The American Soul
The American Soul
Holy Excuses: When "I Can't" Really Means "I Won't"
What's the real difference between a reason and an excuse? One explains why something happened, while the other simply explains away responsibility. This distinction sits at the heart of today's deeply personal examination of our spiritual priorities and family commitments.
We all claim we "don't have time" for what matters most—reading Scripture, praying meaningfully, connecting with our spouse—yet somehow find hours for scrolling, streaming, and sports. The uncomfortable truth is that most of our "can't" statements would be more honestly phrased as "won't." When was the last time you truthfully assessed your priorities? Are the people who matter most to you actually experiencing your focused time and attention?
The episode delves into 1 Peter 2, exploring how Christians are called to be "living stones" who maintain excellent behavior even when suffering. Hypocrisy—presenting one face in public while living differently in private—remains one of the greatest obstacles preventing non-believers from embracing faith. Our actions must authentically reflect our professed values.
Fascinatingly, we also journey through America's forgotten Christian foundations via the 1892 Supreme Court case Holy Trinity Church v. United States. Justice Brewer's opinion methodically documents how state constitutions explicitly acknowledged God and established religious obligations. Massachusetts' Constitution of 1780 even declared it both "the right and duty" of citizens to worship God publicly. These historical facts powerfully counter modern narratives suggesting America was founded as a secular nation.
As Patrick Henry wisely advised, each of us has a "sphere of influence" where we can practice virtue and encourage it in others. What might change if you began using your sphere intentionally today? Join our growing community of listeners committed to personal renewal and spiritual restoration. Your feedback and prayers continue to shape this journey we're on together.
The American Soul Podcast
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1791934/subscribe
how you doing. 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. Started to appreciate y'all joining me, giving me a little bit of your time and attention, a little piece of your day. I will try and use it wisely. I know y'all have other things vying for your attention, so I appreciate that you're here with me, with us. For those of y'all who continue to share the podcast and tell others about it, thank you so much. Very, very grateful for that. For those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast, thank you even more. Definitely need those prayers and treasure them. Very grateful for them. Definitely need them. And if you're new to the podcast, thank you for joining us. Hope you enjoy it, hope you get something out of it and hope you come back. Hopefully, even if just a little bit, it'll help us all draw a little closer to God and Jesus Christ and our nation back that way as well.
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, your forgiveness of sins, for all your many blessings, the ones we admit and the ones we don't. Many blessings, the ones we admit and the ones we don't. Please be with us when we fall short, when we fail you, when we go back into the same old sins over and over again. Help us to truly love your son, to follow his commands, to love you with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. And help our actions, father, to back up our words. Help us not just to say these things as a check in the box or speak empty words that we really don't mean. Please help us to truly strive to do your will in all things. Be with those who lead us, not only in the state, politically, but also, perhaps much more importantly, father, in the pulpit. Be with our pastors and our priests and their families, their wives, their children. Protect them from evil. Give them wisdom and courage and strong faith. Families, their wives, their children. Protect them from evil. Give them wisdom and courage and strong faith, and be with those who are listening, father. Please surround them with your angels and their families, comfort them, guide them. Be with those who are anxious, fearful, hurting for whatever. Anxious, fearful, hurting for whatever reason illness, injury, heartache. And God. My words here today. Father, please, in your son's name, we ask and pray Amen.
Speaker 1:Have you made time for God today? Have you made time to read His Word? Have you made time to pray? And, if you're married, have you made time for your spouse? Are they going to go to bed tonight knowing that you have made them your second priority, after only God and Jesus Christ? Are they going to know that? Are they going to wonder where they are on your list of priorities? Or are they going to know flat out that they're not on your list of priorities, except maybe way, way down at the end, right?
Speaker 1:And so we talk about this each day. For those of y'all that are new, we run through this little segment every single day on the podcast, particularly about God and our spouse, because the whole point of this podcast of the American Soul podcast, the whole point of this podcast of the American Soul podcast, is to hopefully draw individuals a little bit closer to God and Jesus Christ and our nation, because our nation here in America was founded on the principles of Jesus Christ. We are, from the very beginning, a Christian republic, regardless of what anyone else says today or tries to tell you. And so that's the only way we can function, that's the only way we can have liberty, is to have those principles of Christ at the heart of our institutions and our laws, our courts, our constitutions. And how do we get that right? Our founders I've talked about this often over the years, haven't said it in a while, but our founders understood two different sides of the same coin. They understood that you couldn't force a person to a particular faith or no faith. That's what chased so many of them out of Europe is they just wanted to worship God and Jesus Christ. They didn't want to have to be Anglican or Roman Catholic or Orthodox, right. But the other, the flip side of that coin is Our founders knew that if we didn't have a people that followed the principles of Christ, that we would lose our republic. And we are. We've seen that over the last 80 years that we would lose our republic, and we are. We've seen that over the last 80 years. We talk about it frequently. And so how do we get our institutions back on track there? Well, morality, virtue, it's kind of the opposite of economics, right? It's not trickle down, it's trickle up. And so Reagan, his quote we talk about so often. He said, you know, the family is a cornerstone of the nation, the backbone, and so the marriage is a cornerstone, the backbone of the family, and we're really struggling, and have been for quite a while, in that aspect in the family, the marriage aspect. And so we talk about this each day, right, and we, you know, I ask the questions, have you made time? And I said, I think a few days ago on the podcast I was going to talk about part of the sermon, a man named Cody McQueen he's a pastor out there at Christ Chapel, the church called Christ Chapel, and he was talking about this episode with Moses and the burning bush.
Speaker 1:And if you're familiar with it, right, jesus, or God, calls Moses to go save, to pull the Israelites out, right, and Moses starts making all these excuses, which is kind of funny because he's standing in front of this bush that's on fire but it's not burning. You would think that, logically, a human being, we would look at that bush and go man, if God can do this, then he can do whatever he wants to do. If he can make a bush burn but it's not burning up, he's probably got this. But Moses starts telling God. All these reasons he can't go, and some of them are probably legitimate, right? Anyway, the point is, though, in our life, how often do we make, do we have legitimate reason, versus how often do we make excuses? And so this is a little.
Speaker 1:These are a couple paragraphs out of his sermon, from the transcript, because there's a difference between reason, reasons and excuses. Reasons are telling and explaining why something happened. Excuses are trying to explain away responsibility. Reasons are here's why I'm unable. Excuses are here's why I'm unable. Excuses are here's why I'm unwilling. Reasons are here's what was done. Excuses are here's what I will not do. There's a difference between reasons and excuses, and that differentiation makes a huge difference in our spiritual walk with Jesus. And it's not just our spiritual walk, right? Because, again, if you're married, or if you're looking to be married one day, that relationship between husband and wife is supposed to exemplify what relationship, the relationship between Jesus Christ and the church. So there's a lot of relevance between our spiritual life and our married life.
Speaker 1:And so how often do we say we can't do something, when what we really ought to say, if we're really being honest, is we won't do something? How often do we make the excuse? Well, I just, I can't do that, I don't have time to do that. That's a great Right. I don't. I don't feel comfortable doing that. Or that one a lot Right. Feel comfortable doing that. Heard, that one a lot Right, that's just. I don't feel like doing that. Feelings, emotions, right, they get us into trouble.
Speaker 1:Bible tells us the heart is deceitful above all else, and what we really ought to be saying is things like this I just don't think that's important. Your needs aren't really that important. God's word really isn't that important. That's what we're really saying. I don't want to spend time reading God's word. I don't want to make my spouse, you know, spend time loving them each day. I'm unwilling to that would be the more honest. If we were really being honest, that would be the more honest comment. Right? There's a little bit more here. Let me see if I can find this. There's some great parts in the scripture, but I just wanted to. I mean in this sermon, but I just wanted to read one more.
Speaker 1:We cannot continue to give him those excuses because, honestly, at its root, sometimes we just don't want to God. I didn't want to wake up early and read, or I don't want to wake up early and read my Bible. Let's be honest, I would rather stay up late and binge Netflix, and then I'm tired in the morning and I fall asleep reading the Bible. Bible's boring, maybe you just stayed up too late. The Bible's boring, maybe it just stayed up too late, or God, I don't know. If there's anybody I can help grow spiritually, man again, we've got plenty of opportunities to help someone grow spiritually here at Christ Child Plenty, right, and so you see the application. I'm just too tired to read the Bible in the morning. Okay, why Did you work a 12 or 14 hour shift and pass out by the time your head hit the pillow?
Speaker 1:Okay, or did you work just a regular day? But then you came home and you scrolled your phone for an hour and a half or binge-watched Netflix or Hulu or Prime, like Pastor McQueen was saying. Right, I don't have time to whatever it is for your spouse, folks, if it's important to your spouse, it ought to be important to you, just as important as your things that are important, right, their needs ought to be just as important as your needs, whether it's taking a walk, cooking together, cleaning up together, talking, listening, having sex, sitting on the porch right, and let's be honest in the amount of time that we scroll through our phone or watch sports. Right, I'm a big sports guy. I've struggled with that my whole life. I've said that on the podcast multiple times. There was a time when I could get sucked into video games. There was a time when I could get sucked into video games. I don't have quite that problem anymore. But probably movies and sports really, though Both of those things can suck me in in a heartbeat. A good ad on TV, man, I'll just lose my mind, I'll just sit there and watch it and zone out, focus on that completely. So a sporting event though, I go to that because I can get sucked into those pretty easy. Football game right on TV, easy, two hours, easy.
Speaker 1:How many times could you do whatever it was that your spouse wanted to do each day in two hours, whatever it is, I mean, even if it's cooking like a full-on meal, you could do that twice almost, especially with how we make food, most of us in the modern sense, going for a walk, holding hands, having sex I mean, good Lord, you could do that a bunch of times Sitting on the porch just listening. Maybe your spouse, their love language is acts of service, maybe it's a gift. How many different little stores could you go to in two hours and you say I don't have a lot of money, great, don't spend a lot of money. Get something that you know your spouse will really like. Go buy them a coffee, go buy them Chipotle, you know food, or something or something that you know they can use at home. Anyway, y'all get the point.
Speaker 1:We say that we don't have time, that we're too tired, that we're too worn out, that we have too many other distractions and maybe there's a little bit of truth in that last one too many other distractions we do. We've said yes to too many things today and we've allowed too many things that are unimportant to control our schedule, thereby kicking out what's really important. Right, right. Like you tell your kids yes to every single thing they want to do, it's okay to tell your kids, no, we can't do that this year. You can't play every single sport this year. We don't have time for that. We need to make our family a priority. Have some good friends, great friends actually, and they have done that with their kids. They do a phenomenal job raising their kids, and sometimes that means that their kids they do a phenomenal job raising their kids, and sometimes that means that their kids want to do some extracurricular activity and they have told them no, no, we're going to spend time as a family, we're going to go on this trip together or camping, or we're just going to be at the house and work together and spend time on our place. And that's okay, folks, it's okay on our place. And that's okay, folks, it's okay.
Speaker 1:See, we've allowed the left to kick God out and kick our family out and tell us that our life needs to be centered around, controlled by, in particular, public education, youth, sports. When you're talking about kids, right, but then in our marriage, even I need my me time. I need to sit and scroll my phone, I need to sit and watch Netflix, et cetera. Right, you need to look at yourself, folks, and I'm going to move on here. You need to look at yourself and look at each day. Look at the last week, the last month, the last five, 10 years, maybe 20 years of your life. Your marriage are you. Do you have legitimate reasons for not spending time with God and not spending time with your spouse each day, or are you making excuses? All right, so we're going to get back into 1 Peter, if I can find it, and we're going to go to chapter 2.
Speaker 1:As newborn babes, verse 1. Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. If you have tasted the kindness of the Lord as Living Stones and coming to him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in Scripture for you who believe. But for those who disbelieve, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the very cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, for they stumbled because they are disobedient to the word and to this doom. They were appointed whom they were appointed, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him, who has called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. For once, you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Speaker 1:Beloved, I urge you, as aliens and strangers, to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles so that, in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may, because of your good deeds as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. Honor Authority. Submit yourselves, for the Lord's sake, to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors, as sent by him, for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right, for such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond. Slaves of God, honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king Servants, be submissive to your masters, with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. Who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable, for this finds favor if for the sake of conscience toward God.
Speaker 1:A person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure with patience? But if, when you do what is right and suffer for it, you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. Christ is our example, for you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth, and while being reviled, he did not revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously, and he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. For by his wounds you were healed, for you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
Speaker 1:First one, therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, how many of us do that Deceit, hypocrisy, right? None of us ever want a different standard used on somebody else than on us, right? We don't ever look at somebody and complain to God about how they're not doing what they're supposed to and we immediately want, even deserve, justice, but we don't want that same standard used on us. How many of us envy? How many of us look at what other people have and want it? How many of us slander? How many of us talk? Have you ever or do you currently have you recently you talked behind somebody else's back and said something that wasn't merely just gossip, but it wasn't true, right? You even you knew it wasn't true and you still said it anyway.
Speaker 1:Verse two like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the word so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. If you have tasted the kindness of the Lord, how many of us long for? We talk about this often on the Lord. How many of us long for we talk about this often on the podcast? There's so many people, folks, before us.
Speaker 1:If you're living in a country right now where you can read the Bible without fear of retribution, there are people before who have suffered immensely for you to be able to have that ability. And I'm not even talking about in a communist or Muslim nation right, where you're going to be attacked and vilified and harassed and imprisoned and beaten and raped and tortured because you follow Jesus Christ. I'm talking about the countries where we have the ability to read the Bible freely. We've got that. You can have a Bible in your own house, you can read from it, you can read it to your children, you can read it to your wife, you can share it with other people. You can share it with other children, adults, in your community. How many of us long to read our Bible each day? How many of us remember what it cost those who went before us?
Speaker 1:I think I said this earlier and we need to go back and do it again, but you've got to remember the number of people that were punished by the church in Europe, by the church in Europe, roman Catholic, church, orthodox Anglican, that were punished by the church associated with the state for merely reading the Bible and wanting to share the word of God with others, for refusing to bow, not to God and Jesus Christ, but for refusing to bow to church doctrine that went against Scripture and folks. I hate to say this. I saw this conversation on X recently and they were talking about a particular denomination where this happened quite a bit A few centuries ago and they were asking whether it would happen again if that denomination was given control. And there were some people that self-professed members of that particular denomination, they said, oh yeah, you don't have a right to read your Bible. You don't have a right to read your Bible, you don't have a right to own the Bible. You don't have a right to believe scripture over denominational doctrine. Hey, that's pretty scary, folks, that there's any Christians out there that would willingly take a Bible away and want to punish others, not for not following Scripture, but for not following their little bitty denominational doctrine little bitty in the sense of worth compared to Holy Scripture.
Speaker 1:But the second thing is we may not always have the ability to read our Bible freely. We better enjoy that and take full advantage of that liberty now and spread it to as many as we can now, many as we can now. Verse 5, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. I don't know why. For some reason, when I read this verse today, though, folks to offer up spiritual sacrifices stuck with me. How many of us view our prayers or following the commands of God and Jesus Christ as spiritual sacrifices in the sense of doing what God has told us to do and offering that up to him. Verse 9,. Do we talk to other people about whatever our, however we see it, of being called out of the darkness and into the light Right?
Speaker 1:For me personally, one of the things that that struck me over the years of reading the Bible, for example, is there's certain verses that I just absolutely know are true. I've experienced them. Not in the sense of like sight folks. I'm not saying that I've seen angels or God or Jesus Christ in the flesh I haven't at all but I mean there are certain verses that I just I've experienced them, I've seen them in my life. Proverbs is a great example for me. That's why I recommend it often, because for me there's truth that's been applicable, right.
Speaker 1:Reading the history of our nation as a country and seeing the number of times where we just should have fallen apart, we should have failed, we shouldn't have been successful I go often to the battle of Midway. There's no way we should have come out of that on top. You go back to some of the examples and maybe we'll go back and read soon some more of these examples. And our founders talked about this and they talked about it not just in private but in public proclamations about the obvious blessings that God had bestowed upon our nation during the Revolutionary War, where they had seen God's handiwork right. The story about Washington getting shot at so many times and all of them missing he shouldn't have survived that. There's no reasonable explanation for him to have survived that. So those things to me those are two big parts that I've looked at the relationship of our country with God as it developed and grew.
Speaker 1:And then just the proverbs, the verses that I've seen in my life that are true, you know. Do we proclaim that? Do we tell other people about that and urge them to join us on this pilgrimage? And urge them to join us on this pilgrimage, verse 11, beloved, I urge you, as aliens and strangers, to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may, because of your good deeds as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Speaker 1:Example folks, example, example, example. Do we set a good example for those around us? We talked about it in marriage. Are you setting a good example for your kids, for those around you. You have no idea what the ripple effects like a pebble or a stone thrown into a pond. You have no idea who's going to be affected by that. Do we do what God tells us to, even when we think nobody's paying attention, right? Or do we put on a show for people? Do we act one way in public and then, when we think nobody's looking, we act a different way in private? And this is true both of our individual lives, folks, and in our marriage, right? Do we put on a great show for people? How many, how many marriages have you seen like that? How many individuals have you seen where it's somebody that that you just happened to have caught, something that you know, you know was not good, but overall the view of this person or this marriage is that it's great. But then they go home, they go somewhere in private, they go get drunk, they go sleep around, they go cheat on a test, they lie, they steal, they take things that aren't theirs, right? Or they have this great marriage on the front, but they go home and they fight and scream and throw things at each other or just treat each other with disdain and indifference. One of the things and I think we'll move on here. Yeah, sorry about that. There's a lot here, folks. Great, great chapter.
Speaker 1:One of the things that really struck me over the years though and I've heard it from multiple different pastors is one of the most dangerous things for the church as a body right, catholic, small, c, universal. For us representing God is hypocrisy. It's those people that claim to follow Christ but they obviously don't in their lives. And so the people that aren't Christian that are looking in from the outside, they go. Well, why would I want to be part of that? That's no different than what I get from the world here all the time. Why would I want to participate in that?
Speaker 1:And we push people away. You never know who's watching. Someone's almost always watching besides God, and you have no idea what's your example, especially when you're suffering and you continue to follow God. What kind of example that's going to set for others? And I'm talking to myself here, folks, just as much as y'all, because I don't. I don't like the suffering part. I don't like the part where I still have to follow God, even though it's painful. You know I'm not getting any credit. Nobody sees the suffering, nobody knows about it. Well, that's no fun. All right, we'll move on. So we're going to get back into the Supreme Court case. This is Holy Trinity Church versus United States from 1892. Justice Josiah Brewer If this is the first podcast in this series that you're listening to, we've been talking about this opinion from this court case because he sums up all of these different evidences about how we are a Christian nation right from even before.
Speaker 1:Goes back and talks about Christopher Columbus first colonial grant evidences about how we are a Christian nation right From even before. Goes back and talks about Christopher Columbus first colonial grant made to Sir Walter Riley in 1584, first charter of Virginia granted by King James I in 1606, subsequent charters, mayflower Compact, fundamental Orders of Connecticut in the early to mid-1600s. Charter of Privileges granted by William Penn. And then we got to the Declaration on the last podcast and some of the wording there. And again, folks, it's so important.
Speaker 1:One of the reasons it's so important for us to read our Bible each day is so that we know these words right. One of the things we talked about recently is the fact that in one of these, god is described as the Father of Lights. Well, that's a New Testament reference. That's a New Testament reference. And if we know these things, if we read our Bible each day, then we have a clue in our founding documents about how much our founders, our ancestors, turned to God, the Father of Jesus Christ. Not Islam or Buddhism, hinduism, not Judaism, even not atheism, not Satanism. They turned to God, the Father of Jesus Christ and the Holy spirit. This is a Christian Republic. We were born that way. We can only function that way. The only way you can have Liberty is where the spirit of God is. New Testament tells us that also Right, and it's why it's so important for us to get our public education in the United States back centered on God and Jesus Christ. So we'll pick up here again.
Speaker 1:If we examine the constitutions of the various states, we find in them a constant recognition of religious obligations, of religious obligations. Every constitution of every one of the 44 states contains language which, either directly or by clear implication, recognizes a profound reverence for religion and an assumption that its influence in all human affairs is essential to the well-being of the community. In all human affairs is essential to the well-being of the community. This recognition may be in the preamble, such as is found in the Constitution of Illinois 1870. We, the people of the state of Illinois, grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberty which he hath so long permitted us to enjoy, which he hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to him for a blessing upon our endeavors to secure and transmit the same unimpaired, to succeeding generations, etc.
Speaker 1:One thing you need to know as we're going through these he's going to give some more examples here but religious right, religion, the country and we talked about this the makeup of, for example, the ratifiers, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention they were overwhelmingly over 90% right, something like 92, 93 percent Openly avowed Christians. That's the way we were born, that's the religion. That's what they're referring to when they talk about God. It's not a deist God. It's not a random. You hear so many people today talk about where most of our founders were just deists. Well, that's not even remotely true. And even the few that were deists, their worldview was biblical.
Speaker 1:You can't take the Koran and come in and make America. You can't take the religious texts of Buddhism or Hinduism, or certainly not atheism or Satanism, and make America and produce liberty. It won't work. And any of those religious texts that have principles right, that would work. The only reason they would work is because they're mimicking, parroting the principles of Jesus Christ. And so when we go through these examples again, like this Constitution of Illinois in 1870, grateful to Almighty God, right, they're talking about God, the Father of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:And notice here also in this particular preamble in Illinois in 1870, for the civil, political and religious liberty which he has so long permitted us to enjoy. It's not just our private lives, folks, in these state constitutions. It's civil and political as well as religious. It's civil and political as well as religious. That's, who gave us these liberties is God. We have to be grateful to him and if we want our endeavors to be blessed, we've got to look to him for those blessings, to make sure that we can pass on to future generations these same blessings unimpaired.
Speaker 1:It may be only in the familiar requisition that all officers shall take an oath, closing with the declaration so help me God. It may be in clauses like that of the Constitution of Indiana, 1816, article 11, section 4. I think that's what that little symbol means, but I'm not sure. But Article 11. The manner of administering an oath or affirmation shall be such as is most consistent with the conscience of the deponent and shall be esteemed the most solemn appeal to God and shall be esteemed the most solemn appeal to God, or in provisions such as are found in Articles 36 and 37 of the Declaration of Rights of the Constitution of Maryland 1867, that, as it is the duty of every man to worship God in such manner as he thinks most acceptable to him, all persons are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty, wherefore no person ought, by any law, to be molested in his person or estate on account of his religious persuasion or profession or for his religious practice, unless, under the color of religion, religion he shall disturb the good order, peace or safety of the state or shall infringe the laws of morality or injure others in their natural civil or religious rights. Nor ought any person to be compelled to frequent or maintain or contribute, unless on contract, to maintain any place of worship or any ministry. Nor shall any person otherwise competent be deemed incompetent as a witness or juror on account of his religious belief, provided he believes in the existence of God and that, under his dispensation, such person will be held morally accountable for his acts and be rewarded or punished. Therefore, either in this world or the world to come, that no religious test ought ever to be required as a qualification for any office of profit or trust in this state other than a declaration of belief in the existence of God.
Speaker 1:There's a lot there. The bottom line, though, folks, is you still had a duty to worship God, it still went back to God, and they used God, not thinking that it was some random deist. God, right. The only other religion that God would have been the same, as is Judaism, because the Old Testament God is God, the Father of Jesus Christ. But you see that again, right, article 3637, declaration of Rights of the Constitution of Maryland, as it is the duty of every man to worship God. Worship him how you want to, but make sure that you worship him. Go to church where you want to go to church, but make sure you go to church. This wasn't a random deist, it was God, the Father of Jesus Christ, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the problem with the religious oath or test wasn't a belief in God. Right, they say that a couple times in here, that no religious test ought ever to be required as a qualification for any office of profit or trust in the state other than a declaration in the belief in the existence of God. Right and then earlier. Nor shall any person otherwise confident be deemed incompetent as a witness or juror on account of his religious belief, provided provided he believes in the existence of God and that, under his dispensation, such person will be held morally accountable for his acts, to be rewarded or punished, therefore, either in this world or the world to come. So you've got to believe in God, you've got to believe that there's a state of rewards and punishment after this life, in this world or the next, for how you act or keep going here or like that.
Speaker 1:In Articles 2 and 3 of Part 1 of the Constitution of Massachusetts 1780, it is the right, as well as the duty of all men in society, publicly and its stated seasons, to worship the Supreme being, the creator and preserver of the universe, as the happiness of a people and the good order and preservation of civil government essentially depend upon piety, religion and morality, and as these cannot be generally diffused through a community but by the institution of a public worship of God and of public instructions in piety, religion and morality, and of public instructions in piety, religion and morality. Therefore, to promote their happiness and to secure the good order and preservation of their government, the people of this commonwealth have a right to invest their legislature with power to authorize and require. And the legislature shall from time to time authorize and require. And the legislature shall from time to time authorize and require the several towns, parishes, precincts and other bodies, politic or religious societies, to make suitable provision at their own expense for the institution of the public worship of God and for the support and maintenance of the public Protestant teachers of piety, religion and morality In all cases where such provision shall not be made voluntarily. Constitution of Massachusetts 1780. Right, and again you've got to remember that this is being read in a Supreme Court case by Justice Josiah Brewer. And this what are they saying again in Massachusetts? It's the right, as well as the duty of all men to worship God, to worship the Supreme being, creator, the Great Creator and Preserver of the universe, and not just privately but publicly at specific times. And what is the constitution here? So when people tell you that we didn't have reference to God and Jesus Christ, right, you look at these constitutions. No, our founders very much wanted God involved in the state, publicly, and so you add these tools to your toolbox, you teach them to your children.
Speaker 1:And there's a lot of people, folks, you know we were talking earlier about our own relationship with God, how often we pray to do his will but we kind of keep in the back of our mind but I don't want to do that, god Right. Or how often we just outright don't want to. We don't want to do that, god Right. Or how often we just outright don't want to. We don't want to submit to God. It's not a matter of submitting to our husband, for example with wives, it's a matter of submitting to God. It's not a matter of husbands. You know we don't. It's not just a matter of we don't want to treat our lives with honor, kindly Right, we just we don't want to do what God wants us to do, we just don't want to. And I think that's a big chunk of a lot of people in America today. It's not because they're right, it's not because they have evidence, they just simply do not. They don't want to acknowledge the fact that America was born a Christian republic. It's not out of ignorance. They know that we were, they know we weren't some just random deist, secular, pagan republic like Rome. They just don't want to go along with it.
Speaker 1:But if you do manage to find somebody, folks, that's really open to talking about this. This is a great tool to have. Download it. Go find the PDF somewhere online and download it. Highlight the few sections in here right that are talking about this and, if they're really interested, read through a couple of them.
Speaker 1:Read through this Constitution of Massachusetts in 1780. Talk about the fact that this Constitution, in a very public manner, said that all men had a duty to worship God publicly. Constitution in a very public manner said that all men had a duty to worship God publicly, that the happiness of a people and the good order and preservation of civil government depend upon our piety, right, our humility, our religion, our morality, and that the only way to get that in the community is through the public worship of God and public institutions of piety, religion and morality towns, parishes, precincts, other bodies, politic to make provision at their own expense for the institution of the public worship of God and for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion and morality. How many of us know that today? How many of us know that at the beginning of our nation, the very constitution of and this is just one example, but you can go back and look at these other right Maryland also.
Speaker 1:It's our duty to turn to God right, do it in your own manner. You don't have to be Roman Catholic, you don't have to be Greek Orthodox, you don't have to be Baptist or Methodist Church of Christ, but make sure that you do it. Worship God, the Father of Jesus Christ and his Son, his Son and the Holy Spirit. Worship him, however, is most solemn, right, I think that was. Where was that? I don't we just read it. I don't we just read it, but the way that that is most significant to you. But make sure that you do it right. Make sure that you do it. I think that's a quote almost directly from a kid's book that we've read a couple of times on this podcast. I need to go back and do that. I haven't done that. Geez, maybe in a year maybe we'll go back and read some of those sections. But this kid's book from the turn of the, from the 19th into the 20th century, one of the sections talked about the fact you know, worship God in the manner that you see fit, but make sure that you worship him. Go to church and whatever denomination you see fit, but make sure that you worship him. Go to church in whatever denomination you see fit, but make sure that you go to church.
Speaker 1:The people, folks that are telling you that we're not, that we were not born a Christian republic, they're the ones that are out of step with history. This is history. This is a Supreme Court case in the 1890s and this is the opinion offered by Justice Josiah Brewer that goes back and just lists bullet point after bullet point Of the evidence that we are a Christian nation. Add all these tools and go back and look at the Constitution of Illinois, maryland, massachusetts you know we read through the state constitutions last year at some point, I think. Go back and look at them. Look at North Carolina, south Carolina, Virginia, all these different ones, and just add those tools to your toolbox folks. And just add those tools to your toolbox folks. And if you find somebody that really has that wants to talk to you that's curious talk to them.
Speaker 1:Whatever your sphere of influence, right, that's so great quote by Patrick Henry. I'll end with that quote and I'll leave you all alone for today. But whatever your sphere, right, he says, righteousness alone can exalt them as a nation, talking about us as the American people. Reader, whoever thou art, remember this and in thy sphere, practice virtue thyself and encourage it in others. Right, and that righteousness alone can exalt them as a nation is a quote directly out of Proverbs, out of the Bible. You have a sphere of influence, folks, whatever it is, everybody you interact with today, you have a sphere of influence tomorrow. You don't have to be overbearing, you don't have to be abrasive and caustic, just consistent. Talk to God about it, pray. God bless y'all. God bless your families. God bless your marriages, if you're married. God bless America. God bless your nation, wherever you are around the world. Listen, we'll talk to y'all again real soon, folks, looking forward to it.