Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
There is a peculiar story in Judges 12:1-6 that has important lessons for us today. In the days of the judges in Israel, the Gileadites devised a unique method of testing those who belonged to their camp and who didn’t. They asked everyone to say the word “Shibboleth.” Their perceived enemies, the Ephraimites, who were really fellow Israelites from a different tribe would pronounce this as “Sibboleth.” That was all that was needed to seal their doom. Because the Ephraimites could not pronounce one syllable correctly 42,000 of them were killed by their brothers.
That seems bizarre, but unfortunately, it is fairly common. We may not literally kill people because they cannot pronounce a word correctly, but the church is known for metaphorically killing each other over differences in doctrines, beliefs and how we practice our faith.
The word “Shibboleth” can mean a truism or widely held belief, but the more interesting definition is an identity test or litmus test or test of belonging. A “Shibboleth” in and of itself is not necessarily evil or wrong. All cultures, social organizations, corporations, churches, etc. have their own “Shibboleths.” It is when we misuse or abuse a “Shibboleth” by separating ourselves from those we do not wish to be associated with that they become a significant problem.
Last year in the church world we witnessed a serious abuse of a “Shibboleth.” A prominent evangelical pastor on the west coast held a conference for the purpose of condemning the Charismatic/Pentecostal movement. The message promoted by this conference was: “The Charismatic movement with signs, wonders, “miraculous” spiritual gifts, prophecy, etc. is a work of Satan and is being used to single-handedly destroy the Church of Jesus Christ and most people in the [Charismatic] movement are “not Christians.””
There has always been differences and debate between the evangelical movement and the charismatic/Pentecostal movement concerning spiritual gifts, tongues, etc. and I think that can be healthy, but this conference was way out of bounds. It was divisive and hurtful.
That was a really big, ugly and extreme abuse of a “Shibboleth,” but there is a much more subtle version at work around us all the time. Have you ever been in a setting where you knew you were not really a part of the group? You may hang out with the group, but somehow you are not the same. You’re on a different level, a slightly lower level. You may not necessarily feel excluded and actually may be welcomed, but there’s an invisible barrier that separates you from them. You are never really in the group, only with the group. I think we all know how that feels.
The world, and unfortunately the church, is full of people who feel they are only with the group, but never really in the group. They feel depersonalized and left out and that is exactly how the devil wants us to think, that we do not matter to anyone, especially to God. We can expect that in the world, but the church needs to be intentional about cliques or an “us and them” mentality.
Let’s be careful to not misuse and especially not abuse our “Shibboleth” because when we do we are hurting those whom Christ loves and died for and giving place to the orphan spirit. Let’s walk “With all lowliness and meekness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:2-3).
Many Blessings, BW