All Episodes

October 15, 2025 20 mins

Send us a text

We challenge how we spend time and what our choices prove, read Hebrews 13 and Psalm 115 on trust and idols, and revisit Columbus through primary sources and Las Casas to test easy narratives and seek honest history with a Christian lens. We add a Medal of Honor snapshot to ground virtue in action and close with prayer and practical calls to trust God in daily life.

• examining whether our last 24 hours reflect faith
• Hebrews 13 on love, marriage, generosity, and obedience
• Psalm 115 contrasting living trust with lifeless idols
• Proverbs on how praise tests character and folly clings
• trusting God as helper and shield without fear
• Medal of Honor: Horatio L. Birdsall, courage and service
• Queen Isabella’s commission and shipboard devotions
• Columbus’s journal entries on peaceful contact and conversion by love
• Las Casas’s role, sources, and complexity over slogans
• personal challenge to prioritize God, spouse, and neighbor

If you're looking for a family-friendly middle-grade fantasy kids, grandkids, or to read as a family, I would humbly request that you check out Countryside. And if you feel like you can spare$3 or$5 each month to support the podcast, I would appreciate that too.


Support the show

The American Soul Podcast

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1791934/subscribe

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:02):
Hey folks, this is Jesse Cope, back with another
episode of the American SoulPodcast.
Hope y'all are doing well.
Wherever y'all are.
Whatever part of the day you'rein.
Sure do appreciate y'all givingme some of your day.
I will try and use that timewisely.

(00:23):
For those of y'all who continueto share the podcast with others
and tell others about it, thankyou so much.
Very, very grateful for that.
For those of y'all who continueto pray.
For me and for the podcast,thank you.
Very much need your prayers andappreciate them.
Father, thank you for today.
Thank you for you, Father, andyour son Jesus Christ and your
Holy Spirit.

(00:44):
Thank you for your love and yourmercy, your grace and your
forgiveness of sin.
Through the mercy of or merit ofyour son, Jesus Christ.
Thank you for the peoplelistening to the podcast,
Father.
Believes be with them, be withtheir families.
Guide them, bless them, surroundthem with your angels.
Help us all to do your will,Father.

(01:05):
Help us to love your son JesusChrist, to follow his commands,
to love you with our wholeheart, mind, soul, and strength,
to love our neighbors asourselves.
Guide our steps, be with ourleaders here in America and
around the world and nationswhere people are listening.

(01:28):
Help them to rule in fear ofyou.
Be with our pastors and ourpriests in the pulpit.
Be with their wives and theirchildren.
Comfort them.
Help us to truly appreciate totake advantage, Father, of the
ability to read your word freelyeach day.

(01:52):
Help us to focus on you, totrust you.
To know that you have everythingwell in hand, even when we can't
see it or don't understandwhat's going on.
Be with those who are hurting,Father, those who are injured,
those who are ill, those who arein the present.

(02:12):
Comfort them.
Help them to feel your presence.
Ease any discomfort they'rehaving.
Thank you, Father, for all theblessings that you bestow upon
us.

(02:33):
And please guide my words here.
Your son's name we pray.
Amen.
Have you made time for God andJesus Christ and the Holy
Spirit?
And have you made time for yourspouse?
How have you spent the last 24hours of your life?

(02:55):
What have you done?
Are you pleased with it when youlook back on it?
Are you pleased with how youspent your time?
Are you pleased with what you'regiving your energy and effort
and affection to?
Or do you feel like you need tomake some changes?
And if you're pleased, why areyou pleased?

(03:16):
Are you pleased because it feelsgood?
Because it's what God tells youto do, both?
Neither something else.
At the end of each day, I hope,I know it's not always true,
folks, but at the end of eachday, I hope that if somebody

(03:39):
looked at my life from theoutside in, there would be
enough evidence to convict me ofbeing a true Christian follower
of Christ.
Because there's no there is nogreater goal in my life than

(04:01):
hearing God one day say, Welldone, good and faithful servant.
Bible verses for today.
I'm gonna start with Hebrewschapter 13, verses 1 through 25.
Keep on loving each other'sbrothers and sisters.

(04:23):
Don't forget to show hospitalityto strangers, for some who have
done this have entertainedangels without realizing it.
Remember those in prison, as ifyou were there with them
yourself.
Remember also those beingmistreated, as if you felt their
pain in your own bodies.
Give honor to marriage, andremain faithful to one another

(04:46):
in marriage.
God will surely judge people whoare immoral and those who commit
adultery.
Don't love money, be satisfiedwith what you have.
For God has said, I will neverfail you, I will never abandon
you.
So we can say with confidence,the Lord is my helper, so I will

(05:08):
have no fear.
What can mere people do to me?
Remember your leaders who taughtyou the Word of God, think of
all the good that has come fromtheir lives, and follow the
example of their faith.
Jesus Christ is the sameyesterday, today, and forever.

(05:28):
So do not be attracted bystrange new ideas.
Your strength comes from God'sgrace, not from rules about
food, which don't help those whofollow them.
We have an altar from which thepriests in the tabernacle have
no right to eat.
Under the old system, the highpriest brought the blood of

(05:49):
animals into the holy place as asacrifice for sin, and the
bodies of the animals wereburned outside the camp.
So also Jesus suffered and diedoutside the city gates to make
his people holy by means of hisown blood.
So let us go out to him outsidethe camp and bear the disgrace

(06:12):
he bore.
For this world is not ourpermanent home.
We are looking forward to a homeyet to come.
Therefore, let us offer throughJesus a continual sacrifice of
praise to God, proclaiming ourallegiance to his name.
And don't forget to do good andshare with those in need.

(06:35):
These are the sacrifices thatplease God.
Obey your spiritual leaders anddo whatever they say.
Their work is to watch over yoursouls, and they are accountable
to God.
Give them reason to do this withjoy and not with sorrow.
That would certainly not be foryour benefit.

(06:57):
Pray for us, for our conscienceis clear, and we want to live
honorably in everything we do.
And especially pray that I willbe able to come back to you
soon.
Now may the God of peace, whobrought up from the dead our
Lord Jesus, the great shepherdof the sheep, and ratified an

(07:17):
eternal covenant with his blood,may he equip you with all you
need for doing his will.
May he produce in you throughthe power of Jesus Christ every
good thing that is pleasing tohim.
All glory to him forever andever.
Amen.
I urge you, dear brothers andsisters, to pay attention to
what I have written in thisbrief exhortation.

(07:37):
I want you to know that ourbrother Timothy has been
released from jail.
If he comes here soon, I willbring him with me to see you.
Greet all your leaders and allthe believers there.
The believers from Italy sendyou their greetings.
May God's grace be with you all.
Psalm one fifteen, one througheighteen.

(08:00):
Not to us, O Lord, not to us,but to your name goes all the
glory for your unfailing loveand faithfulness.
Why let the nations say where istheir God?
Our God is in the heavens, andhe does as he wishes.
Their idols are merely things ofsilver and gold shaped by human
hands.

(08:20):
They have mouths but cannotspeak, and eyes but cannot hear.
They have ears but cannot hear,and noses but cannot smell.
They have hands but cannot feel,and feet but cannot walk, and
throats but cannot make a sound.
And those who make idols arejust like them, as are all who

(08:40):
trust in them.
O Israel, trust the Lord.
He is your helper and yourshield.
O priests, descendants of Aaron,trust the Lord.
He is your helper and yourshield.
All you who fear the Lord, trustthe Lord.
He is your helper and yourshield.
The Lord remembers us and willbless us.

(09:02):
He will bless the people ofIsrael and bless the priests and
descendants of Aaron.
He will bless those who fear theLord, both great and lowly.
May the Lord richly bless bothyou and your children.
May you be blessed by the Lordwho made heaven and earth.
The heavens belong to the Lord,but he has given the earth to
all humanity.

(09:24):
The dead cannot sing praises tothe Lord, for they have gone
into the silence of the grave.
But we can praise the Lord bothnow and forever.
Praise the Lord.
Proverbs twenty-seven, versestwenty-one and twenty-two.
Fire tests the purity of silverand gold, but a person is tested

(09:45):
by being praised.
You cannot separate fools fromtheir foolishness, even though
you grind them like grain withmortar and a pestle.
How much do we cling to ourfoolishness, folks?
How unwilling to be separatedfrom it are we for the things
that we do that are foolish?

(10:07):
God has said, I will never failyou, I will never abandon you.
So we can say with confidence,the Lord is my helper, so I will
have no fear.
What can mere people do to me?
O Israel, trust the Lord.
He is your helper and yourshield.
O priest, descendants of Aaron,trust the Lord.
He is your helper and yourshield.

(10:28):
All you who fear the Lord, trustthe Lord.
He is your helper and yourshield.
Father, help us to trust youmore each and every day and
everything.
In your son's name we pray.
Amen.
Medal of Honor for today.

(10:49):
Horatio L.
Birdzall.
Sergeant, U.S.
Civil War, Bravo Company, 3rdIowa Cavalry, U.S.
Army, April 16th, 1865, nearColumbus, Georgia.
Capture of Flag and Bearer.
Accredited to Keok, Lee County,Iowa, not awarded posthumously,

(11:12):
presented june seventeenth,eighteen sixty five.
Born eighteen thirty three inMonroe County, New York, died
november twenty ninth, eighteenninety one, buried Arlington
National Cemetery, MH thirteenTac sixty nine thirty five,
Arlington, Virginia, UnitedStates.
Horatio L.

(11:34):
Birdsall.
So we're going to go back intotoday Columbus, spend the rest
of the week with him, and justkeep reading through some actual
history as opposed to what thecommon narrative so often is

(11:54):
today that Columbus came overhere just to rape and pillage
and plunder and had nothing todo with his desire to follow
Christ, to spread the gospel.
And we will, don't fear, we willtalk about indigenous people,
but it probably won't fit thenarrative that most of the left

(12:18):
and the academics claim verywell today.
But it will be real history.
This is Queen Isabella'scommission to Columbus.
It is hoped that by God'sassistance, some of the
continents and the islands andthe ocean will be discovered for
the glory of God.
And you can look at all thisstuff, folks, if you really want

(12:38):
to and say that it's allcynical, or you can be cynical
and say that it was all fake.
But at least you've heard it.
The sailors on board at thebeginning of each day would sing
out this Blessed be the light ofthe day and the Holy Cross, we
say, and the Lord of Verity andthe Holy Trinity.

(13:04):
Blessed be the immortal soul andthe Lord who keeps it whole.
Blessed be the light of day andhe who sends the night away.
1492 Columbus, the beginning ofhis journey, the first voyage
across the Atlantic, writing toKing Ferdinand and Queen Isabel.

(13:29):
In the name of our Lord JesusChrist, because most Christian
and very exalted, excellent,mighty princes, king and queen
of the Spains and of the islandsof the sea, our Lord and Lady,
in this present year 1492, afteryour Highnesses had made an end
to the war with the Moors whoruled in Europe, and had
concluded the war in the verygreat city of Granada, where in

(13:54):
the present year, on the secondday of the month of January, I
saw the royal standards of yourhighnesses placed by force of
arms on the towers of theAlhambra, which is the citadel
of the said city, and I saw theMoorish king come forth to the
gates of the city and kiss theroyal hands of your highnesses

(14:16):
and the prince of my lord.
And soon after, in that samemonth, through information that
I had given to your highnessesconcerning the lands of India,
and of a prince who is calledGrand Khan, Grand Khan, which is
to say, in our vernacular Kingof Kings.
How many times he and hispredecessors had sent to Rome to

(14:37):
seek doctors in our holy faithto instruct him therein, and
that never had the Holy Fatherprovided them, and thus so many
people were lost through lapsinginto idolatries and receiving
doctrines of perdition.
And your Highnesses, as CatholicChristians and princes devoted
to the Holy Christian faith, andthe propagators thereof and

(14:58):
enemies of the sect of Muhammad,and of all idolatries and
heresies, resolve to send meChristopher Columbus to the said
regions of India, to see thesaid princes and peoples and
lands, and the dispositions ofthem and of all, and the manner
in which may be undertaken theirconversion to our holy faith,

(15:20):
and ordained that I should notgo by land the usual way to the
Orient, but by the route of theOccident, by which no one to
this day knows for sure thatanyone has gone.
Bartolome de la Casas, alsocalled the apostle of the

(15:43):
Indies.
He was one of the firstChristian missionaries to
America and was very devoted tothe oppressed and enslaved
natives.
He knew Columbus personally, andhis father and uncle were

(16:03):
shipmates of Columbus's.
He copied the original journalof the first voyage, which I
won't try and say in Spanish,into an abstract, and here are
some of the dates.
October eighth, fourteen ninetytwo.
Thanks be to God, says theAdmiral.

(16:41):
He added that it was useless tocomplain.
He had come to go to the Indies,and so had to continue until he
found them with the help of ourLord.
October twelfth, fourteen ninetytwo.
At two hours after midnightappeared the land at a distance
of two leagues.
They handed all sails and setthe trio, which was the main
sail without bonnets, and laytoo waiting for daylight Friday,

(17:04):
when they arrived at an islandof the Bahamas that was called
in the Indian's tongueGuanahani, San Salvador, so that
they might be well disposedtoward us, for I knew that they
were a people to be deliveredand converted to our holy faith
rather by love than by force.
I gave some red caps to some andto others glass beads which they

(17:26):
hung around their necks and manyother things of slight value.
At this they were greatlypleased and became so entirely
our friends that it was a wonderto see.
I believe that they would easilybe made Christians, for it
seemed to me that they had noreligion of their own.
Our Lord willing, when I departI shall bring back six of them
to your Highnesses, that theymay learn to talk our language.

(17:48):
October sixteenth, fourteenninety two.
I don't recognize in them anyreligion, and I believe that
they are very promptly, thatthey very promptly would turn
Christians, for they are of avery good understanding.
Trees all along the riverbeautiful and green, and

(18:10):
different from ours, withflowers and fruit, each
according to their kind, manybirds, and little birds which
sing very sweetly.

(18:32):
And so I hope in our Lord thatyour Highnesses will do
something about it with muchcare, in order to turn to the
church so numerous a folk, andto convert them, as you have
destroyed those who would notseek to confess the Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost.
And after your days, for we areall mortal, you will leave your
realms in a very tranquil stateand free from heresy and

(18:54):
wickedness, and will be wellreceived before the eternal
Creator, to whom I pray to grantyou long life and great increase
of many realms and lordships,and both will and disposition to
increase the holy Christianreligion, as hitherto you have
done.
You have to see that Columbus'smain intent or one of his main

(19:19):
priorities, folks, was spreadingthe gospel and doing God's will.
Can we say the same about ourown lives?
If you're looking for afamily-friendly middle-grade
fantasy kids, grandkids, or toread as a family, I would humbly
request that you check outCountryside.
And if you enjoy it, if youwould leave a review somewhere,

(19:40):
I would be grateful for that.
And if you feel like you canspare$3 or$5 each month to
support the podcast, I wouldappreciate that too.
God bless y'all.
God bless your families.
God bless your marriages.
God bless America.
God bless your nation, whereveryou are around the world.
Listening, folks, we'll talk toy'all again real soon.

(20:01):
Oh, yes.
Our Father, who art in heaven,hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will bedone on earth as it is in
heaven.
Give us this day our dailybread, and forgive us our
trespasses as we forgive thosewho trespass against us.
And lead us not to temptation,but deliver us from evil, for
thine is the kingdom, the power,and the glory forever and ever.
Amen.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.

Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.