Ellul offers two broad reasons for the corruption of Christianity.

"Christians and the church have wanted an alliance with everything that represents power in the world. …. We must use [the] forces [in the world] in the interests of evangelism. Wealth and the various authorities receive recognition in this way and are put in the church's service" (p 20). Progressively, then, the church was led to see that it had to adapt the truth of Jesus Christ to different cultures. It refused to enter into open warfare with the religious, intellectual, and social trends within the empire. It abandoned the radicalism of Jesus and the prophets. It adapted its message to different cultures. It modified the content of the word entrusted to it. …. It adopted beliefs and customs alien to the gospel" (p 23).

"It seems to me that everything goes back to a phenomenal change in the understanding of revelation, namely, the transition from history to philosophy. …. All seek an answer by way of ontological thinking [see LaCugna's God For Us, (HarperSanFrancisco, 1993), pp 43,57, 82,91-2; Pelikan's The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600), (UCP, 1971), 50-5]. All regard the biblical text or known revelation as points of departure for philosophy" (p 23).

"The Bible was interpreted by the intellectual tools of Greek philosophy … [which introduced] among theologians the idea of the immortal soul. The belief was widespread in popular religion and it was integrated into Christianity. But it is a total perversion. … This idea completely contaminates biblical thinking, gradually replaces the affirmation of the resurrection, and transforms the kingdom of the dead into the kingdom of God" (ibid. p 25).

"The biblical stories were treated [and still are] as myths from which one had to draw some abstract, universal "thought"."

"When Jesus, following the Old Testament commandment, said that we must love God with all our mind, this must have confounded the philosophers [Thales, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Philo (ca 30BC - 45AD), then Plotinus (205-270), and the early Catholic theologians most influenced by these, e.g., Athanasius, Basil and the Gregorys, Augustine, Aquinas-and with influences from Arab mystics and Jewish kabbalists-confirm Ellul's conclusions]. How do we love God with our mind? How do we subordinate our thinking to a revelation of love, or God's love?" (p 26).

"Christianity became what one might call the structural ideology of this particular society. It ceased to be an explosive ferment calling everything into question in the name of truth that is in Jesus Christ" (p. 39).

"Very quickly the church found intolerable and inapplicable features in what Jesus Christ demanded and proclaimed. … First, he tells us to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. But how can anyone take this impossibility seriously?" (p 41)

"The freedom acquired in Christ presupposes perfect self-control, wisdom, communion with God, and love. It is an absolutely super-human risk. It devastates us by demanding the utmost in consecration. Free, we are totally responsible. We constantly have to choose. We are in constant danger of corruption. Freedom is indeed intolerable [See Erich Fromm's Escape from Freedom]. The work of expositors and moralists thus begins. Freedom in Christ will very soon be forgotten" (p 42).

[The biblical demand for perfection is from the Son of God (Mt 5:48). Omission of this mighty principle and law of God in Religion(s) casts followers and their leaders as not knowing the God of Scripture (Jn 8:19,38,41,44-45,47; 16:2-3)].

"[True Christianity] carries frightening social risks and is politically insulting to every form of power. … On every social level and in every culture, people have found it impossible to take up this freedom and accept its implications. This is the basic responsibility, the unanimous refusal of all people, which has resulted in the rejection of Christian freedom. … This is the conflict that gives rise to the incoherences of the Western world with its unceasing oscillation between dictatorship and revolution" (p 43).

Lucifer's (i.e., Satan's) history, typified in the ideological background to Tyre and Babylon, drives this world (Is 14:4-21; Ezk 28:1-19). Additional forces giving continuous birth and nutrition to this problem are illustrated in the first children of Adam and Eve.

CAIN AND ABEL-FOREWARNINGS OF HISTORY'S TRENDS
Genesis 4 recounts the birth of Cain and Abel and their preferred occupations, which seem to also reflect their characteristics implied in the way they did their work. Abel was a shepherd of sheep (keeper of sheep: ra'a, pasture, tend, graze; ro'eh, shepherd). The Hebrew implies he knew he was a pilgrim on the earth (Gn 4:2; but Heb 11:4,11 proves the point). With respect to Cain, the Hebrew wording suggests he was a servant of the earth (Cain was a tiller of the ground ['abad: servant, worshipper, labourer])-a farmer who worked hard on forcefully maximising crop production. Nevertheless, though these brothers in the flesh but not in spirit honoured the same God, in the same season, in the same way, Cain's offering was not accepted (Gn 4:4). Do any of us have religious envy and hatred for another who worships the same God in the same way (1Jn 1:7; 2:9-11; 4:20-21)?

When questioned about the murder of his brother, Abel, who had an intrinsically different understanding of religion, culture, and values-though raised in the same geographical area- Cain's angry reply was: Am I my brother's keeper (v 9)? This spirit of non-involvement in godly principles was imbedded in Cain's culture, which is contrary to what Mt 7:12 says: "Whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Lk 6:31; Mt 22:37-40). He had developed his own system of worship which reflected into everything he did. Cain inevitably institutionalized selfishness, envy, ideology, alienation, hatred and vengeance into his life. His self-made and demonic opinions, on which he refused to be questioned, were set in stone. In building the first city, named after his son, Enoch, (i.e., "dedicated"-to falsehoods), Cain set a firmer foundation for cultures based on lust and greed [Greed is good. Lust is good" (Is 5:20)] with values established in delusions and deception (see Jacques Ellul, The Meaing of the City, (Paternoster Press; [1970]; 1997); especially pp 9-13).

Two NT references speak of Cain.

1Jn 3:12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the Evil One and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. (Envy of the righteous, hatred for the good brings disasters).

Jude 11 Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

BABYLON-FORESHADOWINGS OF WORLD HISTORY
The first societies that foreshadowed man's history alienated from God were established by Nimrod, a renowned fighter and leader of rebellion against truth, whose first city was Babel (Gn 10:10). He was responsible for building Babel, Erech, Accad, Calneh, Nineveh, Reboth Ir, Calah-seven cities in ancient greater Mesopotamia. Babel, used some 224 times throughout the OT, has the Greek equivalent, Babylon. It signifies the gate of God, i.e., the way to the false god(s), also suggesting confusion and delusion through managed deception-as Plato recommended in his The Republic (Women and the Family, 2.459). Confusion, delusion, deception are monsters from the bellies of fear and terror-as are murder, rape, pillage and the condoning and tolerance of these evils. Babylon is also symbolic of the final neo-barbarian and world empire (Dan 7:7,23-25; Rev 17:1-18). Violence, wealth, misuse of knowledge and false ideology are its power tools, rather than godly peace and godly principles! If principle is not based on the truth of God's word, then it, like Cain's offering, is human judgment which creates its own first principles, and insistently asserts the Will to Power over others-namely, oppression and suppression (cf. Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra).

Scott Peck, in his People of the Lie, (Touchstone, 1983), says: "I have learned nothing in twenty years that would suggest that evil people can be rapidly influenced by any means other than raw power" (p 68). "The evil are "the people of the lie," deceiving others as they also build layer upon layer of self-deception" (p 66)-from a psychiatrist's perspective.

Correction or criticism of inherently evil people-for they are unable to self-criticize-appears as a threat of loss of self-made personality and seems to them a threat to their existence-for their minds are fed by delusions and lies, which bring death. Since they are adamantly above reproach, they defy any instruction contrary to their wishes (e.g., some of the worst examples are Cain, Judas, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao Tse-tung, Ceauescu, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, Slobadan Milosevic-about whom explanations follow). Some readers may recall film of the last days of the Rumanian dictators, the Ceauescus; this obdurate couple's insanity manifested itself until they were shot, as was the case with Mussolini, and as is inevitable with Milosevic. The real threat of massive force might delay evil intentions-hidden under layers of deceit-but repentance and living by biblical principles are ruthlessly denied by insistent ruinous choices and unrelenting evil desires. Perverse motives are disguised with numerous masks of charm, reliance on national myths, oaths of service to the people, appeals to sacrifice and paranoia, respect for ethno-centric culture, dictatorial benevolence. But such hearts are full of personal gain, supreme arrogance, lust for power, unrelenting deceit and all kinds of malevolence in the pursuit of such goals (see Peck, pp 69-84; also Gn 6:5,12; Jer 17:5,9; Ezk 28:15c-17a; Mk 7:21-23; Rom 8:7; Rev 21:8).

A current example of this is seen on TV screens, heard on radio, read in newspapers, magazines, and is the talk of people all over the earth: the war in Kosovo and the mercilessly- produced refugee crisis. The absence of the greatest first principles-larger self-sacrifice for righteous cause and full expression of love for neighbour as yourself-are ominously lacking. This current, multi-faceted crisis is illustrative of what is systemic in the whole world.

FORESHADOWINGS OF WORLD CHAOS
The sole super-power leading the world into the 21st century is the USA. The President, in his recent State of the Union message, made it clear that "Our leadership in the world is unrivalled." He spoke of "an America that leads the world to peace." It is true that no nation can make successful war against the unsurpassed military might of the USA, that America controls the IMF, the World Bank, NATO, the UNO and other worldwide power structures such as: Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Hollywood, Rock 'n Roll and pop music, Internet, pornography, etc., etc. This human world leader, with his distorted views of morality and biblical culture, says that America "must shape the global economy." The US House Judiciary committee described Bill Clinton, in the failed Articles of Impeachment, as having "undermined the integrity of his office," and as having "acted in a manner subversive of the rule of law and justice, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States" (Time, Dec 21, 1998; p 24). A Time essay by Lance Morrow (Feb 22, 1999; p 29) describes the President as "fairly sinister in his essence" and "a liar worthy of Oscars." Charles Krauthammer's essay (Time, Sept 28, 1998, p 104) says of him that "truth is whatever the public will buy" and that his "office is hollow." The fact that he is presently confronting a megalomaniac and psychopath leading the government in Belgrade, whom Elie Wiesel describes as "a criminal… butcher… a fanatic … [for whom] the end justifies the means" [Newsweek, April 12, 1999, p 2]-whose nationalistic culture nurtures distortions of history and Serbian myths (see http://www.kosovo.net/global/index.html, a Serbian web site)-is not good news, with the inevitable outcomes of greater ruin, chaos, and more uncertainties in the world. The land of Coca-Cola Global Culture increasingly thrives and gets precariously richer as it propagates vast illusions for the global village.
When the British law lords, (who should be renamed, lords of folly; I'm reminded of Barbara Tuchman's The March of Folly), recently decided that the former dictator of Chile, Augusto Pinochet, cannot be brought to account for crimes against humanity because of diplomatic immunity, they effectively sent a message to the world that murder by government leaders should not necessarily be brought before courts of justice. It is not surprising that mass murderers such as the Bosnian Serb general, Radko Mladic, Milosevic, his and other wild dogs of war, continue with crimes against humanity such as mass murder, rape, pillage, destruction of villages and towns. Perhaps we should be grateful that injustice has some consistency? After all, Idi Amin lives safely in Saudi Arabia and Jean-Claude Duvalier, the butcher of Haiti, lives under protection in France.

Isaiah 59:8, when carefully examined, tells us: They don't know the way of peace; there is no righteous decision-making [mishpat] in their entrenched paths [the Hebrew suggests 'in their beastly tracks']; they walk in perverted tracks-no one who walks in their paths can know peace. Do we comprehend Isaiah's vehement condemnation?
Luke 1:79 records John the Baptist's father, Zacharias, prophesying that Jesus Christ would give Light to those who sit in Darkness and in the shadow of death, and would guide our feet into the way of peace. Are we learning to be godly peacemakers?
Romans 3:16-18 shows the apostle Paul's impassioned use of Isaiah's prophecy: Destruction and misery are in their ways; the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. What is our level of reverence for God?

In giving a historical perspective Huntington says:

The complicated processes that led to intercivilizational wars in the former Yugoslavia had many causes and many starting points. Probably the single most important factor leading to these conflicts, however, was the demographic shift that took place in Kosovo. Kosovo was an autonomous province within the Serbian republic with the de facto powers of the six Yugoslav republics except the right to secede [These provinces were Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia (including Kosovo, which was granted autonomy in 1974, and Vojvodina), and Slovenia]. In 1961, its population was 67 percent Albanian Muslim and 24 percent Orthodox Serb. The Albanian birth rate, however, was the highest in Europe, and Kosovo became the most densely populated area in Yugoslavia. By the 1980s, close to 50 percent of the Albanians were less than 20 years old. Facing those numbers, Serbs emigrated from Kosovo in pursuit of economic opportunities in Belgrade and elsewhere. As a result, in 1991, Kosovo was 90 percent Muslim and 10 percent Serb. Serbs, nonetheless, viewed Kosovo as their "holy land" or "Jerusalem," the site, among other things, of the great battle on June 28, 1389, when they were defeated by the Ottoman Turks and, as a result, suffered Ottoman rule for almost five hundred centuries [to 1913. Though Serbian extremist nationalism sees Kosovo as its Jerusalem-for they were crucified for Christianity by those pagan Ottomans-they nonetheless left their precious Jerusalem for spiritually-enhancing economic opportunities!].

By the late 1980s, the shifting demographic balance led the Albanians to demand that Kosovo be elevated to the status of a Yugoslav republic. The Serbs and the Yugoslav government resisted, afraid that once Kosovo had the right to secede it would do so and possibly merge with Albania. In March 1981, Albanian protests and riots erupted in support of their demands for republic status (p 260). According to Serbs, discrimination, persecution, and violence against Serbs subsequently intensified. "In Kosovo from the 1970s on," observed a Croatian Protestant, "… numerous violent incidents took place which included property damage, loss of jobs, harassment, rapes, fights, and killings." As a result, the "Serbs claimed that the threat to them was of genocidal proportions and that they could no longer tolerate it." The plight of the Kosovo Serbs resonated elsewhere within Serbia and in 1986 generated a declaration by 200 leading Serbian intellectuals, political figures, religious leaders and military officers, including editors of the opposition liberal journal Praxis, demanding that the government take vigorous measures to end the genocide of Serbs in Kosovo. By any reasonable definition of genocide, this charge was greatly exaggerated, although according to one foreign observer sympathetic to the Albanians, "during the 1980s Albanian nationalists were responsible for a number of violent assaults on Serbs, and for the destruction of some Serb property."

Comment: Too many intellectuals seem to be people with high IQs but low intellect incapable of grasping biblical principles!

All this aroused Serbian nationalism, and Slobadan Milosevic saw his opportunity. In 1987, he delivered a major speech at Kosovo appealing to Serbs to claim their own land and history. "Immediately a great number of Serbs-communist, noncommunist and even anticommunist-started to gather around him, determined not only to protect the Serbian minority in Kosovo, but to suppress the Albanians and turn them into second-class citizens. [How amazing it is that avowed atheistic communists can become nationalistic for Christianity but without Christian conversion and values! It's also amazing how Christians in political leadership can lead with anti-Christian principles!] Milosevic was soon acknowledged as a national leader." Two years later, on 28 June 1989, Milosevic returned to Kosovo together with 1 million to 2 million Serbs to mark the 600th anniversary of the great battle symbolizing their ongoing war with the Muslims.

The Serbian fears and nationalism provoked by the rising numbers and power of the Albanians were further heightened by the demographic changes in Bosnia. In 1961, Serbs constituted 43 percent and Muslims 26 percent of the population of Bosnia-Herzegovina. By 1991, the proportions were almost exactly reversed: Serbs had dropped to 31 percent and the Muslims had risen to 44 percent. During these thirty years Croats went from 22 percent to 17 percent. Ethnic expansion by one group led to ethnic cleansing by the other. "Why do we kill children?" one Serb fighter asked in 1992 and then answered with, "Because someday they will grow up and we will have to kill them." Less brutally, Bosnian Croatian authorities acted to prevent their localities from being "demographically occupied" by the Muslims (p 261).

[With the] downfall of the communist regimes in the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia … [people] could no longer identify as communists, Soviet citizens, or Yugoslavs, and desperately needed to find new identities. They found them in the old standbys of ethnicity and religion. The repressive but peaceful order of states committed to the proposition that there is no god was replaced by the violence of peoples committed to different gods [It is no wonder then that Serb soldiers and police, acting as agents of murder, dispossess Albanians and take away their passports and identity papers].

… The first fairly-contested elections in almost every former Soviet and Yugoslav republic were won by political leaders appealing to nationalist sentiments and promising vigorous action to defend their nationality against other ethnic groups (p 262).

Historically, communal identities in Bosnia had not been strong; Serbs, Croats, and Muslims lived peacefully together as neighbors; intergroup marriages were common; religious identifications were weak. Muslims, it was said, were Bosnians who did not go to the mosque, Croats were Bosnians who did not go to the cathedral, and Serbs were Bosnians who did not go to the Orthodox church. Once the broader Yugoslav identity collapsed, however, these casual religious identities assumed new relevance, and once fighting began they intensified [because people suddenly found conversion, which of course brings large-scale hatred and violence-for such is the history of Christianity and Islam as these politically-motivated religions provide their national identities]. Multicommunalism evaporated and each group increasingly identified itself with its broader cultural community and defined itself in religious terms. Bosnian Serbs became extreme nationalists, identifying themselves with Greater Serbia, the Serbian Orthodox Church, and the more widespread Orthodox community [which are, as we should all recognize, exalted bastions of communal peace and the finest Christian principles, totally-removed from worldly political ideology-and a prime feeder of the crises]. Bosnian Croats were the most fervent Croatian nationalists, considered themselves to be citizens of Croatia, emphasized their Catholicism, and, together with the Croats of Croatia, their identity with the Catholic West [Praise God and pass the ammunition!].

The Muslims' shift toward civilizational consciousness was even more marked. Until the war got underway, Bosnian Muslims were highly secular in their outlook, viewed themselves as Europeans, and were the strongest supporters of a multicultural Bosnian society and state. This began to change, however, as Yugoslavia began to break up. Like the Croats and Serbs, in the 1990 elections the Muslims rejected the multicommunal parties, voting overwhelmingly for the Muslim Party of the Democratic Action (SDA) led by Izetbegovic. He is a devout Muslim, was imprisoned for his Islamic activism by the communist government, and in a book, The Islamic Declaration, published in 1970, argues for "the incompatibility of Islam with non-Islamic systems. There can be neither peace nor coexistence between the Islamic religion and the non-Islamic social and political institutions." When the Islamic movement is strong enough it must take power and create an Islamic republic. In this new state, it is particularly important that education and the media "should be in the hands of people whose Islamic moral and intellectual authority is indisputable" (pp 268-9) [Is he a hero for Islam?].

… Most important, the Bosnian army became Islamized, with Muslims constituting over 90 percent of its personnel by 1995. …

In fault-line wars [i.e., where there is a geographic area with various ethnic groups claiming all or some of the territory], each side has incentives not only to emphasize its own civilizational identity but also that of the other side. In its local war, it sees itself not just as fighting another local ethnic group but fighting another civilization [Survival of the fittest. The sword must uphold ideology and national identity. Christianity must be made to uphold nationalism. God is dead; long live bestiality!] … In the early 1990s, as the Orthodox religion and the Orthodox Church again became central elements in Russian national identity [just as it upheld the brutality of tsarism], which "squeezed out other Russian confessions, of which Islam is the most important," the Russians found it in their interest to define the war between clans and regions in Tajikstan and the war with Chechnya as parts of a broader clash going back centuries between Orthodoxy and Islam, with its local opponents now committed to Islamic fundamentalism and jihad and the proxies for Islamabad, Tehran, Riyadh, and Ankara.

In the former Yugoslavia, Croats saw themselves as the gallant frontier guardians of the West against the onslaught of Orthodoxy and Islam. The Serbs defined their enemies not just as Bosnian Croats and Muslims, but as "the Vatican" and as "Islamic fundamentalists" and "infamous Turks" who have been threatening Christianity for centuries [And so 'more congratulations to the ideologies of Christianity' as Jacques Ellul might have said]. "Karadzic," one Western diplomat said of the Bosnian Serb leader, "sees this as the anti-imperialist war in Europe. He talks about having a mission to eradicate the last traces of the Ottoman Turkish empire in Europe." … The conflict, … "increasingly assimilated the characteristics of a religious struggle, defined by three great European faiths-Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Islam, the confessional detritus of the empires whose frontiers collided in Bosnia" (pp 270-1).

As a fault-line war intensifies, each side demonizes its opponents, often portraying them as subhuman, and thereby legitimates killing them. "Mad dogs must be shot," said Yeltsin in reference to the Chechen guerillas. "These ill-bred people have to be shot … and we will shoot them," said Indonesian General Try Sutrisno, referring to the massacre of East Timorese in 1991. The devils of the past are resurrected in the present: Croats become "Ustashe"; Muslims, "Turks"; and Serbs, "Chetniks." Mass murder, torture, rape, and the brutal expulsion of civilians all are justifiable as communal hate feeds on communal hate. The central symbols and artifacts of the opposing culture become targets. Serbs systematically destroyed mosques and Franciscan monasteries while Croats blew up Orthodox monasteries. As repositories of culture, museums and libraries are vulnerable, with the Sinhalese security forces burning the Jaffna public library, destroying "irreplaceable literary and historical documents" related to Tamil culture, and Serbian gunners shelling and destroying the National Library in Sarajevo. The Serbs cleanse the Bosnian town of Zvornik of its 40,000 Muslims and plant a cross on the site of the Ottoman tower they have blown up which had replaced the Orthodox church razed by the Turks in 1463. In wars between cultures, culture loses (pp 271-2).

So what can a Christian-a disciple of Jesus Christ-do?

WHAT IS REAL IDENTITY?
The aggressive assertions of national and ethnic identity are sources of tribalism, hidden and open hatreds, barbarism of all kinds, murder and war. Myths, vain legends and distortions of history are common in the attempts to validate ethnic and national identity and to provide cultural superiority. The consequent outcomes are debasement-even extermination-of resistant ethnic groups regarded contemptuously and derisively as inferior. Romans 13:10 says that "Love does no harm to one's neighbour!" Serbian religious leaders back the hatred against those who happen to be Islamic, especially those who were Serbian and were converted by the Turks after 1389. My comments, however, should not be construed as absolving Albanians, Bosnians, Croats and others of crimes against humanity and crimes against every kind of righteousness. Destroying your neighbour's apple tree is not quite the same as raping and murdering your neighbour's daughter. There are scales of enormity in evils.

The Bible offers true identity to all who hunger and thirst after God's righteousness or who in future will do so (see and compare 1Cor 15:22-25; Rev 20:7-8; Ezk 37:1-28; Rev 21:9-27; and especially Heb 11:8-10,13-16, which speaks of the faithful saints as being sojourners and pilgrims on the earth who look to a homeland Jesus Christ will provide for the resurrected saints). Cultural superiority can only be attributed to God (and His Kingdom), who, by His Spirit and grace, provides the disciples of the Son of God with unsurpassed values and the means to live by them. These godly righteousnesses are summarised in two great principles:

Mt 22:34-40 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37 Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Is 56:10-12 gives explanation:

His watchmen (i.e., all responsible for national welfare; contra Ezk 3:17; 33:1-10) are blind, they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber (i.e., inactive about righteousness) 11 Yes, they are greedy dogs who never have enough. They are shepherds who cannot understand; they all look to their own way, every one for his own gain, from his own territory. 12 "Come," one says, "I will bring wine, and we will fill ourselves with intoxicating drink (i.e., discourse in and spread spurious and erroneous ideologies; see Is 28:7); for tomorrow will be as today, and much more abundant."

With increasing disillusionment in Christianity, those who should be fed by the Word of God are as lost sheep (see Mt 15:7-9,24; 10:6; 24:11-12,24)-the shepherds have failed them, as Jer 23:1-4,9-20, Ezk 13:1-19; 34: 1-10, Mal 2:1-9 and many other prophecies ominously and grievously show.

How does one find identity in such large-scale confusion? And in finding identity, can we learn to help others find true identity-identity that is not nationalistic, not racist, not tribal?

When ancient Israel was in Egypt they were on the verge of losing their national identity. God, through His Son and Moses, delivered them from slavery, oppression, hopelessness. They were brought into the wilderness, as a vast number of homeless refugees, and were made this offer:

Ex 19:4-8 '"You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now if you obey Me fully and keep My Covenant, then out of all nations you will be My treasured possession. Although the whole earth is Mine, 6 you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.' 7 So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the LORD had commanded him to speak. 8 The people all responded together (They lied, as Ps 78:17, 32, 56, 67 tell us.) "We will do everything the LORD has said." So Moses brought their answer back to the LORD.

1Pet 2:5,9 You also (with Jesus Christ, the Cornerstone to the spiritual Temple) like living stones, are being built into a spiritual House to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging [only] to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of Darkness into His wonderful Light.

Rev 1:5b-6 To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Rev 5:10 has part of a prophetic song of the angelic host: "You have made them (the saints) to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."

Rev 14:1-5 Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 who had His Name and His Father's Name written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. 3 They sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 4 These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes (for they always hear His Voice [Jn 10:27]). They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. 5 No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.

• Man shall not live by bread alone (that which human and natural resources provide), but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Mt 4:4; Dt 8:3).
• You shall worship the LORD your God (in the way He defines), and Him only you shall serve (Mt 4:10; Dt 6:13; 10:20). This surely precludes prayers to other gods such as Mary, Joseph, Patrick, Cyril, Methodius, et al.

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit (those who daily beg for God's help), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn (sigh and cry over the unjust sufferings in the world), for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek (those who teachable and amenable to the Way of God), for they will inherit the earth (Rev 2:26; 3:21).
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Phil 4:8 Whatever things are true, whatever is splendid, magnificent, sublime, honorific in the eyes of God (Gk. semna), whatever is righteous and just (dikaia), whatever is pure, chaste (hagna), whatever is lovable [on God's terms] (prosphile), whatever is well-spoken, has good resonance (euphema), if there is any [godly] virtue, excellence (arete), and if there is anything worthy of [God's] praise-consider these things, think on, meditate about [and consider the latter end of these things].

Even without nuclear war or an exceptional crisis, we may thus expect enormous global disorder which will be the expression of all the contradictions and disarray. This must be made to cost as little as possible [probably said with sarcasm and satire]. To achieve that, we must meet two conditions. We must be prepared to reveal the fracture lines and to discover that everything depends on the qualities of individuals (p 412).

In the Olivet revelation (Mt 24:24) we hear Christ's warning, urging, and prophecy:

For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders [there has been so little need for that to deceive so many], so as to deceive, if possible, the very elect.