A WORSHIPPER OF VIKING GODS

(A Street Witnessing Experience)

You never know what to expect—or whom you’ll end up talking to—when you go sidewalk witnessing to share Jesus Christ in our lost world. While walking along the crowded Main Street in Huntington Beach recently with my witnessing partner, I noticed a tall, muscular young man coming toward us, dressed in a black T-shirt and black jeans. He wore a silver necklace with an unusual ornament hanging on it, shaped like an upside-down letter T. Another man, dressed similarly but without the necklace, was with him.

Since I was prayed up and knew that the Holy Spirit was leading me, I approached him and learned his name was Erick. Pointing to the ornate pendant on his necklace, I asked Erick what the significance was. He explained that the symbol represented the hammer that Thor, the Viking god of thunder, carried. He said he wore it for protection and guidance, and the Viking gods always came through for him when he prayed to them.

I politely asked Erick if he knew anything about Jesus Christ. He quickly responded, “Yes! When I was in prison, I read the whole Bible three times.”

Smiling, I asked if he remembered that Jesus declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”¹ He replied yes.

“And do you know,” I added, “that the Bible says there’s a battle going on for people’s souls? And the kingdom of darkness is battling against God’s kingdom of light?” Again he replied yes.

“Then I guess you know that Jesus answers prayers, and He protects and guides, right?” Once again, he replied yes.

“That’s great! Would you mind if I prayed for you right now and asked Jesus to show you if He’s the true and living God?” Erick nodded.

I stood on my tiptoes, placed my hand on his right shoulder, and prayed out loud as passersby dodged us on the sidewalk. Their commotion didn’t matter to me at all since I was focused on the potentially life-changing moment of prayer.

I can’t remember the wording of my prayer for Erick except that I asked Jesus to reveal to him if He was in fact the only true and living God. And I emphasized how much Jesus loves him.

After the prayer, I gave Erick a Christian tract called “Discovering God’s Deep Love,”² which includes the gospel of grace and a suggested prayer of salvation. I’m sure I saw a glimmer of hope in his eyes before he and his friend continued their walk.

I haven’t seen Erick since that day. But my witnessing partner and I still pray for the Holy Spirit to work in his life. We also pray that he will disembark from the Viking ship, which is sinking, and receive Jesus as his Savior and Captain. Then Erick will sail through life securely with the Lord—not just hoping in a mythical heaven, but knowing that he is truly heaven-bound.

An Apologetic Takeaway

If you want to be prepared to witness about Jesus to someone who’s wearing a “Thor hammer” necklace, some understanding of the Viking religion can be helpful. The Vikings, aka Norsemen, were a seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden). From the late eighth to the late eleventh centuries, they raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout Europe.³ Their religion, called Odinism, is “a pre-Christian, pagan, polytheistic religion involving the worship of Norse and Germanic gods.”⁴

The Viking god Thor was famous for his ability to control storms, and his hammer was a legendary weapon. Today’s interest in the Viking gods has stemmed partly from a comic book series published by Marvel Comics beginning in 1952, featuring Thor the superhero wielding his hammer.⁵ Thor and his hammer have recently gained further popularity in movies, video games, and art.

If the Lord opens a door of opportunity for you, as a believer in Christ, to witness to such Odinists, you could share—while speaking the truth in love—that Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, loves them with an everlasting love. If they seem open to hearing more, here is a line of apologetic reasoning you might offer:

“The God of the Bible is the only God capable of proving that He is who He says He is; and He has, in fact, done so via hundreds of fulfilled prophecies. [In contrast], there is no proof for the existence of the Odinist pantheon; they are mythological. … Why not worship an actual, living God and thereby choose eternal life? Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die” (John 11:25–26).⁶

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¹ John 14:6 NKJV. ² Available from True-Way Tracts^®. All TWT gospel tracts and Christian apologetics tracts are viewable at www.TrueWayTracts.com. ³ “Vikings,” Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikings. ⁴ “What Is Odinism?,” Got Questions, www.GotQuestions.org/Odinism.html. ⁵ Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, “Journey into Mystery #83, Marvel, 1952, www.marvel.com/comics/issue/9779/journey_into_mystery_1952 83. ⁶ “What Is Odinism?,” Got Questions.

(To view or order this gospel tract, click over to: truewaytracts.com/shop/d4-discovering-gods-deep-love /.)