Welcome to the Atheist Church

"And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said to him, Man, thy sins are forgiven you. And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said to them, What do you reason in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, Your sins are forgiven you; or to say, Rise up and walk? But that you may know that the Son of man has power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say to you, Arise, and take up your couch, and go into your house. And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day" (Luke 4:17-26).

Strange things happened indeed. It's not every day that these people saw a paralyzed man miraculously healed, and he was healed because "the power of the Lord was present to heal." God is omniscient (He dwells everywhere), but on this particular occasion He was present to heal. The reason for this was because faith was present, and without faith, it's impossible to please God (see Hebrews 11:6).

Without faith, it's almost impossible to please anyone. Tell your spouse that you don’t have any faith in him or her, and watch the reaction. Tell it to your professor that you don’t trust him. Or how about telling your boss that you have no faith in him at all, and see how long you have a job.

So many people were pressing in to hear Jesus of Nazareth and to see His miracles that there was no room for these men to take their paralyzed friend to the Savior. So they let him down through the roof, and when Jesus saw their faith, He raised the paralyzed man from his sick-bed. So it goes to show that when your friends let you down, Jesus will raise you up.

But He didn't just raise him up and heal his paralyzed body. He forgave his sins. There is no point in healing a sinner’s body and having him end up in Hell. He forgave His sins because He had the power to forgive sins--He was God in human form.

The best friends you have ever had are those who bring you to Jesus, because without Him you are nothing but a paralyzed human being. You are waiting to die, and you can't do anything to help yourself. It’s just a matter of time. Today, may you find that what you thought would be the biggest let-down of your life--coming to Jesus Christ, is the most incredible thing that can ever happen to any human being. They find everlasting life.