The American Soul
The American Soul
Rooted in Christ: Building Your Life on Unshakable Truth
We reflect on making time for what truly matters—God and family—and explore Scripture passages that illuminate our relationship with Christ and His church.
• Daily prioritization of God and spouse above all else
• Reading from Song of Solomon depicting the beauty of devoted love
• Colossians passage emphasizing Christ as head of the unified church
• Warning against denominational exclusivity that contradicts Scripture
• Psalm 77's honest struggle with feeling distant from God
• Medal of Honor recipient PFC George Benjamin Jr's extraordinary sacrifice
• Reminder of military families' sacrifices, especially spouses
• Historical perspective on America's Christian heritage
• Encouragement to test all teachings against Scripture
Check out the family-friendly middle-grade fantasy series "Countryside" - currently on sale for 99 cents in the Kindle version on Amazon (normally $3.99).
The American Soul Podcast
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Hey folks, this is Jesse Cope, back with another episode of the American Soul Bypass. Hope y'all are doing well, wherever y'all are, whatever part of the day you're in. Sure do appreciate y'all joining, giving me a little bit of your time and energy effort. Maybe Hope y'all are getting to listen to it with somebody else. For those of y'all who continue to share the podcast and tell others about it, thank you very much. For those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast, thank you Very, very grateful for your prayers, father.
Speaker 1:Thank you for today. Thank you for you, father, and your Son Jesus Christ and your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your love and your mercy, your grace and your forgiveness of sins through the merit of your son Jesus Christ. Thank you for the people that listen to the podcast and share it. Please be with them, be with their families, bless their marriages, bless their families, surround them with your angels. Protect them from evil of any kind. Help us to do your will, father. Draw us close to you. Forgive us our sins, our pride, our arrogance, our vanity, judgment of others, cowardice, unbelief, rash words and actions, our gossip and our slander. Help us to love your Son Jesus Christ with actions and deeds, not merely words, to love you, father, with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Be with our educators across the nation, whether it's in the home, public school, private school or anything else universities, colleges. Give them wisdom and courage and strong faith. Be with our marriages across the land, father. Be with our marriages across the land. Father, help us to follow your commands and to fulfill our roles and responsibilities as either husband or wife. Help us as a people, father, to turn back to you, to trust you, to lean on you, to acknowledge that everything good, every blessing we receive is from you. Father and God, my word to your place. In the name of your son, jesus Christ, we ask and pray Amen. Have you made time for God today? Have you made time to read his word? Have you made time to listen to him, to talk to him? And, if you're married, have you made time for your spouse? Do they know it? Do they know that they are your second priority each day, after only God? And if not, why not? What are you spending your time on? You don't have anything more important in your life besides God, jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and your spouse. Bible verses for today are the second chapter of the Song of Solomon, the Bride's Admiration.
Speaker 1:I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys, like a lily among thorns. So is my darling among the maidens, like an apple tree among the trees of the forest. So is my beloved among the young men. In his shade I took great delight and sat down, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He has brought me to his banquet hall and his banner over me is love, sustain me with raisin cakes, refresh me with apples, because I am lovesick. Let his left hand be under my head and his right hand embrace me. I adjure you, o daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the hinds of the field, that you do not arouse or awaken my love until she pleases. Listen, my beloved. Behold, he is coming, climbing on the mountains, leaping on the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he is standing behind our wall, he is looking through the windows, he is peering through the lattice. My beloved responded and said to me arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along. For behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers have already appeared in the land. The time has arrived for pruning the vines and the voice of the turtle dove has been heard in our land. The fig tree has ripened its figs and the vines and blossom have given forth their fragrance. Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along. Oh, my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret place of the steep pathway, let me see your form, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet and your form is lovely. Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that are running in the vineyards. While our vineyards are in blossom, my beloved is mine and I am his. He pastures his flock among the lilies. My beloved is mine and I am his. He pastures his flock among the lilies Until the cool of the day, when the shadows flee away, turn my beloved and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of Bethlehem.
Speaker 1:After reading for today, we're going to start with Colossians 1.18-2.7. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything, for God, in all his fullness, was pleased to live in Christ and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross. This includes you, who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ and his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single thought.
Speaker 1:But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don't drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the good news. The good news has been preached all over the world and I, paul, have been appointed as God's servant to proclaim it. I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, and I, paul, have been appointed as God's servant to proclaim it. I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church. God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you. This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God's people, for God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you, gentiles too, and this is the secret. Christ lives in you. This gives your assurance of sharing his glory.
Speaker 1:So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. That is why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ's mighty power that works within me. I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea and for many other believers who have never met me personally. I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God's mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I am telling you this so that no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments, for though I am far away from you, my heart is with you and I rejoice that you are living as you should and that your faith in Christ is strong. And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him. Let your roots grow down into Him and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught and you will overflow with thankfulness. Psalm 77, verses 1-20 I cry out to God, yes, I shout. Oh, that God would listen to me.
Speaker 1:When I was in deep trouble, I searched for the Lord All night long. I prayed with hands lifted toward heaven, but my soul was not comforted. I think of God and I moan, overwhelmed with longing for his help. You don't let me sleep. I am too distressed even to pray. I think of the good old days, long since ended, when my nights were filled with joyful songs.
Speaker 1:I search my soul and ponder the difference now. Has the Lord rejected me forever? Will he never be kind to me? Is his unfailing love gone forever? Have his promises permanently failed? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he slammed the door on his compassion? And I said this is my fate. The Most High has turned his hand against me.
Speaker 1:But then I recall all you have done, o Lord. I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago. They are constantly in my thoughts. I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works, o God. Your ways are holy. Is there any God as mighty as you? You are the God of great wonders. You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations. By your strong arm, you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Strong arm, you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. When the Red Sea saw you, o God, its waters looked and trembled. The sea quaked to its very depths. The clouds poured down rain. The thunder rumbled in the sky. Your arrows of lightning flashed. Your thunder roared from the whirlwind. The lightning lit up the world. The earth trembled and shook. Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters, a pathway no one knew was there. You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.
Speaker 1:Proverbs 24, verses 23 through 25. Here are some further sayings of the wise. It is wrong to show favoritism when passing judgment. A judge who says to the wicked you are innocent will be cursed by many people and denounced by the nations. But it will go well for those who convict the guilty. Rich blessings will be showered on them. Out of Psalm 77, verse 2, no-transcript.
Speaker 1:How many of us pray when we're really distressed, constantly or just in general, and then we get upset that God's not answering us the way that we want him to. But are we really all in when I'm really upset? Am I really giving everything I've got to God, or am I just kind of giving him a token and hoping that he's going to give me everything I want? Colossians, this reading today, from 118 to 27, is great because it talks about the church and Christ and, if you'll notice, there's never once, not one single time, a mention of a particular denomination Roman Catholic, protestant, greek Orthodox. It's just the church, the people that believe in God. Folks, there's no excuse for those who claim to follow Christ, no honorable excuse to try and exclude others simply because they don't belong to their little particular club or party, their particular denomination. And it doesn't matter whether it's Roman Catholic or Baptist, methodist, Church of Christ or any other Protestant denomination, episcopal, anglican, greek Orthodox.
Speaker 1:If there's somebody that's telling you that not only do you have to have faith in Christ, but you have to be a card-carrying member of their church in order to get to heaven, they're not telling you the truth, they're lying. Whether they know they're lying or not, they are. And a huge reason that this has grown if it has grown in any measure in the United States is because we don't read our Bible enough anymore and when you read your Bible constantly you see that as a falsehood. It's very simple and easy to see. But when we listen to other people, when we listen to sermons and podcasts and pastors and preachers but they're not really talking straight out of the Bible, they're just giving you a lot of dogma, a lot of church liturgy or whatever it is. They're giving you man-made ideas that don't have any divine inspiration. It's much easier to manipulate and confuse us and we see that across the board. So again, another reason to read your Bible every single day.
Speaker 1:Medal of Honor for today George Benjamin Jr. Private First Class PFC. World War II Alpha Company, 306th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division, us Army. December 21, 1944, light, philippine Islands. He was a radio operator advancing in the rear of his company as it engaged a well-defended Japanese strongpoint holding up the progress of the entire battalion. When a rifle platoon supporting a light tank hesitated in its advance, he voluntarily, and with other disregards for personal safety, left his comparatively secure position and ran across bullet-whipped terrain to the tank, waving and shouting to the men of the platoon to follow. Carrying his bulky radio and armed only with a pistol, he fearlessly penetrated intense machine gun and rifle fire to the enemy position, where he killed one of the enemy in a foxhole and moved to annihilate the crew of a light machine gun. Heedless of the terrific fire now concentrated on him, he continued to spearhead the assault, killing two more of the enemy and exhorting the other men to advance, until he fell mortally wounded After being evacuated to an aid station. His first thought was still of the American advance. Overcoming great pain, he called for the battalion operations officer to report the location of enemy weapons and valuable tactical information he had secured in his heroic charge. The unwavering courage, the unswerving devotion to the task at hand, the aggressive leadership of PFC Benjamin were a source of great and lasting inspiration to his comrades and were to a great extent responsible for the success of the battalion's mission. Accredited to Kearney Point, salem County, new Jersey, awarded posthumously, presented by Brigadier General Ralph K Robertson to his widow, born April 24, 1919, philadelphia, philadelphia County, pennsylvania, died December 21, 1944, philippine Islands. Buried ABMC Manila Cemetery, mhb, Tech 7, tech 156, manila, philippine Islands.
Speaker 1:George Benjamin Jr. I'm already over, so I'm going to go a little over today. Anyway, that's one of the things I was talking to a friend of mine about recently. Folks, the things I was talking to a friend of mine about recently. Folks, you see that his medal was given to his widow. Wives are just as much in the military, in a sense, as their husbands. Their life is controlled by the military, wherever it tells them to go, wherever it tells them to do, and when their husbands go away they have no idea if they're going to come back or not. And so any chance you get to be kind to the spouse of our military men and their children, especially while they're deployed, I highly recommend taking that opportunity.
Speaker 1:A lot of people will try and tell you that individuals didn't come to america or christianity to follow christ freely, but that's just simply not true. It's certainly true of some individuals, but the huge majority. They didn't want religious freedom to be muslim, buddhists or Hindus or anything else. They wanted the freedom to worship Jesus Christ without persecution by the state or the churches. In Europe at that time, the pilgrims when they left Holland on their way over to England and to America, their pastor, reverend John Robinson, he didn't get to go with them, but when he talked to them this is a little excerpt out of his farewell address to them, and William Bradford wrote it down he charged us before God and his blessed angels to follow him no further than he followed Christ, blessed angels to follow him no further than he followed Christ. And if God should reveal anything to us by any other instrument of his, to be ready to receive it, as ever we were to receive any truth by his ministry, for he was very confident the Lord had more truth and light yet to break forth out of his holy work. For saith he, it is not possible that the Christian world should come so lately out of such thick anti-Christian darkness and that full perfection of knowledge should break forth at once. Telling you something, claiming to be a Christian folks, it needs to be in line with Scripture and if it's not, then they're not really following Christ in that moment, or telling you to either.
Speaker 1:If you're looking for a family-friendly, middle-grade fantasy series, I would humbly recommend Countryside. I've written two books so far in the series. If you get a chance, check it out and if you like it, if you would leave a review somewhere. I would greatly appreciate it. I think it's still on sale for another day on Amazon for 99 cents. In the Kindle version it's normally $3.99. So God bless you all, god bless your families, god bless your marriages. God bless America. God bless your families. God bless your marriages. God bless America. God bless your nation. Wherever you are around the world listening, we'll talk to y'all again real soon. Folks Looking forward to it.