I met a young man in the gym where I work out.  We were deeply immersed in small talk [humor] when I noticed a tattoo on his right forearm.  The tattoo said Valhalla and had an arrow pointing up toward his shoulder/head/north area.  Valhalla, in Norse mythology, is “The Hall of the Slain Warriors,” where said warriors are said to live blissfully under the leadership of the god Odin.  Of course this is a farce.  For anyone to interact (worship) with this god Odin would know he is a malicious, unforgiving god and doesn’t tolerate disobedience (I know this by the testimony of others I’ve met over the years who have worshipped Odin, Thor, etc.).  I met my new friend in the gym; therefore, we will call him NJǪRÐR, or Njord.  Njord is the Norse god of strength and vigor. 

To me, Valhalla is to the followers of Old Norse Gods as these other eternal abodes are to other cultures, religions, mythologies and folklore throughout history:  Paradise to the Muslim, The Underworld or Hades to the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, Nirvana to the Buddhist, being united with Brahman to the Hindu, the eternal consciousness to the modern follower of Spiritism, The Ascended Masters, etc.  In the world of modern-day cinema we are taught The Force (Star Wars), which derives from the teachings of Far Eastern Mysticism as a form of collective singularity.  The truth is, Valhalla is really symbolic of hell; or the evil council of fallen beings which mirrors the heavenly council, and is a direct blasphemy of the courts of God’s perfect judgement.   

When I noticed the word “Valhalla” I asked Njord “Is that where you’re going when you die?” He said, “I hope so.” “Alright” I responded with sarcasm.  Our conversation continued and I looked for opportunities to bring his belief system back up and I noticed “Abba Father” with a reference to scripture in Mark on the other forearm.  I stopped the conversation immediately and said, “Wait a minute. You can’t have it both ways.” He told me that one tattoo explains one part of him and the other explains the other. I challenged, petitioning that the Valhalla family would never accept his answer, and he would have to suffer harsh punishment unless he renounced such reckless talk. He agreed, corrected his words and admitted that he is totally in the Valhalla mindset and then asked if I were also. I answered in stark contradiction, “Absolutely not!  I am sold out to the other family.” He was surprised and added that no one has ever called him out on the contradictory markings in the past and asked how I knew these things. I told him that I came from his side of the fence, jumped over to the Jesus side and now I study his side so I can understand how people like him think. He laughed and said, “That’s what I did, but from the other way.”

I questioned coming from “the other way” and he confirmed that he “used to be a Christian and led a worship team in a church.”  Perhaps Njord is an apostate or he was never saved; either way, I immediately remembered reading recent news articles about pastors, worship leaders and church leaders coming out as gay or renouncing faith in Jesus all together; here is one example of a very popular Contemporary Christian worship leader doing so.  Here is an article on a well-known Christian pastor renouncing his faith.  Here is one of a megachurch pastor coming out as gay.  There is something about these examples which needs to be talked about, but that is for another post and another day. 

In his mind, Njord defected the barren fields of Christianity to graze in the plush fields of the occult.  Perhaps Njord will give me the opportunity to speak more directly about his family in the future.