Captain Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise travel to Omega IV in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode, The Omega Glory (Season 2, Episode 23, 3/1/1968). There they discover a world whose history mirrored that of Earth's, except that it was devastated a millennia earlier by a civilization-destroying biological war that Earth avoided.

This conflict was between two ethnic groups: the Kohms and the Yangs. The Kohms were Asian in appearance and their dress like the Mongol tribesmen of Earth. The Yangs wore animal skins and looked and lived like Native Americans. It was apparent that the Kohms long had the upper hand because they occupied the cities and forced the Yangs into the deserts and mountains. But at the time of the Enterprise's arrival, the Yangs were on the verge of retaking all of their homeland from the Kohms.

Kirk and Mr. Spock, in their interaction with the chief of the Yangs, Cloud Willam, speculated that the "Kohms" were "Communists" and the "Yangs" were "Yankees." Their theory was confirmed when, during the Yang victory celebration, an old, torn American flag was brought forth and the chief recited the Pledge of Allegiance in a garbled language.

Later, one of the elders protested when Kirk pulled from a large wooden chest some very old documents they called the "Ee'd Plebnista." He was told that only the chief may see and read it. But Kirk, talking to an astonished Cloud William and the people around him, said:

Kirk: This was not written for chiefs. Hear me! Hear this! Among my people, we carry many such words as this from many lands, many worlds. Many are equally good and are as well respected, but wherever we have gone, no words have said this thing of importance in quite this way. Look at these three words written larger than the rest, with a special pride never written before or since. Tall words proudly saying, "We the People." That which you call "Ee'd Plebnista" was not written for the chiefs or the kings or the warriors or the rich and powerful, but for all the people! Down the centuries, you have slurred the meaning of the words, "We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution." These words and the words that follow were not written only for the Yangs but for the Kohms as well!

William: The Kohms?

Kirk: They must apply to everyone, or they mean nothing! Do you understand?

William: I do not fully understand one named Kirk. But the holy words will be obeyed. I swear it.

Kirk hands the old documents, the U.S. Constitution, to Cloud William as the other Yangs gather around him to view them for the first time. As he quietly leaves with the landing party, he respectfully glances at the tattered American flag with high hopes that the Yangs will rediscover their history and liberty.

Like the Yang chief who was astonished to hear Kirk tell him that the words of the U.S. Constitution also applied to the Kohms, the apostle Peter was probably amazed to hear Jesus commission him and his fellow disciples to proclaim the gospel to all nations (Matthew 28:16-30). When an opportunity came to him to proclaim the gospel to a Gentile household, his cultural bias made him hesitant. But God revealed to Peter that the gospel message was also for the Gentiles (Acts 10). It was always God's intention that the message of forgiveness and salvation through Jesus Christ would go to all the peoples of the world (Isaiah 49:5-6).

But like "certain men who have crept in unnoticed" (Jude 1:4-5), some have used their influence, particularly in social media, to gain trust and then lead their followers into attitudes and beliefs that subvert the gospel message. This is particularly dangerous when these kinds of influencers infiltrate Christian fellowships and are allowed to gain ground.

Some present themselves as believers in Jesus Christ but then seek to promote a supposed ethnocentric version of Christianity where, in subtle or not-so-subtle ways, disfavored ethnicities, particularly Jews, are presented as the source of the world's problems. The cross of Jesus, instead of bringing people together, is used as a weapon to promote fear, hatred, and a sense of superiority over others.

Sometimes such people will hide behind multiple aliases and social media accounts as they seek to promote the narrative that the Crusades, even its excesses, did not go far enough. Some will even present national socialism as a Christian virtue, lionize Adolph Hitler as a hero, and engage in historical revisionism to dismiss his evil genocidal warfare against Jews, Slavic people, and others he deemed to be subhuman.

The Scythians were an ancient nomadic people who migrated from Central Asia during the 9th and 8th centuries BC into parts of what is known today as Russia, Crimea, and Ukraine. They were fierce warriors who, among other terrible things, would drink wine from the skulls of those they had slain.

Some of those who believed in Jesus at the preaching of the apostle Paul may have suffered the loss of family members and homes from these cruel warriors. Imagine how difficult it would have been for a Scythian coming to faith in Jesus and being accepted into fellowship by some of the victims of his people. But Paul exhorted them to remember that the gospel was also for them. The new life in Christ Jesus brought them all together in reconciliation with God and with each other.

"There is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all. So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you." (Colossians 3:11-13)

Christians must not be drawn away by individuals or groups that would twist God's word to promote ethnic division and hostility but remember that these barriers are broken down through the gospel. The words of God's love and forgiveness in Jesus Christ apply to all who trust in Him, or they are meaningless.