The American Soul
The American Soul
The Forgotten Heroes of America: Stories That Deserve Our Attention
We examine how our daily allocation of time reveals our true priorities, challenging listeners to consider whether God and family truly occupy the top positions in their lives. The episode highlights the importance of aligning our actions with our stated values through scripture readings, reflection on American heroes, and practical spiritual guidance.
• Reflecting on how our use of time reveals our true priorities
• Biblical teachings on marriage from 1 Peter 3 emphasizing mutual respect and honor
• Paul's message from Philippians 3 about pressing forward in faith
• Psalm 74's prayer during national crisis and remembering God's covenant promises
• Medal of Honor recipient Stanley Bender's extraordinary courage in WWII
• The concerning trend of honoring celebrities while forgetting true American heroes
If you enjoyed this episode and are looking for wholesome family reading, check out my middle-grade fantasy series "Countryside" available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I'd appreciate your reviews if you find it worthwhile.
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 do appreciate y'all joining me, giving me a little bit of your time and attention, a little piece of your day. I will try and use it wisely For those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast, thank you so much. Very, very grateful for your prayers, Father. Thank you for today. Thank you for you, Father, and your Son, Jesus Christ and your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your love, your mercy, your grace and your forgiveness of our sins through the merit of your Son, Jesus Christ and your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your love, your mercy, your grace and your forgiveness of our sins through the merit of your Son Jesus Christ. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for all the blessings, Father, that you've bestowed upon us as a nation and as individuals. Thank you for food to eat, water, clean water to drink, to shower with clothes to wear. Air conditioning in the summer, heating in the winter, cars that run, roads that are smooth, roads that are smooth. Dentists, doctors, firefighters, police officers honest men in our military, in our law enforcement, our firefighters, honest men who lead us, but sometimes it seems like there's not very many Father of firefighters, honest men who lead us, but sometimes it seems like there's not very many. Father, but thank you for all these blessings our health, the people in our lives, our spouse, our children, our parents, friends, family. Forgive us when we take all these blessings for granted, Father. Forgive us our lack of gratitude. Be with the children across our nation, Father. Help us to set an example for them of you and your Son, Jesus Christ, to lead them back to you or to you in general. Help us to get you, Father, and the Bible back in the center of our education across the nation, whether it's public or private or homeschool. Be with those listening to the podcast, Father. Please Surround them with your angels, Protect them from evil of any kind, Comfort them, Comfort their families, Strengthen their families, Strengthen their marriages, Bind them together as husband and wife if they're married, and those who aren't draw them close to you and your son and God. 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 pray? And, if you're married, have you made time for your spouse? And if you haven't, what have you made time for? And is that really how you want to spend your time, folks? And is that really how you want to spend your time, folks? What I spend my time on each day, at the end of each day.
Speaker 1:You know I'm sure some of y'all have seen this idea before but if we walked around and we had a little electronic screen beside us and it showed the world how much time we had given to X, Y and Z each day, or really just showed to ourselves how much time we had given to X, Y or Z each day, that would be our priority list. And I wonder how many of us really would like what our priority list shows on a day-to-day basis, week-to-week basis. For the last year, five years, 10 years, I feel like for myself and I assume this is probably true for a lot of people that that little Excel spreadsheet would be way out of whack relative to what I wanted it to be. I don't think that at the top of my list would be most of my time and energy and effort going to God first and my wife second each day, and I'm working on changing that. I think I'm making a little headway, but we ought to work pretty hard on changing that folks. We ought to work really hard on changing that.
Speaker 1:Marriage verses for today are from 1 Peter 3, starting with verse 1. In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that, even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. Your adornment must not be merely external braiding the hair and wearing gold jewelry or putting on dresses but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit which is precious in the sight of God. For in this way, in former times, the holy women also who hoped in God used to adorn themselves being submissive to their own husbands. Used to adorn themselves being submissive to their own husbands. Just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, and you have become her children. If you do what is right without being frightened by any fear, you husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way as with someone weaker, since she is a woman, and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered. And the scripture reading for today we're going to start in Philippians 3, verse 5.
Speaker 1:I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin a real Hebrew, if there ever was one. I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church, and as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. I once thought these things were valuable, but I now consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.
Speaker 1:Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law. Rather, I became righteous through faith in Christ, For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that, one way or another, I will experience the resurrection from the dead.
Speaker 1:I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection, but I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing, forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you, but we must hold on to the progress we have already made.
Speaker 1:Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine and learn from those who follow our example, For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows that they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. They are headed for destruction. Their God is their appetite. They brag about shameful things and they think only about this life here on earth. But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives, and we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control. Psalm 74, verses 1 through 23.
Speaker 1:O God, why have you rejected us so long? Why is your anger so intense against the sheep of your own pasture? Remember that we are the people you chose long ago, the tribe you redeemed as your own special possession. And remember Jerusalem, your home here on earth. Walk through the awful ruins of the city. See how the enemy has destroyed your sanctuary. There your enemy shouted their victorious battle cries. There they set up their battle standards. They swung their axes like woodcutters in a forest, With axes and picks. They smashed the carved paneling. They burned your sanctuary to the ground. They defiled the place that bears your name. Then they thought let's destroy everything. So they burned down all the places where God was worshiped. We no longer see your miraculous signs. All the prophets are gone and no one can tell us when it will end.
Speaker 1:How long, oh God, will you allow our enemies to insult you? Will you let them dishonor your name forever? Why do you hold back your strong right hand, Unleash your powerful fist and destroy them? You, O God, are my king from ages past, bringing salvation to the earth. You split the sea by your strength and smash the heads of the sea monsters. You crush the heads of Leviathan and let the desert animals eat him. You cause the springs and streams to gush forth and you dried up rivers that never ran dry. Both day and night belonged to you. You made the starlight and the sun. You set the boundaries of the earth and you made both summer and winter.
Speaker 1:See how these enemies insult you, Lord. A foolish nation has dishonored your name. Don't let these wild beasts destroy your turtle doves. Don't forget your suffering people forever. Remember your covenant promises, for the land is full of darkness and violence. Don't let the downtrodden be humiliated again. Instead, let the poor and needy praise your name. Arise, O God, and defend your cause. Remember how these fools insult you all day long. Don't overlook what your enemies have said or their growing uproar. Proverbs 24, verses 15 through 16. Don't wait and ambush at the home of the godly and don't raid the house where the godly live. The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again, but one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked Medal of Honor for today, Stanley Bender.
Speaker 1:Staff Sergeant, Highest Rank, Technical Sergeant, World War II, Echo Company, 7th Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division. Risk of his life. Above and beyond the call of duty, on 17 August 1944, near Lalande, France I'm sorry if I'm murdering that name folks he climbed on top of a knocked-out tank In the face of withering machine-gun fire which had halted the advance of his company, in an effort to locate the source of this fire. Although bullets ricocheted off the turret at his feet, he nevertheless remained standing upright in full view of the enemy for over two minutes, Locating the enemy machine gun on a knoll 200 yards away. He ordered two squads to cover him and led his men down an irrigation ditch, running a gauntlet of intense machine gun fire which completely blanketed 50 yards of his advance and wounded four of his men. While the Germans hurled grenades in the ditch, he stood his ground until his squad cut up with him, then advanced alone in a wide flanking approach to the rear of the knoll. He walked deliberately a distance of 40 yards, without covering full view of the Germans and under a hail of both enemy and friendly fire to the first machine gun and knocked it out with a single short burst. Then he made his way through the strong point, despite bursting hand grenades, toward the second machine gun, 25 yards distant, whose two-man crew swung the machine gun around and fired two bursts at him. But he walked calmly through the fire and, reaching the edge of the emplacement, dispatched the crew, Signaling his men to rush the rifle pits. He then walked 35 yards further to kill an enemy rifleman and return to lead his squad in the destruction of the eight remaining Germans in the strongpoint. His audacity so inspired the remainder of the eight remaining Germans in the strongpoint. His audacity so inspired the remainder of the assault company that the men charged out of their positions, shouting and yelling, to overpower the enemy roadblock and sweep into town, knocking out two anti-tank guns, killing 37 Germans and capturing 26 others. He had sparked and led the assault company in the attack which overwhelmed the enemy, destroying a roadblock, taking a town, seizing intact three bridges over the Maravine River and capturing commanding terrain which dominated the area.
Speaker 1:Accredited to Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, not awarded. Posthumously Presented January 21, 1945, France, by Lieutenant General Alexander M Patch III. Bored October 31, 1909, Carlisle, Fayette County, West Virginia. Died June 22, 1994, Thacker, West Virginia, Buried High Lawn Memorial Park, MHA TAC 360, TAC 7, Oak Hill, West Virginia.
Speaker 1:Stanley Bender just another name. I had a good friend of mine actually that was talking to me about this. I'm going to use the last minute here, folks. I had a quote but I think we'll use it here and they were talking about the kids were talking about I'm not even going to mention the names but a very famous singer and pop star who had gotten engaged to a football NFL player recently, who had gotten engaged to a football NFL player recently. The fact that we know those names, folks, that we celebrate that stuff, especially when it's people who so openly despise our nation and yet we don't know names like this staff sergeant who risked their lives to defend our nation, to strengthen our nation, is appalling. It's really hard for us to have much anger at our nation falling apart because we've done it to ourselves. We honor people that dishonor God and dishonor our nation and we dishonor those or ignore and completely forget those who have given so much and risked so much for our nation. We really deserve exactly what we're getting. A little bit happier note, hopefully, at the end here, If you are interested in a kind of family-friendly, wholesome, middle-grade fantasy series.
Speaker 1:Get a chance to check out Countryside. I would appreciate it. I've written a couple books in the series so far. Find it on Amazon, Barnes, Noble, all over the place and, if you enjoy it, if you'd leave a review, I would appreciate that also. God bless y'all. God bless your families, your marriages, your nation, wherever you are around the world. God bless America. We'll talk to y'all again real soon, folks.