Christian Prayer Room

[JONAH 2]

"In his book An Historian’s Approach to Religion, Arnold Toynbee cites the case of Maximilianus, a third-century martyr who, when threatened with death by the Roman court for refusing recruitment into the military, said: “I won’t serve. You may behead me, but I won’t serve the powers of This World; I will serve my God.”

Why, in the face of certain death, did he refuse participation in military service? Because he considered true followers of Jesus to be “no part of the world” just as Jesus was no part of the world. Moreover, he regarded the Christian’s warfare to be spiritual, in line with the apostle Paul’s words: “We do not wage warfare according to what we are in the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly.”—John 17:16; 2 Corinthians 10:3, 4."