The Pulpit Speaks: October 11, 1958

An article written by my father, the Rev. C. Thomas Paige, as it appeared in the Tri-State Defender on the date shown.

Sometime ago, I read one of the most interesting books it has been my pleasure to read. It was entitled “Mankind At The Crossroads,” by Henry C. Link. One of the oddities of this life is the fact that many of us constantly find ourselves at the crossroads.

Unconsciously, we move ourselves into positions that require the thought and power of a Being far superior to ours. This book goes on to show that, through the lack of constant vigilance, we have allowed ourselves to drift into a state where morals and spirituality mean nothing.

Suddenly, we have awakened to a new consciousness that we can not get anywhere in our present state. How tragic it is that in the very midst of a day when  we could mean so much to the world, we have allowed ourselves to drift into a world where only a refortification morally and spiritually will make us the kind of people that we are designed to be. Too many of us have come to the end of the long country road now, and we find ourselves at the intersection – for us to take the right or left turn calls for thought on all of our parts.

In every area of life, we find ourselves in a dilemma – we have gone, and gone on, until now we find ourselves clearly and leanly out of space. Many of the solutions we thought would work, we have learned – much to our dismay – may not work.

Long years ago, one of the prophets did things contrary to the will of God. His mind led him to believe that through flight, he could get away from God. After some running and walking, he found a certain amount of solace in the confines of a cave.

One day, he heard the voice of God asking of him, “What are you doing here?” Here a man find himself answerable to a just God and to himself for the crimes he had committed. Where does he go from here? Many of us are asking ourselves the very same question. Our social commitments are making certain requests of us, our economic status is making certain designs upon us, and our moral convictions are making the greatest demands upon us. We are torn between the powers that we are and what we should be, and not only are we constantly confused, but we find ourselves in the midst of confusion.

Our souls cry out for expressions on the higher levels while the more debased part of us want to make us behave and act like those beings minus moral and spiritual obligations. Somewhere down the line of human behavior, once more we must move from our little worlds of indecision into a positive plateau that will enable us to stand up and stand for those things that will make us the type of beings we should be.

Our lives of moral and spiritual indecision have led us to the place where we are now. We cannot allow ourselves to stand at the crossroads of indecision any longer. We must make up our minds that, in the midst of trials and tribulations, moral and spiritual fortifications are the order of the day. Once again we must realize that positive living must mean something to all of us.

Only a few moments ago I heard a man say, “All men could enter heaven if they thought with the mind of God and saw through the eyes of Jesus.” It is at this point that all of us must arrive. We are at the crossroads of life on every level. One writer of this day and generation has said, and said wisely, that we must love or perish. In light of all that is going on, it seems to me that many of us would rather perish than love.

The modern world conditions demand that we foresake our places on indecision on the crossroads and move into the area of human behavior where we will be able to stand for the things with the moral and spiritual latitude that will make all of us contributors to a bigger and better world.

Too long we have lingered at the crossroads of this world. We cannot linger much longer. Each day, the forces of evil are getting bigger and more powerful and our hours, days, weeks, months and years of indecision are making pigmies of us. This is no time for moral and spiritual pigmies. We must – here and now – rise up and be the giants that these days and times demand.

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