The American Soul

War, Mercy, And Hard Truths

• Jesse • Season 5 • Episode 174

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War asks brutal questions about mercy, justice, and responsibility—and pretending otherwise only spreads the pain. We dive into a real-world flashpoint with cartel violence and examine why “kindness” can become cruelty when it allows predators to return to their trade. Drawing on the battlefield wisdom of Stonewall Jackson, Norman Schwarzkopf, and Winston Churchill, we make the unpopular case that, once force is justified, half measures prolong suffering. Swift, decisive action can actually be the shortest path to peace and protection for the most vulnerable.

That conviction doesn’t float in abstraction; it sits beside the daily vows that hold a home together. Proverbs 5:19 calls husbands to a fierce, joyful fidelity—“be intoxicated with her love”—a countercultural vision that guards desire inside covenant. We hold that vision against the glittering collapse of Babylon in Revelation 18, where luxury and trade hide a darker ledger that includes human bodies. The warning is stark and timely: systems built on exploitation will fall, and the call to “come out” demands detachment from comforts that cost others their dignity.

History and hope round out the journey. We honor Major Richard Ira Bong, the WWII ace whose courage shielded many, and we draw strength from Truman’s 1948 Christmas message: peace is not the silence of guns but the presence of justice, freedom, and goodwill. Psalm 146 redirects trust from powerful people to the God who lifts the burdened and shelters the outsider, while a sharp proverb reminds us that stoking anger breeds quarrels. The throughline is simple and demanding—love what is good, protect the least, refuse performative mercy, and build a life aimed at eternal treasure rather than fragile comforts.

If this resonates, share it with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a review to help others find the show. What do you believe is the most compassionate path when evil refuses to stop?

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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, whatever part of the day you're in. Sure do appreciate y'all joining me, giving me a little bit of your time and attention, a little piece of your day. Hopefully y'all are getting 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.

SPEAKER_01:

Father, thank you for today. Thank you for you, Father, and your son Jesus Christ and the 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 alone. Forgive us our lack of gratitude, Father. Forgive us our pride and our greed and our selfishness, our self-centeredness, our judgment of others. Help us to love and forgive others as you have loved and forgiven us. Help us to love you with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. To love our neighbors as ourselves, protect us from evil. Help us to flee from immorality, iniquity of any kind. Be with those who feel abandoned and alone. Be with the least of these women and children around the world who are abused. Help us to care for them, Father. Help us to show them you and your son. Help us to push back against evil. Even if it just a little bit, however much we can, Father, each day. And guide our steps. Guide our steps all the way home to you and to your son Jesus Christ in your timing. And guide my words here, Father. Please watch over those listening.

SPEAKER_00:

To the podcast, Father, wherever they are. Across the nation and around the world. Be with them, be with their families.

SPEAKER_01:

Bless their marriages. In your son's name we pray. Amen. So I don't know how many of y'all saw this week or two ago.

SPEAKER_00:

It's been in the news. And I'm sure it's not an isolated incident. This is just the one that happened to make the news.

SPEAKER_01:

But we had some men that were out uh interdicting drug cartels.

SPEAKER_00:

And they hit a a boat, I believe. And one of the drug cartel members survived the initial attack and was either floating or swimming toward a broken piece of the boat or something like that, trying to cling on, and they they hit him again to kill him, right? And so this is maybe this is going to sound harsh uh to some of y'all. Maybe this is gonna sound arrogant to some of y'all. And if that is, just blame that on me as the delivery service, not on the actual message. But in a war, and we are in a war across many fronts right now, you don't leave somebody that can come back around and attack you or your men or the people that you're supposed to protect. You just don't do that. That's not an option for you. It's it's an easy thing for politicians and citizens sitting back here, which is ironic because those men are protecting us. It's easy for them to sit and armchair quarterback that and say, oh, how cruel that is. Yeah, war's cruel. It's not fun. It should always be a last resort. But once you decide to do it, you shouldn't hold anything back. Uh Stonewall Jackson, who was a Confederate general in the Civil War, pushed for that going into the Civil War, what they call a black flag war, meaning uh no quarter, uh, no leniency, no mercy, really to a certain degree, just absolute destruction. Because he knew that that would end the war the quickest, which would be the kindest thing in the long run. See, a lot of times when people claim that they're being kind, like they didn't want our uh warriors, our soldiers, our law enforcement, they don't want them to finish off a drug cartel member because that's cruel. Either they've got blinders on or they're lying, or they just are not very intelligent, because the cruel thing is to let that man get back to wherever he's coming from and do the same thing all over again. To trade women and children, boys and girls and the sex trade, to sell drugs, to shoot people, to kill people, to threaten people. That's the cruel thing, is to give him another opportunity to do that.

SPEAKER_01:

We could talk about this for a lot longer. I already went over what I intended to. Don't be one of those people that tries to claim kindness and benevolence when in actuality you're really vehing. Cruel or ignorant, or both. I guess cruelty is almost always ignorance to some degree.

SPEAKER_00:

So the marriage verse for today, Proverbs uh 519, as a loving hind and a graceful doe, let her breast satisfy you at all times, be exhilarated always with her love. I wanted to read a couple different translations here. Another one, let her breast satisfy you always, may you always be captivated by her love. Uh may her breast satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love. Uh you should be attracted to her and stay deeply in love, always be enraptured with her love. Again, let her breast satisfy you at all times. Uh there's a ton of different translations, but they all get the point across, folks, always and at all times.

SPEAKER_01:

And it's not something slight, it's enrapture, intoxicate. Right? Scripture reading for today. We're gonna get back into Revelation, chapter 18. Start with verses 1 through 24.

SPEAKER_00:

If my voice sounds a little off, folks, I have managed to bite the inside of my lip really well. And so I've gotten an ulcer there. Uh, and it's a little swollen, and so I sound like I've got a fat lip, kind of, because I do.

SPEAKER_01:

After all this, I saw another angel come down from heaven with great authority, and the earth grew bright with his splendor.

SPEAKER_00:

He gave a mighty shout. Babylon has fallen, that great city has fallen. She has become a home for demons, she is a hideout for every foul spirit, a hideout for every foul vulture, and every foul and dreadful animal. For all the nations have fallen because of the wine of her passionate immorality. The kings of the world have committed adultery with her. Because of her desires for extravagant luxury, the merchants of the world have grown rich. Then I heard another voice calling from heaven, Come away from her, my people, do not take part in her sins, or you will be punished with her. For her sins are piled as high as heaven, and God remembers her evil deeds. Do to her as she has done to others, double her penalty for all her evil deeds. She brewed a cup of terror for others, so brew twice as much for her. She glorified herself and lived in luxury, so match it now with torment and sorrow. She boasted in her heart, I am queen on my throne, I am no helpless widow, and I have no reason to mourn. Therefore these plagues will overtake her in a single day, death and mourning and famine. She will be completely consumed by fire, for the Lord God who judges her is mighty. And the kings of the world who committed adultery with her and enjoyed her great luxury will mourn for her as they see the smoke rising from her charred remains. They will stand at a distance, terrified by her great torment. They will cry out, How terrible, how terrible for you, O Babylon, you great city. In a single moment God's judgment came on you. The merchants of the world will weep and mourn for her, for there is no one left to buy their goods. She bought great quantities of gold, silver, jewels, and pearls, fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet cloth, things made of fragrant fine wood, ivory goods, and objects made of expensive wood, and bronze, iron, and marble. She also bought cinnamon spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, wagons, and bodies, that is, human slaves. The fancy things you love so much are gone, they cry. All your luxuries and splendor are gone forever, never to be yours again. The merchants who became wealthy by selling her these things will stand at a distance terrified by her great torment. They will weep and cry out How terrible, how terrible for that great city she was clothed she was clothed with finest in finest purple and scarlet linens, decked out with gold and precious stones and pearls. In a single moment all the wealth of the city is gone, and all the captains of the merchant ships and their passengers and sailors and crews will stand at a distance. They will cry out as they watch the smoke ascend, and they will say, Where is there another city as great as this? And they will weep and throw dust on their heads to show their grief. And they will cry out, How terrible, how terrible for that great city. The ship owners became wealthy by transporting her great wealth on the seas. In a single moment it is all gone. Rejoice over her fate, O heaven, and people of God and apostles and prophets. For at last God has judged her for your sakes. Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a huge millstone. He threw it into the ocean and shouted Just like this, the great city Babylon will be thrown down with violence, and will never be found again. The sound of harps, singers, flutes, and trumpets will never be heard in you again. No craftsmen and no trades will ever be found in you again. The sound of the mill will never be heard in you again, the light of the lamp will never shine in you again. The happy voices of brides and grooms will never be heard in you again, for your merchants were the greatest in the world, and you deceived the nations with your sorceries. In your streets flowed the blood of the prophets and of God's holy people, and the blood of people slaughtered all over the world. Psalm one forty six verses one through ten. Praise the Lord, let all that I am praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath. Don't put your confidence in powerful people. There is no help for you there. When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them. But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God. He made heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. He keeps every promise forever. He gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry. The Lord frees the prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down. The Lord loves the godly. The Lord protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked. The Lord will reign forever. He will be your God, O Jerusalem throughout the generations.

SPEAKER_01:

Praise the Lord. Proverbs thirty thirty three. As the beating of cream yields butter and striking the nose causes bleeding, so stirring up anger causes quarrels.

SPEAKER_00:

Medal of Honor for today is Richard Ira Bong, Rank Major World War II, forty ninth Fighter Group, Fifth Fighter Command Air Force Air Force, U.S. Army Air Corps, October tenth through november fifteenth, nineteen forty four, over Borneo and Layet, or Light, Philippine Islands. For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty in the Southwest Pacific area from ten october to fifteenth november nineteen forty four, though assigned to duty as gunnery instructor, and neither required nor expected to perform combat duty, Major Bong voluntarily at his own urgent request engaged in repeated combat missions, including unusually hazardous sorts over Bali, Papon, Borneo, and in the light area of the Philippines. His aggressiveness and daring resulted in his shooting down eight enemy airplanes during this period. Accredited to Opler, Douglas County, Wisconsin, not awarded posthumously. Presented december twelfth, nineteen forty four, Tacleban Airstrip, Laet, Philippine Islands, presented by General Douglas MacArthur. Born september twenty fourth, nineteen twenty, superior, Douglas County, Wisconsin, died August sixth, nineteen forty five, Burbank, California, buried Poplar Cemetery, MHI Tac eight, Tac ten, Tac two, Poplar, Wisconsin, location of metal, Richard I.

SPEAKER_01:

Bong Veterans Heritage Center, Superior, Wisconsin. I'm sure that that number of enemy craft shot down resulted in an ace designation, almost sure. It's also interesting how soon he died.

SPEAKER_00:

So the Christmas message for today is the 1948 Presidential Christmas address. Harry S. Truman, the address at the lighting of the National Community Christmas Tree on the White House South Lawn, December 24th, 1948. My fellow Americans, this evening we light again the nation's Christmas tree in celebration of that holy night almost 2,000 years ago when a bright star led the shepherds to the manger where the Christ child lay. As we look upon this tree tonight, let us renew our faith in the eternal truths which the babe of Bethlehem came to teach mankind. Let us resolve to follow the way of peace and goodwill which he showed us. In this year of nineteen forty eight we have much for which to be thankful. Our country is strong and prosperous. Our people are free. We have taken great strides toward the goal of a just and lasting peace among nations. Yet we know that the world is still filled with suffering and want. Millions of our fellow men live in darkness and fear. The forces of evil have not been conquered. The road to lasting peace is long and hard. At this Christmas season, let us remember the words of the angels. Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men. Let us dedicate ourselves anew to the task of making these words come true in our time. Let us work unceasingly for peace, not the peace that is merely the absence of war, but the peace that is founded on justice and freedom and respect for the rights of all men. Let us remember that the spirit of Christmas is the spirit of love and generosity and forgiveness. In that spirit, let us extend the hand of friendship to all mankind. To the men and women of our armed forces stationed throughout the world I send special Christmas greetings. May they soon return to their homes and loved ones. To all the people of the earth I extend the warm greetings of the American people at this holy season. And to my fellow Americans here at home I say may the blessings of Christmas be with you and your families. May the New Year bring us closer to the day when peace on earth and good will among them shall be more than a dream, it shall be a reality.

SPEAKER_01:

Merry Christmas, and may God bless us all. Present Harry Struman nineteen forty eight.

SPEAKER_00:

One is from General Norman Swartzkoff, who led the U.S. forces in the 1991 Gulf War. If you're going to go into combat, if you're going to ask young Americans to go to war, then you owe it to them to do everything in your power to win that war as quickly as possible, and with the fewest possible casualties. Another by Winston Churchill from 1942, in a remark to his private secretary, Jock Colville. Going to win this war, we must be prepared to be as ruthless as the enemy. And then two quotes from Stonewall Jackson. One in a letter to his wife Anna in 1862. Once committed to war, we must win by any means necessary, however stern they may be. And another to his aide, Henry Kidd Douglas. The time for half measures has passed. We are fighting for our existence. Therefore, we must fight with all our might and crush the enemy utterly, or we perish. Make sure we're not focusing on the wrong things, folks. Make sure we're not focusing on treasures in this world, but focusing on eternal treasure with God and Jesus Christ and heaven. You look at marriage, make sure when you're taking marriage advice that it's coming from God and Jesus Christ. And a lot of it doesn't look much of anything like what people, what the world says today marriage ought to look like. That Proverbs 5.19 is certainly controversial even inside the church, despite the fact that it's extremely clear scripture. And remember Richard Bong in the South Pacific, Medal of Honor Ace, the Christmas message from President Truman pointing us back toward Bethlehem, peace and goodwill, and the fact that the road is long and hard and constant in this life, folks. And then those quotes that we just read through again, talking about the fact, you know, once we we likely have a war on the horizon, folks. Hopefully not. Pray we don't. But if we do, there shouldn't be any half measures.

SPEAKER_01:

There shouldn't be any hesitation or second thoughts or going back and guessing.

SPEAKER_00:

The first book in the series is called The Book of the Wise. The second book is The Tears of the Dina. You can get them on Amazon, a lot of other places. Hardback, paperback, ebook. And if you enjoy them, if you would leave a review for one or both, I would be very grateful for that. If you feel like you're getting something useful out of the podcast and you have three or four or five dollars a month to donate, I would be very grateful for that as well.

SPEAKER_01:

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

SPEAKER_00:

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. Amen. God bless y'all. God bless your families. God bless your marriages if you're married. God bless your nation wherever you are around the world listening. God bless America. We'll talk to you all again real soon, folks. Looking forward to it.