In my email this morning I found one from Arby’s that was supposed to reassure me that they are doing everything possible to keep making bucks during a pandemic. I have received one like that from my credit card companies, my banks, and just about everyone else that knows I make purchases (Thanks for remembering me Walmart! I guess?) The emails and Facebook posting from every church and Episcopal diocese my wife worked for, telling everyone that church has been cancelled because of the dangers of passing a chalice and wafer tray around, they are more concerning. In between the lines those notices say, “Because the average Episcopalians are 76 years of age and are the ones most likely to die from coronavirus, it would be best if everyone stayed home.” Of course, all my right-wing, neo-Nazi, Fascist, Republican, racist Facebook friends point out that every year there is a similar virus threat. They meme everything away as overkill and fear mongering. Most of those “friends” are in their mid-to-late sixties (or older), so they are probably already self-quarantined from the world, like myself, simply because the younger crowd wants to have nothing to do with them. Shut-ins that live alone (with pets) have no danger of contracting airborne diseases that are targeting large crowds of idol worshipers in stadiums, arenas, mega-churches and theaters. So, what better hobby than meme surfing alone in front of a computer? The point of this post has to deal with the truth of Christianity, as I firmly believe one is not Christian if one is not Jesus Christ reborn. By that I mean being a fan of Jesus (a believer) is on the right track to being a true Christian, but is not there yet. Pewples are not capable of casting out demons like coronavirus. Only true Christians (i.e.: Saints) are. Since I see the majority of Episcopalian churches that I have been involved with over the years (more than twelve) as one bunch of pretenders after another, led by one educated by the Holy Dogma (not Godma), I fully agree with the choice to cancel church because of a potential threat to the well-being or parishioners, even to their lives. There is no point in pretending to believe in Jesus when one’s knees are knocking because of fear of illness and death. The truth is hard to hide when the chips are down; best not to let the lack of God-given power show. Anyone who knows me, at least the me of post-911, knows that I have become synonymous with Nostradamus. Old friends and associates left me like I had the plague because they feared Nostradamus as much as they feared the thought of having all their business partners find out they liked or palled around with some nut-job who says he understands Nostradamus. My wife was the only one in the whole wide world that had the time, took the time, and enjoyed the time she spent asking me to tell her about Nostradamus. She was a saint, most assuredly. However, in my sleep last night I was asked, “Isn’t this pandemic like the black plague of the sixteenth century, when Nostradamus lived?”
Since I have few friends that want to hear me talk about Nostradamus, I will now make a generic public announcement. Consider it like an Arby’s email about coronavirus … delete without opening. Nostradamus first became famous because he fearlessly entered plague ravaged towns of southern France and treated the plague victims. The rumor was that he saved some from dying. The scholars say it was nothing more than chance that anyone was saved, because Nostradamus did not know anything more than the (now) common sense to wash your hands with soapy water and don’t touch your face. Especially if you get that boil puss on your fingers, DO NOT PUT YOU FINGER IN YOUR MOUTH!!! So, what are the doctors saying today? The same thing. The difference is Nostradamus was a young med school student, who had completed the equivalent of basic courses in Bloodletting, Leech Care, and Bandaging. The outbreak of the black plague caused the school at Montpellier, France to cast all students out to do what they could, as little as that was expected to be. Back then wearing funny masks and carrying smoking sticks was called top-notch medicine, as far as the Black Death was concerned.
Modern science has determined that some people (like Nostradamus), whose parents caught the black plague but recovered after getting real sick, developed a mutated gene that they later would have passed on to their children. Their children would then have varying degrees of natural resistance to such plagues and viruses, based on how many parents had survived a prior black plague (1 or 2). Some would not even get sick (2), and Nostradamus might well have been one of those. Still, I doubt Nostradamus knew any of that modern science; meaning he boldly went where other men feared to tread. That is a statement of faith, not belief in medicine. People condemn me because I see Nostradamus as an Apostle of Jesus Christ. He was of Jewish descent, whose grandfather converted to Roman Catholicism Christianity. His grandfather’s first wife left him because she would not convert. She would rather be deported and remain Jewish than pretend to be Christian. Nostradamus was born into a family of true believers of Jesus as the Christ; most probably they were Cathar descendants. The Cathars (bon hommes or good men) were true Christians that arrived in southern France and stayed. Most of them had been Jews that had been outcast because of their faith in Jesus Christ. I just wanted to remind anyone who cares that true Christians only fear God. If God says go out to the grocery store in search of hand sanitizer, toilet paper, and surgical masks, one who fears God does not argue, “But Father, the stores are bare from panic hoarders!” Let that be a lesson for those who like to play church. Coronavirus be damned!
Don’t get me started about the dangers of pollen and allergies.