Proud to be an American
PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN
Freedom, The Flag, Fatherhood, and Unborn Family
Stevens County Times, June 2025
By Pastor Tim White
Lee Greenwood wrote “God Bless the USA” in 1983, and MCA Nashville released it on May 21, 1984. It has become the theme song for President Trump, but it speaks to so much more than just one man’s love for his nation. It speaks for all who still stand for our flag and kneel at the Cross of Christ.
More than a dozen years ago, I was at Silverwood Theme Park in north Idaho, about to watch a performance in one of their theaters when “God Bless the USA” began to play. I have always been thankful to be an American, but the words of this song struck within my heart and soul so profoundly that I had to stand up in reverent awe and a grateful heart that — for no credit of my own — somehow, I was born in America.
At that moment, filled with sincere, deep-seated gratitude, I was “proud to be an American,” and I still am today.
America is blessed because she has stood upon biblical principles and morals while recognizing an Almighty God from which every good and perfect gift flows — including our inalienable rights. If we want to see America revived and thriving, we dare not step away from our foundations of faith in God nor let go of those biblical principles regarding life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The month of June contains events that deserve honor and recognition and should make every American thankful that they live in the good ‘ole USA. Let’s refresh our memory.
First is D-Day, June 6, 1944. It was a day when thousands of ordinary young men, averaging under 22 years of age, from all walks of life, rose above their fear of almost certain death and became the courageous heroes the free world needed them to be. Although they were “boys,” they stood like men and faced the tyrannical enemies of freedom with pride in their country, loving freedom more than their own lives.
Next is Flag Day, celebrated on June 14 (which also happens to be President Trump’s birthday). We can take pride in all that our nation’s flag represents — the sacrifice of brave Americans who fought for our freedom. Today, our most appropriate response is to stand up and defend all that our flag represents, realizing that it is our turn to do so.
June is a family-friendly month, too, when we honor the critical role of Fathers (June 15) and the sacredness of unborn children (the overturning of Roe v. Wade on June 24). The two-parent home, protecting the unborn, and valuing children are the foundational bedrocks of any robust and enduring society. A father’s masculinity in the home, combined with a mother’s nurturing, guided by biblical principles, has always created the best and most fertile environment for children to grow and thrive. History reveals that when life is valued from the womb to the tomb when even the weakest are protected, we become better people and a more just society.
However, June is also a month where a small but very loud subset within society (6 to 9% according to Pew Research and Gallup Surveys) of LGBTQ individuals and groups want to claim all 30 days of the month as “Pride Month,” (originally “Gay Pride”) during which time participants seem unconcerned about exposing children to a wide variety of sexual themes and images.
During these celebrations, the participants seem to be unconcerned about the exposure of children to a wide variety of sexual themes and images. How can the mayors and police chiefs of the cities look the other way? Don’t we have laws that prosecute adults who expose children to inappropriate sexual themes? Are they proud of this?
“But wait, there’s more.” Currently, our leading LGBT organizations list more than 100 days over eleven months of the year to support and encourage a wide variety of unnatural sexual acts or extra-marital relationships associated with LGBTQ. That equates to more than one day out of every four of the calendar year, including all of March, June, and October, .
How primitive is it to tell others that their identity is determined by which sexual desires burn within them? Is there not a case to be made for distinguishing between moral and immoral desires – for natural and unnatural sexual acts? Can “consenting adults” also consent to engage in illicit behavior? I think the answers to these questions are apparent.
And for those who want to point to the accomplishments of LGBTQ individuals, why does their sexual life matter? Why display that intimate part of one’s life alongside their deeds — potentially in the view of children — unless the goal is to desensitize those children to a vast array of sexual acts that contradict all of nature and basic morality? Where do we draw the line between inappropriate material and pedophilia-type content?
Richard E. Simmons, III, (founding director of The Center for Executive Leadership, a faith-based ministry in Birmingham, Alabama, focused on counseling businessmen and professionals) addresses the futility of a life lived in pursuit of pleasure (sexual pleasure being primary) as the pathway to happiness and fulfillment in life. He refers to a book by psychiatrist Dr. Armand Nicholi, who taught at Harvard Medical School. Quoting from Simmons’ website, richardesimmons3.com, in an article titled “Sigmund Freud, C.S. Lewis and the Pursuit of Happiness”:
“Dr. Nicholi’s book contrasts the worldview of Sigmund Freud, an atheist, and C.S. Lewis, a Christian. Sigmund Freud believed in the pleasure principle, which posits that happiness is rooted in pleasure. Lewis believed virtue and character, rooted in the love of God, was the key to happiness.”
Dr. Nicholi notes that later in life, Freud saw how fleeting this source of happiness was and developed a “view of life [that] was dark, ominous and full of despair.” Then, he summarizes Lewis’ view in the following statement:
“Lewis asserts that the primary purpose of our lives — the reason for our existence on this planet — is to establish a relationship with the Person who placed us here. Until that relationship is established, all of our attempts to attain happiness — our quest for recognition, for money, for power, for the perfect marriage or the ideal friendship, for all that we spend our lives seeking — will always fall short, will never quite satisfy the longing, fill the void, quell the restlessness, or make us happy. Lewis explains that ‘God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn or the food our spirits were designed to feed on . . . God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from Himself because it is not there. There is no such thing.’”
It’s high time we raised the bar and realized there is a much higher degree of “identity” to discover than that promoted by the LGBTQ crowd and their allies.
The Apostle John wrote that “…all who believed in Him (Jesus Christ), He gave them the right to become the CHILDREN OF GOD – children born not…(by any human’s will or act)…but BORN OF GOD” (John 1:12-13). Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “For HE CHOSE US in Him before the creation of the world to BE HOLY and BLAMELESS in His sight. IN LOVE, He predestined us FOR ADOPTION to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will” (Eph. 1:4-5). And as GOD’S CHILD, “your sins are FORGIVEN through Jesus” (1 John 2:12). [I added All-caps]
In June, Americans have significant reasons to take pride in America, including the US Supreme Court’s reversal of the dreadful 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. The last thing to be proud of is displaying, celebrating, and promoting sexual deviancy in such public ways that children are repeatedly exposed to these age-inappropriate themes over a period of thirty days.
So, let us pray with compassion for the liberation and salvation of those trapped in these soul-destroying relationships, and even more so for our children to know the God who created them – male and female – for His purpose and abundant life (John 10:10).
“Taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him” (Psalm 34:8). We discover who we are and where to focus our energies best once we give ourselves to the One who is the very source of all life – God the Father who “designed the human machine to run on Himself.”
The invitation is clear: “Everyone (yes, everyone) who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Joel 2:32).
May “God Bless the USA” and the ones you love.
