Wiggle Worm / Patch the Pirate
Have you seen a wiggle worm?
Smaller than a tiny germ!
He has got a great big appetite!
Though he isn’t very big,
He eats more than any pig!
Always looking for someone to bite.
I was in my Sunday seat,
Sittin’ still and bein’ sweet.
When I saw him crawlin’ on my shoe!
I said, “Wiggle worm! Don’t bother me!
We’ll have a catastrophe!
Then I kicked him out of Sunday School!
Never wiggle, wiggle, wiggle,
Never giggle, giggle, giggle.
Better squash the wiggle worm,
When you feel the urge to squirm.
In your church on Sunday,
In your school on Monday,
Fight off the wiggle, fight off the wiggle
Fight, fight, fight the wiggle worm!
I have not heard this song in a long while, so there was no reason for it to be in my head other than God putting it there, and putting it there for a reason. So, I looked up the lyrics, read them, and then proceeded to have my quiet time with the Lord. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Romans 2:1-11, 17-24:
God’s Righteous Judgment
1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?
5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will give to each person according to what he has done.” 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism…
The Jews and the Law
17 Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; 18 if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; 19 if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
My Understanding: I read the passage, and then I inquired of the Lord as to what this passage of scripture has to do with wiggling. He then led me to look up the meaning and synonyms to the word “wiggle.” I learned that wiggle means to move back and forth with irregular movements; to zigzag (snake; distort; misrepresent; alter; manipulate); a twisting motion; a change of position; to move from side to side; to worm (maggot – someone who is despised); and/or “to insinuate or extricate oneself by sly or subtle means” (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/wiggle). Insinuate – to hint; extricate - to release somebody or something with difficulty from an unpleasant or complicated situation (entanglement); sly – cleverly skillful and cunning; lacking honesty or straightforwardness; subtle – cleverly indirect and ingenious; (Encarta Dictionary) clever – cunning; crafty; sneaky; devious; deceitful; underhanded; and/or scheming (MS Word Thesaurus).
Again, I inquired of the Lord as to the relationship between this word “wiggle” and this passage of scripture about judging others while we do the same things. What he taught me is that when we pass judgment on others while we are doing the same things, we are acting as though we are standing in opposition to something while at the same time we are doing exactly what we purport (claim to be; intention of purpose of something) we are against.
What I am seeing here is that there are four levels to “wiggling” in relation to this passage of scripture on the subject of judging others while we do the same things:
• We pretend to be something that we know we are not – hypocrisy
• We judge others for doing what we know full well that we are doing - hypocrisy
• We do this for the express purpose to deceive, distort, and misrepresent
• We do this to get ourselves off the hook, i.e. to extricate ourselves from an entanglement by distracting others from ourselves and to focus the attention on someone else. This is done in a dishonest, indirect, devious and underhanded way.
The Lord led me to read this news article: Losing patience, Obama challenges Egypt's leaders - http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_US_EGYPT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT . The article is concerning Obama’s purported reaction to the actions of Egypt’s president, Hosni Mubarak. Following is a list of phrases used in the article concerning Obama’s reaction to President Mubarak’s actions: “Showing deepening dismay; questioning credibility; a defiant Mubarak; he criticized the leader for a lack of clarity and direction; too many Egyptians remain unconvinced that the government is serious about a genuine transition to democracy; it is the responsibility of the government to speak clearly to the Egyptian people and the world; the Egyptian government must put forward a credible, concrete and unequivocal path toward genuine democracy; Obama responded that it was not clear whether that move (of Mubarak) was an ‘immediate, meaningful or sufficient’ sign of reform for a country in upheaval; he (Obama) declared the world was watching history unfold as young Egyptians rallied for freedoms; Obama challenged Egypt’s leaders to plainly explain what the new changes mean and how they would help those who have led an uprising since late January,” etc.
If we do the homework, and if we listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit within us showing us what is truth and what are lies, I believe we will see that the Obama administration is doing this “wiggling” spoken of here through the words to this song, the meaning of the word “wiggle” and in relation to the message in this passage of scripture concerning judging others for doing the same things we are doing, but more than that, judging them with full knowledge that we are doing the same, or worse, and for the express purpose to deceive and to distract others from what we are doing in order to get ourselves off the hook, i.e. in order to extricate ourselves from an entanglement via dishonest and devious means. The Obama administration represents the U.S. government, so this is speaking of the U.S. government doing this “wiggling” in order to deceive the American people into thinking that they are the “good guys” and that other nations’ leaders are the “bad guys” and that it is our responsibility, somehow, to set them straight and to make sure they are walking the “straight and narrow” when, in fact, we are doing nothing of the kind. Oh, what hypocrisy!
Though certainly we are all responsible before God for our own actions and we must answer to God individually concerning whether or not we, individually, are guilty of such calculated deception in order to point the finger at others in order to try to make ourselves look good, I believe the Lord, today, is speaking to our nation (USA) and our government and of the judgment that he will bring upon our nation because of our leaders’ actions. I believe the Lord has revealed to me many times over that our leaders even take it beyond just implicating someone else for the very things we are doing, but that we are doing the horrible things to these other nations and to our own people that we accuse them of doing and we are, in fact, setting these other countries up for a fall so that we can take them over. This is something, though, that God will have to reveal to each one of us as we seek his face and we inquire of him and ask him to show us if, indeed, our leaders are purporting to be something they are not, if they are deceiving us, and to show us what they are doing.
Thus, today, I believe that the Lord is speaking to us through this passage of scripture, not only as individuals, but I believe he is speaking these words to the nation of the USA that we are stubborn and we have unrepentant hearts; that we (our leaders and/or those who support and believe the lies of the leaders, even though we have been confronted with the truth time and time again and yet have refused to listen and/or to heed the warnings) are being deceptive and that they are willfully and knowingly distorting and misrepresenting the truth for the express purpose of distracting the American people away from the evil things they are doing by trying to get us to believe their lies about the governments of other nations. And, we, as a nation, will not escape God’s judgment. Paraphrasing vv. 17-20:
Now you, if you call yourself an American (and/or government of); if you rely on the U.S. Constitution and the Ten Commandments and brag about your relationship to God; if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth… You then, who purport to be someone or something, do you do just the opposite? You then, who instruct others in what they should or should not do, do you do the very things you are saying that others are doing and that you are supposedly against? …“God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
With all my heart, I believe this is God’s message for America and specifically directed at our government leaders. If you read the news, you will often read how our government leaders are critical of other countries’ governments and how we are continually pointing out their faults and we act as though we are a “guide to the blind” and that we are somehow the “savior” of the world by bringing “democracy” to these other nations, but that is so far from the truth! What we are bringing to them is an iron fist that forces them into compliance with the international community (the New World Order), and into subjecting themselves to the rule of the New World Order or to face the harsh consequences. We are the “terrorists” worldwide, and yet we often claim that others are the terrorists in order to distract the people of America and to extricate ourselves from an entanglement (mess). And, God is saying, I believe, to America (in particular to our government):
“Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?”Satan is definitely “the wiggle worm” (maggot – someone who is despised), yet he has many disciples, too, who are following his ways and they, too, are “wiggle worms” who have a great big appetite and who are looking for someone to bite (devour). We are to make certain that we are not listening to the “wiggle worm” – Satan – by judging others in such a manner as is described in this writing where we knowingly and willfully are doing the very things we are preaching against and we, in fact, preach at others in order to distract people away from ourselves and our own sinfulness. Yet, I believe the Lord is warning us here, too, to not be bitten by the “wiggle worms” (wolves in sheep’s clothing) who appear one way and yet they are something else entirely, and their purpose is to deceive, to manipulate, to distract, and to point the finger elsewhere. We need to be discerning about what we hear and read in the news, and we need to inquire of the Lord as to whether or not what we are hearing or reading is truth or a BIG FAT LIE meant to deceive us. Then, when Jesus’ Spirit within us reveals to us those “wiggle worms” in our lives, we need to fight off the wiggle worm, i.e. we need to fight off those lies and we need to put on the truth.
“For those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil…”
Yet, “To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.”
In response to all this, I believe Jesus is saying to today’s “Laodicean” church in America:
Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Rev. 3:19-22).
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