From marines to mass shooters: Is Norse paganism fueling veteran violence?

Two of the biggest news stories of late involve crimes by former military officers. On September 27, 40-year-old marine veteran Nigel Max Edge opened fire from a boat into a crowd at the American Fish Company waterfront bar in Southport, North Carolina, killing three people and injuring eight others before fleeing and being arrested.

The very next day, Thomas Jacob Sanford, also a 40-year-old Marine veteran from Burton, Michigan, opened fire on a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meetinghouse in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, killing four people and injuring eight others before being killed by police.

Rick Burgess, BlazeTV host of spiritual warfare podcast “Strange Encounters,” has seen the writing on the wall for some time: “Our military is becoming more and more secular and more and more unfriendly to the Christian faith.”

Years ago, Rick was speaking to his gym trainer, who used to serve in the military, and he told Rick that the United States military had begun to bend away from Christianity and toward Norse paganism.

For those unfamiliar, Norse paganism, also called heathenism, is an ancient, polytheistic religion of the Germanic peoples of Scandinavia, centered around gods like Odin, Thor, and Freyja, with beliefs in cosmology, rituals, and an afterlife in Valhalla.

“A lot of the people in the military are beginning to wear tattoos of these Viking gods. … They’re now looking at themselves as warriors that are pleasing these gods of war, as opposed to serving their country under the authority of the one and only living God,” Rick says.

“It’s very concerning. Why? Because these Scandinavian gods don’t exist. This mythology is false. So really, if you’re worshipping these things, and you’re building these little altars and you’re practicing these things, what you’re really worshipping are demons,” he says frankly.

Rick can’t help but wonder if there’s a connection between the growing paganism in the military and the uptick in crimes committed by former military veterans.

“When I keep seeing these former military people turning into cold-blood killers against civilians, it makes me wonder: Did they participate in [paganism] when they were in the military?” he asks.

To hear more of Rick’s analysis, watch the episode above.

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