The cover design depicts the spectrum from virtue to degradation that drives the cycles of every civilization throughout history: the rise from bondage to freedom and the fall back to bondage. Each figure represents Dean Clarence Manion’s ten-word portrait of the cycle of civilization. The ascent from bondage begins with the spiritual faith of a few, their belief and supreme confidence in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. This pivot of believers infuses the nation with courage, a willingness to pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to gain liberty and freedom. Freedom propels a nation to the summit of prosperity to supreme abundance, the opportunity for evangelism, and promotion of divine establishment—a client nation to God. But with abundance, a change. God, the source of all blessing, is forgotten. The descending cycle spirals downward through selfishness, complacency, apathy, dependency, and finally in complete degeneracy, back to bondage. The only hope for reaching and maintaining the pinnacle of human existence is to have faith and trust in the living hope, the Lord Jesus Christ.