The resurgence of atheism today is a natural given the paganizing of everything in our world. As always, it’s couched in intellectualism.

“If you want to know why about 85 percent of people go to college, Proverbs 18’s the passage: ‘Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself,’ ” says Jordan. “Most people don’t go to get a good job. That passage says the only thing a fool studies for is so he can have an alibi to do what he wants to do. There’s that desire to discover itself—have an excuse to do what it wants to do.

“You’ll never meet anybody who’s an honest atheist. When I say an honest one, I mean somebody who doesn’t have an ax to grind like guys such as (Sigmund) Freud. Freud said that the reason he hated religion is because he crossed the street one day and a guy standing on the corner was preaching, ‘You’re going to go to hell! If you don’t trust Christ you’re going to burn in hell.’

“Freud spent the rest of his life trying to prove that religion was just a repressed sex drive. And he’s the guy where all you got to do is drop his name and everybody thinks, ‘Oh, you’re a real intellectual.’

“You’ll never meet an honest person who spent 15 hours looking at the actual evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ say they don’t believe in it because, if you look at the actual evidence for the resurrection, there’s only one conclusion—He came out of the grave.

“Now, you might not like that conclusion. You might think that conclusion’s impossible. You might not like what it means. You might put another meaning to it than the Word of God puts to it, but you can’t look at the evidence with an unprejudiced heart and mind and not recognize the historical reality of the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

“Obviously what that means is up to you. I mean, you can put any meaning to it you want to. I read a book years ago by a Jewish rabbi who believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ based on the historical evidence, but didn’t believe He was the Messiah; he didn’t trust Him. He didn’t get the meaning that God attached to it.

“But when you recognize that there’s one man who went into death and came out, and that there’s objective, physical, historical, demonstrable evidence that you could go into a court of law with and prove it happened, well, that’s different.

“And you see that’s what (Doubting) Thomas came up with when he said, ‘My Lord and my God.’ He figured it out right when he saw it.

*****

Writing about Christ’s resurrection appearance, Luke reports In Luke 24: 36-43, “And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
[37] But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
[38] And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
[39] Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
[40] And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.
[41] And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?
[42] And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.
[43] And he took it, and did eat before them.”

“When it says they were terrified and affrighted, thinking they’d seen a spirit, the reason for that is found in John 20—they’re in a room that they’ve locked down,” says Jordan. “They think it’s secure and, all of a sudden, Christ just, ‘Poof!’ appears in their midst; literally just comes through the wall.

“And He said to them, ‘Why are ye troubled?’ and then ate a piece of broiled fish. Now, that’s a passage that details the veracity and the authenticity of the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ. They see Him; they see He has a body that has flesh and bones—His real, literal body.

“Now, obviously it’s a supernatural body because it just came into a locked-down room. But when it materialized in front of them, it literally materialized, and He sits there with them in the fellowship of eating and consumes a meal with them.

“It’s a real, physical manifestation so you don’t think He’s a spirit, or a ghost or some kind of ethereal hallucination. His resurrection body was a real, physically manifestable body.

“Now, the fascinating thing about that is what it tells you about the resurrection, and the resurrection of the body. And this a great passage for you and me to help us appreciate our resurrection body, because in the resurrection we’re going to have a body made like unto His body. The capacity that His body has to function; you and I are going to have that same kind of body.

“I Corinthians15 details our resurrection body and it’s a whole chapter answering questions from people denying the resurrection: ‘How is that the dead are raised and is it a real, literal body or is it just somebody who lives on in our memories, or is there reincarnation?’

“You remember in Acts 17 when Paul is at Athens? Athens was the great intellectual center of the ancient world and it’s still a center from which you and I are influenced today; it’s really the intellectual center of Western civilization.

“When Paul began to speak of the resurrection, you remember what they said about him? ‘Just a babbler; let him babble on.’ And when he started preaching, they just turned away from him. But they had that exposure to the idea of resurrection.”