OLAF’S
CONVERSION

Topics: Conversion; Great Commission; Ministry; Power; Prophecy

Reference: Matthew 28:18–20

Olaf Trygvesson of Norway was the Viking’s Viking. He was unmatched in climbing and swimming and leaping and could juggle five daggers in the air, always catching them by the handle. Early in life he conducted successful raids on Holland and France.

Then he turned to England, the greatest prize. After burning villages, laying waste the land, putting numbers of people to death by fire and sword without regard to gender, and sweeping off an immense booty, Olaf was offered 22,000 pounds of silver to cease.

While the deal was being made, Olaf heard of a hermit who had the gift of prophecy. So he went to the hermit’s retreat and asked about his future.

“Thou wilt become a renowned king and do celebrated deeds,” the hermit said. He predicted that Olaf’s men would mutiny, and in the ensuing fight, Olaf would be wounded. After seven days, he would recover and would allow himself to be baptized as a Christian. “Many men wilt thou bring to faith and baptism,” the prophet said, “both to thine own and others’ good.”

The mutiny and Olaf’s wounding took place precisely as the hermit had predicted. After his recovery, the Viking went back to the seer and asked him how he had gained such wisdom. “The God of the Christians has blessed me so that I can know all that I desire,” the hermit said. At that, Olaf submitted to baptism.

Olaf vowed never again to visit war upon England, and he returned to Norway to begin converting his people. We can’t exactly say everyone lived happily ever after, but over the next two centuries, Norway became not only an increasingly unified country but a Christian nation as well. It remained such for nearly a thousand years.

—James Reston, The Last Apocalypse (Doubleday, 1998)