Current Events & Trends: New temple to Norse gods in Iceland

The small North Atlantic island of Iceland, however, has a group of followers who are looking to the pagan gods of old in their worship.

Reuters news agency reports: “Worship of the gods in Scandinavia gave way to Christianity around 1,000 years ago but a modern version of Norse paganism has been gaining popularity in Iceland” (Daniel Dickson, “Iceland to Build First Temple to Norse Gods in 1,000 Years,” Feb. 3, 2015).

In the face of Scandinavia’s strongly secular society, the attendance at the Icelandic church of Thor, Odin and Frigg has tripled in the last 10 years. So now the Asatru Association is planning to build a temple to the old gods that overlooks Iceland’s capital city of Reykjavik.

Most of the patrons of this “new” church do not view the Norse gods in a literal sense, but embrace a spiritual focus on them as part of pagan earth worship.

Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson, the proclaimed high priest of the order said, “We see the stories as poetic metaphors and a manifestation of the forces of nature and human psychology” (ibid.).

Jesus warned of far greater religious deception in the end time. The world will see a resurgence of religious fervor, but not the true religion of the Bible. How will this happen? The book of Revelation tells of a future false prophet who goes out and deceives the whole world. He will have power and authority and will perform miracles. But his power will not come from God—it will come from Satan.

For most atheists and humanists, worship at the temple of the old gods probably seems like a silly relic of ancient times. But this is a true modern-day pagan religion. Religious deception will not always be so obvious. Satan’s deception is very subtle. (Source: Reuters.)