
The American Soul
The American Soul
Our priorities reveal what we truly love, whether it's God, our spouse, or our country.
"Have you made time for God today?" With this challenging question, Jesse Cope opens a profound exploration of what it truly means to walk in faith. Drawing from 3 John, this episode delves into how our priorities reveal what we genuinely value—whether God occupies the top spot in our lives or merely gets squeezed in when convenient.
The conversation takes a particularly thought-provoking turn when examining parental priorities. While many parents pour tremendous resources into their children's academic and athletic achievements, their spiritual development often receives minimal attention. Cope vulnerably admits his own shortcomings in this area, creating a powerful moment of reflection. As the scripture reminds us, there is "no greater joy than to hear of my children walking in truth"—a statement that should fundamentally reshape how we raise the next generation.
The episode features remarkable stories of Medal of Honor recipients whose extraordinary sacrifices stand in stark contrast to today's entitlement culture. Lieutenant Colonel Addison Baker's account is particularly moving—refusing to abandon his mission even as his aircraft burned, ensuring success at the cost of his own life. These forgotten heroes remind us of the selflessness upon which America was built.
Samuel Langdon's prophetic 1775 sermon to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress forms the episode's cornerstone. As Harvard's president, Langdon warned that a nation blessed with liberty yet forsaking God would inevitably face corruption and dissolution. The parallels between his warnings and America's current spiritual condition are unmistakable, suggesting our challenges stem from moral decline rather than merely political disagreements.
Throughout this compelling episode, one truth emerges clearly: the path to national restoration begins with spiritual renewal. Only by returning to founding principles rooted in Christian values can America—or any nation—experience true liberty and prosperity. Join the conversation and discover how walking in truth might transform not just your personal faith, but the destiny of your country.
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, whatever part of the day you're in. I sure do appreciate y'all joining me and giving me a little bit of your time and attention effort. I know that y'all have little bit of your time and attention effort. I know that y'all have other things, other people vying for your attention. So I'm glad that you're here. For those of y'all who have been around for the last four plus years, now going into the fifth year, thank you so much. For those of y'all who are new to the podcast, I hope you enjoy it, hope you get something out of it, I hope you come back and hopefully it draws us all a little closer to God and Jesus Christ, both as individuals and as a nation, here in America and wherever you are in your nation, listening around the world, around the world. And thank you particularly for those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast.
Speaker 1:Father, thank you for this day that you have made. Help us to rejoice and be glad in it. Thank you for your Son, jesus Christ. Thank you for your Holy Spirit, thank you for your love and mercy, your grace and your forgiveness of sins. Thank you for your word, father. Forgive us when we take it for granted. Forgive us when we take the ability to read it unmolested for granted and ignore the sacrifice of all those who have come before us. Father, thank you for the example that so many have set for us, so many men and women who have put you and your son, jesus Christ first in their lives. Help us to set that same example for others and to follow the example that your son set for us. Most of all, help us to be a light in this dark world, even if just a little bit, father, leading others to you through your son Jesus Christ. Help our nation to be a city shining on a hill and and to spread liberty throughout the world. Forgive us our sins, father, particularly as a nation. Forgive us our support of evil via things like rejecting you and feminism and abortion, no-fault divorce, lgbtq relationships. Help us to turn back to you, father, across the board. Give us wisdom and courage and a strong faith. Be with those who are listening today, wherever they are. Be with their families, bless their marriages. Guide those who have children and raising them to know you and your son Guide my words here, father, please. In your son's name, we pray Amen.
Speaker 1:Have you made time for God today? Have you made time to read his word? Have you made time 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 kind of squish him in when you have time, or is he really truly a priority to you? Do you really truly love god? And can other people see that?
Speaker 1:Folks, if somebody accused of being a Christian, is there going to be enough evidence to convict you? How do they know? Because we follow his commands. You look at our lives, right, our actions. That's how people know. That's how we know how we can strengthen our own faith. And the same is true of marriage. Do you love your spouse? How do you know you follow God's commands? 1 Corinthians 7, titus 2, ephesians 5, 1 Peter 3, hebrews 13, 4, etc. Etc. Song of Solomon, proverbs 5, 19. That's how you know, folks, whether you really love your spouse or not. That's how you know, folks, whether you really love your spouse or not is do you follow the commands that God laid out for your role as either a husband or a wife in marriage and sex, and it is that simple.
Speaker 1:All right, we're going to get into what today. Where did we get to in the last? Oh, yes, 2 John, 3 John, one chapter again as well. You walk in the truth. The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth, beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers, for I was very glad when brethren came and testified to your truth. That is how you are walking in truth. I have no greater joy than this to hear of my children walking in the truth. Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren, and especially when they are strangers and they have testified to your love before the church strangers and they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God, for they went out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore, we ought to support such men so that we may be fellow workers with the truth.
Speaker 1:I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephus, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds, which he does unjustly, accusing us with wicked words. And, not satisfied with this, he does not receive the brethren either and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church. Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God. The one who does evil has not seen God. Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone and from the truth itself, and we add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true. I had many things to write to you, but I am not willing to write them to you with pen and ink. But I hope to see you shortly and we will speak face to face. Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends by name. So just a couple things here today. I no greater this is verse four. I have no greater joy than this to hear of my children walking in the true.
Speaker 1:I think most parents can identify with that, right? If not, we should, maybe. Maybe I said that wrong. Maybe most parents can't identify with that, but we should. I don't know. But, folks, there shouldn't be anything more pleasing to us as a parent than a child who is following God's commands, striving to follow them, even imperfectly, because they're going to be imperfect they're not going to follow imperfectly. To follow them even imperfectly, because they're going to be imperfect, they're not going to follow them perfectly. That ought to be exponentially higher in priority than any academic or athletic accolades or professional achievements that our kid can rack up. And the more I'm talking about it, the more I think that that's not the case across a huge chunk of the nation today.
Speaker 1:Because you see how much effort parents put into push their kids into athletics and academics. I was actually talking to a coach recently into athletics and academics. I was actually talking to a coach recently and we got on this subject talking about the number of kids who show up to these different little training camps and how many of them this coach said don't really want to be there. And you can tell that. You can tell that the parent is dropping them off for daycare. The kid doesn't want to be there, has no interest in being there, but the parent forces them to come.
Speaker 1:And we just folks, we've gotten our priorities way out of line, and a lot of us even know that, and so we say the right things but we're not really doing the right things. We say that our kids' character and virtue is really important to us their morality and virtue is really important to us their morality following the commands of God but we don't act like that when it comes down to it. We put a lot more time, energy, effort, interest into what our kids are doing athletically or academically than we do into their spiritual life, and I'm guilty as a parent of this more often than I like to admit. While we're sitting here talking about it, I'm thinking about how much time and energy and effort I have put into academics or athletics, et cetera, versus how little I've put into my kids' spiritual health, relationship with God and Jesus Christ. And it's pretty condemning folks. And it's the same thing with a marriage, with our own faith. And then we look up one day and we wonder why our kids are struggling as much as they are, why our marriage is crumbling, why our faith is weak. Right, we put all this time and effort into things that the world tells us to, instead of being focused here, like verse 4 says, and having no greater joy than to hear of my children walking in the truth Verse 8,. Therefore, we ought to support such men so that we may be fellow workers with the truth.
Speaker 1:Maybe, folks, you weren't called to be a pastor or a priest, maybe you weren't called to be a prison minister or the operator or worker in a soup kitchen, but there are ways that you can support those who are doing that work. Prayer is a great one, consistent prayer, talking to God. You know a soup kitchen, for example. Maybe you can provide food and just drop food off. A lot of your local food banks would be more than grateful. Go and ask them what their needs list is and then go buy those things and drop them off, even if you can't stay and shelve the goods or whatever.
Speaker 1:Right, everybody has a different part to play. Maybe you know a minister that goes into prisons and ministers there and you don't feel like you can go, for whatever reason. Maybe it's fear, maybe it's truly lack of time, perhaps, maybe it's something else. Pray for that pastor, that person, when they go and visit those in prison. Offer them. You know what do you need and do you need Bibles? Can I buy Bibles for you? What can I pray for you? How can I help? There's a lot of different roles to play, folks, but whatever it is, we need to play a role. We need to play part of. We need to be part of the equation Because, just like any mathematical or physics formula, if you take part of the equation out, the rest of it crumbles.
Speaker 1:Verse 10, for whatever reason today, folks, this struck me as those particular denominations that claim that their denomination is the only way to God, which is nowhere in Scripture. You won't find it. You can look forever and you're not going to find it. There's no Baptist, methodist, roman Catholic, greek, orthodox. None of those are mentioned in the Bible. The thief on the cross didn't have a denomination. Mary and Joseph didn't have a denomination. Jesus didn't have a denomination. The disciples didn't have a denomination.
Speaker 1:And when I read this, folks, when you have somebody that's telling you or you see somebody telling someone else that they have to belong to a particular denomination in order to receive salvation, they're not only not receiving the lost, receiving those who are seeking, searching for Christ, they're preventing others who would do that from embracing those people as brothers and sisters in Christ. Make sure you understand that right. Not only you have some people, for example, in these denominations you have members who really want to reach out to the lost and just bring them to Christ, not necessarily to that particular denomination, but just to Christ. And yet the leaders and other members of that denomination forbid it. That's just what popped into my head when I was reading verse 10 here.
Speaker 1:Verse 11, beloved, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. The one who does good is of God. The one who does evil has not seen God. Pretty simple folks. Do we get up each day asking God to help us do what is good and not what is evil? And then the last thing, here again, verse 13 and 14, you know, basically, I hope to speak to you face to face. And 14, you know, basically I hope to speak to you face to face. This is what we talked about out of 2 John, chapter 1, on the previous podcast.
Speaker 1:Folks, don't give your time to screens over the real people in your life. Don't give time to YouTube and TikTok and X and Facebook and Instagram, et cetera, et cetera, to Netflix, amazon, hulu, prime, whatever computer games, video games. Don't give your time to those things over the people in your life that want your attention, that need your attention, that deserve your attention your spouse, your children, your parents, your friends. Focus on the face to face. Medal of Honor. Let me see, there we go.
Speaker 1:Absalom Baird US Civil War. Brigadier General Highest Rank, brevet Major General, us Civil War. Us Volunteers, us Civil War Brigadier General, highest rank, brevet Major General, us Civil War. Us Volunteers, us Army. Won September 1864 Medal of Honor Action Place Jonesboro, georgia, usa. Voluntarily led a detached brigade in an assault upon the enemy's works and an assault upon the enemy's works. Accredited to Washington, washington County, pennsylvania. Not awarded posthumously. Presented 22 April 1896. Born 20 August 1824, washington, washington County, pennsylvania. Died June 14, 1905, near Relay, maryland, perhaps, united States. Buried Arlington National Cemetery MH1, type 55, arlington, virginia, united States.
Speaker 1:Absalon Baird George W Baird. George William Baird. Ranked 1st Lieutenant Adjutant. Highest Ranked Major General Conflict Era Indian Campaigns, 5th US Infantry, us Army, 30 September 1877. Medal of Honor Action Place Bear Paw Mountain, montana, usa. Most Distinguished Gallantry and Action with the Nez Perce Indians.
Speaker 1:Accredited to Milford, new Haven County, connecticut.
Speaker 1:Not awarded. Posthumously. Presented 27 November 1894. Born December 13, 1839, milford, new Haven County, connecticut. Died November 28, 1906, asheville, north Carolina. Buried Old Milford Cemetery MH 206, milford, connecticut, united States. George William Baird you look at those born and died dates lived through the Civil War all the way to the beginning of the 20th century. That's seeing a lot folks. Maybe one more. Addison E Baker. Addison Earl Baker.
Speaker 1:Lieutenant Colonel, world War II, 328th Bombardment Squadron, 93rd Heavy Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force, us Army Air Corps. 1 August 1943, closti, romania. For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity, above and beyond the call of duty and action with the enemy on 1 August 1943. On this date, he led his command, the 93rd Heavy Bombardment Group, on a daring low-level attack against enemy oil refineries and installations at Plosti, romania, probably murdering that folks, I apologize. Approaching the target, his aircraft was hit by large-caliber anti-aircraft shell, seriously damaged and set on fire. Ignoring the fact that he was flying over terrain suitable for safe landing, he refused to jeopardize the mission by breaking up the lead formation and continued unswervingly to lead his group to the target upon which he dropped his bombs with devastating effect. Only then did he leave formation, but his valiant attempts to gain sufficient altitude for the crew to escape by parachute were unavailing and his aircraft crashed in flames. After his successful efforts to avoid other planes in formation, by extraordinary flying skill, gallant leadership and intrepidity, lieutenant Colonel Baker rendered outstanding, distinguished and valorous service to our nation.
Speaker 1:Accredited to Akron, summit County, ohio, awarded posthumously, presented to March 1944 at First Presbyterian Church, akron, ohio, by Brigadier General Usel Ent. To his widow and parents. Born 1 January 1907, chicago, cook County, illinois, united States, died 1 August 1943, plosti, romania. Buried. Arlington National Cemetery. Before remains identified ABMC Florence Cemetery wall of the missing. Florence, italy, arlington, virginia, location of Metal National Museum of the US Air Force Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, ohio.
Speaker 1:There's a lot here, folks, from getting his remains back, talking about his wife receiving Medal of Honor, I mean you could talk about a lot of different aspects of this.
Speaker 1:I think for me, as so often when we read through this, the overwhelming thought and emotion but just mostly thought is how entitled, childish and really pathetic we act today as a nation relative to so many who have come before us, and that's not true of all of us in the United States, folks, but it's certainly true of a number of us.
Speaker 1:This man left behind his wife, his parents, his country, and he knew what he was doing. You can read through this citation and you see that he had more than enough time to see that he wasn't going to make it To see, and not only him, folks, but as a leader, he was taking those members of his crew with him, despite his attempts to gain altitude at the end to make sure that the mission was successful. How many of us, how many people died and suffered under church and state in Europe simply to make sure that the gospel of Jesus Christ, that the Bible, was able to be read by the gospel of Jesus Christ, that the Bible was able to be read by the common man, and how many of us take it for granted? You know, you can say, and the left does all these things about Columbus, but one of his own stated main goals was to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ For those who didn't know it. How many of us would risk what he risked? What about the Puritans? What about the men and women who gave so much in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, who risked so much to maintain liberty, to be able to worship God, the Father of Jesus Christ, the Son and the Holy Spirit, without the attacks and torture and imprisonment and rape and murder and pillage and plunder of the church and state in Europe, to maintain freedom and liberty for free slaves?
Speaker 1:It's hard not to read these citations, especially when you realize how much we teach our children about major league baseball or NFL players or influencers on social media or talk shows or politicians. It's hard not to see us failing, not to see us failing when you read about men like this and the women who were willing to give them Addison Earl Baker. We need to do a lot better, folks. Fix ourselves, as we used to say in the Marine Corps, and really get our priorities, our actions in line with our stated priorities. All right, we'll move on.
Speaker 1:We're going to spend a couple days two or three days, I think, at most. A couple days, two or three days, I think at most and we're going to skip our normal Fox's Book of the Martyrs and my brain just went away and Mercy Otis Warren's History of the American Revolution, and we're going to read through a sermon given by Harvard College President Samuel Langdon in May of 1775 that he gave to the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts. So we're just going to read through that for a couple of days. We're going to read through that for a couple days Government corrupted by vice and recovered by righteousness A sermon preached before the House, before the Honorable Congress of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay in New England, assembled at Waterton On Wednesday, the 31st day of May 1775, being the anniversary fixed by charter for the election of counselors by Samuel Langdon DD, president of Harvard College in Cambridge.
Speaker 1:As a roaring lion and a raging bear, so is a wicked ruler over the poor people, proverbs 28.15, waterton, printed and sold by Benjamin Eads. A Sermon and I will restore thy judges as at the first and thy counselors as at the beginning. Afterward, thou shalt be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city, isaiah 126. Shall we rejoice, my fathers and brethren, or shall we weep together on the return of this anniversary which, from the first settlement of this colony, has been sacred to liberty, to perpetuate that invaluable privilege of choosing from among ourselves wise men fearing God and hating covetousness, to be honorable counselors, to constitute one essential branch of that happy government which was established on the faith of royal charters? Do we elect God-fearing men today, folks? If we don't and we don't we really don't have anybody to blame but ourselves.
Speaker 1:On this day, the people have from year to year assembled from all our towns in a vast congregation, with gladness and festivity, with every instant of joy displayed in our metropolis, which now, alas, has made a garrison of mercenary troops, the stronghold of despotism. But how shall I now address you from this desk, remote from the Capitol and remind you of the important business which distinguished this day in our calendar, without spreading a gloom over this assembly, by exhibiting the melancholy change made in the face of our public affairs. Made in the face of our public affairs. We have lived to see the time when British liberty is just ready to expire, when that constitution of government which has so long been the glory and strength of the English nation is deeply undermined and ready to tumble into ruins, when America is threatened with cruel oppression and the arm of power is stretched out against New England, and especially against this colony, to compel us to submit to the arbitrary acts of legislators who are not our representatives and who will not themselves bear the least part of the burdens which, without mercy, they are laying upon us.
Speaker 1:The most formal and solemn grants of kings to our ancestors are deemed by our oppressors as of little value, and they have mutilated the charter of this colony in the most essential parts upon false representations and new, invented maxims of policy, without the least regard to any legal process. Does that not sound folks, like what our Congress, our representatives, senators and perhaps most of all the Supreme Court justices have done to our Constitution over the last half century plus, mutilated the charter of this colony in the most essential parts upon false representations and new invented maxims of policy, without the least regard to any legal process. Could you not say the same about the Constitution today? In many ways, and perhaps the most important point there is that our ignorance has allowed it as a people. And they talk again here about who are not our representatives right Langdon does Because they have taxation without representation, and today we have representation without taxation.
Speaker 1:We have our resources taken away from us by non-citizens. Most importantly, we have our vote diluted by illegal and mass immigrants who care nothing about our nation, in fact are hostile toward our nation and our founding faith and principles based on the teachings of Christ and liberty. We are no longer permitted to fix our eyes on the faithful of the land and trust in the wisdom of their counsels and the equity of their judgment, but men in whom we can have no confidence, whose principles are subversive of our liberties, whose aim is to exercise lordship over us and share among themselves the public wealth, men who are ready to serve any master and execute the most unrighteous decrees for high wages, whose faces we never saw before and whose interests and connections may be far divided from us by the wide Atlantic and are to be set over us as counselors and judges at the pleasure of those who have the riches and power of the nation in their hands and whose noblest plan is to subjugate the colonies first and then the whole nation to their will. Subjugate the colonies first and then the whole nation to their will. It's talking about London right Parliament and setting these people over them.
Speaker 1:I mean again, and it's that not? Do you not see the parallel today between London and Washington DC, between the British Parliament in the 1750s and 60s into the 70s and Congress today? The distance between the geographical distance between the colonies across the Atlantic to London and England, the distance is still there. It's just not geographical necessarily so much, although you can make the argument of the states being far away from Washington DC. But at least metaphorically speaking, that separation, that distance is still there between those who want to lord it over us and share among themselves the public wealth, whose principles are subversive of our liberties and who are ready to serve any master and execute the most unrighteous decrees for high wages.
Speaker 1:Does that not sound like a lot of our politicians and judges who are willing to do anything for power and money that we might not have it in our power to refuse the most absolute submission to their unlimited claims of authority. They have not only endeavored to terrify us with fleets and armies sent to our capital and distressed and put an end to our trade, particularly that important branch of it, the fishery but at length attempted by a sudden march of a body of troops in the night to seize and destroy one of our magazines formed by the people, merely for their own security. If, after such formidable military preparations, on the other side matters should be pushed to an extremity, do we not see regulations that are overwhelmingly burdensome, pushed down on us by Congress? Do we not see the terror, perhaps not of fleets and armies, but of lawyers and judges and law enforcement at certain levels and I got to take a minute here to be real clear, folks there's a huge difference between law enforcement that serves To execute or they punitive branches of some of these Groups, right EPA Type regulation and your local Law enforcement in your community, in your towns, and even at your state level, your highway patrol or state troopers, which is again why I recommend, why we ought to be doing everything we can, folks, at the local level, the county level, the town, city, village level and the state level to increase and strengthen our state militia, our state troopers, highway law enforcement, our county sheriffs, our city police chiefs. And we ought to be making sure that there's communication between those conservative Christian towns and states. And the same should be true for our firefighters and our EMS folks.
Speaker 1:And again, you see the attempts over and over and over again for decades now by the left. This is not recent, it's not unique, it's not fringe. They've repeatedly tried to do everything they can do to restrict our access to weapons and ammunition. Why the same sentence here to seize and destroy one of our magazines formed by the people, merely for their own security? If, after such formidable military preparations on the other side, matters should be pushed to an extremity, why does the left want to take away the ability? It doesn't have anything to do with mass shootings and the safety of people, folks, that's an absolute fraud. It has to do with the ability of the government to come in and absolutely crush and control us as a people.
Speaker 1:By this, as might well be expected, a skirmish was brought on and it is most evident from a variety of concurring circumstances as well as numerous depositions, both of the prisoners taken by us at that time and our own men then on the spot only as spectators, that the fire began first on the side of the king's troops. At least five or six of our inhabitants were murderously killed by the regulars at Lexington before any man attempted to return the fire and when they were actually complying with the command to disperse, and two more of our brethren were likewise killed at Concord Bridge by a fire from the king's soldiers before the engagement began on our side. King's soldiers before the engagement began on our side. But whatever credit falsehoods transmitted to Great Britain from the other side may gain, the matter may be rested entirely on this that he that arms himself to commit a robbery and demands the traveler's purse by the terror of instant death is the first aggressor, though the other side should take the advantage of discharging his pistol first and killing the robber. Interesting thing there. To think about folks. It shouldn't be shocking at all, but apparently today it is.
Speaker 1:If you have somebody break into your house and you end up shooting and killing them, the fault isn't with the homeowner that's protecting his family and his house. The fault is with the thief. And yet how often today do we see? The robber, the thief, the person committing the crime is the one that's protected and defended by our law, as opposed to the one that's defending their family and their home, or their livelihood or their business. The criminal gives up their right. If you want to call it a right to sympathy, at least in regard to that particular action. You can have sympathy for the way they were raised. You can have sympathy for the hardships that they've gone through, perhaps as a child and a teenager, absolutely. But if you rob a bank, folks, you still have to be held accountable for robbing that bank. There's consequences for it. Right, the same thing with illegal immigration. You can have a lot of sympathy for the trials that some of these people are going through in South and Central America and the Caribbean and other places around the world. But that doesn't mean that breaking into the country and stealing resources and representation from American citizens is okay or should be condoned. The first aggressor is not the American citizen wanting to protect their family, their home, their resources, their representation, their family, their home, their resources, their representation. The first aggressor is the criminal, the illegal or mass immigrant or the thief.
Speaker 1:The alarm was sudden, but in a very short time spread far and wide. The nearest neighbors in haste ran together to assist their brethren and save their country. Not more than three or four hundred met in season and bravely attacked and repulsed the enemies of liberty, who retreated with great precipitation, but by the help of a strong reinforcement, notwithstanding a close pursuit and continual loss on their side. They acted the part of robbers and savages by burning, plundering and damaging almost every house in their way to the utmost of their power, murdering the unarmed and helpless, and not regarding the weakness of the tender sex until they had secured themselves beyond the reach of our terrifying arms. I can't help but think there, folks, when they talk about the unarmed, the weakness of the tender sex, the helpless, about abortion and even feminism and the destruction that it's done to women and children, not to mention marriage and family that the left has promoted over the last century.
Speaker 1:But every memorable day, the 19th of April, that ever memorable day, the 19th of April, is the date of an unhappy war openly begun by the ministers of the King of Great Britain against his good subjects in this colony and, implicitly, against all the colonies. But for what? Because they have made a noble stand for their natural and constitutional rights, in opposition to the machinations of wicked men who are betraying their royal master, establishing poppery in British dominions and aiming to enslave and ruin the whole nation, that they may enrich themselves in their vile dependence with the public treasures and the spoils of America. You need to really pay attention to folks. One we don't pay attention enough today to the fact of the establishing popery and the British dominions, the fact that one of the problems here was the crown trying to increase, impose I don't know what the right word is the influence of the Roman Catholic Church to counteract Protestantism in the colonies. And the other again is this enrich themselves and their vile dependence.
Speaker 1:When you look at the left, when you look at illegal immigration and mass immigration, what does the left offer to the illegal and mass immigrants? They offer money, america enrichment, so long as they go along with what the left does and give them power. The sad thing is that a lot of the illegals and the mass immigrants don't even realize that they're automatically forging their own chains as well as ours. Because, just like with communism, socialism, nazism, fascism in the 20th century and just like Islam for centuries, once they get total power it's too late and the chains are already forged. And you could argue the same point based on the actions, which is why we talk about Fox's Book of the Martyrs so much. With the Catholic Church in Europe, once there's total power of any of that bucket of isms or Islam or the Roman Catholic Church, the chains are already formed. Folks are already formed folks.
Speaker 1:We have used our utmost endeavors by repeated humble petitions and remonstrances, by a series of unanswerable reasonings published from the press in which the dispute—I got to go back here real quick, I'm sorry. I'll read that sentence again. I want to make real clear two things because I'm so uncomfortable talking about the Catholic church issue. I have known some Catholics in my life that I would consider to be some of the most ardent, truthful Christians that I've ever known in my life, who followed Christ by the way that they walked and talked and acted right. And I think we'll probably go back and read the preface to this Fox's book of the martyrs again because he says it really well there.
Speaker 1:But it's basically the problem is when you have any denomination that claims infallibility, it doesn't matter whether it's Roman Catholic or Anglican or Methodist or Baptist or Church of Christ or anything else, when they claim infallibility. That's the problem, because then you have to defend every single act you've ever committed and of course, for humans that's impossible. You can't because we're not perfect and our institutions aren't perfect. That's the problem. Again, when you cling to a particular party, right, you claim you're Republican all the time, it's always right, right. Or Democrat, all the time, always right. Or a particular person Trump or Biden, or AOC or whoever Schumer, whoever else you want to cruise, it doesn't matter. You can't attach yourself to a party or to a person and claim that they're always right, that they're infallible, because that's just not true. And that's the problem. And when you get total power, that's what you end up with. Is you end up with an organization, right, that wants to pretend that they can't make any mistakes?
Speaker 1:And again, in this particular case and that preface, we'll go back and read in Fox's Book of the Martyrs. It makes the comment that all of the different denominations of Christianity have executed cruelties at some time. The difference again comes when you claim that those cruelties weren't cruel and when you maintain them, when you cling to them, when you maintain that idea of infallibility. We have used our utmost endeavors, by repeated humble petitions and remonstrances, by a series of unanswerable reasonings published from the press, in which the dispute has been fairly stated and the justice of our opposition clearly demonstrated, and by the mediation of some of the noblest and most faithful friends of the British Constitution, who have powerfully pled our cause in Parliament to prevent such measures as may soon reduce the body politic to a miserable, dismembered dying trunk, though lately the terror of all Europe.
Speaker 1:But our king, as if impelled by some strange fatality, is resolved to reason with us only by the roar of his cannon and the pointed arguments of muskets and bayonets, because we refuse submission to the despotic power of a ministerial parliament, our own sovereign, to whom we have always been ready to swear true allegiance, whose authority we never meant to cast off, who might have continued, happy in the cheerful obedience of as faithful subjects as any in his dominions, as any in his dominions has given us up to the rage of his ministers, to be seized at sea by the rapacious commanders of every little slop of war and piratical cutter, and to be plundered and massacred by land by mercenary troops who know no distinction, betwixt an enemy and a brother, troops who know no distinction, betwixt an enemy and a brother, between right and wrong, but only like brutal pursuers to hunt and seize the prey pointed out by their masters. We must keep our eyes fixed on the supreme government of the eternal king as directing all events, setting up or pulling down the kings of the earth at his pleasure, suffering the best forms of human government to degenerate and go to ruin by corruption, or restoring the decayed constitutions of kingdoms and states by reviving public virtue and religion and granting the favorable interpositions of his providence. And granting the favorable interpositions of his providence. To this our text leads us, and though I hope to be excused on this occasion from a formal discourse on the words in a doctrinal way, yet I must not wholly pass over the religious instruction contained in them. Reviving public virtue and religion, folks, and reviving public virtue and religion, folks, that is the only way that we're going to save our nation. You know that's reminiscent of Adam's quote, which I don't have in front of me.
Speaker 1:But our government, our Constitution, was made only for a moral and religious people, christian people. It doesn't work for any other. That's why it's not working, because it can't. It's impossible, without the principles of Christ, for our Constitution and our government to function correctly. Let us consider that for the sins of the people, god may suffer the best government to be corrupted or entirely dissolved and that nothing but a general reformation can give good ground to hope that the public happiness will be restored by the recovery of the strength and perfection of the state and the divine providence will interpose to fill every department with wise and good men. I mean that screams us today, folks, we certainly have enough sins as a people Rejection of God out of our state, separation of God and state, feminism, lgbtq lifestyles, no-fault divorce, abortion. We have more than enough sins before God. This is the part that just doesn't work with socially liberal but fiscally conservative is eventually, your social liberalism is going to bleed over into your fiscal conservatism, not the other way around, and it doesn't matter who we elect, it doesn't matter how great the policies are. If we don't turn back to God, even the best policies and the best politicians are going to be corrupted. The best government is going to be corrupted, and we need that general reformation. We need that great awakening again today. We have to have it. It's the only hope that we have.
Speaker 1:Isaiah prophesied about the time of the captivity of the 10 tribes of Israel and about a century before the captivity of Judah. The kingdom of Israel was brought to destruction because its iniquities were full. Its counselors and judges were wholly taken away because there remained no hope of reformation. But the scepter did not entirely depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet till the Messiah came. Yet greater and greater changes took place in their political affairs. Their government degenerated in proportion as their vices increased, so few faithful men were left in any public offices, and at length. When they were delivered up for seventy years into the hands of the king of Babylon, scarce any remains of their original, excellent civil polity appeared among them. I think often when I read the Old Testament these days, folks, of the similarities between Israel and their lack of faithfulness to God and us as a nation. To God and us as a nation. Because, no matter what the left, the revisionist historians tell you today, our nation was founded, as Judge Nathaniel Freeman said, back in 1802, 1803,. Our nation was founded not as Rome was a pagan republic, but as a Christian republic, and when you take away the Christian part out, everything starts to go awry, as it has.
Speaker 1:The Jewish government, according to the original constitution, which was divinely established, if considered merely in a civil view, was a perfect republic. The heads of their tribes and elders of their tribes were their counselors and judges. They called the people together in more general or particular assemblies, took their opinions, gave advice and managed the public affairs according to the general voice. Counselors and judges comprehend all the powers of that government, for there was no such thing as legislative authority belonging to it, their complete code of laws being given immediately from God by the hand of Moses. And let them who cry up the divine right of kings consider that the only form of government which had a proper claim to a divine establishment was so far from including the idea of a king that it was a high crime for Israel to ask to be, in this respect, like other nations. And when they were gratified, it was rather as a just punishment of their folly that they might feel the burdens of a court pageantry, of which they were warned by a very striking description then, as a divine recommendation of kingly authority. That's something that some of us today, that some people in these really high academic circles on the supposedly conservative side, need to remember. The problem today isn't the republican form of government and the solution isn't a monarchy. The problem today is that we have rejected God, just like the Israelites did, and when you go back and look at them, god granting them a king was actually not a positive. Again, folks, the problem today isn't the republican form of government. The problem today is that we've rejected God out of our individual lives and our public lives.
Speaker 1:Every nation, when able and agreed, has a right to set up over themselves any form of government which, to them, may appear most conducive to their common welfare. The civil polity of Israel is doubtless an excellent general model, allowing for some peculiarities. At least some principal laws and orders of it may be copied to great advantage in more modern establishments. When a government is in its prime, the public good engages the attention of the whole. The strictest regard is paid to the qualifications of those who hold the offices of the state. Virtueest regard is paid to the qualifications of those who hold the offices of the state. Virtue prevails. Everything is managed with justice, prudence and frugality. The laws are founded on principles of equity rather than mere policy, and all the people are happy. But vice will increase with the riches and glory of an empire, and this gradually tends to corrupt the Constitution and, in time, bring on its dissolution. This may be considered not only as the natural effect of vice, but a righteous judgment of heaven, especially upon a nation which has been favored with the blessings of religion and liberty and is guilty of undervaluing them and eagerly going into the gratification of every lust Again.
Speaker 1:Does that not scream us today? We've been given so much by God for so long and instead of caring for the poor and the widow, the needy and the orphaned right, we've used it to gratify our own desires for lust and opulence. Look at who we celebrate today. We talk about this so often. We don't celebrate the men and women who have given so much for our country. We celebrate those who are at the height almost of immorality lust, greed, sexual deviance and everything else. Corruption and everything else corruption. It's hard not to look at us folks and say we've had it too easy for too long and we've forgotten that God's the one that gave us all these blessings and we think that we're responsible for all of it, like Lincoln said, in the vanity of our own hearts and imaginations.
Speaker 1:In this chapter, the prophet describes the very corrupt state of Judah in his day, both as to religion and common morality, and looks forward to that increase of wickedness which would bring on their desolation and captivity. They were a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that were corruptors who had forsaken the Lord and provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, isaiah 1-4. The whole body of the nation, from head to foot, was full of moral and political disorders, without any remaining soundness. Their religion was all mere ceremony and hypocrisy, and even the laws of common justice and humanity were disregarded in their public courts. They had counselors and judges, but very different from those at the beginning of the commonwealth. Their princes were rebellious. Isn't that the truth? We have counselors and judges, but how different are they Not in a good way, from closer to the beginning of our nation as far as clinging to morality? And if you look at this, you need to remember, folks, that this is two things. One, samuel Langdon, at the time of this, is the president of Harvard. Now, think about Harvard and Yale and Princeton and Columbia and some of the schools right now, today, and what they're doing. And this is the president of Harvard addressing the assembly, the provincial congress of Massachusetts. So this is a sermon being given by the president of Harvard to the political body there in Massachusetts.
Speaker 1:Their princes were rebellious against God and the constitution of their country, and companions of thieves, giving countenance to every artifice for seizing the property of the subjects into their own hands and robbing the public treasury. Everyone loved gifts and followed after rewards. They regarded the prerequisites more than the duties of their office. The general aim was at profitable places and pensions. They were influenced in everything by bribery, and their avarice and luxury were never satisfied but hurried them on to all kinds of oppression and violence, so that they even justified and encouraged the murder of innocent persons to support their lawless power and increase their wealth. And God, in righteous judgment, left them to run into all this excess of vice to their own destruction, because they had forsaken him and were guilty of willful inattention to the most essential parts of that religion which had been given them by a well-attested revelation from heaven. Again, folks, pretty hard not to see us today. We have forsaken God, not the other way around, but God's going to let us, and is letting us, run into all kinds of vice and destruction. And that paragraph, as so many of others of these paragraphs in Samuel Langdon's sermon, pretty much sum up our nation. We'll get back into that. We'll spend the next day or two, whatever we need left to finish this sermon of Samuel Langdon's before the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts in 1775.
Speaker 1:God bless you 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 listening. Remember that too, folks. I talk about all this as America-centric, and it is. But your nation, wherever you are around the world, if you really want it to function properly, you're going to have to turn to God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. To turn to God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. That's the only way you're going to be able to help liberty to blossom and grow and spread. We'll talk to you all real soon, folks, looking forward to it.