The American Soul

Hot Or Cold: Faith, Marriage, And Resolve

• Jesse • Season 5 • Episode 159

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We trace a path from everyday gratitude to urgent conviction, moving from Song of Solomon’s picture of devoted marriage to Revelation’s warning against lukewarm faith and Washington’s call to national humility. We connect small daily steps to bold public courage and close with a prayerful charge.

• simple habits that build daily faith
• Song of Solomon and guarding the vineyard of marriage
• Revelation’s open doors and the danger of lukewarmness
• applying urgency to marriage and personal devotion
• courage under fire through Orville E. Bloch’s story
• Washington’s 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation and public virtue
• a call to return to God with action, not words
• support for families, churches, and local service

If you're looking for a family-friendly middle-grade read, check out Countryside. If you enjoy the first or second book in the series, and you can leave a review, I'd be very grateful for that. And if you have three or four or five dollars a month that you can spare to support the podcast, if you feel like you're getting something out of it, I would be very grateful for that.


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SPEAKER_00:

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 in whatever part of the day you're in.

SPEAKER_01:

Sure do appreciate you joining me and giving me a little bit of your time and a little piece of your day. 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. And those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast, thank you. Very, very grateful for your prayers. I'd record the podcast in a little different place today, so hopefully the background noise is not too distracting.

SPEAKER_00:

If it is, I apologize in advance.

SPEAKER_01:

Father, thank you for today.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you for you, Father, and your son, Jesus Christ, and your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your love and mercy, your grace, and your forgiveness of sins. Through the merit of your son, Jesus Christ. Thank you for all your blessings, Father. The ones we admit and the ones we don't, for whatever reason. The little ones. Clean water to drink, clothes to wear, food to eat, cars that run, air conditioned, heater. Be with those around the world who are hurting. Those who are persecuted for the sake of your son Jesus Christ. Be with those who are abused, imprisoned, enslaved. Help us to turn to you in all things, Father. To love you with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. To love our neighbors as ourselves. Be with our leaders. Help them to rule in fear of you. Be with our military, our law enforcement firefighters. Bring them home safe to you, Father. Be with their families, keep them safe. Help us to care for the widow and the orphan, the poor and the needy, father. Not merely with words, but with actions. Please be with them and be with their families. Well, folks, how did you spend your last twenty four hours? Are you pleased with it? Are you making progress? Right. And don't try and do everything all at once, folks. I have made that mistake in my life before, and it just leads to discouragement, heartache, pain. Right? Like if you haven't been reading the Bible as an adult or ever, don't start off trying to read 30 minutes a day or an hour a day.

SPEAKER_01:

Read three minutes a day. Go into Proverbs, read a chapter a day. There's 31 chapters, 31 days in a month.

SPEAKER_00:

Start with a goal that's achievable and work from there, folks. Just like any other sport. Any other thing. But do make progress, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Don't use and continue striving and pushing. Don't use whatever progress that you make as an excuse to quit striving.

SPEAKER_00:

To pat yourself on the back and sit back on your laurels and think about how good you are. It's good, it's necessary to be grateful to God for the blessings that we have. But that's not the same thing, or that doesn't exclude us from having a responsibility to use the talents that God has given us to the utmost. Right? Alright, marriage verse for today. Song of Solomon II, the Bride's Admiration.

SPEAKER_01:

I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys, like a lily among the 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 respondeth 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 dog has been heard in our land. The fig tree has ripened its figs, and the vines and blossom have given forth their fragrance.

SPEAKER_00:

Arise, my darling. Come along. Oh my god, in the clefts in the rock, in the secret place of the steep chat player.

SPEAKER_01:

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 ruining the vineyards, while our vineyards are in blossom. 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.

SPEAKER_00:

Turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle, or a young stag on the mountains of Bethur. Scriptures for today. See where we're gonna go.

SPEAKER_01:

This is the message from the one who is holy and true. The one who has the key of David. What he opens no one can close, and what he closes no one can open.

SPEAKER_00:

I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one could close.

SPEAKER_01:

You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me. Look, I will force those who belong to Satan's synagogue, those liars, who say they are Jews but are not, to come and bow down at your feet. They will acknowledge that you are the ones I love, because you have obeyed my command to persevere. I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown. All who are victorious will become pillars in the temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it, and I will write on the name on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name. 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 of Laodicea. This is the message from the one who is in, who is the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's new creation. I know all the things you do. That you are neither hot nor cold, I wish that you were one or the other. But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. You say I am rich, I have everything I want. I don't need a thing, and you do not realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. So I advise you to buy gold from me, gold that has been purified by fire, then you will be rich, also buy white garments from me, so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, an ointment for your eyes, so that you will be able to see. I correct and discipline every one I love, so be diligent and turn from your indifference. Look, I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my father on his throne. Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. Lord, my heart is not proud, my eyes are not haughty. I don't concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp. Instead I have calmed and quieted myself, like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother's milk. Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the Lord now and always.

SPEAKER_00:

Proverbs twenty nine verse twenty three. Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor. That lukewarm verse, folks, uh has stuck with me for so many years.

SPEAKER_01:

You're neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other. But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

SPEAKER_00:

And you could keep going there. I am rich, I have everything I want, I don't need a thing.

SPEAKER_01:

That applies not only to our faith, folks, but also to our marriages. If you have a lukewarm attitude to your spouse, it's gonna end in disaster. You're gonna end up with a spouse that that leaves at least emotionally, if not physically.

SPEAKER_00:

And there's nothing that's gonna be left of the marriage except a shell. Whether you're talking about your your spouse or God, we should never be lukewarm about either of those two things, folks. Like even remotely lukewarm. We ought to be extremely passionate one way or the other. Medal of Honor for today. Orville Emil Block.

SPEAKER_01:

First Lieutenant, highest rank colonel, World War II, Echo Company, 338th Infantry, 85th Infantry Division, U.S. Army.

SPEAKER_00:

September 22nd, 1944, near Franzula, Italy.

SPEAKER_01:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty, first Lieutenant Bloch undertook the task of wiping out five enemy machine gun nests that had held up the advance in that particular sector for one day. Gathering three volunteers from his platoon, the patrol snaked their way to a big rock behind which a group of three buildings and five machine gun nests were located. Leaving the three men behind the rock, he attacked the first machine gun nest alone, charging into furious automatic fire, kicking over the machine gun and capturing the machine gun crew of five. Pulling the pen from a grenade, he held it ready in his hand and dashed into the face of withering automatic fire toward the second machine gun nest located at the corner of an adjacent building fifteen yards distance. When within twenty feet of the machine gun he hurled the grenade, wounding the machine gunner, the other two members of the crew fleeing into a door of the house. Calling one of his volunteer group to accompany him, they advanced to the opposite end of the house, there contacting a machine gun crew of five running toward this house. First Lieutenant Block and his men opened fire on the enemy crew, forcing them to abandon this machine gun and ammunition and flee into the same house. Without a moment's hesitation, First Lieutenant Block unassisted, rushed through the door into a hell of small arms fire, firing his carbine from the hip and capturing the seven occupants, wounding three of them. First Lieutenant Block with his men then proceeded to a third house where they discovered an abandoned enemy machine gun and detected another enemy machine gun nest at the next corner of the building. The crew of six spotted First Lieutenant Block the instant he saw them. Without a moment's hesitation, he dashed toward them. The enemy fired pistols wildly in his direction and vanished through a door of the house. First Lieutenant Block following them through the door, firing his carbine from the hip, wounded two of the enemy and captured six. Although First Lieutenant Block had single-handedly captured 19 prisoners, wounding six of them and eliminating a total of five enemy machine gun nests altogether. His gallant and heroic actions saved his company many casualties and permitted them to continue the attack with new inspiration and vigor. Accredited to Schreeder Stutzman County, North Dakota, not awarded posthumously, presented February 6, 1945, Ronzola, Italy, presented by Lieutenant General Lucian K. Truscott. Born February tenth, nineteen fifteen, Big Falls, Wisconsin, died May twenty eighth, nineteen eighty-three, Madison, Washington, or Manson, Washington.

SPEAKER_00:

Buried Evergreen, Washili Memorial Park, Seattle, Washington, United States. Orville Block. All right. And our Thanksgiving proclamation for today.

SPEAKER_01:

Thanksgiving Day 1789, by the President of the United States, a proclamation. Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor. And whereas both houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness. Now therefore I do recommend an assigned Thursday, the twenty sixth day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these states to the service of that great and glorious being, who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be, that we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation, for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge, and in general for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us, and also that we may then unite and most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and ruler of nations, and beseech them to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a government of wise, just and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations, especially such as have shown kindness unto us, and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord, to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us, and generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best. Given under my hand at the city of New York, the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789, George Washington. If you go back and read this Thanksgiving Day proclamation from 1789, folks, you will see that Washington repeatedly talks about the need to have God involved not only in our private lives but in our public constitutions, institutions, public councils. This was not a founding, a group of men that wanted to alienate God and Jesus Christ out of the public sector.

SPEAKER_00:

They very much wanted him involved. Across the board, our laws, again, our constitutions, our institutions, our schools, our learning.

SPEAKER_01:

They turn to God for guidance, for blessings. And there's no way, there's nothing else we can do in this country if we don't turn back to God and Jesus Christ that's going to make our nation great again, successful again, strengthen us. There's no policy, there's no politician. Any solution that somebody offers to you, if the first part of that solution is not turning back to God and Jesus Christ, their solution is short term at best. At best. And when you see people that openly reject God and Jesus Christ, like followers of the left, like followers of Islam, based on their actions, regardless of what words they say, there's no possible way to have peaceful coexistence in our nation with people that follow those evils, celebrate those evils, folks. Abortion, feminism, separation of God and state, LGBTQ lifestyles, every form of sexual deviancy, illegal immigration, racism and bigotry via DEI, CRT, right? Again, this is why whatever sphere of influence you have, you ought to be encouraging those around you, talking to those around you when you get the opportunity. We need to be increasing our local law enforcement, firefighters, EMS, state militia, and conservative Christian circles. We need to be communicating between churches, communicating between schools and school boards, communicating between state legislative bodies, governors, forts. We need to be increasing the training of those individuals, the equipment, the quality of equipment, the number of those individuals. You go back to our founders again. They sent that one last reply to Great Britain trying to avoid a war, but at the same time, they were raising an army of 20,000 because they knew that if Britain turned them down, their only choices were slavery under evil. Well fight. And that's that's what we'll get into again today. That's really pretty much where we are already. We just, it's like somebody that's been injured and their brain just hasn't quite kicked into the fact that they're injured. If you're looking for a family-friendly middle-grade read, if you would check out Countryside, I would appreciate it. And if you enjoy it, the first or the second book in the series, and you can leave a review, I'd be very grateful for that. And if you have three or four or five dollars a month that you can spare to support the podcast, if you feel like you're getting something out of it, I would be very grateful for that. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, 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 of the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. God bless y'all. God bless your marriages. If you're married, God bless your families. God bless America, God bless your motion, world of you all around the world. Listen, folks. We'll talk to you all again real soon. Looking forward to it.