grow in grace it must be through the knowledge of Christ which is directly tied in to the Word of Cod. Next, begin to busy yourself for the Lord. For fear of doing some thing wrong some people never do anything at all. This is tragic and detrimental to your own Christian maturity. In order to find a place of service, seek both wisdom and counsel from those who are more mature in the faith. Cod has a place for you, if you will be will ing to let Him use you. Q. Sonora, Calif. "Will you please comment on the 'Jesus People' movement? Do you think this is scriptural? How does it line up with II Corinthians 6:17 and I Tim othy 4:12?'' A. It would be impossible to cat egorize the movement with one simple and distinct definition. Sal vation is always based upon one's reception of Christ as personal Saviour. We become new creatures (II Corinthians 5:17). Some of these modern groups are made up of young people who are zealous for verse - by - verse Bible exposition. They have a real hunger for the Word. In other cases it seems only to be a place to tear down the "es tablishment." We know that Cod alone can judge the heart. Doubt less, there are many in churches today devoid of any real concept of salvation and their personal re lationship to Christ. Let us not be quick to condemn until we know all the circumstances involved. The natural news media has a tendency to lump the entire group together when there are many differentia tions which should be made. One of the strongest Biblical tests is whether the local congregation has
a pastor-teacher guiding them from the Word. Are lives really be ing transformed and can the spir itual fruit be readily discerned? It is sad to see that some people have been Christians for 40 years and yet they have never matured. They are still babes in Christ. II Corinthians 6:15-17 clearly indi cates that we are not to be like the ungodly or the unrighteous. Many of the young people in the so-called "Jesus People" move ment have come out from among their generation to seek a deeper understanding of Cod's truth. Un fortunately, so many of the youth today are interested in mysticism and the occult. Their age is charac terized by profanity and sensuality. Violence seems to be paramount in some area. The saved young person, however, has come out from all of that. The language by "Jesus People" may be offensive to us since it is in the vernacular of the day. Instead of talking about being high on drugs they tell of how their needs have been met in Christ. The heart relationship is what is important. The Christian then is characterized by evangel ism, prayer, Bible study, and most certainly love. The changed life is what counts with the Lord. Here at Biola, as an example, the way we dress is not so much dif ferent from other secular educa tors of our day. How can you tell from outward appearances the dif ference between an unbeliever? The main contrasts are in the life and the way we approach every aspect of our daily existence. It is therefore unwise to make snap judgments on the basis of appear ance. We are told actually to judge not, lest we be judged. Page 27
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