The Bible is losing its once-held prominence in the Western world. Even professing Christians seldom read God's Word.

What it does and does not say.

Here are some analogies to understand how the Bible can be unlocked.

How does God expect us to view and use His Word, the Bible? Consider some of these examples from the Scriptures:

Advertising executive and writer Bruce Barton called it The Book Nobody Knows. No other book is more important to you and your future.

You may have noticed something a little different on the cover of The Good News. We've added a subtitle that we think captures the essence of what The Good News is all about: A Magazine of Understanding

Over a 10-year period Anglican and Roman Catholic church-attendance figures are down in England and Wales.

Conservative American churches and political leaders seek to preserve the primacy of Christianity as well as give children daily reminders of right and wrong.

Reports from Johannesburg say a woman is raped every 17 to 28 seconds in South Africa. According to Interpol, these statistics make South Africa the rape capital of the world.

Left-of-center governments dominate much of Western and Central Europe. There are, however, signs of a movement toward the far right in some European states.

Support in Europe gathers for the creation of a European rapid-reaction military task force to deal with peacekeeping emergencies. France and Britain are the prime movers, but for divergent reasons.

You may remember the protest movements of the late 1960s.

More than 11 million children have been orphaned by the AIDS epidemic since it was first recognized in 1981, with another two million expected to be orphaned by the end of 2000, according to a recent United Nations report.

U.S. companies and governments will have spent a staggering $100 billion to prevent and repair problems related to the year 2000 (Y2K) technology problem from 1995 through 2001, according to the Commerce Department.

More than 50 million people have been infected with the AIDS virus, of whom 16.4 million have died, according to a recent United Nations report.

School administrators' decisions to distribute free condoms and other birth-control devices in schools have generated controversy in many Western nations.

It's no secret that American children spend a lot of time with TV, computers, music and video games.

What do Americans expect in the next 50 years? According to a poll by Pew Research Center, most folks have an optimistic outlook based on faith in technology, science, medicine and education.

Lest anyone think the potential nuclear nightmare is over, "Russia is a great power that possesses a nuclear arsenal," stated Russian President Boris Yeltsin in response to U.S. criticism to Russia's handling of the current conflict in separatist-minded Chechnya.