Where did the Israelites perish? During the process of the forty-year wilderness course, the first generation died, but still the nation of Israelites did not perish. They were marching on to the promised land of Canaan, which was their hope. Then where did they perish? They perished after they had entered the promised land. What was the cause of their destruction? They were not able to unite with their leaders centering upon the Will of God, and they began to be influenced and absorbed by the environment. As a result, after they restored Canaan, the Israelites perished. They were divided into ten tribes of Israel in the North and two tribes of Judah in the South.

As I said, where did the Israelites perish? They perished after they had entered the promised land of Canaan. Therefore if you are to perish, where will it be? You have to clearly know that. I mean that you may perish in the position of having received the Blessing or you may perish after becoming Blessed families. You have to know that. The way of decline starts from the position of having received the Blessing. From these historical facts you have to understand the lesson, and with the mistaken past as a reference, you have to go over the way of decline and destruction in fulfilling your historic mission. Therefore, you should not make your daily life ordinary.

You have to develop from the position of today to the position of tomorrow, and then you have to march forward to further development. You are expected to form, starting from you, a new family, new tribe, new nation and new world. You must not repose at your current standard. To make further development toward tomorrow, you must be careful not to make your daily lives habitual. (April 12, 1986)

Therefore, you should not be influenced by the environment. The reason the Israelites perished, even though they had restored Canaan, was that they were influenced by their environment. As a result they became envious of the people who were eating good things and living a comfortable life. The men followed rich women of the gentiles. Also, they admired the power and knowledge of the gentiles. Will you need all the knowledge you have acquired, in the future? You won't need it. There is no need to study law or economics. In case Japan perishes, all Japanese law and Japanese economics will be destroyed.

Therefore, from now on, to accomplish your mission of doing God's Will, you have to make every effort to study theology. All of you who are gathered here were wrong in your thinking.

The Israelites perished in the land of Canaan, which means that even though I give you the Blessing it is possible that you may perish. But you must not perish. (April 12, 1986)