Ethnicity or Kingdom?

"3And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? 4And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 6And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8All these are the beginning of sorrows." Matthew 24

In this discourse on the end times Jesus makes a distinction between nations and kingdoms. Americans, in particular, have little understanding of the nature of a nation. Most Americans think the U.S.A is a nation. I believe this confusion began during the U.S. period of reconstruction after the War Between the States in an attempt to create unity but instead it has created confusion.

In verse 7 above the word nation comes from the Greek word ethne from which the modern word "ethnicity" is derived. A kingdom would be more closely related to a country or system of governance and not a people. We can literally read the text as thus," For ethnicity shall rise against ethnicity..."

I have never read or heard of any concept of "race" in antiquity. People of the same race can have different ethnic backgrounds. Native Americans identify themselves more by their nation than their race,i.e. the Navajo Nation, Cherokee Nation, Sioux Nation, etc. During the American War Between the States the North and South were not divided just politically but ethnically. They were peoples of 2 separate nations and these distinctions are still evident today in customs, language and traditions. The British subjects who settled New England came from different social class and different regions of Great Britain than those who settled in the Southern colonies. Same race different cultures.

It is my personal belief that the idea of "race" is not of God. God divided the people in the earth more specifically by ethnicity. Wherever we find the words, "nation" and "gentile" in the New Testament they both are the Greek word, "ethne". It is my contention that God's will is that ethnicity's remain unmingled as defined in the table of nations in Genesis 10 and Paul's sermon on Mars hill in Acts 17 where he states, "And hath made of one blood all nations(ethnicity's) of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation. " Nimrod was the first globalist attempting to break down these God ordained borders and the globalists today are doing the same thing. Politically correct globalism is radically hell bent on creating an ethnically neutral person. Pay attention to marketing and advertising and you will see more and more models whose ethnicity is unidentifiable. This is precisely what Nimrod was attempting to create and God confused their language at the tower of Babel. Language alone is proof that God never intended for ethnicity's to mix.

Christian, never forget that the ways of the world are not the ways of God. Popular culture and the globalist elite agenda of social engineering is NOT of God but invites the wrath of God even upon people who may be well intended. The path of good intentions can lead straight to hell. We must be ever vigilant in prayer and discerning of the age we live in lest we fall prey to deception.