(1) Family life disintegrated. (2) Traditional ethical systems were ignored and discarded--"anything goes" became the prevailing attitude of the day. (3) Entertainment became perverse and immoral. (4) Vast amounts of money were spent on maintaining the military machine to defend the Empire. (5) The Empire’s economy collapsed.

We might well ask, "Is this history... or prophecy?" As history has continued to unfold, a series of empires claiming to be superpowers have emerged –each claiming to be the "last word," each boasting, "humanity has finally arrived (so to say) through us." The rubble of those empires serves as proof of the import of their claim to superpower.

We at Crossways International are driven by the conviction that we have to get people beyond "here a text, there a text, everywhere a text, text," and "here a story, there a story, everywhere a story, story." We have to do all in our power to help people understand the Bible’s one, big story that culminates in the establishing of God’s Eternal Superpower, God’s Kingdom, the Messianic Age.

Although the task of helping people grasp the Bible’s "big story" seems daunting, it can be done--as 25 years of experience at Crossways International have taught us. People can catch on to the fact that we live on a tiny planet in a vast universe and make use of an amazing body that we did not make and do not own. We can be helped to see that God’s Eternal Superpower is the only thing that makes sense in our confused, stumbling world. It makes sense in that it calls us to joyous citizenship in a back-to-front, upside-down Kingdom in which what matters is not how much we accumulate and enjoy, but how much we serve God and others as believers in, and followers of, Jesus the Messiah.

And, yes! People can learn from history and personal experience that C.S. Lewis was so very right when he wrote that "there is no neutral ground in the universe"--for "every square inch is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan." And although the thought of the satanic realm bemuses many people, the deadly truth is that the "satanic" is every spirit, power, institution, or pressure that sidetracks us from living to serve God and others into serving ourselves. Simply put, there is no secular realm.

Present history points powerfully to the subtle strategies of the demonic that gather people around a banner that boasts, "Blessed! Rich! Successful! Superpower." We do well to contemplate Jesus' words in John 7:7, where He points out that the world hates Him because He testifies that its works are evil. Note well! The created world is not evil--but the works of fallen humanity living in it are, and continue to have a tragic ripple effect. There is good reason to believe that history is leading us in a direction that will force us to think through the wisdom of the Chinese proverb, "When a butterfly flaps its wings in China, that action affects the weather patterns around the planet." Each choice we make, no matter how insignificant it may seem, helps to build either the kingdoms of this world--or the Kingdom of God.

We would be delighted to have you call us on our toll-free number to discuss how we might work with you to open people’s eyes and change people’s hearts so that they might know the peace and joy of living in God’s Eternal Superpower as forgiven brothers and sisters of God’s Son, Jesus the Messiah. We make available a range of proven study materials from "alpha" to "omega" level. Call us during office hours and you will always get a real person.