave you to help others. Oh, timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.
Speaker 1:That verse, for whatever reason, folks, to me just strikes me as what you hear so often today and what's been around for centuries of the people that consider themselves really bright and some of them really are pretty bright as far as level of intelligence, academic intelligence but it's the trust science argument. It's the argument that science and God can't go in the same direction, even though they do. It's the argument that faith in God and Jesus Christ is a crutch for the weak-minded. To me, folks, faith is the harder path, faith in God and Jesus Christ. The easy path is just to say there's no such thing and move on with your life and do whatever you want. I would argue that any person who's truly intelligent, if they really want to find the truth, if they really want to dig into history and the Bible and search for the truth, they're going to come out a Christian every single time. The only way that that doesn't happen is if they really aren't that interested in the truth, if they really just want to do what they want to do, and so, even when they find the truth, they pretend that they don't.
Speaker 1:We're going to read a speech for the next probably couple days and I wish that I could read it all at once, but then y'all would be here for an hour and a half and I don't think you want to by Ronald Reagan, given January 25th 1974. And I've seen different titles for it, but the title that I've got right now in front of me is we Will Be a City Upon a Hill Right. So this was 50 years ago, 51 years ago by then Governor Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan, there are three men here tonight I am very proud to introduce. It was a year ago, this coming February, when this country had its spirits lifted as they have never been lifted in many years. This happened when planes began landing on American soil and in the Philippines, bringing back men who had lived with honor for many miserable years in North Vietnamese prisons. Three of those men are here tonight John McCain, bill Lawrence and Ed Martin. It is an honor to be here tonight. I am proud that you asked me and I feel more than a little humble in the presence of this distinguished company.
Speaker 1:This is a long speech, folks, so I'm going to make some comments as we go through it. How many of y'all know those names? How many do you think? More importantly, how many of our high school students do you think know the names of John McCain, bill Lawrence and Ed Martin, who spent not just days or weeks or months, but years in North Vietnamese prisons? And how many of you know the infamous names like John Kerry or Jane Fonda Fonda, in particular, who gave information to the North Koreans that ensured the torture of men who were in prison there, knowingly, purposefully? How many of us know the names of NFL players, actors and actresses, nba stars, wnba stars, male and female athletes, entertainers, but we don't know the names of the men in our history. How many of y'all right now can name actors and actresses from the last 50 years, but how few of us know these names of men who risk life and limb and rotted in a communist prison For years? And how many of us, as Ronald Reagan said here, how many of us are humble in the presence, how many of us would be awed and humbled and tripping over our words in front of a famous actor or actress, and how many of us would belittle or ignore these men if we saw them in real life, or be uninterested in them?
Speaker 1:There are men here tonight who, through their wisdom, their foresight and their courage, have earned the right to be regarded as prophets of our philosophy. Indeed, they are prophets of our philosophy. Indeed, they are prophets of our times. In years past, when others were silent or too blind to the facts, they spoke up forcefully and fearlessly for what they believed to be right. A decade has passed since Barry Goldwater walked the lonely path across this land, reminding us that even a land as rich as ours can't go on forever borrowing against the future, leaving a legacy of debt for another generation and causing a runaway inflation to erode the savings and reduce the standard of living.
Speaker 1:Excuse me, voices have been raised trying to rekindle in our country all of the great ideas and principles which set this nation apart from all the others that preceded it, but louder and more strident voices utter easily sold cliches, cliches, cliches. Yeah, sorry about that. How many people have been warning us? Probably not many, but we've ignored a lot of them that have been, and how many out there are truly getting to the point it's not the right politician that we neglect, it's not the right policy that we elect, it's whether we turn back to God and Jesus Christ. How many of us go back to, or have listened to people who do go back to John Adams and his quote talking about the fact that if we don't find more virtue in ourselves, it doesn't matter who we elect or what form of government we establish. We're merely going to be form of government we establish. We're merely going to be trading or exchanging tyrannies and tyrants. How many of us pay more attention See, this is the part that we talked about at the beginning of each podcast in some form or fashion our priorities and what we give our time to.
Speaker 1:How many of us give so much time? I watched a TV show that I've kind of gotten sucked in, and I'm not going to tell you what it is because it'd be a waste of your time and I don't want to suck you into it yourself, but I watched it the other night for I don't know 30, 45 minutes, maybe an hour. Ask me if I spent an hour that day reading my Bible. Ask me if I spent an hour that day loving my wife. Ask me if I spent an hour that day interacting with my children. I might have gotten that one. Ask me if I spent an hour that day reading the history of my nation and trying to help others find that relationship between God and Jesus Christ. I might have gotten that one too.
Speaker 1:Maybe it matters what we pay attention to. What do we give our time? That's our most precious commodity. Folks is our time. We get to choose who gets that. It's our time. I mean, we can go sit on the side of the street and starve to death and do nothing if we want to. That's our choice. God gave us a certain amount of time. What we give our time to shows the world what our priorities are, and it's priceless. You can't get it back once you give it away. Not a single minute can you go back and recover. What do we give our time to? Who are we listening to? To who are we listening to?
Speaker 1:Cartoonists with acid-tipped pens portray some of the reminders of our heritage and our destiny as old-fashioned. They say that we are trying to retreat into a past that actually never existed. Looking to the past in an effort to keep our country from repeating the errors of history is termed by them as quote taking the country back to McKinley end quote. Of course, I never found that that was so bad. Under McKinley we freed Cuba. On the span of history, we are still thought of as a young, upstart country, celebrating soon only our second century as a nation, and yet we are the oldest continuing republic in the world. We're republic folks, not a democracy.
Speaker 1:I thought that tonight, rather than talking on the subjects you were discussing or trying to find something new to say, it might be appropriate to reflect a bit on our heritage. You can call it mysticism if you want to, but I've always believed that there was some divine plan that placed this great continent between two oceans, to be sought out by those who were possessed of an abiding love of freedom and a special kind of courage. It matters a lot, folks, whether you think, as our founders did, as they put in the Declaration of Independence, that they would trust in Providence and his guiding hand. So many of our great leaders, presidents and others noted that we had so much responsibility to thank God Almighty, the Father of Jesus Christ. This was true of those who pioneered the great wilderness in the beginning of this country, as it is also true of those later immigrants who were willing to leave the land of their birth and come to a land where even the language was unknown to them. Call it chauvinistic, but our heritage does not set us apart.
Speaker 1:Some years ago, a writer who happened to be an avid student of history told me a story about that day in the little hall in Philadelphia where honorable men, hard-pressed by a king who was flouting the very law they were willing to obey, debated whether they should take the fateful step of declaring their independence from that king. I was told by this man that the story could be found in the writings of Jefferson. I confess I never researched it or made an effort to verify it. Perhaps it is only a legend. But story or legend? He described the atmosphere, the strain, the debate, and that, as men for the first time faced the consequences of such an irretrivable act, the walls resounded with the dread word of treason and its price the gallows and the headsman's axe.
Speaker 1:As the day wore on, the issue hung in the balance and then, according to the story, a man rose in the small gallery. He was not a young man and was obviously calling on all the energy he could muster, Citing the grievances that had brought them to this moment. He said sign that parchment. They may turn every tree into a gallows, every home into a grave, and yet the words of that parchment can never die For the mechanic in his workshop. They will be words of hope to the slave in the mines. Freedom. And he added if my hands were freezing in death, I would sign that parchment with my last ounce of strength. Sign, sign if the next moment the noose is around your neck, sign even if the hall is ringing with the sound of the headsman axe, for that parchment will be the textbook of freedom, the Bible of the rights of man forever. And then, it is said, he fell back, exhausted, but fifty-six delegates, swept by his eloquence, signed the Declaration of Independence, a document destined to be as immortal as any work of man can be. And, according to the story, when they turned to thank him for his timely oratory, he could not be found. Nor were there any who knew who he was or how he had come in or gone out through the locked and guarded doors. Well, as I say, whether story or legend, the signing of the document that day in Independence Hall was miracle enough.
Speaker 1:56 men, a little band so unique, we have never seen their like since, pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. 16 gave their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor, sixteen gave their lives, most gave their fortunes, and all of them preserved their sacred honor. What manner of men were they? Certainly they were not an unwashed revolutionary rebel. Nor were they adventurers in a heroic mood. Nor were they adventurers in a heroic mood. Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists, eleven were merchants and tradesmen. Nine were farmers. They were men who would achieve security but valued freedom more. And what price did they pay?
Speaker 1:John Hart was driven from the side of his desperately ill wife. After more than a year of living almost as an animal in the forest and in caves, he returned to find his wife had died and his children had vanished. He never saw them again. His property was destroyed and he died of a broken heart, but with no regret, only pride in the part he had played that day in Independence Hall. Carter Braxton of Virginia lost all his ships. They were sold to pay his debts. He died in rags. So it was with Ellery, clymer Hall, walton Gwinnett, rutledge Morris, livingston and Middleton Nelson, learning that Cornwallis was using his home for a headquarters, personally begged Washington to fire on him and destroy his home. He died bankrupt.
Speaker 1:It has never been reported that any of these men ever expressed bitterness or renounced their actions as not worth the price. Fifty-six rank-and-file ordinary citizens had founded a nation that grew from sea to shining sea. Five million farms, quiet villages, cities that never sleep, all done without an area redevelopment plan, urban renewal or a rural legal assistance program, rural legal assistance program. We've forgotten these men and how much they gave and their families gave. We've forgotten that our founders and our settlers and our pilgrims did all this without some government assistance program or some government program designed to tell us how to do it. Perhaps most of all, we've simply forgotten to trust God and look toward eternity. How many of us would never express bitterness or renounce their actions as worth the price if we lost everything our farms, our family, our wife, our children. Our ships died in rags, broke and penniless. Now we are a nation of 211 million people with a pedigree that includes bloodlines from every corner of the world. We have shed that American melting pot blood in every corner of the world, usually in defense of someone's freedom.
Speaker 1:Usually in defense of someone's freedom, those who remained of that remarkable band we call our founding fathers tied up some of the loose ends about a dozen years after the revolution. It had been the first revolution in all man's history that did not just exchange one set of rulers for another. This had been a philosophical revolution. The culmination of men's dreams for 6,000 years were formalized with the Constitution, probably the most unique document ever drawn in the long history of man's relation to man. I know there have been other constitutions, new ones are being drawn today by newly emerging nations. Most of them, even the one of the Soviet Union, contains many of the same guarantees as our own constitution, and still there is a difference. The difference is so subtle that we often overlook it, but it is so great that it tells the whole story. Those other constitutions say government grants you these rights, and ours says you were born with these rights. They are yours by the grace of God and no government on earth can take them from you.
Speaker 1:Without God, nothing else matters in America. Folks, if you don't get that through your head, you're never going to figure it out. I know that sounds arrogant and cruel, probably, and steps on some toes. But if we don't figure out that the whole ballgame is our relationship with God, nothing else matters. We're just going to turn into every other country through the history of the world. If our rights don't come from God, then they come from man, and man can dictate whatever they are and we have no right to complain about it. If our rights don't come from God, if they come from man, then man gets to tell us what those are at any given time, on any given Monday of any year, and we have no right to complain about it, unless we're willing to go and fight and die so that we get to decide what the rights are, which is just a form of selfishness. But if our rights do come from God, if you want unalienable rights that are unalterable, then you have to acknowledge God and Jesus Christ and their rightful place in our nation, in our churches, in our schools, in our law enforcement, our military, our firefighting institutions, our intelligence services, our courts, military family, marriages, individual lives.
Speaker 1:They had solved with astonishing ease and unduplicated success two problems which had heretofore baffled the capacity of the most enlightened nations. They had contrived a system of federal government which prodigiously increased national power and yet respected local liberties and authorities. And yet respected local liberties and authorities, and they had founded it on a principle of equality, without surrendering the securities of property or freedom. Never in any society has the preeminence of the individual been so firmly established and given such a priority. In less than 20 years, we would go to war because the God-given rights of American sailors, as defined in the Constitution, were being violated by a foreign power. We served notice then on the world that all of us together would act collectively to safeguard the rights of even the least among us, but still, in an older, cynical world, they were not convinced. The great powers of Europe still had the idea that one day this great continent would be open again to colonizing and they would come over and divide us up. We'll keep going tomorrow. We'll keep going tomorrow again, though God given rights that's why we went to war, god given rights against the Barbary pirates, against the Muslims. And still today, who do we fight against? The left and the Muslims? We've been fighting against the left communists for a century now. We negotiated the left and the Muslims. We've been fighting against the left communists for a century now. We negotiated with them, made deals with them in the 20th century, to our own destruction, our own demise, or at least heading that direction.
Speaker 1:You cannot peacefully coexist with people who reject God and Jesus Christ. You don't have to go to war with them, folks, but you can't peacefully coexist with them in this country. I should say, you don't have to go to war with them in another country, but you can't peacefully coexist with them in America and expect liberty to survive. America and expect liberty to survive. And again, if our rights don't come from God, then the government gets to decide what our rights are whenever they want to. They could give us one set of rights this Monday. They could give us a completely different set of rights next Friday, Doesn't matter. God bless y'all. God bless your families. God bless your marriages. God bless America. We'll talk to y'all again real soon, folks. God bless your nation, wherever you are around the world. Listen, looking forward to it.