RETIRED INSURANCE AGENT DESCRIBES `REAL PURPOSE OF LIVING'

Even as a youngster Ted DeMoss believed there was a God, a heaven and a hell. But it wasn't until years later that the Chattanooga, Tenn., businessman discovered that Jesus Christ died for his sins.

"It was then that I learned the real purpose of living," said DeMoss, guest speaker at the Mayors' Prayer Breakfast Monday at the Show Me Center.

The 10th annual prayer breakfast was sponsored by the Christian Business Men's Committee of Cape Girardeau and the mayors of Cape Girardeau and Jackson.

Mayors Al Spradling III of Cape Girardeau and Paul Sander of Jackson each welcomed the crowd of about 900. Stanley A. Grimm of Cape Girardeau, a Missouri Court of Appeals judge, served as master of ceremonies.

DeMoss told the crowd that his father was an immigrant, having come from Greece to the U.S. as a young lad.

"My father was 14 when he landed at Ellis Island," said DeMoss. "He couldn't speak the English language, and had one U.S. dollar in his pocket."

But his father landed a job that same day washing dishes in a restaurant for $1 a day.

"My father worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week for the next 50 years," said DeMoss. "He never set foot in a church."

The elder DeMoss was in the majority at the time. "Ninety-one percent of U.S. businessmen didn't set foot in churches at that time," said DeMoss.

"I never saw my father drunk, I never heard him curse, and he always kept his word," said DeMoss. "He never read the Bible, but he lived as if there were a god."

Through all these years Ted DeMoss believed that God, heaven and hell existed.

"When I found out years later that Jesus Christ died for my sins, it left me with a feeling of freedom," said DeMoss. "Since then I have been traveling the country to tell my story."

DeMoss joined the Navy when he was 17. During World War II he was a Navy pilot. He has logged more than 8,500 hours as a pilot.

"I fly a lot," said DeMoss. "I'm retired now, and I travel around the country telling my story of the purpose of life."

DeMoss today will be back home, where he will attend the Chattanooga Mayors' Prayer Breakfast. "I won't be speaking at that event," said DeMoss. "I'll be in the audience."

DeMoss travels as many as 2,000 miles a week and appears behind the podium three to four times a week. He has been a pilot for more than 50 years and has visited 75 countries.

He currently pilots a light, twin-engine plane to many of his engagements, including the one at Cape Girardeau.

For 29 years DeMoss worked in the life, accident and health insurance business in the Southeast. Before retiring a few years ago, he had 29 offices in fives state with more than 100 insurance salesmen.

He served as president of the Christina Business Men's Committee of USA for 14 years. He also serves on the CBMC International Board of Trustees.

He is author of a book, "The Gospel and the Briefcase."

DeMoss, who speaks off the cuff without notes, recalls a number of incidents. One was a final meeting with American naval officer Hyman George Rickover, a pioneer in the development of the U.S.S. Nautilus, a nuclear-powered submarine.

"I visited Admiral Rickover in the hospital a short while before his death in 1986," said DeMoss. Rickover, who was born in Poland and came to the U.S. at the age of 4 with his parents, wanted to know how you could be sure of what God wanted you to do, said DeMoss.20"He wanted to know what life all adds up to," said DeMoss.

This is the problem that faces a lot of people, said DeMoss.

"Jackie Gleason, one of my favorite comedians, said 11 days before his death that the one thing he wanted more than any other was "to go to Heaven when he died."

Gleason said on national television that "anyone with any sense knows there is a god, a Heaven and hell, and that anyone in his right mind would pick Heaven, although he (Gleason) said he didn't have a clue as to who goes where."

"I wrote Jackie Gleason a letter trying to explain who goes where," said DeMoss. "I don't know if he received it, but the letter didn't come back. Gleason died 12 days after being on that program."

As a young man, DeMoss said, "I would have echoed Gleason's remarks. I would not have known who goes where.

"Everyone should try to be good," said DeMoss. "The No. 1 goal of a person's life should be to be accepted by God."