When Loyalty Drifts To Screens

A marriage can look “fine” on the outside while slowly starving on the inside. We start with Hebrews 13:4 and get uncomfortably practical: even if we never commit physical adultery, what happens when our phone, our shows, our workouts, or our grind gets the best of our attention and our affection? I talk through how loyalty can leak away in ordinary habits, and why honoring the marriage bed is also about where we place our focus, patience, and energy.

From there we sit in Luke 8, where a violent storm exposes the disciples’ fear and Jesus asks the question that still stops me cold: “Where is your faith?” We follow the story into the healing of the man filled with “Legion,” and we face the strange response of the crowd that begs Jesus to leave. I connect that to the ways we can quietly push God out of our lives because we’re afraid of what obedience might cost. Along the way I read Psalm 71 as a grounded prayer for rescue, courage, and joy, and I reflect on Proverbs 12:4 and the real influence a wife has to build up or tear down a home.

We also touch American history and public life, including a Medal of Honor spotlight and a John Jay quote on choosing Christian rulers, plus hard commentary on ideology, violence, and the importance of keeping America a Christian nation. If you care about biblical marriage, Christian faith under pressure, Scripture reading, prayer, and American heritage, you’ll find plenty to wrestle with here. Subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find it.

#JohnJay

#FoundingFathers

#SupremeCourt 

Transcript

Proverbs And A Crime Headline

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Proverbs 12 4. A worthy wife is a crown for her husband, but a disgraceful woman is like cancer in his bones. June 29th, 2025, Sutton in Asheville, Nottinghamshire, UK, an 18-year-old woman was raped in Sutton Lawn Park by Shiraz Malik, a 28-year-old Pakistani asylum seeker. Islam, folks, and leftism again. Hey folks, this is Jesse Cope, back with another episode of the American Soul Podcast. Hope y'all are going well wherever y'all are, whatever part of the day you're in. I sure do appreciate you 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 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. Meet them in one. Father, thank you for today. Thank you for this day that you have made. Help us to rejoice and be glad in it. 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. Be with those listening to the podcast, be with their families. Bless their marriages. Strengthen our families across the nation, Father. Here in America and around the world where people are listening. Help us to focus on people as your son did. To follow his example. To be kind and patient. To love. To be merciful, but also to love justice. To walk humbly before you, Father. Heal those relationships that are broken, whether they're marriages or parents to children, children to parents, siblings. Friendships. Be with our electricians and our plumbers, our carpenters, those who work on our roads and our infrastructure. Keep them safe. Thank you for them. Be with their families. God, my words, here, Father, please, in your son's name we pray. Amen. Marriage verse for today, Hebrews 13, 4. Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept pure. For God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. One thing that's popped into my head over the years, so we talk about a couple different places in the Bible that explicitly lay out the roles and responsibilities of husbands and wives and sex, right? And so rightfully we try and dissuade people from cheating, right? Everybody knows that that's wrong, but what is really cheating? When you see the adulterer and the sexually immoral here, is it any better for a person that gives themselves to their phones or TV shows or workouts or whatever it is that gives the best of themselves to that thing than a person and and takes away what should be their spouses, that energy and effort and affection. Just a thought, folks, just just something to think about in our own time. If we if we're loyal, so called. Even if we don't physically cheat with another person, but if we give ourselves away to other things. Luke 8, 22 through 39. One day Jesus said to his disciples, Let's cross to the other side of the lake. So they got into a boat and started out. As they sailed across, Jesus settled down for a nap. But soon a fierce storm came down on the lake. The boat was filling with water, and they were in real danger. The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, Master, Master, we're going to drown. When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves. Suddenly the storm stopped and all was calm. Then he asked them, Where is your faith? The disciples were terrified and amazed. Who is this man? They asked each other. When he gives a command, even the wind and the waves obey him. So they arrived in the region of the Garasen, across the lake from Galilee. As Jesus was climbing out of the boat, a man who was possessed by demons came out to meet him. For a long time he had been homeless and naked living in the tombs outside the town. As soon as he saw Jesus, he shrieked and fell down in front of him. Then he screamed, Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? Please, I beg you, don't torture me. For Jesus had already commanded the evil spirit to come out of him. This spirit had often taken control of the man, even when he was placed under guard and put in chains and shackles. He simply broke them and rushed out into the wilderness, completely under the demon's power. Jesus demanded, What is your name? Legion, he replied, for he was filled with many demons. The demons kept begging Jesus not to send them into the bottomless pit. There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby, and the demons begged him to let them enter into the pigs. So Jesus gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned. When the herdsmen saw it, they fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. People rushed out to see what had happened. A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been freed from the demons. He was sitting at Jesus' feet, fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid. Then those who had seen what happened told the others how the demon-possessed man had been healed. And all the people in the region of the Garrisons begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone, for a great wave of fear swept over them. I always read that and wonder how often we ask Jesus to leave our lives without really knowing it. How often have I been afraid of what the answer might be, instead of just trusting God and Jesus Christ? I'm afraid far too often. So Jesus returned to the boat and left, crossing back to the other side of the lake. The man who had been freed from the demons begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him home saying, No, go back to your family and tell them everything that God has done for you. So he went through all the town proclaiming the great things Jesus had done for him. Do we do that? Do I tell people what great parents I have? Do I tell people what wonderful friends I have in my life? Do I tell people the health that God has blessed me with over the years, the abilities, you know, without being falsely humbled, the physical abilities, the academic abilities, the professional success, those things, those talents that God gave me, the blessings of living in a safe home, the blessings of being able to serve my country. How often do we tell people these things that God has given to us, has done for us? I don't do it near often enough, folks. Psalm 71 through 5, please, God, rescue me. Come quickly, Lord, and help me. May those who try to kill me be humiliated and put to shame. May those who take delight in my trouble be turned back into grace. Let them be horrified by their shame. For they said, Aha, we've got him now. But may all who search for you be filled with joy and gladness in you. May those who love your salvation repeatedly shout, God is great. God is great. But as for me, I am poor and needy. Please hurry to my aid, O God. You are my helper and my savior, O Lord. Do not delay. Proverbs 12:4. A worthy wife is a crown for her husband, but a disgraceful woman is like cancer in his bones. I know some people that fit that description, folks. You know, that's that's probably kind of taboo today. But in a lot of ways, wives, you'll have a lot more power in your in your home and your marriage than you think you do. As the other proverb says, the ability to build it up or to tear it down. And if you don't know what to pray, folks, just pray for God to show you what to do. To search for God. Ask Him to help you do that. Countryside. If you get a chance to check out the books from the Countryside Series, I would appreciate it. This is the first book, right? And the second book. And I thought I would share a little bit, just a tiny piece of a review today from Nancy O on an Amazon review. Said that this is the kind of book that middle school children will really enjoy, but can get an adult involved as well. I'm definitely looking forward to more of his adventures. If you get a chance and you can leave a review for Countryside, I would really appreciate it. Same thing with the podcast. If you're getting something out of it and you can relieve a review, thank you. And if you have five or ten dollars you can spare, there's a link in the show notes where you can set up that monthly donation, and I would be grateful for that as well. So thank you. November 17, 1997, in Luxor, Egypt. Six Muslim gunmen stormed the ancient temple of Hashaphat, a popular tourist site. Disguised as security guards, they opened fire with automatic weapons and then hacked victims with knives, slaughtering 62 people, including 58 foreign tourists from several countries and four Egyptians and injuring dozens more in a 45-minute attack. Islam folks, it's the same, just another story, different day. They don't care what your nationality is, what your ethnicity is, where you came from. They just care whether you're Muslim or not. And that's mainstream Islam, folks. And if it wasn't, you would hear all these Muslim, uh, the the so-called moderate Muslims crying out when this happened, but you don't. Just like the followers of the left, you you don't hear any crying out when there's the atrocities committed by socialism, communism, Nazism, fascism. If anything, you just hear them say, Well, we're gonna do it better. We're gonna do it better. But they won't. Lewis J. Bruner, Medal of Honor winner for today, private, highest ranked quartermaster sergeant, U.S. Civil War Hotel Company, 5th Indiana Cavalry, U.S. Army, December 2nd, 1863, Walker's Ford Tennessee, USA, voluntarily passed through the enemy's lines under fire and conveyed to a battalion, then in perilous position and liable to capture, information which enabled it to reach a point of safety. Don't you know there was a lot to that story? Accredited to Clifty Brummer, Indiana, not awarded posthumously, presented March 9, 1896, born October 6, 1843, Monroe County, Indiana, died January 28, 1912, Portland, Indiana. Buried Green Park Cemetery, Portland, Indiana, location of Metal, Indiana War Memorials, Indianapolis, Indiana. Lewis J. Bruner. So we've got one American heritage quote today by John Jay, who was our first Supreme Court Chief Justice in a letter to John Murray, who is also sometimes identified as John Murray Jr., or just simply a Pennsylvania correspondent from October the 12th, 1816. You need to remember that this is our very first Supreme Court Chief Justice. So when you hear people say that it's unconstitutional for our nation to be Christian explicitly, to have a requirement for us to elect Christians as our rulers, come back to this quote. And you can find this in William J.'s Life of John Jay from 1833, volume two, probably somewhere around page 376, give or take. It certainly is very desirable that a pacific disposition should prevail among all nations. The most effectual way of producing it is by extending the prevalence and influence of the gospel. Real Christians will abstain from violating the rights of others and therefore will not provoke war. Almost all nations have peace or war at the will and pleasure of rulers whom they do not elect, and who are not always wise or virtuous. Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers. You see this clearly a few things out of this, two in particular. In a Christian nation, you can come in and be atheist or Muslim or communist, socialist, or Jewish, or Buddhist, Hindu. You don't have that luxury in reverse in those nations. You can't go in and be Christian. There's violence directed towards you. The reason that's important to remember is because we need to maintain America as a Christian nation or we lose that ability. You won't have the ability to be Christian or anything else without violence as a response under whatever the main ideology religion is, right? The other thing here that's really important, besides the main point of the fact that we're a Christian nation and we have a responsibility to elect Christians from our first Supreme Court Chief Justice is if you really want to help America, the best thing you can do is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. There's nothing else that you can do that will help the United States of America more today than spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. 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 thine is a kingdom, 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 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.