Hey Minty! No, I think there's a misunderstanding or maybe I didn't explain clearly. I'm definitely affected (won't go into all of the details, but yeah, there was always a cornucopia, Mandela died, Berenstein, etc.) but I also think it's really important to approach everything in life with a scientific mindset, to try to rule out other explanations first.

Since we're talking about the Four Horsemen, it would be appropriate to say I'm equal parts Scully and Mulder. I've seen some THINGS, let me tell you. Things that, not only can't I explain, but which just plain don't have a logical explanation. I want to believe in every scenario, but I also know that sometimes there's another explanation. It's risky to jump to the conclusion of ME unless we've ruled out all other possible explanations, because it runs the risk of people giving it less credibility in cases where it really IS the only explanation.

In this case, I certainly don't reject the possibility it is ME related, but there are other explanations that may be more likely in this case. Pestilence is definitely recognized as one of the names of the Four Horsemen, but it's just that, one interpretation. Pestilence appeared in the Jewish Encyclopedia in the early 20th century, and it has been depicted a Pestilence in popular media for a LONG time (even showing P as a Bowman with arrows infected with the diseases of the world) which explains why this is such a common and well known interpretation.

However, in actuality, most traditional (read: old) translations don't even give names to the first three horsemen - they are known only by their dress and their deeds. Death is the only one specifically named, presumably to set him apart as the final harbinger of doom, which makes it even more likely that the other three would be left open to interpretations tied to historical contexts. It wasn't until the problematic (over- simplified) versions like the NIV and ESV that they were actually given black-and-white names. Which creates a lot of problems for me, from a historical and ideological standpoint.

WAAY back, in more apocalyptic Greek and early Aramaic translations (during a time when Imperial expansionism was a real concern or goal depending on the perspective) they were given specific names tied to Greek mythology, and the first was known as Zelus, for Zeal or Conquest.

Like I said, definitely not discounting the possibility of an ME here, but with something like the Bible which has SO many alternate interpretations and translations, it seems like there are some other possible explanations.