---
title: "CROSSROADS OF LIFE AND DEATH"
type: "speech"
published: "2018-06-16T15:05:28+01:00"
updated: "2018-06-16T15:05:28+01:00"
source: "/blog/2018/06/16/crossroads-of-life-and-death.html"
speechYear: "1978"
categories:
  - "Speeches of Rev Sun Myung Moon 1978"
tags: []
---

<h2 align="center">REVEREND SUN MYUNG MOON</h2>
<h3 align="center">December 17, 1978<br />
Belvedere, New York Translator &#8211; Bo Hi Pak</h3>
<p>In our way of life we cannot avoid dealing with the various elements surrounding us; that is, let&#8217;s and right, front and rear, light and dark, life and death. Even now someone is still sleeping, someone is on the verge of waking up, someone is fully awake. Furthermore, your state of mind also varies. Even though you are sitting here, you may not be fully committed; you may be confused or you may be absolutely sure; you may be willing to learn and possibly you will become someone significant. There are many different states of mind. Even though you came here, you may hate this place because the floor is so cold, and you don&#8217;t like to come this early. In contrast, some feel it is great to be included in this particular worship. For all these reasons, this meeting could be bringing great happiness to someone, or be bringing great misfortune to someone else.</p>
<p>Who is responsible for you and your life? Not your neighbor or the person beside you, but you yourself. You are solely responsible for your own destiny. You must think that you have to be absolutely serious when you move in a direction, either to the front, rear, left or right. Every move will have certain consequences on your life. Grave consequences are not normally the result of gigantic occurences, but often derive from seemingly trivial matters. In passing you may hear and misunderstand some small comment, but the content may cause you to take a completely different or wrong course of action, causing life-and-death events to be swayed. Hearing something good may lit&#8217;s you up and move you forward, while something else may cause you to stumble and go backwards, leading you from hope to despair, life to death. That one small event could be a turning point in your life</p>
<p>Seeing one small sight or saying one small thing may have an important impact on your life. Also I am sure many of you have had the experience of wishing you had not said a particular word. When you reflect back on certain actions, you can see how even small things have had a tremendous impact on your life. These are the realities we are dealing with every day.</p>
<p>Where do we go from here? Ordinarily, our general direction in life is determined by our desire to reach a better, higher place. What is that higher place? Everyone welcomes good things and always aspires to higher achievements. It is the basic nature I of man to want to be better all the time, but in the usual way of living are these ideals easily attainable without making any effort?</p>
<p>Not only are we striving towards a higher goal, but our posterity will also strive for the higher things. The many people who came before us in history also aspired to high goals, but do you think more people have succeeded or failed in that goal? Are more people today succeeding or failing in this? How about in the future? One principle can be seen working in the past and the present, and will govern the future.</p>
<p>Unless mankind discovers some magic formula for success, no one will easily achieve his aspirations. In the Unification Church we can say the same thing, but one factor is different. ln the Unification Church the desire to reach the ideal is far greater than the desire of people in the everyday world. Because our goal is so high, the average effort made to reach a higher level in today&#8217;s world would never be sufficient to reach our goal. Every individual who pursues a higher ideal begins with some inspiration and tries hard to reach the standard, but usually each of them follows a wandering path, going up and down or turning to left or right. Finally most people in that situation just drop down.</p>
<p>There is always an arrow on a road sign to point out the correct direction. We are all like an arrow which is pointed toward some goal. The Unification Church itself is a big arrow, and you are all supposed to be smaller arrows which make up the whole. The large arrow is moving in one direction, but some of the smaller arrows are turned around or upside down, pointed in the wrong direction, instead of all being parallel. Are you turned around and blocking someone&#8217;s way, or are you parallel with the big arrow?</p>
<p>The wrong kind of arrow is the one that turns in the wrong direction and pierces someone&#8217;s heart, possibly even killing him. For example, people outside our Church criticize and condemn the Moonies every day. Of&#8217; course we encourage each other to go on, but one poor Moony may be hurt so deeply that his situation becomes hopeless. You have probably seen that happen. The Unification Church has its definite goal, directed by God. We are like His Apollo rocket, blasting off toward certain stars in heaven. We are constantly moving, putting our efforts together, advancing toward that goal. Even that way is not the easiest way to achieve the overall goal.</p>
<p>An Apollo rocket has many intricate instruments and parts working together. Every component must be functioning correctly for there to be a perfect landing. Imagine that the rocket had a perfect lift-off, but some little gadget didn&#8217;t sleep well the night before and fell asleep. What would happen? If one computer isn&#8217;t functioning well the entire rocket could go in an entirely unexpected direction. Simply venturing to the moon is dangerous, but the more parts there are to coordinate in the effort, the greater the danger of malfunction becomes.</p>
<p>The Unification Church mission can be likened to an Apollo lift-off. Our journey is not easy and we use many kinds of sophisticated components to make that trip possible. In particular we confront hostile surroundings, and in that difficult environment we must manage the take-off without a hitch. Are you confident that we can thrust our Apollo 11 straight to the moon? Is your yes confident or empty? I will trust your answer.</p>
<p>Where would you like to be in this Unification Church arrow-in the sharp tip or way back in the rear? It&#8217;s easy to say you want to be in the spearhead, but if you position yourself there you must make absolutely certain that you will function perfectly. The arrow could never afford to have anything go wrong in the sharp tip. The few people in the sharp tip will be backed up by more and more people, whose responsibility will be correspondingly less. Whoever is in the arrowhead will come in contact with the target first. The point will hit the barrier first and its mission is to penetrate it and keep on going. In some cases, however, the resistance of the target is so strong that, instead of penetrating, the spearhead becomes dulled and slows to a stop. Are you the arrowhead that gives in or pushes through? Do you just contact the target and then rest, or do you penetrate and keep going?</p>
<p>We encounter all kinds of walls in our life of faith, some of which are invisible. Ahead of us right now is the wall of Christmas; everyone&#8217;s mind is crowded with thoughts of shopping and decorating and so forth. Another wall is blessing. A blessing is</p>
<p>coming and people are wondering, &#8220;What will Father say about me? Am I good enough or not? I have done so much but I may not be recognized, but anyway, I&#8217;ve got to get married!&#8221; All kinds of roadblocks are ahead of us. These walls are like rubber because you think you are pushing through but then they snap back and push you another way. You debate, &#8220;Should I go back home to visit? No, no, I should think about it a little more. What should I do if I don&#8217;t have a proper blessing? No, no, I must follow absolutely. Whatever True Parents do is the best for me and 1 am ready to go.&#8221; You are always being pushed back and forth this way.</p>
<p>Are you running so fast that you don&#8217;t give the rubber a chance to push you back? Or when you do penetrate will you look back and think that you should have reconsidered and thought some more, that you acted too fast? Would you regret or never look back, just move forward and keep going? The answer is quite easy and your desire is genuine, I know, but to actually live up to that desire and aspiration is not easy. In trying to do so you will be plagued with all kinds of problems concerning family, living, housing, as well as spiritual problems and self-esteem problems.</p>
<p>Today&#8217;s topic concerns crossroads. A crossroad is just one place where thousands of roads meet. Your mind and heart form one crossroad and there all kinds of things cross your mind. Whatever you do, wherever you go, there will always be crossroads. However, once you are a person seasoned by experience and accomplishment, you can elevate yourself to a higher level where there will be fewer crossroads. Life will become less complicated and finally there will be no more crossroads at all, only one simple direction.</p>
<p>If God exists, what do you think He will be like? Do you think God is mulling over many questions and decisions, or does He have one purpose and one goal? In the garden of Eden, God had one purpose and one goal but it was totally demolished. Then what happened? Did God get nervous, worrying, &#8220;What can I do? My one goal and purpose is shattered into pieces!&#8221; Did He start to worry and shake? No, He never thought about it a second time, or wondered, &#8220;What shall I do?&#8221; God is like an arrow which already has a set goal. What is that goal? Will he run for the United States presidency to show people how powerful He is? Or will He try to become a millionaire like Rockefeller to show how much money he has? Does God have a hungry stomach and work to get a good meal, or does He aspire to have some candy bar from the corner store, like a little child?</p>
<p>God must have some aspiration, some goal and ambition. What do you think it is? It is the realization of love. In God&#8217;s sight, what is the highest and most noble thing? What kind of love is most valuable for Him? True love. Are there several true loves or just one? Where can we find it? Can God love all by Himself and happily laugh and smile and joke with Himself? Will God say, &#8221;Here I am. My arms, legs and face are good&#8221;? What a crazy idea that is! The person who is trying to be joyful all by himself is ridiculous.</p>
<p>While you women are sitting in front of the mirror making yourself up do you say, &#8221;Oh, I&#8217;m so pretty. I love myself. My ears and nose are just right!&#8221; Are you completely intoxicated by your beauty, or would you rather have someone else praise your beauty? Of course, you wish that someone else would come and say, &#8220;Hey, your face is beautiful.&#8221; Why do you act like that? Where does that characteristic desire comes from? Do you resemble your parents or friends in that way? No, those are God&#8217;s traits and characteristics. God cannot sit in front of the mirror admiring Himself.</p>
<p>No matter how big a hand God has He still wants to touch the beautiful features of others. He wants to appreciate the beauty coming from His object, not from Himself. God&#8217;s vision is infinite and He can see through everything in the universe, yet even with that vision God wants to behold some loved one, no matter how small he may be. God has infinite hearing and He can listen to all the incredible sounds of the universe, yet God aspires to hear the sound of love. God can speak with authority that can create and destroy the universe. His word has that power, yet God wants to use His mouth to whisper love.</p>
<p>God has five senses. With His eye He wants to look at the beauty of love; He would like to smell a loving smell; He would like to taste a loving taste; He would like to hear loving voices and [ovine music: He wants to touch a loving object. That is God&#8217;s sole aspiration. If God is not that kind of God and His aspiration is only for power or money, what a tasteless God He would be. He would taste like an African desert, all vast and powerful but without beauty.</p>
<p>Are you looking for someone you can love and from whom you can receive love? We resemble God and more than anything else we want to use our five senses to express and appreciate love. What is the definition of heaven and hell? Heaven is the place where you become joyful centering upon God, serving Him and dwelling with Him. Hell is where you are sad and tragic centering upon Satan. The master of heaven is God. What is He like? Does He welcome the man who brings money, knowledge or power with Him? No, God is looking for something else. Those who are relying on those things will be like pebbles in the Kingdom of Heaven. God is looking for the joy of love, for someone whom He can love and who will bring Him something to be loved.</p>
<p>What is hell? Hell is the place where money and power are valued and where you yourself become the powerful center. We want to give and receive love so that we can feel joy. Directly opposite to that way of life is hell, where people crush others in order to make themselves kings. Even though someone ends up in hell he doesn&#8217;t lose the original desire to receive love; that trait will remain even in hell. Even those in hell know what the true aspiration is, and because they cannot achieve it there they live in agony and torture.</p>
<p>In heaven you yearn for love and you can fulfill it. You can receive God&#8217;s love and give love to God, over and over without limitation. That is heaven. Heaven is really wonderful and good, so much so that even if you say thousands of times that it is good you can never truly express how good it is. In heaven you can live intoxicated in love. When a wave of that love hits you, you are suddenly electrified. A dozing person wakes up and his vision, hearing and sense of smell are sharpened and he will be whispering of the beauty of love for thousands of years. The story of love will never end. Even though every organ of your body is fully active and functioning perfectly, still you feel you want more love. You can become a drunkard of love.</p>
<p>The love God is speaking about and trying to give is profound, infinite love. The love which is worthy of God is not cheap, hippie love. Is there any good love in today&#8217;s world?</p>
<p>I&#8217;m sure that in your life you have come to several crossroads and had to make many different choices. You probably took one road and came to a dead-end; then you came back and started on another road but found another dead-end. No matter where you turned, you found no satisfaction. I&#8217;m sure that in your life you thought you could accomplish much, but soon you became disillusioned and ended up in a deadlock instead.</p>
<p>What are you aspiring to? Maybe the best human aspiration is to get a Ph. D. from Harvard. America is the land of opportunity, so why not become a billionaire? Is that your dream, or would you rather become so powerful that everyone has to yield to your wishes? What is your true aspiration? Our goal is the same as God&#8217;s-true love. How patient can you be until you find the love you are seeking? Is it an easy goal to attain? Can you just sit down and call for love to come to you? Are you searching for cheap love or noble love? Is true love everywhere to be found and easy to have in America today? Can true love be found by taking the road of the hippies with free sex and immorality, or in a place like this which has only a cold concrete floor?</p>
<p>Where is a true man most likely to be found, with rich people or poor people? When you see the structure of our society, do you think the upper, middle or lower class would be more likely to have a true man or true love&#8217;! Does true love start with crowning glory in the highest place, or in the lowest possible place and then work its way up?</p>
<p>Starting in the lowest possible place is the most difficult of all because there you are plunging into an animal-like world, trying to make true love understood there. A beast can never understand true love. You have to demonstrate love over and over again so that it will finally be understood by those people. That&#8217;s what we mean when we talk about going to the lowest level.</p>
<p>True love comes into being when you practice the highest possible love in the lowest possible place. There you deal with impossible people and try to raise them into the highest possible people by showing them the highest possible standard. There is where true love can be found and can start.</p>
<p>Would you prefer having true love or cheap love? Would you rather submit to the demands of true love from the very beginning, or only the last 20 percent of your life? A person who thinks he is clever might prefer taking the easy way. That is why Jesus said that for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven is far more difficult than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. In the Orient we say the ear of the needle. Jesus meant that it would be practically impossible, even if the rich man lost all his wealth and sank into poverty. If a poor man could easily enter heaven, why would a rich man never be likely to make it? Once a person becomes self-centered and arrogant, even though he may falter and become penniless he will usually remain selfcentered. That quality will not quickly vanish. Poor people, however, have flexibility. Because they have nothing, they are more willing to go anywhere and do anything.</p>
<p>Is God seeking love through animals or through man? What is the true man that God would seek then? Do you think your standard of a true man is the same as God&#8217;s? There must be a definition for the true man whom God is seeking, but first we must know what the true God is like. We can say that God is eternal, unchanging and absolute, but actually it is all contained in one simple sentence: God is the one who possesses true love Himself, and is searching after His true object. God possesses true love Himself and demonstrates it first.</p>
<p>God&#8217;s true love means one of two things: that He only loves Himself and is working for His own glory, or that He forgets Himself completely and only works for the well-being of the entire creation. Which is true love? Visualize God going after this fallen world. Is He coming with joy, laughing every day and calling &#8220;Here is true love. All my fallen children, please come&#8221;? Or is He grieving, going after fallen man with tears? Why is the true God the one who is seeking His children with tears?</p>
<p>It is significant that tears come to our eyes on two different occasions-when we are utterly happy and joyful, and when we are utterly sad and sorrowful. God has been crying as a broken-hearted God. When He suddenly finds absolute joy, will He start laughing or keep crying? imagine lovers who have been separated by war, tearfully searching in hopes of finding each other. They shed tears because of sorrow at having lost each other, but suddenly upon finding each other their tears of become tears of joy and they cry even harder.</p>
<p>Then in what circumstances does God want to meet His loved ones? God will meet His loved ones in a tearful place, in a tearful way. If you are absolutely sorrowful and are shaking with sobs then you are not only shedding tears, but water is coming from your nose and mouth as well. Have you ever cried in that fashion? If you have never experienced such tears, you have not yet tasted true love. If your expression of tragic sorrow is so deep that it cramps your insides and almost chokes you, in the moment you find your long-lost loved one, what happens? The shock of his return might be so dramatic that you would pass out! That is truly a dramatic encounter. Is that the most dramatic love of all, or is it still not quite at the center of true love?</p>
<p>When you know God&#8217;s true characteristics do you think He is a God of glory sitting on a throne looking down on the world, happily dispensing His blessings? So far, the Christian world has described this kind of benevolent God, but we in the Unification Church are not looking for such a God. We are looking for the God who is desperately looking for a dramatic encounter with His loved ones. When God is heartbroken and sorrowful and tearfully searching for His family He has no time to think of Himself and He certainly doesn&#8217;t worry about His own fame or honor.</p>
<p>God looks very miserable in His search for true love, but that God is truly noble and loving. No one could see God that way and scoff, &#8220;What kind of God are you? How can you be so miserable and foolish?&#8221; A God of that heart must be praised for giving Himself in an utterly sacrificial way for the sake of His children.</p>
<p>Imagine a loving couple who truly care for each other unselfishly. If suddenly the wife dies then her husband is completely heartbroken and really cries. If that man happens to be the President of America, do you think the citizens will say, &#8221; What kind of man are you? As the President how can you show such deep sorrow?&#8221; Will people criticize him for showing his genuine grief at the loss of his wife? No. That pure expression of love is a thing to be praised.</p>
<p>We said we are working toward better and higher goals. What are they? The best goal is the desire to be wherever true love can be found. We cannot find true love in the place of glory, however, because God never found it there. We must find it in a tragic situation. There are many roads meeting at the crossroads. How can we distinguish whether a certain road is wrong and not leading to the ultimate goal? We look at every road from the point of view of true love. If true love doesn&#8217;t come alive on a particular road you won&#8217;t find any satisfaction and you&#8217;ll know it is the wrong direction.</p>
<p>When we look at history from the point of view of God&#8217;s dispensation, what way of life did Jesus Christ live? He lived the life of the cross and was finally crucified. For whom did he die? Did he die on the cross aspiring to become a Roman emperor or governor of Israel? No, he died gaining salvation for others. All his effort was only to save people.</p>
<p>If a child is drowning, a parent jumps into the water to save his child and will even die in his place. What kind of love is that? It is sacrificial, true love. Suppose a friend is drowning and another friend saves him and dies in his place. What kind of friend is that? Of course, he is a true friend. Is this the same on the national level? It America is sacrificial in trying to save a small nation such as Vietnam, does the same theory apply? Does the phrase &#8220;true nation&#8221; apply to America?</p>
<p>Where is the Unification Church? Established religions have lots of money, honor and fame, but all of a sudden the Unification Church has emerged and challenged them, saying, &#8220;We want to go in a completely different direction.&#8221; Usually churches take a collection at service on Sunday mornings and a devout Christian tithes one tenth of his income, keeping his home and whatever extra money he needs. We don&#8217;t have any extra money, however. We go out to raise money, giving our blood, sweat and labor to save the world. Just like Jesus, we want to give ourselves to save the world and in the process we are willing to sacrifice and to die. We know how to live comfortably like anyone else, but we gave that life up. We are here to sacrifice. We live the lowest standard of life and eat humble meals. We don&#8217;t spend money but work hard, and the fruit of that labor is given for the sake of the world.</p>
<p>Many parents criticize me and the Unification Church, saying we are not even feeding the young people well, that their standard of living is as low as a labor camp. They truly misunderstand. You know how to live well and eat well. We all know how to be luxurious. Let the world live that way. We don&#8217;t do it because we are willing to sacrifice for the sake of the world. The sacrificial way of life that was established by Jesus is now embraced by the Divine Principle. We are the people who forget ourselves and cry out for others, praying for heaven to bless them. We want to be in the position to give ourselves up for that purpose. We choose that way of life.</p>
<p>We want God to tremble with wrath at seeing us work hard and yet be misunderstood and persecuted by the world. God will say, &#8220;All right, you Moonies. I am here and 1 will champion you.&#8221; We can evoke such heartfelt passion in the heart of God. As I said, God is coming down to humanity in a tearful, heartbroken way. The moment He meets the Unification Church is the moment He truly has hope, comfort and encouragement. God came all the way down and has finally found people who understand Him. Here He has true comrades and champions and for the first time in history God feels comforted. When God sees that the suffering of the Unification Church is more than His own, His heart will be moved. That is the way of life we choose.</p>
<p>In a way we are one step ahead of God. He is coming down with a certain expectation, but we want to give God a shock of joy. When He meets you, let Him find someone who suffers and is more sorrowful than Himself. Then He will be comforted. God will want to champion you and comfort you and will no longer be sad. Let us surprise him by comforting His heart.</p>
<p>In our way of life have you come so far that you are able to totally forget about yourself and be crazy for the mission, crazy about comforting God ? That was precisely Jesus&#8217; life. In the Bible we read that Jesus cried out on the cross, &#8220;Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani,&#8221; which means, &#8220;My God, My God, why has thou forsaken me?&#8221; I feel this prayer was out of place. God never really forsook him; the moment Jesus was crucified God&#8217;s work of 4,000 years in the Old Testament and His dream of erecting His kingdom were shattered. At that moment God was even more sorrowful than Jesus. His dream and goal to erect His kingdom on earth was lost. At that time, God could not bear to hear His own son say, &#8220;Why has thou forsaken me?&#8221; It was too cruel.</p>
<p>Jesus&#8217; mission was left undone here on earth and when he comes back at the Second Advent he will restore that prayer. This time He will totally comfort God. That is the role of the Unification Church. We know it is not an easy task but we set the goal that high because at least God will recognize our desire and say, &#8220;This is exactly what I have been waiting for. I&#8217;m surprised and comforted by it.&#8221; Demonstrating that desire is the role of the Unification Church. Do you have the urge and ambition to do it? Do you feel the excitement of it? Just make up your mind and set your goal. Don&#8217;t be wishy-washy about it. You have to discipline and train yourself, and even if it takes five or ten years doesn&#8217;t make any difference. Be determined to do it.</p>
<p>Since your goal is already set very high, you always know when you don&#8217;t reach it. Repent on those days, saying, &#8220;God, I&#8217;m sorry about today. I really wanted to come much closer to the goal today but I failed you. Please forgive me. I will do it tomorrow.&#8221; That&#8217;s the way you should pray.</p>
<p>Some day you may be witnessing when some big guy strides up to harass you, yanking your necktie and snapping, &#8221; You stupid Moonie.&#8221; At that moment perhaps you can&#8217;t stand the difficulty any more and you reply, &#8220;Yes, I&#8217;m a Moonie. So what?&#8221; Then you come back and pray, &#8220;God, I&#8217;m sorry. That was not your expectation. You want me to do better than that, don&#8217;t you?&#8221;</p>
<p>The next day may find you having to repent again. When you set your goal very high you cannot reach it easily and every day you repent. That&#8217;s a beautiful thing. Every day is a new day and a new beginning. You have a lifelong journey and every day is a day of repentance. That&#8217;s a beautiful life to live. That is far better than feeling, &#8220;Now I&#8217;m the leader and I give the directions around here.&#8221; The other way is a far more beautiful way of life.</p>
<p>God has never boasted, &#8220;I&#8217;m Almighty God so you have to listen to me.&#8221; Then how could we who are trying to comfort that heartbroken God say that we are somebody? We have not come that far yet. The person who repents every day makes progress, even without knowing it. Anyone who thinks he is a highstandard Moonie and a good example for others has already stopped growing. Would you like to go the road of repentance?</p>
<p>I want you to realize that even after lifelong repentance no one will have paid his debt. On the road of repentance every day is a new beginning. That is the road of your very own cross, on which you are going only upwards and will never fall down. Many times Jesus secluded himself in the mountains, fasting and praying tearfully. Even for him every day was a new day of repentance. That&#8217;s the one sure way you can guarantee you will make progress and never falter.</p>
<p>Today my topic concerns the crossroad of life and death. What crossroad do we take? We can choose many, but let&#8217;s take only one-the road of the cross. Another way is the road of selfishness. There is a road for the benefit of your home and another for your country. American citizens can be classified into three categories: those who live for themselves, those who live for the well-being of their own family, and those patriots who are trying to advance the cause of the nation. Where do the majority of Americans belong? Maybe more than 90 percent are self-centered. Who is going to be responsible for the homes and nation of such people?</p>
<p>The road of unselfishness is God&#8217;s road and you can reach Him only by going in this direction. Because of self-centeredness there is a barrier between God and America. Can Americans find God? Then is this the kingdom of heaven or hell? The logical conclusion is that 90 percent of Americans are living in hell. The fact is that Americans today are proud of their civilization, but do you know what kind of civilization you have? It is a jungle which is seething with all kinds of criminality and immorality. We are desperately trying to get out of that jungle. Everyone&#8217;s mind has been contaminated there. to the point where they sometimes feel very comfortable and accustomed to living even in such a wretched jungle.</p>
<p>Where do you want to live, here in America or in Africa?? Africa may have a physical jungle, but perhaps Africans live a very simple and unselfish life, thinking more about their own families and tribes and nation than about themselves. lf that is the case, do you think it is better or worse than America? If it is better then naturally you would want to live in Africa.</p>
<p>You have been programmed by a contaminated world and become accustomed to it. Selfishness is everywhere-in the homes, nations and even religions. Even religion has not survived in purity. America was founded by people of great faith, but today&#8217;s churches are broken down. America had strong families who built a righteous nation, but all that is breaking down. If the nation is crumbling, what is its destiny? The ultimate consequence can only be destruction and despair, and there will be no hopeful future left. If America continues on this path then not only this nation but the rest of the world will crumble. Furthermore, by continuing this way of life, America will make God&#8217;s work fail. America is going over the cliff and someone must come to apply the brakes and stop it.</p>
<p>We have come here to clear the forest. We must revitalize this country&#8217;s mainstay, which is religion, and give it a new tradition. We are confronting a great tidal wave but we will push it back. This nation has been pursuing an abnormal way so we are here to apply the brakes and turn it around 180 degrees. When you push hard on the brakes of a fast-moving car, what happens? The steering wheel shakes and turns and it is difficult to control the vehicle. In this case, however, a strong capable person controls the steering wheel.</p>
<p>This is the crossroad of life and death. The road of life is really the way of death, while the road of death is really the way of life. lt is practically impossible to change a place of death into a place of life, and merely surviving requires a desperate struggle, but we will not give up or die. We will suffer and overcome death and turn it into life.</p>
<p>America has a very promiscuous society in which men and women have a free lifestyle and can do anything. It is not easy to bring them into the Unification Church and try to discipline them. In this society full of temptations we do many things alone, but you must keep yourselves pure. That one effort alone is like a life-and-death struggle. I know more than anyone else what kind of effort you are making. Some fail but most of you are successful. By the age of thirty most Americans may have been married three or four times, but you are withstanding temptation and sustaining your purity up to that age. In the everyday world you can make a girl friend in one night; with an absolute stranger you can do all kinds of crazy things overnight. But here even the blessed husbands and wives sometimes have few opportunities to be together. This kind of discipline takes a drastic effort and you feel that you are practically dying, but I want you to know that you are truly living for eternity.</p>
<p>I want you to understand that I am not unreasonable or dumb, but am really smart. You may think I don&#8217;t know anything about America. Wrong. I see right through it into every facet of society, far more than you Americans do. I ask you to do what seems almost totally unreasonable, but do you think I do this without realizing what it takes? I understand this is the best way for you to survive and become the leaders who can set the new tradition in order to turn this nation upside down and right side up again. That&#8217;s the only way we can do it.</p>
<p>Finding your mate isn&#8217;t easy in our Church. A great deal of suffering and indemnity is behind it. The more suffering you experience and indemnity you pay, the more the direction of your life will become obvious and you will not feel that you are losing anything. Many parents are trying to disrupt the Unification Church way of life and stop their children from being blessed. However, you are going to the opposite extreme, saying, &#8220;Father, I want to marry an Oriental woman. I want to have an Oriental husband.&#8221; You completely shock established white society.</p>
<p>Our way of life of is one of always overcoming. There are powers working against our Church, but we know how to overcome them. When society opposes us, we overcome it and then we&#8217;ve won that society. When the nation and world come against us, we overcome them and then we&#8217;ve won them all over. Your parents and family in particular come against you only because they misunderstand; when you finally overcome their objection, you&#8217;ve won them.</p>
<p>God can promise one thing: If you treasure your precious blessing, your children will be far better than average. When your marriage is international, God will make certain that your descendants will be superior people and citizens of heaven. You must realize that we are not growing up in the ordinary way, or thinking only of marrying within our respective races. We are loving the people of the world, having international marriages because we love people of all races. Under those circumstances your children will truly be universal citizens.</p>
<p>If blessing had been given at the time of Jesus then perhaps only Jews would have been included. Now in our age, however, we spread the love of God among the five races of the world, white marrying yellow, black marrying white and black marrying yellow. Then your posterity will be even greater than the generations of Jesus. Do you have confidence in this?</p>
<p>If you have true love, can you say, &#8220;Well, there are quite a few Oriental women here but they are not Americanized and they speak very poor English. I should probably marry someone who is white.&#8221; ls that true love?</p>
<p>You have many things to love, such as your home and your country. How can you do all that by yourself? If you try to love everything, it is too much. You are only one person and cannot keep up with all that, so God offers a simple solution-love one thing-God. In that way you are already loving the nation and the world.</p>
<p>The spearhead of this one main arrow is your family nation and the world, with God on top of it all. When you love God you have already made it to your highest goal. Love God more than yourself, nation, and world. Love God more than anything else under the sun and you will be loving them all. Since we are committed to our way of life we don&#8217;t have much time to serve our brothers and sisters, our parents, or our hometown. We wish we could do it but we have no time because we spend all our energy doing just one thing: loving God and fulfilling His purpose. By doing so you have loved everyone.</p>
<p>If you have this connection to God, then all your work and everything you do will be a parallel to God&#8217;s trunk line. If you lose that line, however, no goal exists and you are like an arrow that has all kinds of different directions. Even though you try to straighten things out your whole life long, it will be impossible to do. Your family as well will have all kinds of setbacks which even a lifetime cannot straighten out. The same is true for the nation. Look at how different the policies of Nixon, Ford and Carter are. If a nation moves four years in one direction, then changes direction the next four years, that nation is on the road to death.</p>
<p>When you have your ultimate goal centered upon God, whatever you do shall mean life as an individual, family nation and world. This is the simplest formula Just do one thing at a time at your very best and everything else will be taken care of. Would you want to be foolish or wise? Do you think it is wise to go this way or not?</p>
<p>This morning can you say that no matter what, the God-centered way is your way? God is my goal and no matter what, even though my neck might be cut off tomorrow, I still will not change my goal. Is this your position? Walk that road just like God did. Our goal to save the world is the same as God&#8217;s. God gave Himself up for that purpose and we will do the same, living God&#8217;s way of life. Then we will never die.</p>
<p>Are we boasting or on the road to repentance? Our goal is repentance. There is no time to complain, to rest, or to get tired. That road is our life. As soon as you get on it, you see that it is an expressway and you go faster and faster. There are many crossroads but we choose only one, God&#8217;s way. We have set that goal and we are going to pursue it, triumph and ultimately be with God. Those who pledge that to God, raise your hands.</p>
