Rod Meredith loved to say we are all worms and loved to reinforce that idea at Passover time.
Reading further in Psalm 22, Christ stated a comparison that can better help us understand His emotional state: “I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people” (vs. 6).
Let these words sink in.
A worm can describe many different creatures such as microscopic grubs and 5-inch-long earthworms. Yet all of them live under man’s foot. They are disregarded by all above them, and they are subject to being stepped on and crushed.
The God-being known as the Word had lived for an eternity before His birth as a physical human being. He, under the Father’s direction, created billions of galaxies and planets. His glory was like the sun in its strength. He had limitless power. And His joy never ceased.
Christ gave that up to become a mere, fleshy human being. Yet that was still far above a worm. Recognize what it took for Him to feel like a pitiful ground crawler.
Job, too, referred to himself as a worm to describe his emotional turmoil. He stated: “I have said to corruption, You are my father: to the worm, You are my mother, and my sister” (17:14).
The Hebrew word translated “worm” in this verse is rimmah, which is defined by Strong’s Concordance as “a maggot.”
Consider that Job had just lost all of his livestock, his children and his health. He was treated maliciously by his wife, and felt rejected by God. The best way he could summarize the crushing humility was by calling himself the son of a maggot.
How utterly worthless one must feel to compare himself to a larva that crawls on dirt and eats decomposing dead matter!
Because Christ labeled Himself a worm, He gave us a way to more deeply appreciate His sacrifice.
The term “worm” referring to Christ in Psalm 22 is different than the one Job used. The Hebrew word is tola. It also refers to a maggot but specifically “the crimson grub.”
When understood, this term sheds more light on Christ’s sacrifice.
Crimson grub is a species of scaled insect called Coccus ilicis or Kermes ilicis. Unlike most other worms, they are born with legs. However, females eventually lose the use of their legs, possibly giving them their worm designation.
The tiny insect—7 millimeters in diameter at largest—is notable for its color. Brownish-red when young, they become more reddish in color when maturing. According to The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th Edition, when the insects reach maturity in March, they “appear full of a reddish juice resembling discolored blood.”
When the insects reach this state, they are collected and killed to extract a crimson dye. Crimson is a deep red color, with tinges of blue or purple, close to the dark color of deoxygenated blood.
In calling Himself a crimson grub, Christ described His state in two ways.
First, it represents His sacrificial body and the blood He shed for the sake of mankind (Matt. 26:28). Interestingly, the dye produced from the crimson grub was so valuable that it was used as tribute paid to conquering Roman armies. Landlords in the Middle Ages also accepted it as payment for rent. Christ’s blood is the ransom payment for our sins (Rev. 1:5).
It is this blood we symbolically drink during the Passover (I Cor. 11:25).
Second, the crimson grub comparison reveals Christ’s state of mind as He was despised and rejected by men and His Father (Luke 17:25).
Dave Pack doesn't see himself as a maggot like Jesus. He sees himself as a maggot-like Jesus.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Daves 2009 autobiography part 1 (with its 617 pages) page 113:
ReplyDelete"Mr. Pack estimated that he swam approximately 1,500
miles during each of the last two years of high school. He
also estimated that, from ages five through 19, he swam at
least 7,000 miles in his career—the equivalent of swimming
from New York City to the French coast, back to New York,
and halfway back to France again."
So Dave is the 7000 mile man. A pseudo superman.
My question though, where's the character that should result from swimming 7000 miles??
I guess its ok to be a MAGGOT at Daves Church, but whatever you do, don't be a FAGGOT , or you are going to get the boot !
ReplyDelete5:37 AM said :
ReplyDeleteSo Dave is the 7000 mile man. A pseudo superman.
My question though, where's the character that should result from swimming 7000 miles??
The character he learned was to look down upon and call his members maggots and then consume them and all their worth.
I would have to say that this is an encouraging teaching from the RCG. I have been waiting for the day when the leadership would elevate their thinking of the lay members. To be looked upon as maggots is a big leap from the previous classification we as members were given. So RCG members, embrace your rise in status, for it took you you 20 years to make it above being just the dust of the earth!
ReplyDeleteSo Dave is the 7000 mile man. A pseudo superman.
ReplyDeleteMy question though, where's the character that should result from swimming 7000 miles??
The character he learned was to look down upon and call his members maggots and then consume them and all their worth.
I would take this is little further. All those miles in the water forged his thinking with the lesson on how to be the biggest fish. So you start with consuming a few worms and get a little bigger. Then you gather up more worms and eat them and get big. Then you proclaim all the church worms will wiggle on over into your area of the water so you can consume them and get really big. Then you proclaim all the world's worms will come before you to be consumed and that will make him the biggest fish to have been in the world.
The moral of the story is, 7000 miles of swimming makes a man very hungry. Most would satisfy that hunger with pizza or a burger and fries, but not this man; only the whole world will satisfy his hunger.
If Dave swam 7000 miles from age 5 to 19, that's about one and a half miles a day, every day. It seems hard to believe. It's like a line from the Get Smart TV series.
ReplyDeleteMaxwell Smart: "would you believe I swam 7000 miles from age 5-19?"
"How about 700 miles?"
"Then how about 7 laps in my bath tub?"
When David Pack dies the maggots will consume his body. If he is buried in a sealed casket the anaerobic bacteria will eventually liquefy his remains. He is prophesying about his eventual fate.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me sick and angry that I once fell for this kind of denigration. How stupid I used to be! No more! We humans are what we are -- the pinnacle of life as we now know it. We're about to exterminate ourselves and destroy the rest of the world, but we do have the capacity to turn that all around if we only will. Time will tell. Ain't no god going to do a damn thing to alter anything. What has been happening in Scandinavia and much of Europe is the only encouragement I find out there. It's either do "it" or it's all over , and you know what I'm intending to say.
ReplyDeleteMy only problem with this posting is that the picture used is not that of a maggot, rather, it is a termite queen.
ReplyDeleteNow, if you know a thing or two about termites, you will see how a termite colony is like the Armstrongism groups: Queen HWA started the first colony and was catered for by worker ants. In time, more and more colonies formed and continue being served by their worker ants.
Actually, I looked at it again and that is not a termite queen, its more of a dung grub. Yeah: a dung/shit grub.
ReplyDeleteAnon 2:45 PM, don't you mean Queen Loma?
ReplyDeleteYou gotta take it in balance. Yes, man is a worm and a maggot, according to the Bible, but ones that are just a little lower than the Angels , who must now also be considered worms and maggots as well, but just a little higher. So there are low maggots and hi maggots. But the highness is just a little higher.
ReplyDeleteHebrews 2:7
Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast made him only a little inferior to the angels; with glory and honour Thou hast crowned him, and hast set him to govern the works of Thy hands.
Dave is not in the habit of understating his statistics. Hyperbole seems to be embedded prominently in his dna codes. Not that I’d believe any statistic related to his church or health food store, but, the swimming miles are within the realm of possibility for a person who is both passionate, and high energy.
ReplyDeleteI just got back from an hour long bicycle ride. It’s my fifth bicycle over the last 30 years, a Huffy beach cruiser that I’ve customized with a 1956 Schwinn low-high gearbox/rear wheel. During the spring and summer months, I ride 5-10 miles per night. On these bicycles, I’ve also been through numerous cranks, chains, pedals, bearings, seats, lights, and tire tubes over the years. Up until 15 years ago, I also got cardio by running 3-5 miles per night at local high school tracks after work. Never counted the miles, but they have definitely accumulated over several decades.
I’ve owned ten motorcycles, and somewhere between 45 and 50 cars and trucks in my lifetime. I’d also conservatively estimate that I’ve shot between 7,500 and 10,000 rounds through my .38.
Oh, then there are countless Soloflex bands, speed bags and boxing gloves, guitars and strings, mountain hikes and trips down the river. Skiing? Tried it, but not so much.
As I say, it’s easy to rack up statistics when you are passionate (Xtreme) or sequentially passionate about your hobbies, and just a bit on the hyper side.
BB
5.53 PM
ReplyDeleteThe angels are as old as the universe, ie about 13 billions years old, yet humans can qualify to rule over them within a hundred years. So it seems that the angels are failed worms or maggots. I assume it has to do with humans having to struggle to reach adulthood, whereas angels were given defacto adult traits at creation.
The bible says that God doesn't trust the angels, again failed worms.
BB
ReplyDeleteBut the thing is that in many sports, like cycling or jogging, a person can control their level of effort. By contrast, in competitive swimming training, there's more or less, a fixed effort level. A person swimming 7 thousand competitive miles should have acquired strong mental muscles. Which is why for example, Olympic athletes generally do well in later life. Daves poor character casts serious doubt on his 7 thousand mile claim.
BB 10:00 PM
ReplyDeleteDave is not in the habit of understating his statistics....
Very perceptive again Byker. A close up for me of failed statistical analysis by Mr. Pack happened during a Passover service a number of years ago. As Mr. Pack was giving instructions for the exiting of members for the foot washing ceremony, he said; "ladies exit to the right and men exit to the left and as in previous years there is a 50% chance there will be an odd number of men and there is a 50% there will be an odd number of women, so that means there is a 100% chance somebody is going to have wash feet twice"!
For a man who lives and breathes numbers actual or possible, this was a glaring error. So week after week when he gives his statistical percentages of increase for the "work", what is one to believe? So whether it is the calculations of swimming miles or the calculations of increase or the calculations of chance, there is most likely a 100% probability that the publicized figure is not correct.