September 23, 2025 • 26 mins
The most dangerous threat to American liberty today isn't leftism or socialism, but "Christless conservatism" - people who appear patriotic but lack the spiritual foundation to stand firm when tested. Without Jesus Christ at the center, no political solution can restore our nation's freedom and virtue.
• Making time for God should be our first priority - how we spend our time reveals our true values
• Scripture from 1 Timothy 6 warns against those who stir up arguments and divisions through meaningless debates
• We should avoid "godless, foolish discussions" that divide Christians rather than uniting them
• John Adams wrote that "religion and morality alone" can establish principles for lasting liberty
• Benjamin Rush declared: "Without religion there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty"
• Political affiliations, denominations, and human solutions cannot save us - only Jesus Christ can
• Fiscal conservatism without moral foundation will eventually fail when tested
If you're looking for a fun, family-friendly middle-grade fantasy series, I humbly recommend Countryside. There are two books in the series so far. Pick up a copy - e-book, hardback, paperback - at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or whatever bookstore you've got around you, and if you enjoy it, please leave a review somewhere.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
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're in.
Sure do appreciate you joiningme, giving me a little bit of
your time and attention, alittle piece of your day.
I know you have other thingsvying for your attention, so I
(00:24):
appreciate you spending some ofit here with me.
For those of y'all who continueto share the podcast and tell
others about it, thank you Forthose of y'all who continue to
pray for me and for the podcast,thank you Very, very grateful
for your prayers.
Father, thank you for today.
Thank you for this day you'vemade.
Thank you for you, father, andyour Son Jesus Christ, and your
(00:52):
Holy Spirit.
Thank you for the promise ofeternal life in heaven with you,
through the merit of your SonJesus Christ alone.
Thank you for all the manyblessings that you bestow upon
us, the ones we admit and theones we don't, for whatever
reason.
Thank you for the people thatlisten to the podcast.
(01:17):
Please be with them, theirfamilies, guide them, surround
them with your angels, protectthem from evil of any kind.
Help us to do your will aboveall else, father.
Help us to love your Son JesusChrist, to follow his commands,
to love you with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength, and
(01:39):
to love our neighbors asourselves.
Be with our educators acrossthe nation, here in America and
the nations around the worldwhere people are listening.
Father, bless them, guide them,give them wisdom and courage
(01:59):
and a strong faith.
Help us to teach our childrenyour commands, your precepts and
, as adults, to show them just alittle bit of your son Jesus
Christ and your love for us.
(02:21):
Be with our leaders, father,both in the pulpit and in the
state.
For us.
Be with our leaders, father,both in the pulpit and in the
state.
Give them wisdom and courageand a strong faith.
Guide their steps, guide theirwords.
And guide my words here, father, please.
In your Son's name, we prayAmen.
(02:42):
Have you made time for God today?
Have you made time to read hisword, to pray, to talk to him,
to listen to him?
Is that at the beginning ofyour day?
Is that at the end of your day?
Are you striving to praycontinuously throughout the day?
(03:05):
And if you're married, is yourspouse your top priority After
only God and Jesus Christ?
Do you truly treat them as aone out of seven billion kind of
treasure, or do you treat themindifferently, coldly, with
(03:30):
apathy Again?
I think we asked this on arecent podcast.
What would it look like if youhad a graph in front of you bar
graph, columns, pie, whateveryou want?
(03:53):
You make it whatever you want,whatever kind of graph you like
that showed how you weredividing up your time each day,
month, year, for the last fiveyears, the last 10 years?
Would you be pleased with thepercentages that it showed of
(04:14):
how you spent your time or wouldyou be disappointed?
Would it line up with what yousay your priorities are or would
it not?
Marriage verse for today comesout of 1 Timothy 2, verses 11
through 15.
A wife should learn quietly,with complete submission.
(04:37):
I don't allow a wife to teachor to control her husband.
Instead, she should be a quietlistener.
Adam was formed first and thenEve.
Adam wasn't deceived, butrather his wife became the one
who stepped over the linebecause she was completely
deceived.
But a wife will be broughtsafely through childbirth if
(04:59):
they continue in faith, love andholiness together with
self-control.
Different.
Continue in faith, love andholiness together with
self-control.
Different Translation here Awoman should learn in quietness
and full submission.
I do not permit a woman toteach or to assume authority
(05:19):
over a man.
She must be quiet, for Adam wasformed first, then Eve, and
Adam was not the one deceived.
It was the woman who wasdeceived and became a sinner.
But women will be saved throughchildbearing if they continue
in faith, love and holiness withpropriety.
(05:40):
Scripture today comes from 1Timothy 6, verses 1-21.
(06:06):
Because their efforts arehelping other believers who are
well-loved.
Teach these things, timothy,and encourage everyone to obey
them.
Some people may contradict ourteaching, but these are the
wholesome teachings of the LordJesus Christ.
These teachings promote a godlylife.
Anyone who teaches somethingdifferent is arrogant and lacks
(06:28):
understanding.
Such a person has an unhealthydesire to quibble over meanings
of words.
This stirs up arguments endingin jealousy, division, slander
and evil suspicions.
These people always causetrouble.
Their minds are corrupt andthey have turned their backs on
the truth.
To them, a show of godliness isjust a way to become wealthy.
(06:53):
Yet true godliness withcontentment is itself great
wealth.
After all, we brought nothingwith us when we came into the
world and we can't take anythingwith us when we leave it.
So if we have enough food andclothing, let us be content.
But people who long to be richfall into temptation and are
(07:15):
trapped by many foolish andharmful desires that plunge them
into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is theroot of all kinds of evil, and
some people craving money havewandered from the true faith and
pierced themselves with manysorrows.
But you, timothy, are a man ofGod, so run from all these evil
(07:41):
things.
Pursue righteousness and a godlylife, along with faith, love,
perseverance and gentleness.
Fight the good, fight for thetrue faith.
Hold tightly to the eternallife to which God has called you
, which you have declared sowell before many witnesses.
And I charge you before God,who gives life to all, and
before Christ Jesus, who gave agood testimony before Pontius
(08:05):
Pilate, that you obey thiscommand without wavering.
Then no one can find fault withyou, from now until our Lord
Jesus Christ comes again, for atjust the right time Christ will
be revealed from heaven by theblessed and only Almighty God,
the King of kings and Lord oflords.
(08:25):
He alone can never die and helives in light so brilliant that
no human can approach him.
No human eye has ever seen, norever will.
All honor and power to himforever.
Amen.
Teach those who are rich in thisworld not to be proud and not
to trust in their money, whichis so unreliable.
(08:47):
Their trust should be in God,who richly gives us all we need
for our enjoyment.
Tell them to use their money todo good.
They should be rich in goodworks and generous to those in
need, always being ready toshare with others.
By doing this, they will bestoring up their treasure and as
(09:10):
a good foundation for thefuture, so that they may
experience true life.
Timothy, guard what God hasentrusted to you.
Avoid godless, foolishdiscussions with those who
oppose you with their so-calledknowledge.
Some people have wandered fromthe faith by following such
foolishness.
May God's grace be with you all.
Psalm 89, verses 38 through 52.
(09:36):
But now you have rejected himand cast him off.
You were angry with youranointed king.
You have renounced yourcovenant with him.
You have thrown his crown inthe dust.
You have broken down the wallsprotecting him and ruined every
fort defending him.
Everyone who comes along hasrobbed him and he has become a
joke to his neighbors.
(09:57):
You have strengthened hisenemies and made them all
rejoice.
You have made his sword uselessand refused to help him in
battle.
You have ended his slender andoverturned his throne.
You have made him old beforehis time and publicly disgraced
him.
O Lord, how long will this goon?
Will you hide yourself forever?
(10:18):
How long will your anger burnlike fire?
Remember how short my life is,how empty and futile this human
existence.
No one can live forever.
All will die.
No one can escape the power ofthe grave.
Lord, where is your unfailinglove?
You promised it to David with afaithful pledge.
(10:39):
Consider, lord, how yourservants are disgraced.
I carry in my heart the insultsof so many people.
Your enemies have mocked me, oLord.
They mock your anointed kingwherever he goes.
Praise the Lord forever.
Amen and amen.
A person without self-control islike a city with broken down
(11:01):
walls.
There's a couple places here in1 Timothy 6 where God talks
about avoiding foolishdiscussions.
Right that there's people thatjust have an unhealthy desire to
quibble over the meaning ofwords, to stir up arguments and
(11:22):
ending in jealousy, division,slander and evil suspicions.
Verses four, three and four, orfour, I'm sorry, and 5, and
then 20, 21.
I'm struck by this.
(11:42):
There's a gentleman that Ifollow online that I like a lot
of what he says, of what he says, but he got off talking about
Israel, the modern state ofIsrael, and whether Israel, in
the Bible, included the modernstate and the Jews, or if it was
children of Abraham.
(12:03):
And then if it was only truechildren of Abraham and true
children of Abraham, what didthat mean?
Did it mean that it wasChristians or Jews and
Christians, christians or justJews?
And there's a number of placesin the Bible where God talks
about being really careful whenyou get into arguments that
(12:27):
cause divisions.
That cause divisions, and I wasthinking to myself, you know we
have.
We have very clear problems inthe United States today Feminism
, abortion, rejection of God,jesus Christ, lgbtq lifestyles,
(12:49):
particularly the transgenderstuff, as we see with all these
shootings illegal immigration,like.
We have a number of issues thatare very clear from Scripture
today.
And even if you buy this ideathat seems to be prevalent
inside the church or growinginside the church, that we
(13:10):
shouldn't have anything to dowith the modern state of Israel
right, which I don't, but let'spretend for a minute that you
did Don't?
We have enough problems insidethe United States among
Christians to deal with withoutgoing and looking for more.
Yeah, it's very similar to me,to the people that want to talk
(13:35):
about.
Well, actually, it's not as bad, the people that want to tell
you that you have to belong totheir denomination in order to
be saved.
Those are much more dangerousto me, because they're telling
you something that's justblatantly not true, not out of
Scripture.
It's adding to what JesusChrist is.
What they're basically sayingis Jesus Christ isn't enough,
(13:57):
you also have to belong to ourdenomination, and so they're
hindering their own entranceinto the kingdom.
Because if you die, folks, andyou tell God hey, you got to let
me in because I was a RomanCatholic or I belong to the
Church of Christ or was GreekOrthodox or I was Baptist
Reformed, he's going to look atyou and say, sorry, I don't know
(14:23):
you, I don't know what you'retalking about, the only you know
.
In the Marine Corps, there werecertain times when we had a back
and forth response, when apatrol was coming back in and
you would have something thatthe guard on the sentry would
say and there had to be acorrect response from the patrol
(14:45):
coming back in.
A password, if you will, andthe only password to get into
heaven is going to be JesusChrist.
He's the only key.
There's no other key.
There's no other key.
There's no additional key.
You don't have to have two keys.
Anyway, I got off track there,folks.
But, lord, don't we have enoughto be concerned with without
going and hunting up thingsabout whether we should support
(15:06):
Israel and then even, goodnessgracious, what other country in
the Middle East are we going tosupport?
What other country in theMiddle East are we going to
support?
I just I don't think.
We got a lot of problems withanti-Semitism inside the church
today that are very similar toanti-Semitism inside the church
in Germany in the 1920s and 30s,and you can make the argument
(15:29):
even inside Britain.
You go back and look at thoseverses again.
Anyone who teaches somethingdifferent is arrogant and lacks
understanding.
Such a person has an unhealthydesire to quibble over the
meaning of words.
This stirs up arguments endingin jealousy, division, slander
and evil suspicions.
These people always causetrouble.
(15:50):
Their minds are corrupt andthey have turned their backs on
the truth.
To them, a show of godliness isjust a way to become wealthy.
And then 20.
Timothy, guard what God hasentrusted to you.
Avoid godless, foolishdiscussions with those who
oppose you with their so-calledknowledge.
Some people have wandered fromthe faith by following such
(16:14):
foolishness.
Medal of Honor for todayFrederick Bergendahl, private
Highest Strength Sergeant,indian Campaigns banned.
4th US Cavalry, us Army,december 8, 1874, staked Plains,
texas, gallantry.
(16:36):
In a long chase after IndiansAccredited to Boston, suffolk
County, massachusetts, notawarded.
Posthumously, presented October13, 1875, born February 26,
1858, gothenburg, sweden.
Died December 15, 1889,gothenburg, sweden.
Died December 15th 1889,gothenburg, sweden.
(16:57):
Buried at the Kast Cemetery,austria.
Ooh, can't even say that word,gothenburg Sweden.
That's an interesting one.
We've only read a couple wherethe individual was buried in the
same place that they were born,and they weren't born in
America.
There's got to be more to thatstory.
(17:17):
Gallantry and a Long ChaseAfter Indians Frederick
Bergendahl Probably stirs up thepeople there that want to
pretend that the indigenous daypeople, that want to pretend
that all of the indigenouspeople were peaceful and kind
(17:39):
and caring and would never hurta fly, and that Christopher
Columbus and all of those mean,evil white people from the old
world that came over were onlyinterested in rape, pillage and
plunder over, were onlyinterested in rape, pillage and
plunder.
So we got a couple quotes Iwant to end with today.
I'm going to give just a littlequick story.
(18:06):
So years ago I saw an interviewwith an extremely successful
author and he was talking about.
Early on in his career he cameup with this title for this book
I've told this story on thepodcast before for those of
y'all that have been around andhe said it's the best title that
I've ever come up with for abook, ever in my entire career
(18:29):
and by this point he wasextremely successful, had a
number of really successfulbooks published New York Times
bestseller, et cetera.
He said it's the best title Iever came up with and I lost it.
And of course, the interviewerwas like really Said yeah, I was
going to bed one night and mywife was already in bed asleep
(18:50):
and I thought of this title andI thought, oh man, I'll write
that down in the morning.
And I woke up and I couldn'tremember it and I've never been
able to remember it and I triedso hard and I couldn't.
And he said so.
Now there's a, there's a padand a pen right beside the bed
and if I think of something atnight as I'm falling asleep, I
get up and I write it down and Ican vouch for that, folks.
And I can vouch for that, folks.
(19:11):
If I think of something atnight and I don't write it down
somewhere, it's pretty much gone.
Well, I thought of somethingyesterday and I thought it was
pretty good, but I didn't haveanything at the time to write
with and I was already runninglate for another appointment and
(19:32):
I said, well, I guess, if Godreally wants me and to talk
about it, I'll remember it.
And, lo and behold, I didremember it afterwards, so I
guess he wants me to talk aboutit.
The most dangerous threat wehave to our nation today here in
America, and any country, folksaround the world that claims to
(19:54):
stand for liberty or freedom,is Christless conservatism.
Because when you're talkingabout people that support
leftism, socialism, communism,nazism, fascism, islam, you know
you can't depend on them.
There's no confusion.
You know that they arefollowing evil ideologies, or at
(20:15):
least you should.
But with Christlessconservatism, those people
appear to be patriots, appear tobe conservative, appear to
really want to stand for liberty.
The problem is it's like theproverb that talks about a lame
joint or foot or a weak tooth.
(20:35):
You don't ever know whenthey're going to crack.
You don't ever know whenthey're going to crack.
You don't ever know whenthey're going to decide.
You know what this conservativestuff that's too much.
This isn't really what I signedup for.
And so in that moment of need,when you really need that person
right, it's like the scene outof the old Mel Gibson Braveheart
(20:55):
movie for those of y'all thatare old enough to have seen that
and they're in this particularbattle and he thinks he has
these people that are going toback him up and he sends the
signal and they betray him andthey walk away and abandon him
and he thought he could dependon him but he really couldn't.
And that's the epitome ofChristless conservatism.
(21:17):
Fiscally conservative butsocially liberal is a pretty
good example of that.
You hear that often from a lotof people.
It's impossible, because atsome point your social
liberalism is going to come intoplay on the fiscal side and
you're going to decide well, Ican just cut this corner right.
(21:40):
And so any solution today thatdoesn't start with Jesus Christ
and God is a non-starter.
And it doesn't matter, folks,you know what?
President Trump, if you thinkhe's the greatest thing ever,
he's not.
He can't Without God.
He's not going to help thenation.
It doesn't matter if taxationis your big deal.
You think flat tax, fair tax,if God isn't the center of our
country, it's not going to saveus School choice if that's your
big deal, you think.
Flat tax, fair tax.
If God isn't the center of ourcountry, it's not going to save
us.
(22:00):
School choice if that's yourbig deal, it's not going to save
us.
If you suddenly could get ridof every single illegal
immigrant in the country, massimmigrant in the country, it's
not going to save us If the coreof our solution, whatever we're
offering, isn't God and JesusChrist, it's a short-term
(22:21):
solution at best.
And so there's two quotes todaythat I wanted to read to you.
One we've actually just readrecently, but it fits really
well with this, and it's by JohnAdams, from June 21st 1776.
Statesmen, my dear sir, mayplan and speculate for liberty,
(22:44):
but it is religion and moralityalone which can establish the
principles upon which freedomcan securely stand.
The only foundation of a freeconstitution is pure virtue, and
if this cannot be inspired intoour people in a greater measure
than they have it now, they maychange their rulers and their
forms of government, but theywill not obtain a lasting
(23:04):
liberty.
They will only exchange tyrantsand tyrannies.
And so you see him here, andmake no mistake, he's talking
about Christianity, not anyimposter, not Islam, buddhism,
hinduism, other naturism,anything else.
He's talking about Christianity, not any imposter, not Islam,
buddhism, hinduism, othernaturism, anything else.
He's talking about Christianity.
So we've got to haveChristianity which develops
(23:25):
morality and virtue, because theonly way we can have a free
constitution is pure virtue,right?
And so then you go over here toBenjamin Rush, who was one of
our three greatest foundingfathers, according to some, and
what does he say?
He says the only foundation fora republic is to be laid in
(23:49):
religion, again, christianity.
Without this there can be novirtue, and without virtue there
can be no virtue, and withoutvirtue there can be no liberty.
And liberty is the object andlife of all republicans, all
republican governmentsrepublican little are not
talking about the party folks,and that was another thing that
really spurred on this littleconversation, as I saw actress
(24:12):
from hollywood talking about thefact that the response of the
left this week or the lastcouple of weeks to the Charlie
Kirk assassination they've beenso gleeful and so joyful.
She said if you were everthinking about leaving the
Democratic Party and joining theRepublican Party, this is the
time, this is your sign.
They're celebrating this manbeing assassinated and leaving
(24:35):
his wife, a widow, and his twochildren fatherless.
This is, you know, if abortionand feminism and LGBTQ nonsense
wasn't enough, this ought to doit.
The problem is, folks, theRepublican Party isn't the
solution.
There is no solution unlessthat solution is centered on God
(24:56):
and Jesus Christ.
And you have to recognize that.
The real solution then isn'tthe party, it isn't the person,
it's God and Jesus Christ.
And if that party or thatperson happened to go along with
God and Jesus Christ, rightthen that's all well and good.
But the point is God and JesusChrist, not the Republican Party
, not conservatism in and ofitself, not Trump or whoever you
(25:22):
want to pick, not someparticular politician.
And you can't have it.
(25:46):
If you don't teach yourchildren Christianity, educate
them on the general principlesof Christ, we'll lose our
republic as we are.
If you are looking for a fun,family, fun middle grade fantasy
series, I would humblyrecommend Countryside.
There's two books in the seriesso far.
Pick up a copy e-book, hardback, paperback, amazon, barnes,
noble, whatever bookstore you'vegot around you, and, if you
(26:06):
enjoy it, if you'd leave areview somewhere, I would
appreciate that.
God bless you, god bless yourfamilies, god bless your
marriages, god bless America,god bless your nation, wherever
you are around the world.
Listen, we'll talk to y'allagain real soon.
Folks Looking forward to it.
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're in.
Sure do appreciate you joiningme, giving me a little bit of
your time and attention, alittle piece of your day.
I know you have other thingsvying for your attention, so I
(00:24):
appreciate you spending some ofit here with me.
For those of y'all who continueto share the podcast and tell
others about it, thank you Forthose of y'all who continue to
pray for me and for the podcast,thank you Very, very grateful
for your prayers.
Father, thank you for today.
Thank you for this day you'vemade.
Thank you for you, father, andyour Son Jesus Christ, and your
(00:52):
Holy Spirit.
Thank you for the promise ofeternal life in heaven with you,
through the merit of your SonJesus Christ alone.
Thank you for all the manyblessings that you bestow upon
us, the ones we admit and theones we don't, for whatever
reason.
Thank you for the people thatlisten to the podcast.
(01:17):
Please be with them, theirfamilies, guide them, surround
them with your angels, protectthem from evil of any kind.
Help us to do your will aboveall else, father.
Help us to love your Son JesusChrist, to follow his commands,
to love you with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength, and
(01:39):
to love our neighbors asourselves.
Be with our educators acrossthe nation, here in America and
the nations around the worldwhere people are listening.
Father, bless them, guide them,give them wisdom and courage
(01:59):
and a strong faith.
Help us to teach our childrenyour commands, your precepts and
, as adults, to show them just alittle bit of your son Jesus
Christ and your love for us.
(02:21):
Be with our leaders, father,both in the pulpit and in the
state.
For us.
Be with our leaders, father,both in the pulpit and in the
state.
Give them wisdom and courageand a strong faith.
Guide their steps, guide theirwords.
And guide my words here, father, please.
In your Son's name, we prayAmen.
(02:42):
Have you made time for God today?
Have you made time to read hisword, to pray, to talk to him,
to listen to him?
Is that at the beginning ofyour day?
Is that at the end of your day?
Are you striving to praycontinuously throughout the day?
(03:05):
And if you're married, is yourspouse your top priority After
only God and Jesus Christ?
Do you truly treat them as aone out of seven billion kind of
treasure, or do you treat themindifferently, coldly, with
(03:30):
apathy Again?
I think we asked this on arecent podcast.
What would it look like if youhad a graph in front of you bar
graph, columns, pie, whateveryou want?
(03:53):
You make it whatever you want,whatever kind of graph you like
that showed how you weredividing up your time each day,
month, year, for the last fiveyears, the last 10 years?
Would you be pleased with thepercentages that it showed of
(04:14):
how you spent your time or wouldyou be disappointed?
Would it line up with what yousay your priorities are or would
it not?
Marriage verse for today comesout of 1 Timothy 2, verses 11
through 15.
A wife should learn quietly,with complete submission.
(04:37):
I don't allow a wife to teachor to control her husband.
Instead, she should be a quietlistener.
Adam was formed first and thenEve.
Adam wasn't deceived, butrather his wife became the one
who stepped over the linebecause she was completely
deceived.
But a wife will be broughtsafely through childbirth if
(04:59):
they continue in faith, love andholiness together with
self-control.
Different.
Continue in faith, love andholiness together with
self-control.
Different Translation here Awoman should learn in quietness
and full submission.
I do not permit a woman toteach or to assume authority
(05:19):
over a man.
She must be quiet, for Adam wasformed first, then Eve, and
Adam was not the one deceived.
It was the woman who wasdeceived and became a sinner.
But women will be saved throughchildbearing if they continue
in faith, love and holiness withpropriety.
(05:40):
Scripture today comes from 1Timothy 6, verses 1-21.
(06:06):
Because their efforts arehelping other believers who are
well-loved.
Teach these things, timothy,and encourage everyone to obey
them.
Some people may contradict ourteaching, but these are the
wholesome teachings of the LordJesus Christ.
These teachings promote a godlylife.
Anyone who teaches somethingdifferent is arrogant and lacks
(06:28):
understanding.
Such a person has an unhealthydesire to quibble over meanings
of words.
This stirs up arguments endingin jealousy, division, slander
and evil suspicions.
These people always causetrouble.
Their minds are corrupt andthey have turned their backs on
the truth.
To them, a show of godliness isjust a way to become wealthy.
(06:53):
Yet true godliness withcontentment is itself great
wealth.
After all, we brought nothingwith us when we came into the
world and we can't take anythingwith us when we leave it.
So if we have enough food andclothing, let us be content.
But people who long to be richfall into temptation and are
(07:15):
trapped by many foolish andharmful desires that plunge them
into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is theroot of all kinds of evil, and
some people craving money havewandered from the true faith and
pierced themselves with manysorrows.
But you, timothy, are a man ofGod, so run from all these evil
(07:41):
things.
Pursue righteousness and a godlylife, along with faith, love,
perseverance and gentleness.
Fight the good, fight for thetrue faith.
Hold tightly to the eternallife to which God has called you
, which you have declared sowell before many witnesses.
And I charge you before God,who gives life to all, and
before Christ Jesus, who gave agood testimony before Pontius
(08:05):
Pilate, that you obey thiscommand without wavering.
Then no one can find fault withyou, from now until our Lord
Jesus Christ comes again, for atjust the right time Christ will
be revealed from heaven by theblessed and only Almighty God,
the King of kings and Lord oflords.
(08:25):
He alone can never die and helives in light so brilliant that
no human can approach him.
No human eye has ever seen, norever will.
All honor and power to himforever.
Amen.
Teach those who are rich in thisworld not to be proud and not
to trust in their money, whichis so unreliable.
(08:47):
Their trust should be in God,who richly gives us all we need
for our enjoyment.
Tell them to use their money todo good.
They should be rich in goodworks and generous to those in
need, always being ready toshare with others.
By doing this, they will bestoring up their treasure and as
(09:10):
a good foundation for thefuture, so that they may
experience true life.
Timothy, guard what God hasentrusted to you.
Avoid godless, foolishdiscussions with those who
oppose you with their so-calledknowledge.
Some people have wandered fromthe faith by following such
foolishness.
May God's grace be with you all.
Psalm 89, verses 38 through 52.
(09:36):
But now you have rejected himand cast him off.
You were angry with youranointed king.
You have renounced yourcovenant with him.
You have thrown his crown inthe dust.
You have broken down the wallsprotecting him and ruined every
fort defending him.
Everyone who comes along hasrobbed him and he has become a
joke to his neighbors.
(09:57):
You have strengthened hisenemies and made them all
rejoice.
You have made his sword uselessand refused to help him in
battle.
You have ended his slender andoverturned his throne.
You have made him old beforehis time and publicly disgraced
him.
O Lord, how long will this goon?
Will you hide yourself forever?
(10:18):
How long will your anger burnlike fire?
Remember how short my life is,how empty and futile this human
existence.
No one can live forever.
All will die.
No one can escape the power ofthe grave.
Lord, where is your unfailinglove?
You promised it to David with afaithful pledge.
(10:39):
Consider, lord, how yourservants are disgraced.
I carry in my heart the insultsof so many people.
Your enemies have mocked me, oLord.
They mock your anointed kingwherever he goes.
Praise the Lord forever.
Amen and amen.
A person without self-control islike a city with broken down
(11:01):
walls.
There's a couple places here in1 Timothy 6 where God talks
about avoiding foolishdiscussions.
Right that there's people thatjust have an unhealthy desire to
quibble over the meaning ofwords, to stir up arguments and
(11:22):
ending in jealousy, division,slander and evil suspicions.
Verses four, three and four, orfour, I'm sorry, and 5, and
then 20, 21.
I'm struck by this.
(11:42):
There's a gentleman that Ifollow online that I like a lot
of what he says, of what he says, but he got off talking about
Israel, the modern state ofIsrael, and whether Israel, in
the Bible, included the modernstate and the Jews, or if it was
children of Abraham.
(12:03):
And then if it was only truechildren of Abraham and true
children of Abraham, what didthat mean?
Did it mean that it wasChristians or Jews and
Christians, christians or justJews?
And there's a number of placesin the Bible where God talks
about being really careful whenyou get into arguments that
(12:27):
cause divisions.
That cause divisions, and I wasthinking to myself, you know we
have.
We have very clear problems inthe United States today Feminism
, abortion, rejection of God,jesus Christ, lgbtq lifestyles,
(12:49):
particularly the transgenderstuff, as we see with all these
shootings illegal immigration,like.
We have a number of issues thatare very clear from Scripture
today.
And even if you buy this ideathat seems to be prevalent
inside the church or growinginside the church, that we
(13:10):
shouldn't have anything to dowith the modern state of Israel
right, which I don't, but let'spretend for a minute that you
did Don't?
We have enough problems insidethe United States among
Christians to deal with withoutgoing and looking for more.
Yeah, it's very similar to me,to the people that want to talk
(13:35):
about.
Well, actually, it's not as bad, the people that want to tell
you that you have to belong totheir denomination in order to
be saved.
Those are much more dangerousto me, because they're telling
you something that's justblatantly not true, not out of
Scripture.
It's adding to what JesusChrist is.
What they're basically sayingis Jesus Christ isn't enough,
(13:57):
you also have to belong to ourdenomination, and so they're
hindering their own entranceinto the kingdom.
Because if you die, folks, andyou tell God hey, you got to let
me in because I was a RomanCatholic or I belong to the
Church of Christ or was GreekOrthodox or I was Baptist
Reformed, he's going to look atyou and say, sorry, I don't know
(14:23):
you, I don't know what you'retalking about, the only you know
.
In the Marine Corps, there werecertain times when we had a back
and forth response, when apatrol was coming back in and
you would have something thatthe guard on the sentry would
say and there had to be acorrect response from the patrol
(14:45):
coming back in.
A password, if you will, andthe only password to get into
heaven is going to be JesusChrist.
He's the only key.
There's no other key.
There's no other key.
There's no additional key.
You don't have to have two keys.
Anyway, I got off track there,folks.
But, lord, don't we have enoughto be concerned with without
going and hunting up thingsabout whether we should support
(15:06):
Israel and then even, goodnessgracious, what other country in
the Middle East are we going tosupport?
What other country in theMiddle East are we going to
support?
I just I don't think.
We got a lot of problems withanti-Semitism inside the church
today that are very similar toanti-Semitism inside the church
in Germany in the 1920s and 30s,and you can make the argument
(15:29):
even inside Britain.
You go back and look at thoseverses again.
Anyone who teaches somethingdifferent is arrogant and lacks
understanding.
Such a person has an unhealthydesire to quibble over the
meaning of words.
This stirs up arguments endingin jealousy, division, slander
and evil suspicions.
These people always causetrouble.
(15:50):
Their minds are corrupt andthey have turned their backs on
the truth.
To them, a show of godliness isjust a way to become wealthy.
And then 20.
Timothy, guard what God hasentrusted to you.
Avoid godless, foolishdiscussions with those who
oppose you with their so-calledknowledge.
Some people have wandered fromthe faith by following such
(16:14):
foolishness.
Medal of Honor for todayFrederick Bergendahl, private
Highest Strength Sergeant,indian Campaigns banned.
4th US Cavalry, us Army,december 8, 1874, staked Plains,
texas, gallantry.
(16:36):
In a long chase after IndiansAccredited to Boston, suffolk
County, massachusetts, notawarded.
Posthumously, presented October13, 1875, born February 26,
1858, gothenburg, sweden.
Died December 15, 1889,gothenburg, sweden.
Died December 15th 1889,gothenburg, sweden.
(16:57):
Buried at the Kast Cemetery,austria.
Ooh, can't even say that word,gothenburg Sweden.
That's an interesting one.
We've only read a couple wherethe individual was buried in the
same place that they were born,and they weren't born in
America.
There's got to be more to thatstory.
(17:17):
Gallantry and a Long ChaseAfter Indians Frederick
Bergendahl Probably stirs up thepeople there that want to
pretend that the indigenous daypeople, that want to pretend
that all of the indigenouspeople were peaceful and kind
(17:39):
and caring and would never hurta fly, and that Christopher
Columbus and all of those mean,evil white people from the old
world that came over were onlyinterested in rape, pillage and
plunder over, were onlyinterested in rape, pillage and
plunder.
So we got a couple quotes Iwant to end with today.
I'm going to give just a littlequick story.
(18:06):
So years ago I saw an interviewwith an extremely successful
author and he was talking about.
Early on in his career he cameup with this title for this book
I've told this story on thepodcast before for those of
y'all that have been around andhe said it's the best title that
I've ever come up with for abook, ever in my entire career
(18:29):
and by this point he wasextremely successful, had a
number of really successfulbooks published New York Times
bestseller, et cetera.
He said it's the best title Iever came up with and I lost it.
And of course, the interviewerwas like really Said yeah, I was
going to bed one night and mywife was already in bed asleep
(18:50):
and I thought of this title andI thought, oh man, I'll write
that down in the morning.
And I woke up and I couldn'tremember it and I've never been
able to remember it and I triedso hard and I couldn't.
And he said so.
Now there's a, there's a padand a pen right beside the bed
and if I think of something atnight as I'm falling asleep, I
get up and I write it down and Ican vouch for that, folks.
And I can vouch for that, folks.
(19:11):
If I think of something atnight and I don't write it down
somewhere, it's pretty much gone.
Well, I thought of somethingyesterday and I thought it was
pretty good, but I didn't haveanything at the time to write
with and I was already runninglate for another appointment and
(19:32):
I said, well, I guess, if Godreally wants me and to talk
about it, I'll remember it.
And, lo and behold, I didremember it afterwards, so I
guess he wants me to talk aboutit.
The most dangerous threat wehave to our nation today here in
America, and any country, folksaround the world that claims to
(19:54):
stand for liberty or freedom,is Christless conservatism.
Because when you're talkingabout people that support
leftism, socialism, communism,nazism, fascism, islam, you know
you can't depend on them.
There's no confusion.
You know that they arefollowing evil ideologies, or at
(20:15):
least you should.
But with Christlessconservatism, those people
appear to be patriots, appear tobe conservative, appear to
really want to stand for liberty.
The problem is it's like theproverb that talks about a lame
joint or foot or a weak tooth.
(20:35):
You don't ever know whenthey're going to crack.
You don't ever know whenthey're going to crack.
You don't ever know whenthey're going to decide.
You know what this conservativestuff that's too much.
This isn't really what I signedup for.
And so in that moment of need,when you really need that person
right, it's like the scene outof the old Mel Gibson Braveheart
(20:55):
movie for those of y'all thatare old enough to have seen that
and they're in this particularbattle and he thinks he has
these people that are going toback him up and he sends the
signal and they betray him andthey walk away and abandon him
and he thought he could dependon him but he really couldn't.
And that's the epitome ofChristless conservatism.
(21:17):
Fiscally conservative butsocially liberal is a pretty
good example of that.
You hear that often from a lotof people.
It's impossible, because atsome point your social
liberalism is going to come intoplay on the fiscal side and
you're going to decide well, Ican just cut this corner right.
(21:40):
And so any solution today thatdoesn't start with Jesus Christ
and God is a non-starter.
And it doesn't matter, folks,you know what?
President Trump, if you thinkhe's the greatest thing ever,
he's not.
He can't Without God.
He's not going to help thenation.
It doesn't matter if taxationis your big deal.
You think flat tax, fair tax,if God isn't the center of our
country, it's not going to saveus School choice if that's your
big deal, you think.
Flat tax, fair tax.
If God isn't the center of ourcountry, it's not going to save
us.
(22:00):
School choice if that's yourbig deal, it's not going to save
us.
If you suddenly could get ridof every single illegal
immigrant in the country, massimmigrant in the country, it's
not going to save us If the coreof our solution, whatever we're
offering, isn't God and JesusChrist, it's a short-term
(22:21):
solution at best.
And so there's two quotes todaythat I wanted to read to you.
One we've actually just readrecently, but it fits really
well with this, and it's by JohnAdams, from June 21st 1776.
Statesmen, my dear sir, mayplan and speculate for liberty,
(22:44):
but it is religion and moralityalone which can establish the
principles upon which freedomcan securely stand.
The only foundation of a freeconstitution is pure virtue, and
if this cannot be inspired intoour people in a greater measure
than they have it now, they maychange their rulers and their
forms of government, but theywill not obtain a lasting
(23:04):
liberty.
They will only exchange tyrantsand tyrannies.
And so you see him here, andmake no mistake, he's talking
about Christianity, not anyimposter, not Islam, buddhism,
hinduism, other naturism,anything else.
He's talking about Christianity, not any imposter, not Islam,
buddhism, hinduism, othernaturism, anything else.
He's talking about Christianity.
So we've got to haveChristianity which develops
(23:25):
morality and virtue, because theonly way we can have a free
constitution is pure virtue,right?
And so then you go over here toBenjamin Rush, who was one of
our three greatest foundingfathers, according to some, and
what does he say?
He says the only foundation fora republic is to be laid in
(23:49):
religion, again, christianity.
Without this there can be novirtue, and without virtue there
can be no virtue, and withoutvirtue there can be no liberty.
And liberty is the object andlife of all republicans, all
republican governmentsrepublican little are not
talking about the party folks,and that was another thing that
really spurred on this littleconversation, as I saw actress
(24:12):
from hollywood talking about thefact that the response of the
left this week or the lastcouple of weeks to the Charlie
Kirk assassination they've beenso gleeful and so joyful.
She said if you were everthinking about leaving the
Democratic Party and joining theRepublican Party, this is the
time, this is your sign.
They're celebrating this manbeing assassinated and leaving
(24:35):
his wife, a widow, and his twochildren fatherless.
This is, you know, if abortionand feminism and LGBTQ nonsense
wasn't enough, this ought to doit.
The problem is, folks, theRepublican Party isn't the
solution.
There is no solution unlessthat solution is centered on God
(24:56):
and Jesus Christ.
And you have to recognize that.
The real solution then isn'tthe party, it isn't the person,
it's God and Jesus Christ.
And if that party or thatperson happened to go along with
God and Jesus Christ, rightthen that's all well and good.
But the point is God and JesusChrist, not the Republican Party
, not conservatism in and ofitself, not Trump or whoever you
(25:22):
want to pick, not someparticular politician.
And you can't have it.
(25:46):
If you don't teach yourchildren Christianity, educate
them on the general principlesof Christ, we'll lose our
republic as we are.
If you are looking for a fun,family, fun middle grade fantasy
series, I would humblyrecommend Countryside.
There's two books in the seriesso far.
Pick up a copy e-book, hardback, paperback, amazon, barnes,
noble, whatever bookstore you'vegot around you, and, if you
(26:06):
enjoy it, if you'd leave areview somewhere, I would
appreciate that.
God bless you, god bless yourfamilies, god bless your
marriages, god bless America,god bless your nation, wherever
you are around the world.
Listen, we'll talk to y'allagain real soon.
Folks Looking forward to it.
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