Jesus Freaks: Revolutionaries (by dc talk & The Voice of the Martyrs)

The Thundering Legion-Part One

A Legion of Northern Roman

Roman Empire

c. A.D. 174

Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus led his legions to subdue the Quadi and Marcomanni in Germany, who had mounted an open military defense against the progression of northern Roman provinces. Antoninus, who had made his fame as a military leader, decided to handle the situation personally.

However, he greatly underestimated the cunning of these northern kings and found himself and his army trapped by an ambush in the mountains without water. They pleaded to their gods for deliverance as the soldiers neared dying of thirst, but they received no response.

Overall, Antoninus had little tolerance for Christians. He was a stern and impatient general who would not stand for inefficiency or failure in his troops, and he ruled Rome the same way. He had grown up well trained in philosophy and civil government and felt that the worship of the Roman gods was part of the very fabric of the empire. Therefore, Christianity was equivalent to treason, and the fourth major Roman persecution (c. A.D. 163-180 ) took place under his rule.

Yet in the desperation of this situation, when a legion made up entirely of Christians stepped forward and offered to pray for their rescue, Antoninus gave them his permission.

Shortly after they prayed, a huge storm broke out, and they were caught in a downpour. Soldiers rushed to collect water any way they could, even building dikes to store it as a future supply. The tempest rumbled so powerfully in the faces of their enemies that many left their ranks and defected to join the Romans. The rest were easily routed and the army was saved.

This group of soldiers came to be known as "The Thundering Legion."

After this incident, Antoninus stopped the persecution of Christians for a time, though he made no official edict legalizing their worship. However, he eventually forgot what God had done for his army and again outlawed Christianity, threatening those who would not sacrifice to the Roman gods with torture and death.

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Many may remember the story from the first Jesus Freaks (pg. 96) of the forty soldiers of "The Thundering Legion" some 150 years later who refused to come in off the ice of a lake in winter to maintain their testimonies, but few know this story of how they received their name. Like Elijah before the prophets of Baal, they were not afraid to put their God to the test. They believed that God would answer their prayers because He had done it before. They believed He would answer them because they knew His nature. Faith says, "If Jesus said it, I can count on it."

Faith uses as much wisdom as it has to accomplish the task at hand and then lets God step in as He wills. It is unafraid to obey God even when that obedience would seem foolhardy. It is something that comes from a real relationship with God where we listen to Him more than we ask Him for things. It is the adventure of doing whatever God tells us to do without fear.

Is there really any other way to live?

How much longer will it take you to make up your minds? If the Lord is God, worship him; but if Baal is God, worship him!

Elijah

(1 Kings 18:21 TEV)