The American Soul

When A Nation Forgets God, What Follows

• Jesse • Season 5 • Episode 158

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What did the last twenty-four hours say about your soul—and about our country? We start with a simple time audit that exposes what we truly value, then we follow the thread into a bigger, tougher conversation: why “peaceful coexistence” with militant ideologies keeps failing when there’s no strong internal condemnation of their worst acts. The logic is painfully human—if betrayal is tolerated in the dating phase, why expect fidelity in the marriage?

We anchor the talk in Scripture that is both tender and bracing. Song of Solomon honors covenant love and the beauty of fidelity, a needed counterpoint to a culture that treats intimacy like currency. Then Revelation speaks with urgency to people who look alive but are drifting toward death: wake up, strengthen what remains, return to what you first believed. The Psalms hold out mercy for those who call; Proverbs warns how pampering and anger hollow out character. Together, these passages insist that renewal isn’t a strategy but repentance—personal and national.

History gives the images we need for courage. A Medal of Honor story shows a leader standing under fire to rally his line. Woodrow Wilson’s Thanksgiving proclamation and later remarks on the Bible push us beyond material success to moral clarity, gratitude, and dependence on God. Laws and systems matter, but without a change of heart they become empty machines. If moderation means refusing to draw a bright line against evil, it’s just a quiet road to the same place. We call listeners to name what must be condemned, to choose Scripture over slogans, and to rebuild public life on righteousness and truth.

If this conversation challenges or strengthens you, share it with a friend, leave a review, and subscribe so you don’t miss the next one. Tell us: what will you change about how you spend your time this week?

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SPEAKER_01:

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 you joining me, giving me a little bit of your time. Hopefully, you're able to listen to it with somebody else. For those of y'all who continue to share the podcast with others and tell others about it, thank you. For those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast, thank you very much. Very grateful for your prayers. Need them and want them. Father, thank you for today. Thank you for you, Father, and your son, Jesus Christ, and your Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you for your love and your mercy, your grace, your forgiveness of sins. Thank you for all the many blessings you bestow upon us. The ones we admit and the ones we don't, for whatever reason. Guide our steps around us with your angels. Protect us from evil of any kind. Thank you for those listening to the podcast. Father, please be with them. Be with their family. Bless the marriages of those who are married. Guide those who have children and raising them to know you and your son Jesus Christ. Be with those, Father, who are hurting. Scared, alone. Me with the mothers out there who are carrying children. Keep them safe. We were the fathers out there. To defend and protect them. Give them wisdom and courage and a strong faith. Watch over our nation, Father. Here in America and around the world where people are listening. Help us to help our nations turn back to you and your son Jesus Christ. Help us to lead those who are lost to you and to your son Jesus Christ. And help us to follow the commands of your son. To love you with all that we are. To love our neighbors as ourselves. Please guide my word to your father. Your son's name we pray. How'd you spend the last twenty-four hours? What'd you give your time to? Energy, effort. Social media, TV, sports, workouts. God, children, parents. Your phone. That tells the world what our priorities are.

SPEAKER_01:

We need to make sure not only that we realize we're telling the world what our priorities are, folks, but we need to make sure we're paying attention to the actions of others when we're looking for proof of character or lack thereof or intention or you know, one of the things that that constantly astounds me, I was talking to my father about this recently, are give me a minute to get this out. Are the people who continue to think that peaceful coexistence with the left, with followers of leftism, which includes that whole bucket of isms, right? Socialism, communism, Nazism, fascism, and Islam is a possibility.

SPEAKER_00:

But it really boggles my mind when it's people who have actually lived and worked and fought in countries where those ideologies are the reigning ideology.

SPEAKER_01:

You want to talk about Iran, North Korea, really any part of the Middle East almost, save Israel, Russia, China, etc., etc. Because no matter how many individual people that you've stumbled across, and I've said this multiple times over the years, there were a couple men that I felt pretty confidently I could turn my back on in a dark alley when we were deployed, and the only reason that the really bad guys were going to get to me is if they had already killed those men first.

SPEAKER_00:

But in every case I can think of, those men weren't very good Muslims.

SPEAKER_01:

But he was a decorated soldier for Britain, had been in the trenches, and he was a champion of appeasement, pacification of the Nazis. And Churchill just never could understand how he could how he could do that. He felt like he had seen what happens, and he just couldn't understand. And I just I cannot understand people that have lived and worked and fought in these areas and know anything about history. From the 20th century for that whole bucket of isms and and for centuries for Islam that can look at history and experience and think that somehow we can peacefully coexist. It's like dating somebody that cheats on you constantly while you're dating and assuming that once you get married, that person will suddenly start to be loyal.

SPEAKER_00:

It just it just defies logic. Marriage verse for today.

SPEAKER_01:

We're gonna go back through Song of Solomon for a few days. This is chapter one, the young Sholomite Bride and Jerusalem's daughter, daughters. The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's. May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your love is better than wine. Your oils have a pleasing fragrance, your name is like purified oil, therefore the maidens love you. Draw me after you and let us run together. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will rejoice in you and be glad. We will extol your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you. I am black but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kadar, like the curtains of Solomon. Do not stare at me because I am swarthy, for the sun has burned me. My mother's sons were angry with me, they made me caretaker of the vineyards, but I have not taken care of my own vineyard. Tell me, O you whom my soul loves, where do you pasture your flock? Where do you make it lie down at noon? For why should I be like one who veils herself beside the flocks of your companions? Solomon the lover speaks. If you yourself do not know, most beautiful among women, go forth on the trail of the flock and pasture your young goats by the tents of the shepherds. To me, my darling, you are like my mare among the chariots of Pharaoh. Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, your neck with strings of beads. We will make for you ornaments of gold with beads of silver. While the king was at his table, my perfume gave forth its fragrance. My beloved is to me a pouch of myrrh which lies all night between my breasts. My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of Ngeti. How beautiful you are, my darling, how beautiful you are. Your eyes are like doves, how handsome you are, my beloved, and so pleasant. Indeed our couch is luxuriant, the beams of our houses are cedars, our rafters cypresses. I think we pay enough attention, folks, to song of Solomon inside the church these days.

SPEAKER_00:

Scripture verses are verses for today. We're gonna start with Revelation chapter two, verse eighteen. Through three six.

SPEAKER_01:

I know all the things you do. I have seen your love, your faith, your service, and your patient endurance, and I can see your constant improvement in all these things. But I have this complaint against you. You are permitting that woman, that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet to lead my servants astray. She teaches them to commit sexual sin and to eat food offered to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to turn away from her immorality. Therefore I will throw her on a bed of suffering, and those who commit adultery with her will suffer greatly unless they repent and turn away from her evil deeds. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches out the thoughts and intentions of every person, and I will give to each of you whatever you deserve. But I also have a message for the rest of you in Thiatria, who have not followed this false teaching, deeper truths, as they call them, depths of Satan, actually. I will ask nothing more of you except that you hold tightly to what you have until I come. To all who are victorious, obey me who obey me to the very end. To them I will give authority over all the nations. They will rule the nations with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots. They will have the same authority I received from my father, and I will also give them the morning star. Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold spirit of God and the seven stars. I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, strengthen what little remains. For even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. Go back to what you heard and believed at first, hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don't wake up I will come to you suddenly as unexpected as a thief. Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the book of life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine. Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. From the depths of despair, O Lord, I call for your help. Hear my cry, O Lord. Pay attention to my prayer. O Lord, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could endure, could ever survive? But you offer forgiveness that we might learn to fear you. I am counting on the Lord, yes, I am counting on Him. I have put my hope in His word. I long for the Lord, more than centuries long for the dawn, yes, more than centuries long for the dawn. O Israel, hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is unfailing love. His redemption overflows. He himself will redeem Israel from every kind of sin. Proverbs twenty nine verses twenty one through twenty two. A servant pampered from childhood will become a rebel. An angry person starts fights, a hot tempered person commits all kinds of sin.

SPEAKER_00:

You go back to chapter three of Revelation, starting with verse two, a little bit before it actually part of verse one.

SPEAKER_01:

I know all the things you do that you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. Go back to what you heard and believed at first, hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don't wake up, I will come to you suddenly as unexpected as a thief.

SPEAKER_00:

That just screams America today, based on where we started and where we are today. Almost dead, needing to turn back to God and Jesus Christ and repent. And the fact that if we continue down this path that we're on, destruction will come suddenly. Medal of Honor for today. Colonel, highest rank, Major General, U.S.

SPEAKER_01:

Civil War, 7th Rhode Island Infantry, U.S. Army, December 13, 1862, Fredericksburg. This officer, to encourage his regiment, which had never before been in action and which had been ordered to lie down to protect itself from the enemy's fire, rose to his feet, advanced in front of the line, and himself fired several shots at the enemy at short range, being fully exposed to their fire at the time. Accredited to Johnston, Providence County, Rhode Island, not awarded posthumously, presented december thirtieth, eighteen ninety eight. Born april seventeenth, eighteen thirty five, Johnston, Providence County, Rhode Island, died january second, nineteen hundred, Washington, DC. Buried Arlington National Cemetery, one Tac eight, Tac B, Arlington, Virginia.

SPEAKER_00:

Xanus Randall Bliss stood up being fully exposed to the fire at the time. At short range. Proclamation for today, we're gonna go back to Woodrow Wilson.

SPEAKER_01:

Gonna go to 1918, Thanksgiving Day proclamation, by the President of the United States. A proclamation. It has long been our custom to turn in the autumn of the year in praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God for his many blessings and mercies to us as a nation. This year we have special and moving cause to be grateful and to rejoice. God has in his good pleasure given us peace. It has not come as a mere cessation of arms, a mere relief from the strain and tragedy of war. It has come as a great triumph of right. Complete victory has brought us not peace alone, but the confident promise of a new day as well in which justice shall replace force and jealous intrigue among the nations. Our gallant armies have participated in a triumph which is not marred or stained by any purpose of selfish aggression. In a righteous cause they have won immortal glory and have nobly served their nation in serving mankind. God has indeed been gracious. We have cause for such rejoicing as revives and strengthens in us all the best traditions of our national history. A new day shines about us in which our hearts take new courage and look forward with new hope to new and greater duties. While we render thanks for these things, let us not forget to seek the divine guidance in the performance of those duties, and divine mercy and forgiveness for all errors of act or purpose, and pray that in all we do we shall strengthen the ties of friendship and mutual respect upon which we must assist to build the new structure of peace and good will among the nations. Wherefore I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate Thursday, the twenty eighth day of November next as a day of thanksgiving and prayer, and invite the people throughout the land to cease upon that day from their ordinary occupations, and in their several homes and places of worship to render thanks to God, the ruler of nations. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed, done in the District of Columbia this sixteenth day of November in the year of our Lord 1918, and of the independence of the United States, the 143rd.

SPEAKER_00:

Woodrow Wilson.

SPEAKER_01:

So I want to try and clarify something. I'm going to read one more thing from Wilson today. When I was talking earlier at the beginning of the podcast about the inability to peacefully coexist with followers of leftism and followers of Islam. When you look at the atrocities that are still committed today that have been committed by those two ideologies throughout the entire 20th century, one thing that you'll notice that's conspicuously absent is hard, unequivocal condemnation from other followers. So if there really was such a thing as moderate followers, then there are in the sense that there's some people that don't adhere super strictly to those ideologies, right? But when you hear people talk about moderates or centrists, especially in regard to these two ideologies, or rather, what they really talk about, and I know this podcast is going to go long today, folks. I'm sorry, but this is we don't seem to get this today. When you hear people say far right, uh far left or extreme Muslim or fringe left or Muslim right, it's it's misleading because even the people that that from the outside look moderist or centrist, they bring those extremes with them in their mosques, in their culture, in their society because there's no condemnation. You know, if you have somebody that claims to be Christian, which they can't be anyway, and they go out and they shoot up a church or shoot up this or that or whatever, you're gonna get absolutely unequivocal condemnation from people who actually follow Christ. There's not gonna be any of this, well, you know, they're just the extreme. You're gonna get, no, they're not, they're not following Christ. That's not acceptable at all. And you're gonna get a hard break between those people and churches. You don't get that hard break between mosques, even the so-called moderate mosques and those extreme elements. You don't get the hard break between those academic circles and those so-called far-left extremists, or whatever you want to say. I hope that's making sense, folks. You you can't separate into little portions Islam and leftism and break it down and make it look like, okay, well, some of these are okay and some aren't. The violent chaos, it's always gonna come. It's always gonna tag along. It's always gonna be there. And you see that through experience throughout all of the 20th century for the Isms and for centuries with Islam. So I wanted to read one more by Wilson. As I said, I know this is gonna go over. This is uh the Bible in progress from November 18, 1911, 275th anniversary celebration of the first Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, I'm deeply honored by the privilege of addressing you on this notable anniversary. 275 years is a long time in the life of any American community, and it is a very significant thing that this church founded in the earliest days of the colony of New Jersey should have maintained an unbroken life of service and worship through all the vicitudes of our national history. There is a book which is the one supreme source of revelation of the meaning of life, the nature of God, and the spiritual nature and needs of men. It is the Bible. This book has been the guide and inspiration of men and women who founded this church and who have maintained it through all these years. It has been the fountain from which they have drawn their strength and their hope. The Bible is the word of life. I beg that you will read it and find out for yourselves. Read it not as a mere record of an ancient people, but as a guide to the conduct of life today. There is no other book so powerful to lift a man above the level of mere material things, no other book so powerful to lift a nation above the level of mere material success. The progress of a nation is not measured by its material wealth, but by its moral and spiritual character. America will be great only in proportion as she is good, and she will be good only in proportion as her people love righteousness and walk in the paths of truth and justice. We stand today in the presence of great problems. The world is in the throes of change, old institutions are being questioned, old standards are being challenged. In such a time there is only one safe anchorage, and that is in the eternal truths of the Word of God. The Bible is not a book of yesterday, it is a book for today and for tomorrow. It speaks to every age, to every condition of society, to every need of the human heart. I sometimes think that we ministers of state and public men generally are too little conscious of the fact that the real sources of our strength lie in the moral and spiritual forces that are released by the Bible. We are apt to think in terms of legislation and administration, of organization and machinery when the real need is for a change of heart, for a new spirit of righteousness and brotherhood. The hope of America lies in the revival of the Bible spirit among our people. If we will turn again to this book, if we will make it the guide of our individual lives and inspiration of our national life, there is no problem that we cannot solve, no height of moral achievement to which we cannot attain. I thank God for the influence of this church through these two hundred and seventy-five years. May it continue to be a light set on a hill, a city that cannot be hid, a witness to the power of the everlasting gospel.

SPEAKER_00:

And may the blessing of Almighty God rest upon you all now and evermore. Great speech, folks. Sums it up quite a bit.

SPEAKER_01:

If you were looking for a fun family middle grade read, I would humbly recommend Countryside if you get a chance to check out the first or the second book and you enjoy them. If you would leave a review or one for each book, I would be very grateful for that online somewhere. And uh if you share it with somebody else, I'd be grateful for that too. And if you are getting something out of the podcast and you feel like you could share three or four or five dollars a month, there is a donation page on the Buzz Sprout website where you can set that monthly donation up. And I would be very grateful for that as well.

SPEAKER_00:

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

SPEAKER_01:

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not to temptation, but deliver us from evil, for that is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen. God bless you all. God bless your families, God bless your marriages if you're married. God bless your nation. God bless America. We'll talk to y'all again real soon, folks. Looking forward to it.