How to convert a pagan

As you may have noticed, paganism is on the rise in many places of the world, and the Nordic region is no exception. Channels like RedIceRadio are trying to discredit Christianity by using un-cronological wikipedia- and google searches to claim that paganism came before monotheism, when our Faith clearly teaches us that paganism is a degeneration that took place after the world separated from their Creator. When Christianity came to Scandinavia, it was only reclaiming what had always belonged to the One True Universal God. Modern paganism is still not like the religious believes of ancient times. One point I have to make, is that there are no ancient sources for Nordic pagan cults. The best information we can find is from the 10th Century, with claims of oral tradition from the 8th Century. The most detailed information we have of Nordic paganism is from Christian sources. A second point, is that modern pagans are not very religious. They believe that their pagan believes are merely an expression of the folk souls, what the people of the area have in common, which naturally evolves into customs and practices. But they don't really believe that Odin is a real god in the true sense of the word. So if they "sacrifice" beverages on old grave sites, it's just for cultural purposes. As a religious Catholic, on the other hand, I do believe that many of these pagan gods existed and communicated with people. They are real demons, and they still exist. I find this letter, written to Saint Boniface in the 8th Century A.D. very helpful, when communicating with pagans, and wanted to share it with anyone interested:

    

Bishop Daniel of Winchester advises Boniface on the method of conversion (723-724)

To the venerable and beloved prelate Boniface, Daniel, servant of the people of God.

I rejoice, beloved brother and fellow priest, that you are deserving of the highest prize of virtue. You have approached the hitherto stony and barren hearts of the pagans, trusting in the plentitude of your faith, and have labored untiringly with the plowshare of Gospel preaching, striving by your daily toil to change them into fertile fields. To you may well be applied the Gospel saying: ”The voice of one crying in the wilderness,” etc. Yet a part of the second prize shall be given, not unfittingly, to those who support so pious and useful a work with what help they can give and supplement the poverty of those laborers with means sufficient to carry on zealously the work of preaching which has already been begun and to raise up new sons to Christ.

And so I have with affectionate good will taken pains to suggest to Your Prudence a few things that may show you how, according to my ideas, you may most readily overcome the resistance of those uncivilized people. Do not begin by arguing with them about the origin of their gods, false as those are, but let them affirm that some of them were begotten by others through the intercourse of male with female, so that you may at least prove that gods and goddesses born after the manner of men are men and not gods and, since they did not exist before, must have had a beginning.

Then, when they have been compelled to learn that their gods had a beginning since some where begotten by others, they must be asked in the same way whether they believe that the world had a beginning or was always in existence without beginning. If it had a beginning, who created it? Certainly they can find no place where begotten gods could dwell before the universe was made. I mean by ”universe” not merely this visible earth and sky, but the whole vast extent of space, and this the heathen too can imagine in their thoughts. But if they argue that the world always existed without beginning, you should strive to refute this and to convince them by many documents and arguments. Ask your opponents who governed the world before the gods were born, who was the ruler? How could they bring under their dominion or subject to their law a universe that had always existed before them? And whence, or from whom or when, was the first god or goddess set up or begotten? Now, do they imagine that gods and goddesses still go on begetting others? Or, if they are no longer begetting, when or why did they cease from intercourse and births? And if they are still producing offspring, then the number of gods must already be infinite. Among so many and different gods, mortal men cannot know which is the most powerful, and one should be extremely careful not to offend that most powerful one.

Do they think the gods are to be worshiped for the sake of temporal and immediate good or for future eternal blessedness? If for temporal things, let them tell in what respect the heathen are better off than Christians. What gain do the heathen suppose accrues to their gods from their sacrifices, since the gods already possess everything? Or why do the gods leave it in the power of their subjects to say what kind of tribute shall be paid? If they are lacking in such things, why do they not themselves choose more valuable ones? If they have plenty, then there is no need to suppose that the gods can be pleased with such offerings of victims.

These and many similar things which it would take long to enumerate you ought to put before them, not offensively or so as to anger them, but calmly and with great moderation. At intervals you should compare their superstitions with our Christian doctrines, touching upon them from the flank, as it were, so that the pagans, thrown into confusion rather than angered, may be ashamed of their absurd ideas and may understand that their infamous ceremonies and fables are well known to us.

This point is also to be made: if the gods are all-powerful, beneficent, and just, they not only reward their worshipers but punish those who reject them. If, then, they do this in temporal matters, how is it that they spare us Christians who are turning almost the whole earth away from their worship and overthrowing their idols? And while these, that is, the Christians, possess lands rich in oil and wine and abounding in other resources, they have left to those, that is, the pagans, lands stiff with cold, where their gods, driven out of the world, are falsely supposed to rule. They are also frequently to be reminded of the supremacy of the Christian world, in comparison with which they themselves, very few in number, are still involved in their ancient errors.

If they boast that the rule of the gods over those peoples has been, as it were, lawful from the beginning, show them that the whole world was once given over to idol-worship, until by the grace of Christ and through the knowledge of one God, its Almighty Founder and Ruler, it was enlightened, brought to life, and reconciled to God. For what is the daily baptism of the children of believing Christians but purification of each one from the uncleanness and guilt in which the whole world was once involved?

I have been glad to call these matters to your attention, my brother, out of my affection for you, though I suffer from bodily infirmities so that I may well say with the Psalmist: ”I know, O Lord, that Thy judgements are right and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.” Wherefore I earnestly pray Your Reverence and all those who serve Christ in spirit to make supplication for me that the Lord who gave me to drink of the wine of remorse, may be swift in mercy, that He who was just in condemnation may graciously pardon, and by His mercy enable me to sing in gratitude the words of the Prophet: ”In the multitude of my thoughts within me Thy comforts delight my soul.”

I pray for your welfare in Christ, my very dear colleague, and beg you to bear me in mind.

A miraculous Salve Regina!

When Blessed Sadoc and his companions were martyred in1260 at the Dominican convent in Sandomir, Poland, a unique wonder occurred. Before the massacre, letters of gold appeared in the Divine Office book at the beginning of the martyrology passage that was to be read at the conclution of matins and lauds. The inexplicable entry was: "At Sandomir, the passion of 49 martyres."

Of course, "passion" signified suffering and death. The prior, Blessed Sadoc, counted his friars- 49 in all! He interpreted the miraculous appearance of these words as warning of death from the barbarous Tartars who were camped nearby. As the friars sang compline the following evening, a band of the Tartars, traitorously let in to the city by some Russians, cut 48 of them to peaces.

One friar fled to the belfry; there he heard a wonderful sound. The mangled bodies of his 48 brethren, though dead, were chanting the sweet melody of the Salve Regina. From the midst of the bloody corpses of those ever-devoted children of Mary, those preachers of her Holy Rosary, rose those dear words: "Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope..." which are sung at eventide in monasteries and religious houses throughout the world.

Who can imagine the emotions of the 49th friar in the belfry as he heard the 48 dead martyrs chanting to their Blessed Mother! Already they were heroes and saints, welcomed into their reward in another and far more glorious world, even as their voices rose from bodies dead on the field of spiritual combat. Overwhelmed with that beauty, that heroism, and that message, the last friar regained his courage. He descended from the belfry and submitted to the swords of the barbarians; then there were 49 voices raised in singing the Salve Regina to the Mother of God. From this miraculous event began the Dominicans' custom of singing the Salve Regina at the deathbed of each of the Order's bembers.

(From the book "Saints who raised the dead, true stories of 400 resurrection miracles", by Father Albert J. Hebert)

Salve, Regina: English and Latin
This is one of four Marian antiphons, with following versicles and prayers, traditionally said or sung after night prayer, immediately before going to sleep. It is said from the end of Eastertide until the beginning of Advent. (That is, from the day after Pentecost, the seventh Sunday after Easter (or from the following Sunday, if Pentecost is celebrated with octave), through the Friday before the fourth Sunday before Christmas).

Hail, holy Queen
Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee to we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn, then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, Who by the working of the Holy Spirit didst prepare both body and soul of the glorious Virgin Mother, Mary, that she might deserve to be made a worthy dwelling for Thy Son, grant that we who rejoice in her memory, may, by her loving intercession, be delivered from present evils and from lasting death, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Salve, Regina
Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae;
vita, dulcedo et spes nostra, salve.
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Hevae.
Ad te suspiramus gementes et flentes
in hac lacrimarum valle.
Eia ergo, advocata nostra,
illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte.
Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.
O clemens, o pia, o dulcis Virgo Maria.

V. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genitrix.
R. Ut digni efficamur promissionibus Christi.

Oremus. Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui gloriosae Virginis Matris Mariae corpus et animam, ut dignum Filii tui habitaculum effici mereretur, Spiritu Sancto cooperante, praeparasti, da, ut cuius commemoratione laetamur; eius pia intercessione, ab instantibus malis et a morte perpetua liberemur. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

---

There shall not be left here a stone upon a stone!

We can read in the Holy Scriptures how the Lord Jesus proclaimed the fate of the temple in Jerusalem:
And Jesus being come out of the temple went away. And his disciples came to shew him the buildings of the temple. And he answering, said to them: Do you see all these things? Amen, I say to you, there shall not be left here a stone upon a stone that shall not be thrown down. St Matthew Chap 24, 1-2



It was really interesting to read in a commentary on these verses, in Haydock Bible commentary from 1859, an historical account from 363 A.D., when Julian the Apostate together with the Jews tried to rebuild the temple, going against the words of Christ. A remarkable event took place:


Haydock Bible Commentary on St Matthew Chap 24, verse 2:
Julian the apostate, wishing to falsify the predictions of Daniel and of Jesus Christ, attempted to rebuild the temple. For this purpose, he assembled the chief among the Jews, and asking them why they neglected the prescribed sacrifices, was answered, that they could not offer any where else but in the temple of Jerusalem. Upon this he ordered them to repair to Jerusalem, to rebuild their temple, and restore their ancient worship, promising them his concurrence in carrying on the work. This filled the Jews with inexpressible joy. Hence flocking to Jerusalem, they began with scorn and triumph to insult over the Christians. Contributions came in from all parts. The Jewish women stripped themselves of their most costly ornaments. The emperor opened his treasures to furnish every thing necessary for the building. The most able workmen were convened from all parts; persons of the greatest distinction were appointed to direct the work; and the emperor's friend, Alipius, was set over the whole, with orders to carry on the work without ceasing, and to spare no expense. All materials were laid in to an immense quantity. The Jews of both sexes bore a share in the labour; the women helping to dig the ground, and carry away the rubbish in their aprons and gowns. It is even said that the Jews appointed some pick-axes, spades, and baskets, to be made of silver, for the honour of the work. Till this time the foundations and some ruins of the walls had remained, as appears from St. Cyril, in his catechism xv. n. 15, and Eusebius, Dem. Evang. lib. viii. p. 406. These ruins the Jews first demolished with their own hands, thus concurring to the accomplishment of our Saviour's prediction. They next began to dig a new foundation, in which many thousands were employed. But what they had thrown up in the day, was, by repeated earthquakes, the night following cast back again into the trench. When Alipius the next day was earnestly pressing on the work, with the assistance of the governor of the province, there issued, says Ammianus Marcellinus, such horrible balls of fire out of the earth near the foundations, as to render the place inaccessible from time to time to the scorched workmen. And the victorious element continuing in this manner obstinately bent, as it were, to drive them to a distance, Alipius, thought proper to abandon, though reluctantly, the enterprise. This great event happened in the beginning of the year 363, and with many very astonishing circumstances is recorded both by Jews and Christians. See the proofs and a much fuller account of this astonishing event, which all the ancient fathers describe as indubitable, in Alban Butler's life of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, March 18th. Thus they so completely destroyed whatever remained of the ancient temple, that there was not left one stone upon another; nor were they permitted by heaven even to begin the new one. (Maldonatus)

Just another mind-blowing part of creation!

This bird can actually duplicate sounds like a camera lens shutter, a chain-saw and a car alarm!

Evolutionists really have no answers, only questions. Becomes clear 2 min and 50 sec into the video. Evolution does not include the purpose of beauty or humor.