I was in a coffee shop the other day minding my own business. Next to me were two gentlemen carrying on an intense conversation. I was partially oblivious to them, involved in what I was doing.

Until one of them spoke a bit louder and indignantly stated: “but that’s not normal!”

Attention arrested, my ears took on a life of their own and I began to listen in on the conversation. Turns out the two were pastors, one of an established church and the other either a church planter or a soon-to-be church planter. The newbie was going through hard times and had had a conversation with someone who’d evidently indicated that there was more available spiritually for him to tap into than he actually was. The former pastor, in the outburst that caught my attention, had indignantly and adamantly proclaimed that such churches were “not normal.”

The conversation proceeded like this:

You are supposed to preserver in your faith and that means it’s going to be difficult, but that is what you’re called to do. That’s what Jesus called you to do. Those churches and individuals that state there is a way to live victoriously through the Spirit do not know what they’re talking about. They’re abnormal. It simply isn’t true. Steer clear of them. They’re dangerous!

Wow! That broke my heart.