Ahrcanum

Got a little nose tickle? Here comes the big sneeze- Ahh chooo. Normally folks would say, “God Bless You” after a sneeze, now they forget all about blessing you and get the hell away fast, praying  they don’t get sick too. The World Health Organization has raised it’s threat classification of the swine flu outbreak to Phase Five, one step away from a worldwide pandemic.

VP Biden this morning said, “I wouldn’t go anywhere in confined places now,” on whether he would advise family members to use public transportation. see the video link at http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/us_world/Swine-Flu-0428.html Mexico is  predominately Roman Catholic where people commonly attend church. http://countrystudies.us/mexico/61.htm  But forget about going to church this week in Mexico, “There is no safer place to protect yourself against catching swine flu than in your house,” Mexican President Felipe Calderon said, closing all non essential operations for five days.  http://www.fox8.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-med-swine-flu,0,6402111.story 

During the 16th, 17th, 18th centuries, the idea was that death “had something to do with God’s will,” said Dr. Howard Markel, professor of the history of medicine and of pediatrics and communicable diseases at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor.  The term influenza has religious, Italian origins. It was used to show that the influence of epidemics was “either of the stars or the devil,” Markel said. “During the Renaissance, epidemics were seen as an act of God.” ( http://abcnews.go.com/Health/ColdandFluNews/story?id=6104503&page=1)

Paul McFedries, author of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Weird Word Origins” notes that  “In 590 [A.D.], Pope Gregory I ordered the citizens of Rome to pray to fend off an outbreak of the Bubonic Plague. ,” “Since people of the day thought a sneeze was a symptom of the plague, they would say ‘God Bless You’ to the sneezer.” Another belief is that when one sneezes, their heart stops. Saying “God Bless You” is believed to make the sneezer return to life or make their heart continue to beat. The act of sneezing itself is viewed as positive or negative, depending on the story to which you subscribe. The positive explanation states that sneezing helps cleanse the body of evil spirits.  Contrary to that belief, a sneeze was also seen as a bad omen. People used to believe that your soul was thrown from your body during a sneeze. It is believed that the departure of one’s soul from you body left him or her unprotected from evil spirits. After sneezing, the body was susceptible to invasion by the Devil himself.”

I guess you’d have to define who the Devil is to believe the cause of this latest, never before seen mutation of the flu.   Mother Nature, the scientists, terrorists, farmers, governments, etc.? They could all have a hand in creating and preventing this near full blown pandemic.

Escalating fears in millions and prompting many to wear face masks, I wonder what about the simple handshake?

In public the handshake is a simple greeting and custom.  In the Roman Catholic church, the handshake is the sign of peace.  Custom dictates what used to be called the “the kiss of peace” and how it is exchanged in each country: a handshake, an embrace, words of peace, or other action.   St. Augustine in the 4th century: “After the Lord’s Prayer, say ‘Peace be with you.’ Christians then embrace one another with a holy kiss. This is the sign of peace.” http://www.cptryon.org/ask/ask/signpeace.html  The peace of Christ, really present on the altar, is also with all men- but no one knows where those hands have been.  Whatever germs they carry, so shall you.

The Pope, seeking an interest in peace said,  “From 8-15 May, I will make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to ask the Lord, visiting the places sanctified by his passage on the earth, for his precious blessing of unity and peace for the Middle East and for all of mankind. I am counting on the spiritual support of all of you, and may God accompany me, support me, and bless with his Grace all those who I meet on my way,” said the Pope in an official statement. http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Articles%5El2547&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Culture  What was it VP Biden said about gathering in public places and non essential travel? Want to shake the Pope’s hand? Kiss the ring?

Smithfield Foods, a world producer of pork products surely is looking for peace as well, issuing the following statements, ” We routinely administer flu vaccines to our herds in order to protect them from potential viruses and conduct monthly tests to examine the presence and identity of different flu strains,” adding, “we can pray that health officials and doctors around the world will find answers soon.”  I’d be curious to know what exact inoculations were given to the Mexican herd where the first reported death occurred near Oaxaca.

Not surprisingly, according to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), “It is not correct to call the current disease ‘swine influenza’. The virus that is circulating includes genetic components of human, avian and swine origin. The OIE proposed to refer to this new virus as ‘North American influenza’, using the same approach to nomenclature as used with the Asian influenza and Spanish influenza outbreaks that have occurred in the past.” http://www.smithfieldfoods.com/  Personally I like, The Aporkalypse or The Eye-Chiwawa Flu.

Bible prophecy and the grand scheme of God’s plan is is one-third of the Bible.  Yes, God loves his creations, even the pig.  If anything, I hope He intends to redeem and not destroy with this latest plague.  Awaiting Judgment, many have Bibles and legally registered guns in their homes to keep away any Devils – praying the flu does not come knocking on the door.

God Bless You.

You might enjoy this related post- https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/2009/04/29/swine-flu-conspiracy-vaccine-announcement/

The swine flu map may be found here  https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/swine-flu-quarantine-confine-emergency-declared-in-us/

Open wide, say ahhh and check out these posts on the A/H1N1 Swine Flu from Ahrcanum, where the conspiracy spreads as fast as the virus itself .  Our disclaimer-Swine Flu Conspiracy theory can sometimes be triggered by real world events.  https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/swine-flu-report/