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A single question runs like a thread through everything we talk about here: what are you waiting for? We start with Acts 22 as Paul recounts his calling, his repentance, and the simple, urgent command to obey God, then we pair it with Psalm 1’s picture of a life planted by living water. From the first minutes, we’re not aiming for vague inspiration. We’re aiming for a clear look at how faith in Jesus Christ shows up in real decisions and real priorities.

We also bring up a heartbreaking public case involving a missing teen and the broader failure of communities to protect children, using it to press a bigger point about moral courage and leadership. From there, the conversation turns to the closest proving ground most of us face every day: marriage and family. If we can give hours to phones, sports, TV, social media, and endless distractions but claim we have no time for our spouse, our actions speak louder than our words. Love is not a slogan. Love is time, attention, and the willingness to treat what matters to them as something that matters to us.

We close with a reminder that courage and conviction are not new in American life, from a Medal of Honor story to reflections on American Christian heritage, including Herbert Hoover’s use of Proverbs and Benjamin Rush’s argument that the gospel shapes moral sensibility. If you care about biblical literacy, Christian marriage, family values, and the role of Scripture in public life, this one will challenge you and steady you. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review to help more people find the show.

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Transcript

Scripture Call To Witness

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Acts twenty-two, starting with verse fourteen. Then he told me the God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the righteous one and hear him speak. For you are to be his witness, telling everyone what you have seen and heard. What are you waiting for? Get up and be baptized. Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord.

A Missing Teen Case In Blackpool

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Charlene Dowles. Dowell, 14-year-old girl. Blackpool, UK, November 2003. Missing, presumed, murdered, prolonged, victim of prolonged child sex exploitation. Blackpool, Lancashire, or Lancashire, Lancashire, however you say that, UK. Police, when they dug into this, concluded that she had been sexually abused for a long period of time in this area. Number of other local girls, some as young as eleven. Girls were offered food, cigarettes, etc., in exchange for sex acts. Sixty girls in this particular area when everything started to come out by Muslim men. There were two, one was actually from Jordan charged with the mort murder, and another one with helping dispose of the body. Little bitty towns across England and the UK. And the politicians encouraged it, supported it out of fear of or or lack of apathy. Doesn't even matter what it is, folks. The bottom line is if we allow the left and Muslims to take over in America, I mean, I I don't know how else to tell you every day. This is what our wives and daughters and granddaughters, that's their future. Being raped and abused by Muslims. Basically, as soon as they turned 10, even before, and then murdered.

Podcast Welcome And Listener Thanks

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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. I sure do appreciate you joining me, giving me a little bit of your time and attention. For those of y'all that have continued to share the two podcasts, American Soul, America's Christian Heritage, and Leave Reviews, thank you. For those of y'all that have checked out the Countryside Book Series and shared it and left reviews, thank you. Most of all, for those of y'all that continue to pray for me. The podcast, for the writing, thank you.

Prayer For Priorities And Leaders

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Father, 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. Help us to put our priorities in the right order each day, Father. Help us to give time to the things that you want us to give time to, people, to care for the widow and the orphan, the poor and the needy, to love you with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strengthen our neighbors as ourselves. Forgive us when we rush through our time with you. Time in prayer, time reading your word, time living out our lives as an example of a follower of Christ. When we're more concerned about the entertainment, the greed, the lust of this world than we are following you. Give us the wisdom to see it, the courage and perseverance to act on it, Father. Please. Watch over our leaders in the pulpit and in the state. President, vice president, on down, military law enforcement, firefighters, EMS. Keep them safe, keep their families safe. Please guide my words here, Father. In your son's name we pray. And watch over those listening, Father, please. Always watch over those around the world listening to the podcast. Keep them safe. Bless their families. Marriage's children. Draw them close to you. Be with those who are brokenhearted. Your son's name we pray. Amen.

Love, Baptism, And The Blessed Life

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Marriage verses for today, Song of Solomon 8, 5 through 7. Who is coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I roused you, there your mother conceived you, but there she who was in labor gave you birth. Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm, for love is as strong as death. It's jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love, rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one's house for love, it would be utterly scorned. Acts twenty one thirty-seven. As Paul was about to be taken inside, he said to the commander, May I have a word with you. Do you know Greek? the commander asked, surprised. Aren't you the Egyptian who led a rebellion some time ago and took four thousand members of the assassins out into the desert? No, Paul replied, I am a Jew and a citizen of Tarsus and Cilicia, which is an important city. Please let me talk to these people. The commander agreed, so Paul stood on the stairs and motioned to the people to be quiet. Soon a deep silence enveloped the crowd, and he addressed them in their own language, Aramaic. Brothers and esteemed fathers, Paul said, Listen to me as I offer my defense. When they heard him speaking in their own language, their silence was even greater. Then Paul said, I am a Jew born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, and I was brought up and educated there in Jerusalem under Gamelel. As his student, I was carefully trained in our Jewish laws and customs. I became very zealous to honor God in everything I did, just like all of you today. And I persecuted the followers of the way, hounding some to death, arresting both men and women, and throwing them in prison. The high priest and the whole council of elders can testify that this is so. For I received letters from them to our Jewish brothers in Damascus authorizing me to bring the followers of the way there, from there to Jerusalem in chains to be punished. As I was on the road approaching Damascus about noon, a very bright light from heaven suddenly shone down around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who are you, Lord? I asked. And the voice replied, I am Jesus, the Nazarene, the one you were persecuting. The people with me saw the light, but didn't understand the voice speaking to me. I asked, What should I do, Lord? And the Lord told me, Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything you are to do. I was blinded by the intense light and had to be led by the hand to Damascus by my companions. A man named Ananias lived there. He was a godly man, deeply devoted to the law and well regarded by all the Jews of Damascus. He came and stood beside me and said, Brother Saul, regain your sight. And that very moment I could see him. Then he told me, The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the righteous one and hear him speak. For you are to be his witness, telling everyone what you have seen and heard. What are you waiting for? Get up and be baptized. Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord. Psalm one. Oh the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked or stand around with sinners or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season, their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. But not the wicked. They are like worthless chaff scattered by the wind. They will be condemned at the time of judgment. Sinners will have no place among the godly. For the Lord watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction. Proverbs 8, 11 through 12. The rich think of their wealth as a strong defense. They imagine it to be a high wall of safety. Paughtiness goes before destruction. Humility perceives honor.

Reviews, Book Series, And Donations

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If you are looking for a family-friendly middle grade read, if you would check out the Countryside series, there's two books in the series so far, and if you enjoy them, if you would leave a review of the first or the second book, those help a great deal. Also for the podcast, same thing. If you feel like you're getting something out of them, if you would leave a review for either American Soul or the America's Christian Heritage Podcast, that helps very much. And if you have five or ten dollars a month you can donate to the podcast, that also helps. So thank you for any or all of those. And if you're new to the podcast, the Countryside series is kind of like Narnia the Hobbit, Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, that kind of stuff. So if you are interested in that, you can check it out.

Time As Proof Of Love In Marriage

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I had a post that somebody made that I stumbled across within the last few days. And from X, and I just wanted to read it because it struck me. And it's it's talking about sex, folks, but it's not just that. It's it's across the board, you'll see. It's not that you said no to sex. It's that your husband can look around and see that any and everything else is more important to you than him. Your priorities are all jacked up, and the man has eyes and can clearly see it. When we give hours to other things, other people, sports, TV, social media, phones, workouts, friends, children. I mean, pick pick your poison, shopping, whatever it is, hunting. When we give hours to these things, and then, and really most of us folks, hours a day. Not a week, not a month, but we give hours a day to these things. And then we look at our spouse and we tell them, hey, I don't, I don't have time for you. For whatever it is that's important to our spouse, right? That's how you really love somebody, is when what's important to them becomes equally important to you. So we look at our spouse and we say, hey, we don't, I don't, no, I'm not gonna do that today. I don't, I'm tired, I'm exhausted, I'm whatever. Our spouses, they're not stupid. They're not an idiot. They're gonna look at that and go, well, obviously I don't matter to them. And then then we get all bent out of shape. Of course you matter to me. Why how could you say that you don't matter to me? That's so unfair. That's that's not reasonable. But it is. It's not only fair and reasonable, it's just it's an accurate description of what's really important to you, and it's not them. When I had the privilege of working with kids for a number of years, we we would have discussions in class sometimes. I was blessed to be able to talk to these kids, to listen to them. I learned a lot from them. And they would make that kind of comment if I ask an open-ended question, you know, how do you know your parents as a kid? How do you know your parents care about you? And inevitably, somehow the answer came back in some form that basically, well, they they spend time with you, they want to be around you, they want to do, you know, just be with you. Kids are a lot brighter than we give them credit for. We don't have a problem today in America with kids that don't have abilities. It's not that we don't have really bright kids, it's not that we don't have spectacular children in the United States of America that are American citizens already. It's that we as adults haven't prepared and pushed them and helped them achieve their potential. Because as somebody that I know pretty well has said recently, we're just soft. We're just soft, and being soft isn't loving. And you can apply that back to marriage too. Anyway, I thought that was a great

Medal Of Honor Spotlight

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post. Medal of Honor for today. Casper Carlisle, private U.S. Civil War Fox Company, independent Pennsylvania Light Artillery, U.S. Army, July 2nd, 1863, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Saved a gun of his battery under heavy musketry fire, most of the horses being killed and the drivers wounded. Accredited to Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, not awarded posthumously, presented December 21st, 1892. Born 1841, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, died April 29th, 1908. Buried Mount Lebanon Cemetery, MH1 TAC 317, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Casper R. Carlisle. Wanted to go back and read another quote today from Benjamin Franklin.

Founders, Scripture, And Moral Teaching

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But before that, we're going to read one of these little bits of information that just show that we were, in fact, a born a Christian nation, and that is Herbert Hoover. Put his hand on Proverbs 29, 18 as he took the presidential oath of office. 29-18, where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint, but happy is he who keeps the law. 1929. We are were born a Christian republic. Can only survive as such. Dr. Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence, one of our most influential founding fathers. If moral precepts alone could have reformed mankind, the mission of the Son of God into our world would have been unnecessary. He came to promulgate a system of doctrines as well as a system of morals. The perfect morality of the gospel rests upon a doctrine which, though often controverted, has never been refuted. I mean the vicarious life and death of the Son of God. This sublime and ineffable doctrine delivers us from the absurd hypotheses of modern philosophers concerning the foundation of moral obligation, and fixes it upon the eternal and self-moving principle of love. It concentrates a whole system of ethics in a single text of Scripture. A new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another even as I have loved you. By withholding the knowledge of this doctrine from children, we deprive ourselves of the best means of awakening moral sensibility in their minds. We do more. We furnish an argument for withholding from them a knowledge of the morality of the gospel likewise. For this, in many instances, is as supernatural and therefore as liable to be controverted as any of the doctrines or miracles which are mentioned in the New Testament. The miraculous conception of the Savior of the world by a virgin is not more opposed to the ordinary course of natural events, nor is the doctrine of the atonement more above human reason than those moral precepts which commanded us to love our enemies or to die for our friends. Rush, right, he's saying that it's no more amazing to have a virgin birth or some of these supernatural miracles that we read about in the Bible than it is to have Jesus Christ tell us to love our enemies and die for our friends. That's so against our human nature. And that when we take that away from our children here in the United States of America, we take away the very best means of teaching them morality and virtue and making that part of their soul, their spirit, their life, and therefore strengthening our

A Call To Restore The Bible

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republic. And folks, the left and the Muslims today know that. The left, the communist socialists, they've known that for a century more. If you can get rid of the Bible, you can destroy America. If you can get rid of the Christians, you can destroy America. But the good news for us is the reverse is also true. If you can spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, God willing, right? Everything depends on God, but if you can spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, you can save America. If you can increase the number of Christians who follow Christ, you can save America. If you can get the Bible back into our society, our schools, our institutions, our courtrooms, our military, our law enforcement, you can save America. If you can get God and Jesus Christ, the Ten Commandments, the Bible back into our marriages and our families, we can save America. God willing. And even if not, even if like the Israelites exiled to Babylon, if we will just turn back to God and follow him, he will never forsake us. He didn't forsake them. They were exiled. They had to leave their country, leave everything that, you know, physically that they loved behind. And yet he stayed with them. He stayed with those who left as he told them to. The ones that that rejected God and tried to force their own political version and stay in Israel died. Something to think about, huh?

Lord’s Prayer And Closing Blessing

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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 of the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. God bless y'all. God bless your families, your marriages, your nation. God bless America. We'll talk to y'all again real soon. Folks looking forward to it.