The American Soul
The American Soul
Coming Out of Babylon: Finding Personal and National Redemption
What if the values we claim to cherish aren't reflected in how we spend our time? In this challenging examination of faith, marriage, and American ideals, Jesse Cope strikes at the heart of our modern contradictions.
"Have you made time for God today? Have you made time to read His word?" These opening questions set the tone for a penetrating exploration of misaligned priorities. Jesse argues that despite claiming faith matters deeply to us, our daily schedules often tell a different story. Similarly, with marriage – we profess its importance while consistently failing to serve our spouses or nurture these foundational relationships.
Drawing from Revelation 18, Jesse examines the fall of Babylon as both historical account and powerful metaphor for modern America's moral challenges. The passionate warning to "Come out of her, my people" resonates as a call for believers to live differently in an increasingly materialistic culture without abandoning their responsibility to engage with society.
The podcast takes a surprising turn into the uncomfortable reality of modern slavery through human trafficking. Jesse challenges listeners to recognize that while historical slavery ended generations ago, actual human bondage continues today in our communities – often overlooked in broader social discussions. This segment forces us to confront exploitation happening in our own backyards rather than focusing exclusively on historical injustices.
Historical accounts from the Spanish Inquisition and America's revolutionary period provide sobering context for understanding how institutions – religious and governmental – can become corrupted when they stray from foundational principles. The colonists' concerns about judicial independence bear striking resemblance to contemporary debates about constitutional interpretation and accountability.
Throughout this thought-provoking journey, one message remains clear: meaningful change in our personal lives, marriages, and nation begins with honestly evaluating the gap between what we say matters and how we actually live. As Jesse reminds us, "Why can't I start focusing on loving my spouse today? Why can't I make time for my kids today?" The invitation is to begin now, aligning our actions with our professed values before another day slips away.
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. I sure do appreciate y'all joining me and giving me a little bit of your time and energy effort. Maybe even I will try and use it wisely. For those of y'all who continue to share the podcast with others and tell others about it, thank you very much for helping the podcast to grow. Y'all do immensely. And then for those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast, thank you. Probably pretty obvious. I need those prayers and I cherish those prayers. I'm grateful for those prayers. So thank you all very much.
Speaker 1:Father, thank you for today, thank you for this day that you have made. Thank you for you, father, and your 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, for all the many blessings you bestow upon us, both as individuals and as a nation. Forgive us our lack of gratitude. Forgive us when we take those blessings for granted. Forgive us our lack of gratitude. Forgive us when we take those blessings for granted. Forgive us when we turn away from you to go our own way. Thank you for your word and the ability to read it without fear of persecution, either by the state or the church. Be with those who don't have that freedom, that liberty, father, and help us to comfort them, to support them in every way that we can. Be with our leaders, give them wisdom, courage, strong faith, give them discernment and understanding. Help them to see how you would have them act and to do that, and help us all to do that. Father, thank you for this time to record the podcast. Thank you for the people that listen to it. Please be with them wherever they are around the world and across the nation, father, comfort them, be with their families, surround them with your angels, protect them from evil of any kind. Help us to lead others to you and your Son, jesus Christ and to eternal life through your Son Jesus Christ. Father and God, my words are please, in your Son's name, we pray Amen. And God, my words are please, in your son's name, we pray Amen. Have you made time for God today? Have you made time to read his word? Have you made time to pray, to spend with him, to talk to him.
Speaker 1:You know, we talk about it every day Faith and marriage. Folks, everybody claims that they want this really strong faith. We claim that we want this great marriage, but when it comes down to it, we just don't line our actions up with our priorities. We just don't line our actions up with our priorities If we get up each day and our first thought isn't how can I serve God, how can I please God today? Followed shortly after by if we're married, how can I serve my spouse today? How can I please my spouse today? We're doing marriage wrong. And it really is just that simple, folks. And if we're not looking to Scripture for our roles and responsibilities, whether you're married or not, but we talk about marriage each day because, as Reagan said, the family is the cornerstone of the nation and the marriage is the cornerstone of the family. So maybe particularly especially, but just in general, any of us folks, if we're not looking toward those principles of Jesus Christ for how to live, we're doing it wrong. But that requires actually going and reading the Bible and praying. And I saw something I can't remember where, right now, off the top of my head. I saw something I can't remember where, right now, off the top of my head it might have been a newspaper recently, but they were talking about the need for those times of reflection in our lives, that still quiet time before God. Do we have that? Do you build that in? And you could say the same thing about your marriage, folks. Do you purposely build in that time to strengthen your marriage each day? And then you've got to be really honest with yourself and you've got to ask okay, how much time I claim that I don't have time for God or I don't have time for my spouse throughout the day, each day? How much time time? If I look at my phone and my phone usage, what's it going to show? If I look at how many books I've read this year or how many tv shows I've watched pretty much each day, or movies, what's it going to show? All right, I think. Revelation 18, maybe we double check that. I think that's right. Yeah, we're gonna go with that.
Speaker 1:The fall of babylon the great, and versions here real quick. After these things, I saw another angel coming down from heaven having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory and he cried out with a mighty voice saying Fall. And fallen is Babylon the great. He has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.
Speaker 1:I heard another voice come from heaven saying Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues, for her sins have piled up as high as heaven and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back, even as she has paid, and give back to her double, according to her deeds. In the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her, to the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously to the same degree. Give her torment and mourning, for she says in her heart, I sit as a queen and I am not a widow and will never see mourning. For this reason, one day her plagues will come pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire.
Speaker 1:For the Lord, god who judges her, is strong Lament for Babylon and the kings of the earth who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying Woe, woe the great city, babylon, the strong city, for in one hour your judgment has come and the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargos anymore, cargos of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls, and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet, and every kind of citron wood, and every article of ivory and every article made from very costly wood and bronze and iron and marble and cinnamon and spice and incense and perfume and frankincense and wine and olive oil, and fine flour and wheat and cattle and sheep, and cargos of horses and chariots and slaves and human lives. The fruit you long for has gone from you and all things that were luxurious and splendid have passed away from you and men will no longer find them. The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, saying Woe, woe the great city. See who was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, for in one hour such great wealth has been laid waste. And every shipmaster and every passenger and sailor, and as many as make their living by the sea, stood at a distance and were crying out as they saw the smoke of her burning, saying what city is like the great city? And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying woe, woe the great city in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth, for in one hour she has been laid waste. Rejoice over her, o heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you, against her. Then a strong angel took up a stone, like a great millstone, and threw it into the city, saying so will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence and will not be found any longer. Down with violence and will not be found any longer. And the sound of harpists and musicians and flute players and trumpeteers will not be heard in you any longer, and no craftsman of any craft will be found in you any longer. And the sound of a mill will not be heard in you any longer, and the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer and the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer, for your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery, and in her was found the blood of the prophets and all of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth as per normal in Revelations.
Speaker 1:A lot of this is over my pay grade, folks. I'm not a priest or a pastor or a theologian. I don't claim to be. I'm just a simple man reading the Bible and hoping to share a little bit of it with y'all and encouraging you to do the same with others, because we have absolutely become a Bible illiterate society and it's having some pretty drastic effects. But a few things here Kind of start at the end and go backwards. One of these problems, right with Babylon or the world, whether it's past, present or future, making friends with the world is that we become responsible in a way I suppose I don't really know how, but when I was reading this verse 24, and in her was found the blood of the prophets and the saints and all who have been slain on the earth. Making friends with the world, babylon, however you want to phrase it. It brings others down.
Speaker 1:You know, there's a proverb that talks about the fact that we can say all we want, that we didn't notice these people stumbling toward the cliff. But God knows our hearts. When we see people going to have an abortion and we don't say anything, we can't pretend later that we didn't know what they were about to do was wrong. When we see kids going down the path of LGBTQ relationships and we don't say anything or we encourage them or condone their actions, we can claim to God all we want, that we didn't know this was going to lead to destruction. We didn't know this was going to lead to heartache. We didn't know this was going to lead to pain. But God sees our hearts.
Speaker 1:And you go back up here and you look at verse three, for all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality. It talks about immorality, sensuality, right, and I think it mentions immorality a couple more times, just in this chapter. But when you're talking about pornography, only fans, right, websites like that. When you're talking about lgbtq relationships. When you, when you have adultery, that goes on right. When we, when we don't warn others about that, when we don't warn our children about that, right, we're kind of complicit in that and we can sit back and say all we want, well, I didn't do that, I don't have anything to do with that, that's not on me, but God knows our hearts. If you really didn't know anything about it, then God's going to know that.
Speaker 1:But how many of us folks, if we're really looking deep down and digging deep down, how many of us know that those things are wrong? And we see those opportunities to talk to a kid, to talk to a friend, to talk to whoever, and we don't take them, not because we don't know they're wrong, but because we're afraid of offending someone or being ostracized or labeled as a prude or a eyeball thumper or whatever. It is right. Verse 7 to the degree that she has glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree, give her torment and mourning. For she says in her heart I sit as a queen and I am not a widow and will never see mourning. I think just the last part. I'm not a widow. I never see a mourning.
Speaker 1:I think so many of us folks, we think we have all the time in the world to, you know, really finally turn to God and talk to him and spend time with him, to really finally turn to our spouse and talk to them and spend time with them, to really look at our kids and really spend time with them and talk to them and listen to them. We think we have all this time, but we don't. We certainly don't know that we have all that time. Maybe we will live to be 80. Maybe we have a whole other decade to get things right with our soul before God, to get things right with our spouse, to get things right with our parents, to get things right with our kids, to get things right with our parents, to get things right with our kids. But we don't have any idea and we shouldn't wait on that. Why would you not want to go ahead and get them right now, to begin with? Anyway, right, it goes back I've talked about this on the podcast before A marriage.
Speaker 1:Couple years ago, they wrote a book and part of it was the husband talking about the fact that his relationship with his father was really bad. It was never good and as he became an adult and he married this wonderful woman and they had these kids. He let that relationship with his father fester and cause problems in the relationship with his wife in particular, but the kids too, wife in particular, but the kids too. And one evening, after a really bad interaction with his father, he came home and he kind of took it out on the wife and kids, not really not physically, he didn't beat them or anything, but he just he was rude and abrupt and just not a very kind person at all and his wife put the kids to bed that night, I think, and finally came back into the study at some point, looked at him and said hey, I just want to know if you could just tell me how long we're going to have to do this. And he looked up, you know, and he was still irritated, mad, angry. What are you talking about? And she said I just want to know how long you're going to allow your relationship with your father to control our family life. If it's one year, five years, 10 years, just let me know. So I know how long I'm going to have to deal with this and then I can kind of get my mind around it. And she just turned around and walked out and the husband who wrote this book with his wife but but he was the primary author, I think he said.
Speaker 1:That really struck me that night because I was sitting there, I was still fuming, but I started to think about it and I was like, well, you know, if I can fix this in five years, why can't? Or 10 years? Why can't I fix it in five? If I can fix it in five years, why can't I go ahead and change the way I act now, or in one year, you know? Or why not in 10 months, or five months, or one month? Or why can't I right now, tonight, decide that this toxic relationship with my father is not going to hurt my marriage and my family any longer?
Speaker 1:And a lot of us need to have that mentality for maybe probably multiple things in our life, but you certainly know some things in your life that you can apply that to. You know, why can't I start eating healthy and working out today, even if it's just a little bit? Why can't I start really focusing on God and reading scripture and praying today, even if it's just for a few minutes each day, folks? Why can't I really start focusing on loving my spouse today? Why can't I really start focusing on repairing that relationship with my parents today? Why can't I make time for my kids and really start developing that relationship with them today? You know, the Bible warns us about procrastination, about putting off what we can do today until tomorrow, what we have to give to our neighbor today, telling them to come back tomorrow. And those are all our neighbors, folks, those are our closest neighbors. So why would we put them off? And really, selfishly, you can look at it for yourself and say why would you put it off? Because it's going to make your life better too.
Speaker 1:One more verse here and we'll move on for the day. This is verse 13. Cinnamon, spice, incense, perfume, all these things, right. And then it gets down to cargos, horses, chariots, slaves and human lives, All these things that were sold and traded in Babylon. Whether you're talking literally, figuratively, past, present, future, friendship with the world, basically you focus on materialistic things. But the part that really struck me was these slaves and human lives. And it struck me because we've had this.
Speaker 1:We've had part of society in America that made a huge deal recently about Juneteenth, but they're not making it a big deal really to celebrate the emancipation of slaves. They're making it a big deal to try and make everybody today feel like certain people in our society are still oppressed, while others are still oppressing. Here's the problem. Slavery based on skin color has not existed in the United States for 150 years plus, but there is very real slavery still here in the United States today, and that is primarily women and children, but even some men in human trafficking and the sex trade, and they are very much slaves. They can't leave. They have no power, and they are very much slaves. They can't leave. They have no power. If they try and escape, they're chased down, tortured, beaten, killed, raped, etc. We have slaves today in the United States in particular.
Speaker 1:If you really wanted to fight against slavery, if you really wanted to fight against people that own others, that is where your efforts would be focused on, not on trying to get reparations, not on trying to make everybody feel like you're part of this oppressed class from something that ended 150 years ago. You would be looking around talking about the human trafficking and the slave trade, which is, in a large part, driven by illegal immigration and mass immigration into the United States, and that would be a huge deal to you if your concern was really standing up against slavery, Because we have it today and you don't even have to go look that far. You can look in your own communities, even if you live in a small community, and you're going to be able to find people that are being used and abused and sold and bought. That's the other thing that would really be shocking to a lot of people and you're not going to be able to do this folks. But if you have a social worker or a police officer, or probably even some of your firefighters and EMS workers could talk about this your school counselors and administrators, they could talk to you about some horrific stories in your little community that you think is so peaceful and wonderful in your little neighborhood of your city that you think that just doesn't happen here. And not only would you be shocked at the kids and the women and even the boys and some of the men who are sold, but you would be shocked at the people who are buying. And since I'm going down this little rabbit trail, we'll move on out of Revelation 18.
Speaker 1:But the idea of having cutouts for illegal immigrants, folks, for certain industries, which has been floated by the president, I guess, in the last week or two is appalling. If your business model can't survive without steep labor, basically slave labor then your business shouldn't survive. It's that simple. If your business can't survive without bringing in people, that you don't have to pay that much to do whatever it is that you need to do, then your business model shouldn't survive. It's just not functional. And you can make all the comments you want about oh, who's gonna pick our crops? And that you know what that sounds like. Who's gonna pick our cotton? That's what that sounds like.
Speaker 1:All the people talking about the farmers and the ranchers that have to have these illegals in order to survive. And I can tell you a little bit not a lot, but a little bit about ranching, cause I grew up watching my father be somewhat involved in that and a lot of other people around here. I never saw them use any illegal immigrants to run cattle. I'm sure it happens, I know it does, but you don't need it. And again, if you do need it, then your, your business model is faulty. And on the farms, if you need that, then then you need to raise prices and that that's. It's the whole thing, anyway's. That's a huge discussion, folks. I'm not going to get that far down it. There's no excuse for bringing in if you really do need it quote, unquote need it. There's no excuse for bringing in people so that you can pay them less, less to do that job. Right, basically, the the analogy the picking cotton thing right, you said well, we got to have people to pick our crops today, and that sounds just like well, we got to have people to pick our cotton 150, 60 years ago.
Speaker 1:Speaking of, I really wanted to get into our Medal of Honors, but there's an article that I also want to talk about briefly and that may be all the time we have in this first half of the podcast today LA Riot Response Spurs Federal-State Disagreements. Subtitle Federal Government Deploys Troops to Quell Riots as State Sues Alleging Overreach. This is an article out of the Epoch Times and I believe it's by Brad Jones and John Fredericks, and it's talking about all the chaos that went on in LA and then the state being upset, the state of California being upset, that the feds were coming in and arresting illegal immigrants and somewhere in here. Yeah, so Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said her office has heard that the ICE operations could continue for a month or longer. Bass said she would call the president asking him to stop the operations.
Speaker 1:It's a sense of intimidation and fear that is just so unnecessary and so corrosive to our city Folks. That is Bravo Sierra, all caps. You know what's? Quote-unquote, unnecessary and corrosive Leftist policies that support illegal immigration Hyphenation of Americans. Pretty much every single core value of the left is corrosive and unnecessary, not to mention immoral. These people are not upset at the fact that. It's just mind boggling. It's mind boggling that the left is upset that we're taking criminals off the streets. You need to really let that sink in, because that's what this boils down to. They're upset that criminals are being taken off the street. Right Borders are Tom Homan, right, homan.
Speaker 1:However, you say that he was doing an interview. He said we took a lot of bad people off the street that day. He was talking about one of these days in the LA riots. It's not as bad as abortion or feminism, but you need to understand that the concept is still pretty much the same. The left is upset that something good is happening. They're upset that evil is being stopped. Right, it's like abortion. They get upset that they're not allowed to kill babies anymore.
Speaker 1:The left is upset that we're taking criminals off the streets and we're reducing their power by taking criminals away because they're upset that they're losing that voting block. They're upset not because they really care about the widow and the orphan, because if they did, unless it's out of gross ignorance, folks, if they really, if you really care about the widow and the orphan, you cannot in good conscience support illegal immigration. Illegal immigration hurts the widow and the orphan right, whether you're just making them more susceptible to violence, rape, theft, et cetera. It hurts the poor and needy. It takes resources away. Whether you're talking about education right from American citizens, or whether you're talking about law enforcement or firefighters or even something like trash pickup, you're having to spend money and resources to shift money and resources away from American citizens, our brothers and sisters, who have a first responsibility and I'm including the left in this.
Speaker 1:Folks, whether they agree with me politically or not, those individuals that are American citizens are part of our American family and, from a Christian point of view, as far as I can tell, reading the New Testament, that means that we have a responsibility to care for those people before we go giving our money to criminals, before we go giving their resources to people who who broke in. It's like somebody breaking into a bank and us taking money from other people's lock boxes and accounts to give to the people that are breaking into the bank To begin with makes zero sense. One of the comments out of this article several protesters concealed their identities, wearing masks and gloves, and at least two symbols consisted of circle A's that were spray painted on the federal buildings, similar to the symbol used by Antifa, a radical Marxist anarchist group. Illegal immigration has way more to do with gaining power than it does caring about the downtrodden. And again we go back and then we'll move on. Folks, I spent more time on this today than I intended to. It's a good article though, if you get a chance, highly recommend the paper in general. Epic Times and if you get a chance, this article.
Speaker 1:La Rights Put City on Edge, brad Jones and John Frederick. But you want to care for the least of these right? Jesus Christ tells us to care for the least of these right. Jesus Christ tells us to care for the least of these Sex trafficking and human trafficking, which involves a lot of children, but the vulnerable in general, whether you're talking about women or men or children, folks, people that are vulnerable, people that aren't strong enough to stand up against evil men and women. Illegal immigration supports that. Against evil men and women. Illegal immigration supports that you cannot care for the least of these and support illegal immigration at the same time. And you don't need to.
Speaker 1:Folks, we talk about this in a different situation, but within the church. You want to go over to Muslim countries and evangelize. That's awesome. I got no problem with that. You want to go over to Africa and feed the poor and evangelize that is awesome. As a Christian, I got no problem. I had a pastor that used to go over there for years and help do water and a number of other things Phenomenal.
Speaker 1:But we have so much in our own backyard, so many people that we can talk to about Christ in the Bible right here. So many people that are living dark lives that just don't have any hope. So many children that need our protection, women who need our protection right Some of them need protection from themselves, the feminists. But we have so much here, folks. If you have a heart to care for the widow and the orphan, the poor and the needy, to care for the least of these, supporting illegal immigration isn't it? Look in your own backyard and I don't care whether you're living in LA or Houston or New York, or you're living in some small community scattered across the United States. There's somebody in your community that you can help, that you can serve Christ, serve God, follow the commandments of God and Jesus Christ by helping that person. Christ, serve God, follow the commandments of God and Jesus Christ by helping that person. There's a man that I follow on X that does prison ministry. I mean, god loves men like that. The idea just. I'm not sure that God gave me that skill to go into prisons, but that's a perfect example. He goes into prisons every week, into some a lot of times, into like isolation. Where these people are. They're the worst of the worst man, the most broken of the broken. It's a big deal folks. Alright, we'll move on.
Speaker 1:We're gonna get back into Fox's Book of the Martyrs and this episode and, I think, this French town with this young lady that the Inquisitors took prisoner and abused and abused. This discourse of Leonora greatly affected me, but I found everything to be as she told me in the course of time and I took care to appear as cheerful as possible before Mary. In this manner, I continued eighteen months, during which time eleven ladies were taken from the house, but in lieu of them we got nineteen new ones, which made our number just sixty. At the time, we were so happily relieved by the French officers and providentially restored to the joys of society and to the arms of our parents and friends. On happy day, the door of my dungeon was opened by the gentleman who is now my husband and who, with the utmost expedition, sent both Leonora and me to his father's. And soon after the campaign was over, when he returned home, he thought proper to make me his wife, in which situation I enjoy a recompense for all the miseries I before suffered.
Speaker 1:From the foregoing narrative, it is evident that the Inquisitors are a set of libidinitious villains, lost to every just idea of religion and totally destitute of humanity. Those who possess wealth, beauty or liberal sentiments are sure to find enemies in them. Avarice, lust and prejudice are their ruling passions, and they sacrifice every law, human and divine, to gratify their predominant desire. Their supposed piety is affectation, their pretended compassion hypocrisy. Their justice depends on their will and their equitable punishments are founded on their prejudices. And their equitable punishments are founded on their prejudices. None are secure from them. All ranks fall equally, victims to their pride, their power, their avarice or their aversion. Some may suggest that it is strange crowned heads and eminent nobles have not attempted to crush the power of the Inquisition and reduce the authority of those ecclesiastical tyrants from whose merciless fangs neither their families nor themselves are secure. But, astonishing as it is, superstition hath, in this case, always overcome common sense and custom operated against reason.
Speaker 1:One prince, indeed, intended to abolish the Inquisition, but he lost his life before he became king and, consequently, before he had the power to do so, for the very imitation of his design procured his destruction. This was that amiable prince, don Carlos, son of Philip II, king of Spain, and grandson of the celebrated Emperor Charles V. Don Carlos possessed all the good qualities of his grandfather, without any of the bad ones of his father, the bad ones of his father, and was a prince of great vivacity, admirable learning and the most amiable disposition. He had sense enough to see the errors of potpourri and abhorred the very name of the Inquisition. He inveighed publicly against the institution, ridiculed the affected piety of the inquisitors, did all he could to expose their atrocious deeds and even declared that if he ever came to the crown, he would abolish the inquisition and exterminate its agents. These things were sufficient to irritate the inquisitors against the prince. They accordingly bent their mind to vengeance and determined on his destruction.
Speaker 1:The inquisitors now employed all their agents and emissaries to spread abroad the most artful insinuations against the prince and at length raised such a spirit of discontent among the people that the king was under the necessity of removing Don Carlos from court. Not content with this, they pursued even his friends and obliged the king likewise to banish Don John, duke of Austria, his own brother and consequently uncle to the prince, together with the prince of Parma, nephew to the king and cousin to the prince, because they well knew that both the duke of Austria and the prince of Parma had a most sincere and inviolable attachment to Don Carlos. Some few years after the prince having shown great lenity and favor to the Protestants in the Netherlands, the inquisition loudly exclaimed against him, declaring that as the persons in question were heretics, the prince himself must necessarily be one, since he gave them countenance. In short, they grain get gained so great an ascendancy over the mind of the king, who was absolutely a slave to superstition that, shocking to relate, he sacrificed the feelings of nature to the force of bigotry and, for fear of incurring the anger of the inquisition, gave up his only son, passing the sentence of death on him himself. The prince indeed had what was termed an indulgence, that is, he was permitted to choose the manner of his death Roman-like. The unfortunate young hero goes bleeding in the hot bath when, the veins of his arms and legs being opened, he expired gradually, falling a martyr, to the malice of the inquisitors and the stupid bigotry of his father. To the malice of the Inquisitors and the stupid bigotry of his father. If you've been with us for the past few days on the podcast, that whole episode of this particular town and this was just one example the author says just to kind of use as a guide of so many others that existed Anytime we get outside of Scripture, folks, we get into trouble, and any person that tells you something outside of Scripture it doesn't matter whether they're a pope or a priest, bishop, cardinal, it doesn't matter whether it's Roman Catholic or Greek Orthodox or some Protestant denomination that whatever denominational doctrine you're talking about is more important or supersedes Scripture, and you can just see the trouble that it causes.
Speaker 1:I mean, there's no possible way to use Christianity to justify the actions that we read about claims to follow Christ, predominantly, in this case, via the Roman Catholic Church. There's no possible way to justify the types of torture that were approved of by the church at this point. And, like this author says in the preface, all of the different denominations have at one point or another done things that should never have been done. The problem is when you have a denomination that claims that it's infallible or any of its members, even one single member, is infallible because there is nobody except Jesus Christ. That was perfect. No other human being that's ever existed was perfect besides Christ. That's why his blood covers our sins, because he gave up his life having committed no sin for us, having committed no sin for us. So, at any rate, we will move on. We'll get into history of the rise, progress and termination of the American Revolution by Mercy Otis Warren. We'll pick up where we left off in chapter four.
Speaker 1:This gave a fair opening to the friends of their country, which they did not neglect to discuss the illegality, injustice and impolicy of the late innovations. They entered on the debate with freedom of inquiry, stated their claims with clearness and precision and supported them with such reasoning and perspicuity that a man of less artiness than Mr Hutchinson would not have made a second attempt to justify so odious a cause or to gain such an unpopular point by dent of argument, but whether owing to his own intemperate zeal or whether instigated by his superiors on the other side of the Atlantic to bring on the dispute previous to the disclosure of some extraordinary measures, then an agitation is uncertain. However this was. He supported his opinions with industry and ingenuity, and not discouraged by strong opposition, he spun out the debate to a tedious and ridiculous length, far from terminating. To the honor of the governor, his officious defense of administration served only to indicate the necessity of the most guarded watchfulness against the machinations of powerful and designing men and fanned rather than checked the amour of patria characteristic of the times.
Speaker 1:Soon after this altercation ended, the representative body took cognizance of an affair that had given great disgust and created much uneasiness through the province. By the royal charter granted by William and Mary, the governor, lieutenant governor and secretary were appointed by the province. By the royal charter granted by William and Mary, the governor, lieutenant governor and secretary were appointed by the king. The council were chosen by the representatives of the people, the governor being allowed a negative voice. The judges, justices and all other officers, civil and military, were left to his nomination and appointed by him with the advice and consent of a board of counselors. But as it is always necessary in a free government that the people should retain some means in their own hands to check any unwarrantable exercise of power in the executive, the legislature of Massachusetts had always enjoyed the reasonable privilege of paying their own officers according to their ability and the services rendered to the public.
Speaker 1:It was at this time well known that Mr Hutchinson had so far ingratiated himself as to entitle him to peculiar favor from the crown and by a handsome salary from the king. He was rendered entirely independent of the people. His brother-in-law, also the lieutenant governor, had obtained, by misrepresentations thought by some to have been little short of perjury see Lieutenant Governor Oliver's affidavit on the council books A pension which he had long solicited. But chargon at the detection of his letters and the discovery of his duplicity soon put a period to a life that might have been useful and exemplary. That he confined his pursuits only to the domestic walks of life. That he confined his pursuits only to the domestic walks of life.
Speaker 1:A strong family, as well as political connection, had for some time been forming amongst those who had been writing in favor of colonial regulations and urging the creation of a patrician rank from which all officers of government should in future be selected. Intermarriages among their children in the near degree of consanguity, before the parties were of age for maturity of choice, had strengthened the union of interests among the candidates for preferment. Thus, by a kind of compact, almost every department of high trust, as it became vacant by resignation, suspension or death, was filled by some relation or dependent of Governor Hutchinson, and no other qualification was required except a suppleness of opinion and principle that could readily bend to the measures of the court and principle that could readily bend to the measures of the court. You see this today in some degree right, not necessarily by genetics, but simply by filling positions in government with people who are willing to bend their opinion and their principles in whatever direction those in power tell them to go. But it was more recently discovered that the judges of the superior court, the near relations or coadjutors of Mr Hutchinson, and a few of them more scrupulously delicate with regard to the violation of the rights of their country than himself, had taken advantage of the items and successfully insinuated that the dignity of their offices must be supported by an allowance from the crown sufficient to enable them to execute the designs of government exclusively of any dependence on the General Assembly. In consequence of these representations, the judges were appointed to hold their places during the king's pleasure. Of these representations, the judges were appointed to hold their places during the king's pleasure and a yearly stipend was granted them to be paid out of the new revenue to be raised in America.
Speaker 1:That sounds awfully familiar to our Supreme Court today, with very little recourse from the people to recall and correct. The Supreme Court is not beholden to the people unless those justices acknowledge that fact themselves, and then you don't have the problem to begin with. If they're willing to follow the Constitution and be beholden to it, then you don't have to worry about it. The problem is when they're not, and then we have very little recourse today. And you see these justices, you see the damage that they've done over the last 80 years, in particular when you have justices that have no interest in following their roles and responsibilities. It's a lot like we talk about with marriage. If you get into a marriage with someone and you yourself are a follower of Christ, if they decide not to fulfill their roles and responsibilities in marriage, you're kind of stuck. There's not a whole lot of recourse there.
Speaker 1:The general court had not been convened after the full disclosure of the system before the present period. Of course, no constitutional opposition could be made on the infraction of their charter until a legal assembly had an opportunity to meet and deliberate Uncertain how long the intriguing spirit of the governor would permit them to continue in existence. The sitting assembly judged it necessary early in the session to proceed to a parliamentary inquiry into the conduct of their judiciary officers. Accordingly, the judges of the Supreme Court were called upon to receive the grants for their services as usual from the Treasury of the Province, to renounce all institutional salaries and to engage to receive no pay, pension or emolument and reward of services as justices of the court of judicature, but from the free grants of the legislative assembly. Two of the judges, browbridge and Ropes, readily complied with the demand and relinquished the offensive stipend. Copes readily complied with the demand and relinquished the offensive stipend. Third was William Cushing Esquire, a gentleman rendered respectable in the eyes of all parties by his professional abilities and general integrity. He was a sensible, modest man, well acquainted with the law but remarkable for the secrecy of his opinions. This kept up his reputation through all the ebullitions of discordant parties, he readily resigned the royal stipend without any observations of his own. Yet it was thought at the time that it was with a reluctance that his mess eternity could not conceal. By this silent address he retained the confidence of the court faction. Nor was he less a favorite among the republicans. He was immediately placed on the bench of justice after the assumption of government in the massachusetts the. The manner and the urbanity of Mr Cushing procured his advancement to the supreme bench under the new constitution afterwards adopted by the United States. In this station he was useful to his country and respected by every class through all the changes of party and opinion which he lived to see.
Speaker 1:Pretty interesting about the judges. You can see the concern of the colonists to have these judges who had no colonists to have these judges who had no, they weren't beholden to the people at all when they got a stipend from the crown. They didn't need a stipend from the legislative body, they didn't need the people. And it seems like we have a pretty similar situation today. You know, on the one hand you want the judicial branch to be independent of political pressure. You don't want them to feel pressure from particular politicians, but you should still want them to feel pressure from the people, and particularly from the Constitution, and we just don't seem to have had that.
Speaker 1:You look at probably the most well, I would argue. The most egregious example of that is 1947 and Everson versus Board of Education. There's no way we've been doing this podcast we're going into the fifth year now. There's no way you can look at history and see the desire of our founders for separation of God and state and I know they use the phrase separation of church and state in that decision but what they really meant was to separate God from state and that's just. It's not there.
Speaker 1:And so, unless you want to assume that these judges were really ignorant of of their job, their profession, their duty which seems hard, hard to believe but possible then you've got to assume that they purposefully they purposefully misconstrued writings and intent. But either way, it was a horrible, horrible decision and there should have been recourse, and maybe there was at that time, but we didn't execute it. At any rate, it's pretty interesting to see some of the stuff that our founders went through. We seem to have some very similar situations today. God bless y'all, god bless your families, god bless your marriages. God bless America. We'll talk to y'all again real soon. Folks Looking forward to it.