Pilot Light Christianity: The Danger of a Lukewarm Witness

By Doug West

Pilot Light Christianity will challenge you to rethink your evangelism strategy and weigh its merits and shortcomings. What levels of evangelism are acceptable to God? Can a Christian not witness and please God? Following in the vein of the Old Testament prophets, this writing is a warning cry from a watchman to the Church that is at times “asleep in the Light.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dust Jacket Press
• Release date: Oct 13, 2011
• ISBN: 9781937602178

Doug West

Doug West is a retired engineer, small business owner, and an experienced non-fiction writer with several books to his credit. His writing interests are general, with expertise in science, history, biographies, numismatics, and “How to” topics. Doug has a B.S. in Physics from the Missouri School of Science and Technology and a Ph.D. in General Engineering from Oklahoma State University. He lives with his wife and little dog “Millie” near Kansas City, Missouri.

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Pilot Light Christianity

The Danger of a Lukewarm Witness

Doug West

www.DustJacket.com | [e-mail]

Copyright © 2011 Doug West

eBook ISBN: 978-1-937602-17-8

Dust Jacket Press PO Box 721243 Oklahoma City, OK 73172

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Cover and Illustrations: Doug West

Graphic Design: Lyn Rayn

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

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To my wife, Priscilla:

With all my love and thanks for being a

faithful supporter of me and my many projects.

To my Dad and Mom, Bill and Louise West:

For your love and many prayers,

and embracing our joys and concerns.

To Tim Roehl:

For shining God’s light to me when I was dead in sin,

being a good friend, and for all your help

and encouragement. Thanks, Admiral.

To Gail and the late Paul Hanson:

For showing me in High School what a

relationship with God looked like.

Thanks for your friendship and example over the years.

CONTENTS

Cover

What they are saying

Title

Copyright

Dedication

Introduction

1. Yeah, I’m supposed to . . . what was the question?

2. Yikes! There’s a lost person at my door!

3. Hey, Pal! How have you been?

4. Ignorant and proud of it

5. Ahhh, the warm fuzzies!

6. Where’s the Fruit?

7. Doing it right

Notes

About the Author

INTRODUCTION

The idea for this book came to me early one morning during a thunderstorm. A boom of thunder had set off the alarm on a neighbor’s truck (a banana yellow hiked up 4x4 with a large yellow Tonka decal on the back window his toy- I guess?), and between that and having brought our nineteen-month old baby girl to our room, I guess I was ripe for a word from the Lord. As I lay back down the title to a book I had recently read came to mind "Big Boy Rules, about the dangerous life of American mercenaries in Iraq. Big boy rules refers to a special set of rules they abide by that afford them many freedoms not allowed the enlisted soldier. I thought, Hmm. That would be a name for a book on spiritual warfare! And then the Lord started speaking to me. As I thought about spiritual warfare, He said What is true spiritual warfare, but the advancement of the Kingdom, through the spreading of the Gospel? And I was mulling over this and He brought to mind Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5, about not hiding your light under a basket. It was like He said, This is the problem. Believers are hiding the light. And then the imagery of a pilot light came to mind. We have been called to be beaming lighthouses on a high hill, but too often the light of Christianity is like a pilot light on the bottom of a water heater—covered and concealed, viewable only by spiders and unwanted rodents. So then the title began to form, first as The Pilot Light Syndrome, and finally Pilot Light Christianity."

In Matthew 5, Jesus did not use these words (Pilot Light Christianity) exactly, but He did drive home the concept in instruction regarding the right way to shine one’s light.

¹⁴You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:14, 15

Pilot Light Christianity is living the Christian life short of its capability, specifically in regard to one’s witness (light). If there is one shortcoming of the Church today it is dimming Jesus by turning His light so far down that it is hardly on and not much of a threat to the culture around us. Keith Green years ago hit this situation with his song Asleep in the Light.

Do you see, do you see, all the people sinking down,

Don’t you care, don’t