The American Soul
The American Soul
The Rock on Which Our Republic Rests
Jesse Cope delivers a powerful, historically-grounded exploration of America's Christian foundations and the critical need to return to them. The episode begins with a candid look at personal priorities—challenging listeners to honestly assess where God ranks in their daily lives, followed by the importance of prioritizing one's spouse above all other commitments except faith.
Drawing from presidential addresses during America's darkest hours—including FDR during the Great Depression and Lincoln before the Civil War—Cope demonstrates how our leaders historically turned to God when facing national crises. This stands in stark contrast to the last 80 years, which Cope pinpoints to a pivotal 1947 Supreme Court decision that began severing America's governmental connection to its Christian roots.
The heart of the episode showcases powerful quotes from founding figures like Robert Charles Winthrop, who warned that nations must choose between being governed "either by the Bible or by the bayonet," and John Witherspoon, who declared that enemies of God are enemies of America. Cope makes a compelling case that the founders never intended to separate Christian principles from governance—only to prevent the establishment of a single denomination as the state religion.
Perhaps most fascinating is the exploration of America's educational history, revealing that 106 of the nation's first 108 schools were founded on Christian principles, including Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Cope argues that today's cultural decline directly correlates with abandoning these biblical foundations, not just in education but across society.
This thought-provoking episode serves as both warning and inspiration—reminding us that without the internal moral restraint that comes from faith, liberty cannot survive. If you've been wondering about America's true foundations or seeking to understand the connection between faith and freedom, this episode provides historical context that's rarely taught today.
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, wherever y'all are and whatever part of the day you're in. 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 and hopefully it'll give us all a little something and help us draw a little closer to God and Jesus Christ and our nation as well. So, those of y'all who continue to support the podcast, to share it with others, to tell others about it, thank you so much, incredibly, incredibly grateful for your support and even more for your prayers, for those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast, desperately need them, want them. So thank you so much, 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 through your Son Jesus Christ and his sacrifice. Thank you for the people that listen to the podcast. Father, be with them, please Be with their families. Give them wisdom and courage and a strong faith. Draw them close to you. Protect us from evil, father. Surround us with your angels. Help us to do your will in all things. Help us to follow the commands of your son, jesus Christ in order to love him and therefore to love you with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Bless the marriages of those who are married and guide those who have children in raising them to know you and your son Jesus Christ. Help us to get our priorities in the right order, father, to look to you each day. First and foremost, forgive us when we fail. Forgive us when we go back into the same old sins over and over again. Help us to do better. Be with our leaders. Help us to elect men who rule in fear of you, who are not concerned with the opinions of men. Bless our educators around the country, whether they're in public school or private school or at home Mothers. Guide them, give them wisdom, give them courage. Help us to teach our children your principles and therefore again to draw our nation back to you and your son, jesus Christ. Forgive us our sins as a nation, our rejection of you, our support of evil, abortion, feminism, no-fault divorce, sexual immorality of every kind. Guide our steps, father, please, and guide my words here In the name of your Son, jesus Christ, 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, to talk to him? Is he at the top of your list? Is he at the bottom? Is he somewhere in the middle? Do you just try and shove him in on the sides when you have time? Do you claim that he's at the top of your list?
Speaker 1:If somebody asked you what your top priority was in the world, would you say God and Jesus Christ? And if you would, are you acting like it? I don't too often, folks. I'm working on it each day. And then, what's your second priority? If you're married, it better be your spouse Before you go off on trips or go out to work out or watch TV or scroll social media or watch YouTube videos or sports in person or on TV or whatever else.
Speaker 1:Folks, your spouse better get your attention right. If you've watched more sports today than you've spent time with your spouse, that's a problem. If you've touched your phone today more than you've touched your spouse, that's the problem. There's nothing except God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit that should come before your spouse each day, folks, nothing. And it doesn't matter what they want to do, it doesn't matter what interests them, what excites them. It ought to be what excites you, what interests you throughout the day.
Speaker 1:If their thing is going for a walk down your dirt road and they want to do that three times a day, guess what? Find the time. But find the time. If they, what they get love out of, is you serving right and they want to do the dishes together, or vacuum together or clean together, guess what Do it? Clean a little in the morning, you come home for lunch, clean a little, then Clean a little in the morning. You come home for lunch, clean a little, then clean a little in the evening. Do some dishes? Take the trash out, folks. If it's sex, same thing. If it's cooking, same thing. If it's sitting on the porch, same thing.
Speaker 1:If your effort and energy, if your goal each day is not to fulfill your God-given role and responsibility in marriage as a husband or a wife, and they're different, they're not the same. And all you have to do is go look at scripture Ephesians 5, 1 Corinthians 7, 1 Peter 3, titus 2, hebrews 13, 4, proverbs 5, 19,. Song of Solomon. Those are all great places to look. There's others, but those are great places. If that's not your second priority each day, something's wrong and something's going to go wrong. You're asking for disaster, matthew 28. I think we're on 28, right, jesus is risen.
Speaker 1:Now, after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it, and his appearance was like lightning and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The angel said to the woman Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who has been crucified. He is not here, for he has risen. Just as he said, come be the place where he was lying, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead. And behold, he is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. Behold, I have told you. And they left the tomb quickly, with fear and great joy, and ran to report it to his disciples. And behold, jesus met them and greeted them, and they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them Do not be afraid of his feet. And worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them Do not be afraid, go and take word to my brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see me.
Speaker 1:Now, while they were on their way, some of the guard came to the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers and said you are to say his disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep, and if this should come to the governor's ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble. And they took the money and did as they had been instructed, and this story was widely spread among the Jews and is to this day the Great Commission. But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw him, they worshipped him.
Speaker 1:But some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I command of you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations. Also, verse 15, where the Jews tell the story. Right, they tell the soldiers, and this is the story that was widely spread among the Jews, and it's to this day. That's just an example, another example of why we need to read the Bible every day so much, folks, because that's where truth comes from. And so then, when you have religious leaders and we have some today in various church denominations and they say, well, this is what we follow, this is what I'm telling you to do, you can go back to scripture and look at it, and if it doesn't line up with Scripture, then it's not right. But we don't know that if we aren't paying attention to it. Do not be afraid. Jesus tells them. Yeah, thank God for Jesus. Christ, christ has died, christ is risen, christ will come again.
Speaker 1:Medal of Honor. Let's see, let's see. I think James Avery was the last one, or maybe it was William B Avery, second lieutenant highest rank, was captain US Civil War first New York Marine Artillery, us Army. Action Date 5 June 1862, action Place Stranters Creek, north Carolina, usa, citation. Handled his battery with greatest fullness amidst the hottest fire. Tell you what, wouldn't that be a great thing to hear from God. Well done, good and faithful servant right Handled his battery with greatest coolness amidst the hottest fire. Accredited to Providence, providence County, Rhode Island. Not awarded. Posthumously presented September 2nd 1893, born September 10, 1840, providence, providence County, rhode Island. Died July 19, 1894, bayside, kent County, rhode Island. Burial north burial grounds, providence, rhode Island, united States. 4th Burial Grounds, providence, rhode Island, united States. He was only alive for one year after being presented with the Medal of Honor and he was only 54 when he died. William B Avery handled his battery with greatest coolness amidst the hottest fire.
Speaker 1:David Ayers, argent, high Strength Captain US Civil War Alpha Company, 57th Ohio Infantry, us Army, 22nd May 1863. Medal of Honor. Action Place Vicksburg Mississippi, usa, gallantry. In the Charge of the Volunteer Storming Party. Accredited to Upper Sandusky, wyandotte County, ohio. Not awarded. Posthumously Presented April 13, 1894. Born April 29, 1894. Born April 29, 1841. Kalita, putnam County, ohio. Died December 11, 1916. Chicago, illinois, united States, oakwood Cemetery, pmf, tac 7, tac 303, chicago, illinois, united States.
Speaker 1:So he died in the midst of the First World War. The reason I mention that, folks, is you have no idea what's coming the next day, what God's got in store for you, and it's one of the reasons to trust. So he died and his country was being embroiled, pulled back into this huge war, this horrible war, and he's not going to know the outcome. He's going to die before he knows the outcome. You pray, you trust God. You're not going to be here to see all of your kids and grandkids successes, failures. You pray, you trust God Talking to myself here, as much as any of y'all folks. You do the best you can to leave everybody else the most well off, and I'm talking about spiritually here, folks, not necessarily financially. You know, proverbs tells us a good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children. So there's nothing wrong with worrying about financial security for your children and grandchildren, but what about spiritually? How are we leaving them To finish their race, david errs, and are we willing to gallantly charge in the volunteer storming party? One more, maybe?
Speaker 1:James F Ayers, private Indian Campaigns Hotel Company 6th US Calvary. Us Army, april 23, 1875,. Us Army, april 23, 1875, sapa Creek, kansas, usa. Rapid Pursuit Gallantry, energy and Enterprise in an Engagement with Indians. Accredited to Richmond, virginia, not awarded. Posthumously. Presented November 16, 1876, born 1847, collierstown, rockbridge County, Virginia, died January 18, 1895,. Fort Riley, kansas, united States. Buried Fort Riley Post Cemetery, mhf TAC 27,. Fort Riley, kansas, united States.
Speaker 1:James F Ayers Maybe we'll do one more. These have been pretty short. John G K Ayers, private US Civil War Hotel Company, 8th Missouri Infantry, us Army, may 22, 1863, us Army, may 22, 1863, vicksburg, mississippi. Gallantry in the charge of the Volunteer Storming Party. Accredited to Peking, tazewell County, illinois, not awarded. Posthumously. Presented August 31, 1895, born October 30th 1837. Washtenaw County, missouri, died July 30th 1913. Three Rivers, missouri, united States. Riverside Cemetery, pm1 Tech G3 Rivers, missouri, United States.
Speaker 1:I hope that's right. Did I just say that wrong? Y'all would know, but you're not here. Ask, am I? Oh, michigan, sorry, I said that wrong. It's not Missouri. I always have trouble with the abbreviations. Yeah, the three rivers. Well, all of it was Michigan. I apologize, but again, gallantry on the charge of the Volunteer Storming Party. John GK Ayers His name's F Ayers.
Speaker 1:And what else did we read about today? David Ayers, william B Avery Just some names to remember folks. Make sure that we're remembering the people that we ought to be remembering. All right, a little bit of history before we move on to Fox Book of the Martyrs. A little excerpt from FDR's first inaugural address.
Speaker 1:First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Nameless, unreasonable or unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In such a spirit, on my part and on yours, we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and where there is no vision, the people perish. Proverbs 29, 18. The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truth. It's talking about Jesus chasing the moneylenders out of the temple. We face arduous days that lie before us, in the warm courage of national unity, with the clear consciousness of seeking old and precious moral values. In this dedication of a nation, we humbly ask the blessing of God. May he protect each and every one of us. May he guide me in the days to come.
Speaker 1:So I wanted to read that, and then I wanted to read a little bit out of. So. This is Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address, and this is after the Dred Scott case, right where they said the slave was just like any other property Lincoln, I do not forget the position assumed by some that constitutional questions are to be decided by the Supreme Court. At the same time, the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the government upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court the instant they are made, the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having resigned their government into the hands of the imminent tribunal. Intelligence, patriotism, christianity and a firm reliance on Him, who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty. One more little quote, and I'll try and tile these together In 1861, president Abraham Lincoln addressed the New Jersey State Senate.
Speaker 1:I am exceedingly anxious that this union, the Constitution and the liberties of the people shall be perpetuated in accordance with the original idea for which that struggle was made, and I shall be most happy indeed if I shall be a humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty for perpetuating the object of that struggle. There's some others and I may well we'll read one more. The point where I'm going with all this folks is we always turn to God, or we have in the history of our country when we're really struggling and I think probably in your individual life you see that as well too. When we're really struggling and it shouldn't be we always ought to turn to God. But when we really have been struggling we turn to God right. But about 80 years ago we decided that we didn't need God anymore, that we needed separation of God and state, and we turned away from him. And we've been turning more and more away from him for the past 80 years Because of a Supreme Court case, everson v Board of Education.
Speaker 1:Fantastic, because of a Supreme Court case Everson versus Board of Education. You look at FDR's inaugural address going into the Depression. You look at Lincoln's inaugural address going into the Civil War. You see these horribly dark times and they turn to God right. And particularly you look at the reason I'm trying to tie these together probably doing a poor job is you look at Lincoln's commentary about this Supreme Court case, this Dred Scott case, and he's saying look, if we just say that whatever the Supreme Court says automatically is always the end-all be-all, then we don't have our liberties anymore. We're just being ruled by this little group of men and now women to our shame. There is absolutely no excuse for us continuing to operate under Everson v Board of Education.
Speaker 1:It was a horrible decision by the Supreme Court. It was an evil decision by the Supreme Court. It was absolutely 100% wrong because it wasn't separation of church and state. That's the phrase they used, folks, which, by the way again, is not even in the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence but what they really meant was separation of God and state. Folks, we've been working really hard. If we manage to finally succeed and completely separate God from the state, we are going to fall worse than any other country in the history of the world. It's going to be darker and harder. It's going to make everything else look like a joke. The evil which we will unleash on the world if we end up falling will throw us back into a thousand years of darkness for sure. That Supreme Court case was an atrocious decision and you see two things here what I'm trying to tie together, that traditionally we've turned to God and you see Lincoln saying look, this Supreme Court case, this was a bad idea. And if we're just going to go along with everything the Supreme Court says, how does he say it? He says irrevocably excuse me, fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court the instant they're made. We've had 80 years to look at this horse and it is a bad purchase, folks.
Speaker 1:One more this is a national day of prayer after the Union lost Bull Run, July of 1861. We've read through this a few times. This is just a little bit. It is fit, in becoming an all people at all times, to acknowledge and revere the supreme government of God, to bow in humble submission to his chastisement, to confess and deplore their sins and transgressions, in the full conviction that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and to pray with all fervency and contrition for the pardon of their past offenses and for a blessing upon their present and prospective action. And whereas, when our beloved country, once by the blessings of God united, prosperous and happy, is now afflicted with faction and civil war, it is peculiarly fit for us to recognize the hand of God in this terrible visitation and in sorrowful remembrance of our own faults and crimes as a nation and as individuals, to humble ourselves before him and to pray for his mercy, that the inestimable boon of civil and religious liberty, earned under his guidance and blessing by the labors and sufferings of our fathers, may be restored.
Speaker 1:We didn't get civil and religious liberty any other way. Besides doing it under God's guidance and blessing, besides doing it under God's guidance and blessing, we have got to humble ourselves, folks, and turn back to God and Jesus Christ, and we have got to get rid of Everson versus Board of Education in particular, so that we can get back to God and Jesus Christ. There should never have been separation of God and state, separation of church and state. You don't want any particular denomination being favored by the state, but you absolutely want Christianity, the general principles of Jesus Christ, favored and supported by the state. You want the relationship between God and state, the one true God, not coexistence bravo, sierra, folks. Not Islam or Buddhism or Hinduism or atheism or mother nature, ism or anything else. The one true God, the father of Jesus Christ, the son and the Holy Spirit. We have to have that relationship and if we don't figure it out and it doesn't look like we're doing a very good job of figuring out. The dark times will come and then hopefully, maybe by the grace of God, we'll figure out how desperately we really need him, not just in our individual lives but as a nation. All right, we're going to move on.
Speaker 1:So I got a little out of order in my recordings Recently, and so what we're going to do on this podcast today, instead of going into Fox's book on orders for Mercy Otis Warren's Book of the Borders, mercy Otis Warren's history of the American Revolution, we're going to read just a little bit more some historical quotes. We're going to start with Robert Charles Winthrop. This is a quote I've gone to often that I think is so appropriate for today. Winthrop was an American legislator, author, orator. He spoke in 1849 at the Massachusetts Bible Society in Boston.
Speaker 1:The voice of experience and the voice of our own reason speak but one language, both united in teaching us that men may as well build their houses upon the sand and expect to see them stand when the rains fall and the winds blow and the floods come, as to found free institutions upon any other basis than that of morality and virtue, of which the word of God is the only authoritative rule and the only adequate sanction. All societies of men must be governed in some way or another. The less they have of stringent state government, the more they must have of individual self-government. Stringent state government, the more they must have an individual self-government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private moral restraint. Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by the power within them or a power without them, either by the word of God or by the strong arm of man, either by the Bible or by the bayonet.
Speaker 1:It may do for other countries and other governments to talk about the state supporting religion. Here, under our own free institutions, it is religion which must support the state. We can't have America without Christianity, folks. Our free institutions won't hold up. They aren't holding up. It's why you see the nonsense Like. Even if you take the NCAA for example, look at the chaos that's going on right now because we have allowed particularly men who pretend to be women to participate in women's sports, that institution is having all kinds of problems. Our institutions in America are based on the principles of Christ.
Speaker 1:When you take that foundation out right, his reference, winthrop's reference here to the Bible talking about houses built on the sand. And then the rain comes and the flood comes, the storms, the wind, and the house falls Versus. When the house is built on the rock, and then the winds and the rain and the storm comes and the house stands the rock for us. What is the rock Right you go back to? Oh, let me get this One of our president's quotes Jackson, I think. Let me make sure. Yeah, andrew Jackson, seventh president, that book, sir, talking about the Bible, that book, sir, is the rock on which our republic rests. That's our foundation. And if we don't have that, which we don't today, because we've allowed ourselves to be convinced that our founders wanted separation of God and state, which they didn't, winthrop here was a descendant of Governor John Winthrop right, who was one of the founders, the first governor of Massachusetts, that they probably have quite a bit better understanding of what our founders intended with the Constitution and the creation of this republic than the people today that claim to know so much more.
Speaker 1:Another quote of Winthrop's the Bible itself is its own best witness. No evolution produced to that volume and no revolution of thought or action or human will can ever prevail against it. Revisions and new versions may improve or may impair the letter, but they can never change its essential character. The gospel of Jesus Christ, through which he brought life and immortality to light, like its divine author, is the same yesterday, today and forever. 1866, addressing the American Bible Society, so that it was after the Civil War. Beyond all doubt, my friends, we are dealing here today with the great energy of the world's progress, with the greatest of all instrumentalities for social advancement as well as for individual salvation.
Speaker 1:If you want to make yourself a better person, folks read the Bible. If you want to make yourself a better husband or wife, read the Bible. If you want to make yourself a better father or mother, read the Bible. Son or daughter, read the Bible. If you want to make yourself a better husband or wife, read the Bible. If you want to make yourself a better, father or mother, read the Bible. Son or daughter read the Bible. Sister or brother read the Bible. American citizen read the Bible. There's nothing that will make you a better version of yourself no workout, no textbook, no book of philosophy. There's nothing you can do that will make yourself a better version like reading the Bible each day.
Speaker 1:John Witherspoon. Signer of the Declaration. Member of the Continental Congress, served on over 100 congressional committees. Born in Scotland, educator, clergyman, president of Princeton College, which was originally called the College of New Jersey. It was founded, by the way. Princeton was founded in 1746 by the Presbyterian Church. The official motto was Under God's power, she flourishes. There's an article, a bunch of articles, right now talking about the colleges in America that are being defunded or at least losing access to federal money because they refuse to go away from anti-Semitism and DEI right, diversity, equity, inclusion, which is just a fancy name for racism and bigotry.
Speaker 1:These, these once great schools Princeton, harvard, right, a lot of our Ivy Leagues. They were founded, as almost all education in the United States was in the beginning by Christians, as Christian schools. I can't express to you how much it gets me bent out of shape folks to realize that, how far we've fallen. Education in the United States, particularly publicly funded education, has to be Bible-centric. Fisher Ames, the guy that worded the Establishment Clause and helped frame the Bill of Rights right, one of the framers of the Bill of Rights. He told us that the Bible ought to be the primary textbook in our schools. The Bible ought to be the primary textbook in our schools. Our schools will continue to flounder and fail until we put God and Jesus Christ back in it. There is no solution, no matter how good or well thought out, there is no practical secular solution that is going to be long-term successful outside of putting the Bible and God and Jesus Christ back in the center of the classroom. The problems that we see today, even with these private schools Harvard, yale, princeton, etc. None of those are going to be solved until those schools, those trustees, board of regents, whatever they are, make the decision to put the Bible back in the center of their schools. There is no solution. It doesn't matter how bright they are, it doesn't matter what other fiscal decisions they make. Those schools are going to continue to produce students that are primarily destructive to our nation until they put the Bible back in the center of their school.
Speaker 1:A few more quotes here. Let's see I lost my place. So when Witherspoon, again signer of the Declaration of Independence, let's see I lost my place was Reverend Jonathan Dickinson and as the first president of Princeton he said that Cursed be all learning. That is contrary to the cross of Christ. Every president of Princeton until 1902 was a minister.
Speaker 1:Folks, when somebody tells you that American education did not start out Christian. They don't know what they're talking about. They have absolutely no clue what they're talking about. And I can read you Just a second. You got to give me a second to get there. When we talk about Harvard so often, one of the statistics in this little book these quotes, by the way, are coming out of America's God and Country Encyclopedia, quotations by William J Federer. I highly recommend it, along with the Founder's Bible produced by the Wall Builders Association and the Patriot's Bible edited by Dr Richard Lee, and you can find a bunch of these quotes in multiple places. But I think Harvard, there we go. 106 of the first 108 schools in America were founded on the Christian faith. So again, when somebody tells you that America was not born a Christian republic, america's education system was not born Christian, they don't know history. So John Witherspoon? So John Witherspoon. This is a list of the students that he had some influence on President, a vice president, three Supreme Court justices, 10 cabinet members, 12 governors, 21 senators, 39 representatives, as well as numerous delegates to the Constitutional Convention and state leaders. His numerous students included leaders such as Gunning Bedford of Delaware, david Barely of New Jersey and James Madison, who served eight years as Secretary of State and eight years as President. Witherspoon.
Speaker 1:One of his quotes it is the man of piety and inward principle that we may expect to find, the uncorrupted patriot, the useful citizen and the invincible soldier. God grant that in America true religion and civil liberty may be inseparable, be inseparable, and that the unjust attempts to destroy the one may, in the issue, tend to the support and establishment of both. I cannot remember. I think it was a John Adams quote that I reread recently. Let me see if I can find it. I think I took. Yeah, 28 August 1811, john Adams Religion and virtue are the only foundations not only of republicanism and of all free government, but of social felicity under all governments and in the combinations of human society.
Speaker 1:James Madison, 20th June 1785, religion is the basis and foundation of government. Our founders didn't want to separate God and the church folks, I mean God and the state. They wanted to make sure that the government did particular excuse, a particular domination, because they saw the evils over the centuries in Europe of one particular denomination, whether it was Roman Catholic or Anglican, et cetera, being favored by the state and they didn't want that to happen again. But they absolutely wanted the general principles of Christianity associated with the state, with the government. Witherspoon, right Again, signer of the Declaration of Independence, you hear him talking.
Speaker 1:The man of piety and inward principle, that's who's going to be the uncorrupted patriot, the useful citizen, the invincible soldier. God, grant that in America, true religion and civil liberty may be inseparable. True religion, christianity, the one true God, not Islam, not Buddhism, not Hinduism, not Mother Natureism, not atheism. Christianity, folks, we can't have civil liberty without the principles of Jesus Christ. Yeah, there's a. I think we read this one, though. There's a national day of fasting, humiliation and prayer. Well, it won't hurt to read it again. May 17th, 76, continental Congress declared a national day of fasting, humiliation and prayer.
Speaker 1:John Witherspoon, in a speech at the College of New Jersey which later became Princeton, declared while we became Princeton declared. While we give praise to God, the supreme disposer of all events, for his inner position on our behalf, let us guard against the dangerous error of trusting in or boasting of an arm of flesh. If your cause is just, if your principles are pure and if your conduct is prudent, you need not fear the multitude of opposing hosts. What follows from this? That he is the best friend to American liberty, who is the most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion and who sets himself with the greatest firmness to bear down profanity and immorality of every kind. Whoever is an avowed enemy of God, I scruple not to call him an enemy of his country. If you're an enemy of God, the Father, jesus Christ, the Son and the Holy Spirit, you're an enemy of America. Witherspoon, signer of the Declaration of Independence, member of the Continental Congress, served on over 100 congressional committees, president of Princeton College.
Speaker 1:If you're an enemy of God, the Father, of Jesus Christ, the Son and the Holy Spirit, you're an enemy of America. You can't have liberty without the Holy Spirit folks. You cannot have civil liberty without a people that follow the principles of Christ. And there's a lot of people in that bucket of isms socialism, communism, nazism, fascism, leftism and Islam that go hand in glove with that. They know that there's probably a lot that are pretty ignorant of it too, but there's a lot that know it and they know that if they can get rid of people that follow the principles of Christ, they can usher in total power and control and tyranny. Power and control and tyranny. One of the ways that you see that is you see that the left has done a great job of propagandizing in education certain figures from our nation's history to be secularists, paganists, indias, people who despised Christianity.
Speaker 1:I got an example of this the other day. I had a quote posted to me on X by James Madison. I don't remember the quote, but it was ostensibly his repudiation of rejection of Christianity and repudiation of rejection of Christianity, and so I went and looked up some quotes and I just wanted to read a couple to you, because this is a pretty good example. You know, you hear a quote online, you see it and somebody says something, and in my experience, pretty much every quote that I've run across that has appeared at first to be completely anti-association of God and state, not church and state folks. Those are two different things and I think a lot of people don't understand that difference. But when you dig a little bit, there's very few, very, very few, that are actually truly separating God from the state at any rate. So, james Madison, 20 June 1785, religion is the basis and foundation of government. Right, the basis and foundation of government is religion. That doesn't sound like somebody that wants to separate God from the state even a little bit.
Speaker 1:Also, 1785, general Assembly of the State of Virginia. He was talking about why he was against the establishment of religion by law forcing a particular religion. And this gets back to what our founders understood. They understood that you can't force a person to faith or away from faith, but they also understood that if America didn't have a people that followed the principles of Christ, we would lose liberty, and you can see this in his comments here. It's the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage. Before any man can be considered as a member of civil, you've got to be considered as a subject of God, because the policy of the bill is adverse to the fusion of light of Christianity. Again, he's talking about this establishment of religion law, or the proposition of it, and he's saying the bill is adverse to spreading Christianity. That's the problem.
Speaker 1:The first wish of those who ought to enjoy this precious gift ought to be that it may be imparted to the whole race of mankind. Compare the number of those who have as yet received it with the number still remaining under the dominion of false religions, and how small is the former? Does the policy of the bill tend to lessen the disproportion? No, it at once discourages those who are strangers to the light of truth from coming into the regions of it. While we assert for ourselves a freedom to embrace, to profess and to observe the religion which we believe to be of divine origin, we cannot deny an equal freedom to those whose minds have not yet yielded to the evidence which has convinced us. If this freedom be abused, it is an offense against God, not against man. Freedom be abused, it is an offense against God, not against man. To God, therefore, not to man, must an account of it be rendered, earnestly praying as we are in duty bound that the supreme lawgiver of the universe, by illuminating those to whom it is addressed, may, on the one hand, turn their counsels from every act which would affront his holy prerogative or violate the trust committed to them and, on the other, guide them into every measure which may be worthy of his blessing.
Speaker 1:One more from Madison on the future of America. We have staked the whole future of American civilization not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves, according to the Ten Commandments of God. According to the Ten Commandments of God, the farther we get away from the Bible, you go back to Winthrop's quote. We can either be ruled by the Bible or the bayonet, by self-restraint or by the strong arm of government. If we're going to have self-government, we have to have the ability to control ourselves and we have to live morally. That is not what you see from today's me.
Speaker 1:First me to entitlement mentality. Everything's about me generation, which is basically all of us. What I mean by that is I'm talking about multiple generations here. Folks, we have created a society that has very little self-control as a whole, and so when we've given that up, because we've gone away from god and his commands, then despotism and tyranny come in. The only way to get back to freedom and liberty liberty in particularly, is to get back to God, and the only way to do that is to educate our children and the future of America on our real history, our association with God as a nation, and to be an example of following Christ to those around us as individuals. God bless you all. God bless your families, god bless your marriages. God bless your nation, wherever you are around the world. Listen, god bless America. We'll talk to y'all again real soon. Folks Looking forward to it.