In the Belcher biography there is no record of how he got saved. Apparently Pink never witnessed about his salvation. It just says, "He dated his salvation from the year of 1908, when he was twenty-two years of age" (p. 18). I have read many, many biographies of Christians, and am reading one now, the biography of Ron "Patch the Pirate" Hamilton by his wife. (Very well written.) Never have I read another biography where you could not tell how the subject got saved.
I also cannot find a place in the book where God called Pink to full time service. That's also strange. I can tell you exactly how I got saved, and I can tell you exactly how God called me to preach and then to be a missionary. Did Pink try (emphasize "try") to pastor without a call?
Folks, if you have to read Calvinist theology, there are plenty of great books out there without these very large difficulties. Surely you can do better than Pink!!
I think perhaps you need to read the Iain Murray biography. I have not read the one by Belcher, but it seems somewhat incomplete, and perhaps a bit antagonistic towards its subject. I only just became aware of the A.W. Pink Archive, awpink.org but here is an extract.
"Called “
one of the most influential evangelical authors in the second half of the twentieth century” by Iain Murray. Arthur Walkington Pink was born in Nottingham, United Kingdom, in 1886, to Thomas and Agnes Pink. Despite growing up in a faithful Christian household, Pink rebelled at his parents faith and embraced Theosophy. He ambitiously climbed the cult’s ranks, being noted as an promising leader of the movement in England, before being challenged by the words of
Proverbs 14:12
as he prepared a talk for the Theosophy society in his family home. For three days, Pink did not leave his room to join his family, but on the late afternoon of the third day, he emerged converted. He then proceeded to give his final talk at the society, whereupon he proclaimed Christ from
Romans 1:16."
That seems to me to be a very dramatic conversion and a very bold testimony to me. Murray reports that it was his father who quoted Proverbs 14:12 to him.
I also want to take issue with this quotation from Belcher:
But Pink thought he was sufficient within himself. "He came to the conviction that God is the primary teacher and that man really needs no one else to teach him" (p. 28).
I have probably read more Pink than any other Christian author save Lloyd-Jones. All his books are stuffed full of quotations from older writers, especially, but by no means exclusively, the Puritans. He was also a great admirer of Spurgeon who died (IIRC) in 1892.
Pink had only one book published during his lifetime,
The Sovereignty of God. All of his many other books were taken, after his death, from his monthly magazine,
Studies in the Scriptures. Dr, Lloyd-Jones was a subscriber to this from 1942 until Pink's death. In a letter to Murray in 1945, M.Ll-J wrote: "Don't waste time reading Barth and Brunner. You will get nothing from them to aid you with preaching. Read Pink.
Books by Pink that I recommend are:
1. His biographies.
Life of David, Life of Elijah (particularly recommended),
Gleanings in Elisha. I found his 'Life of David' especially helpful when preaching through 1 & 2 Samuel.
2. His devotional books.
Profiting from the Word (Often considered his best book),
Gleanings from Paul (studies in Paul's prayers),
A Guide to Fervent Prayer (studies in the prayers from the General Epistles).
3. Other works.
The Satisfaction of Christ. The best book I have read on the Atonement.
The Seven Sayings of the Saviour from the Cross. Wonderful expositions!
Hebrews. A massive commentary, and my own go-to work on that book, although the layout is not very user-friendly.
The Sovereignty of God. The seminal work on the subject.
Two of Pink's earlier works,
Gleanings in Genesis (spoiled to a degree by his early adherence to the 'Gap Theory') and
The Gospel of John (which I haven't read), are usually not recommended. Lastly, there is
Studies in Saving Faith, which was re-printed by John MacArthur's organization. I hardly know whether or not to recommend it - it is the scariest book I have ever read! You end up asking like the Apostles.
"Who then can be saved?"
It is impossible to excuse some of Pink's actions, like ceasing to attend church for the last 15 years of his life. However, we all fall short in many ways (James 3:2), and I believe there is much help to be gained from reading Pink. But often he was his own worst enemy. I end with a quotation from Iain Murray's (yes, him again!) biography of Lloyd-Jones Speaking of Lloyd-Jones' role in the resurgence of Calvinist understanding, he wrote:
"Dr. Lloyd-Jones certainly did not believe that discussion of the doctrines of grace should be carried on in an atmosphere of controversy. To present those doctrines in an argumentative way to Christians of a different understanding, or to make a direct attack on their beliefs and practices, is unlikely to be beneficial. He thought that A.W. Pink had made a mistake at this point and that in doing so he had lost an opportunity to influence numbers who were incapable of suddenly receiving meat in the place of milk.
Reflecting on this in later years, he was to say: "If I had behaved like Pink did, I would have achieved nothing; nothing at all. I could see that the only hope was to let the weight of the truth conince the people. So I had to be very patient and take a very long term look at things, Otherwise I would have been dismissed and the whole thing would have finished.'"
