Life of Arthur W Pink

by Iain H. Murray

Pink's biography, first written by Iain Murray in 1981, is here revised and enlarged with the benefit of new material, including some of Pink's own re-discovered manuscripts. It is the heart-stirring and compelling story of a strong, complex character a 'Mr Valiant-for-truth' who was also a humble Christian. In 1922 a small magazine Studies in the Scriptures began to circulate among Christians in the English-speaking world. It pointed its readership back to an understanding of the gospel that had rarely been heard since the days of C. H. Spurgeon. At the time it seemed as inconsequential as its author, but subsequently Arthur Pink's writings became a major element in the recovery of expository preaching and biblical living. Born in England in 1886, A. W. Pink was the little-known pastor of churches in the United States and Australia before he finally returned to his homeland in 1934. There he died almost unnoticed in 1952.

Genres: Biography, Christian, History, Theology, Nonfiction, Church History

368 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1981

About the author

Iain Hamish Murray is a British pastor and author. He was educated in the Isle of Man and at the University of Durham before entering ministry in 1955. He served as assistant to Martyn Lloyd-Jones at Westminster Chapel (1956–59) and subsequently at Grove Chapel, London (1961–69) and St. Giles Presbyterian Church, Sydney, Australia, (1981–84). In 1957 he and Jack Cullum founded the Reformed publishing house, the Banner of Truth Trust, of which he continues to serve as a trustee.

Reviews

[Douglas Adu-Boahen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Misunderstood and misrepresented. That's the view of A.W. Pink which the open-minded reader will leave with when they read "The Life of Arthur W. Pink"

Murray peels back the covers and introduces us to Pink from childhood and his conversion through his pastoral and itinerant ministry and (most well-known) his writing ministry. But this is more than just a running narrative - Murray also incisively comments on various aspects of the life and ministry of Pink.

Particularly invaluable is the chapter on the Sovereignty of God - Pink's most well-known work. Will not spoil it - just get a copy and read it! :-)

[Trisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading this biography! It was encouraging, convicting, and illuminating. Murray does an excellent and gracious job of portraying the life of Pink and addressing those criticisms and controversies surrounding this diligent servant of the Lord.

[Todd Wilhelm · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mainly wanted to read this book to see why Pink lived a life of seclusion for the last 12 years of his life. He rarely attended a church and spent most of his time studying and writing. Each day he would take a walk for 60-90 minutes. Iain Murray did a good job of explaining what the probable causes of this were. Overall it was an interesting book about an interesting man. His wife, Vera, seemed like a charming person and it would be nice to read more about her. There wasn't a whole lot of details about Pink's life because he rarely wrote about himself. Most of the information gleaned by Murray was from personal correspondence Pink had with a few friends and also talking to some people who knew Pink.

I always find interesting the details of the end of ones sojourn on earth, I will include the narration of Pink's final days.

"Several months before the end I saw he was failing and it worried me very much. Each time I made a reference to it he would always say, 'It's old age, my dear. Thank the Lord it is so. I am thankful I am so near the end, and not just beginning life. I am heartily sorry for the young men of today who are just starting out. It will be terribly hard for those who are conscientious. The times are so dark and will get much darker for them, but the Lord will keep his own.' Many times he appeared so weary and exhausted as he was losing his energy, that I would press him to rest so that he would be better able to do his work. To which he would ever reply, 'We must work while it is day. The night cometh when no man can work. I desire to be found at my post when the call comes.' He would not stop work except for the short intervals he was accustomed to go out each morning, which he continued until three weeks before his death.

He never ceased to praise the Lord for bringing us to the Island of Lewis, and for placing us in the home in which it has been our happy privilege to reside for twelve years. He felt it was a mark of distinguishing favor that we should be with those who love and honor the Sabbath as we, too, have always done. He loved the Sabbath. It was a sacred and holy day to him, and he loved those who had the same reverence for it. In the peace and quietness here in Lewis he pursued and enjoyed his studies away from the maddening crowds of the cities. More than once he told me that he had no desire whatever to be anywhere else, and never expected to leave till the Lord took him to glory.

One night in May he had a seizure which lasted several minutes. After it passed he said, 'I shall soon be home in glory, I cannot go soon enough. Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me, bless his holy name. I am so happy, I feel like singing through that Psalm.' He observed I was weeping and asked, 'My dear, why do you weep? You should be rejoicing that I shall soon be home.' I told him I was weeping for myself at being left behind. I knew it was good for him, but I dreaded the separation. He gently said, 'The Lord has been so wondrously good to us all these years and brought us safely through until now. He will not desert you in your hour of greatest need. Only trust him with all your heart. He will not fail you.'

After that night he was making plans and getting all things in order for his departure as if he was going on a long journey, and he would be telling me what to do. Among other things, he wanted me to publish in "Studies in the Scriptures" all the material he was leaving with me before closing down the magazine. As he saw his time was short he applied himself more strenuously to composing articles so as to leave as much as he could and to complete as nearly as possible some series he was working on. 'The Lord is good and doeth good', was daily on his lips. He rested as few have done on the sovereignty of God and seemed to be completely resigned to his will for him to such an extent that he said many times, 'Let him do with me as seemeth him good.' Once when we were speaking of the past and present dealings of the Lord in our pilgrimage journey he said, 'He hath done all things well. All things, my dear, not some things!'

On the Wednesday morning before his death the following Tuesday morning, while still in bed and I about my duties in the room, he began to speak: 'The darkness is past and the true light now shineth. Yes, it shineth more and more unto the perfect day.' Lifting his hand toward the ceiling he said, 'All is glory before me. I cannot say with Mr. Rutherford, "Dark, dark hath been the midnight," for my experience has been so different from his. But I can say, "Day-spring is at hand, and glory, glory dwelleth in Immanuel's land." I am leaving the darkness behind to you who have still to finish your pilgrimage.' I said to him, 'That is all very beautiful for you,' to which he quickly replied, 'And it can be for you too if you will cast aside your doubts and fears and put your whole trust in him.' He sat in his chair most of the day dictating an article with great effort, for he was so desirous to finish it, but he said he felt he had left it too late to get it done. We lacked only four sentences when he stopped, put down his paper and glasses, and said, 'Put me to bed.' I shall never know how I got him to bed, but by the Lord's mercy I did, supporting him for over an hour till he got relief and I could lay him down. After a few minutes' rest he said, 'Get your glasses and paper and pencil and come to the bed, and I will give you the last four sentences and you can type them when I am gone.' I took them down and when I had completed writing he said, 'My work is finished. My race is run. I am ready to go. I cannot go soon enough.' He never rose after that, but still remained happy and praising the Lord.

The 23rd Psalm was almost constantly on his lips, spoken both to myself and the Christian nurse, and many wonderful things he said to us, among them being, 'Not one good thing hath failed of all the good things he hath promised.' Another time we heard him say, 'He hath not dealt with me after my sins, nor rewarded me according to my iniquities.' Again, 'Wearisome nights are appointed to me, but I have nothing to say, for the Lord has so wondrously spared me bodily pain all my life through till now.' Once we heard him ask the nurse if she knew those lovely lines, 'The King of love my Shepherd is, whose goodness faileth never; I nothing lack if I am his, and he is mine for ever.'

Once in great agony he said, 'O taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man that trusteth in him.' A dear friend came in to relieve the nurse and be with me and we beheld his face radiant many times, and we felt sure he was having visions of glory. Then we heard him say, which were his last words, 'The Scriptures explain themselves,' showing us what his mind was on. So having finished his course, and completed his work, he has gone to be with him whom he loved and served for so many years.'O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.'"

[Kelley Baldridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this, another excellent biography by Iain Murray, the life of an exceptionally interesting man is detailed. Murray does a fine job at providing honest explanations of who Pink was and why he was that way. He also corrects some of the negative views of Pink while also shining light on the heart of this man who was captivated by the Word of God.

[Ian Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent.

[Alyosha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m blessed by Murray’s efforts to give us a look at the life of the man who is, was, and will continue to be such an inspiration to me in my walk with Christ. I only wish more had been available, but alas, Pink’s private nature is part of what made him who he was. I look forward to the day we shall meet in glory.

[Jacob London · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a huge Pink fan, but I greatly appreciated this biography.

That is until the last chapter. Murray tries to explain why the Banner revised Pink's Soverignty of God and admits that the Banner didn't agree with Pink and removed a portion of the original manuscript after his death (pg. 328). Come on Banner! Murray himself he says that Pink wouldn't allowed this revision. Whether you agree with Pink or not it's always a sad thing when an authors work is tampered with when he is not alive to defend himself.

[Martyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's not exactly true to say I 'really liked' this biography. There was much about A.W.Pink that really frustrated me. And for a while, indeed, I thought this biography would frustrate me too. I was already familiar with some of the story, having read Murray's original articles about Pink in the Banner of Truth magazine. Reading about him again enabled me to do so with less surprise and with perhaps a more critical eye.

What frustrated me about the biography for much of the time was that every time Pink did something that would be condemned if we were to do the same today, Iain Murray seemed to jump to his defense and seek to excuse and legitimize his behaviour and attitudes. It was only in the penultimate chapter on 'Pink as a Teacher' when the real acknowledgement and criticism and assessment of Pink's defects took place. This chapter redeemed the biography in my eyes, and indeed made me like Pink more than I would have done if the defects had not been acknowledged. It just feels a pity that the criticism is left till so late on - I can imagine some readers would quit reading long before reaching this point due to frustration and discouragement.

It wasn't exactly a pleasure to read about Pink's life. There is much that one would have liked him to have done differently. He seemed like a frustrating character in many ways, and his own worst enemy, often turning his back on small things. It seemed like all along the way there were always people who were willing to hear him - not whole churches perhaps, but individuals within those churches with which he was connected who were willing to learn. But instead of ever sticking around for the sake of those few, he kept moving on, looking to find greener pastures elsewhere (often on the opposite side of a country or the globe). Indeed, when he did gather a whole church around him, he resigned for no obvious cause.

It also seemed that Pink constantly bemoaned the fact that doors were closed to him for preaching and teaching, and yet one never got the sense that he sought to make opportunities for himself. He wanted to preach in existing churches, and to organised meetings, and waited for invites. He didn't seem to use any initiative and go out to make opportunities to speak to people. One never gets the sense that he sought to preach the Gospel to every stranger that he met on the street, or to all his neighbours. Maybe that's just because we know little about his personal life, but it does often sound like he was never overly talkative and never took pains to cultivate his communication skills in order to reach people with the Gospel.

I've never read any of Pink's books and in a way Murray's biography does little to inspire me to do so. If one lacks discernment it feels like he is a risky author to embark upon when his writings are so varied in soundness and quality. Murray does provide useful guidance as to what is good and what should be avoided, but reading the appendix and seeing the lists of different publications of Pink's writings makes it seem like a bit of a tangled mess to unravel the good from the bad, or excellent from the weak.

I rather wish the final chapter hadn't been included in the main body of the book. It would have been better suited to the appendix. I'm afraid this chapter rather loses me. I can't follow Murray's line of reasoning. Maybe I am just at the stage Pink was at in 1929 and haven't yet the maturity and understanding to see the flaws in Pink's thinking at that time. I can't really understand what was so objectionable or incorrect about Pink's views then, nor understand how his later views were significantly different.

This isn't a biography I would recommend to many people. It seems to be a book to use more as a caution than an inspiration, to help people avoid making the same mistakes Pink did, to help them to avoid becoming too like him, too individual, too isolated. Unfortunately he sometimes reminds me too much of myself, which isn't a comforting thought - especially when I lack all his strengths and good qualities.

[Peter Clegg · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent telling of the life of a man who stood strong for the truth of the true knowledge of God. I related a lot to Pink's life.

[James Horgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many of us have read at least something by Arthur Pink, and have appreciated his writing. But who was he?

In this book Iain Murray describes both his strange life and his (mostly) not so strange theology. A recent lecture I heard at The Westminster Conference by Geoff Thomas covers much the same ground in briefer compass.

Pink grew up in Nottingham in a believing home but became an eloquent Theosophist. Converted through a Bible verse uttered by his father after he came home late one night in 1908 he became devoted to the Scriptures. Speaking engagements to large numbers and short pastorates followed in the US (where he acquired a supportive wife) and Australia before he found pulpits closed to him in the late 1920s and he spent the rest of his life producing material for his monthly magazine Search the Scriptures which ran for thirty years until his death in 1952.

As Murray rightly explains, Pink was ministering at a time when there was a dearth of experiential Calvinism in churches. Bible believing Christians were often most easily found in Brethren or, in the US, Baptist churches. However these were frequently Arminian and Dispensational. The first of these errors Pink left was to Arminianism and this closed pulpits to him. This seems to have been exacerbated by a tendency to Hyper-Calvinism over the free offer and the reprobate which he did abandon until he had finished church ministry.

The latter influenced his view of the church so that he found it hard to unite with any congregation. This caused him to leave ministry in Strict and Particular Baptist churches with whose Confession he was in hearty agreement, but functionally seemed to have deacons sympathetic to the Gospel Standard articles which, to his credit, he could not accept. His isolation probably wasn't helped by the Pinks living for the last period of their life on the Isle of Lewis where English-speaking Reformed Baptist churches were in short supply!

It seems strange that the only Strict Baptists he encountered were Hyper-Calvinistic. Was this the case everywhere? Perhaps he would have done better in East Anglia. Perhaps this was indeed a widespread error at the time.

Pink's experiences do seem to match the weakness of the church in England (and elsewhere) following the Downgrade of Liberalism at the end of the Victorian era. Faithful churches were few and disconnected, and clearly hard to find. Thus subscriptions to Search the Scriptures continually declined from the late 1920s until, and blessed until, the final two years of his life when there was a 10% and then a 50% rise in takers! This was the point in time when the Puritan Conference started led by Lloyd-Jones and Packer and there was a revival of interest in Puritan and Reformed literature. We should be deeply conscious of God's gracious workings at this time from which we now benefit.

Murray's writing is, as always, clear and enjoyable. His use of sources is detailed and thoughtful and his conclusions measured. Iain Murray founded The Banner of Truth on the crest of the Puritan Revival in 1957 and they soon brought out a revised version Pink's The Sovereignty of God, which has been valued by many in subsequent years, having sold 170,000 copies by 2004.

A helpful appendix lists books by Pink, almost all collected series from Search the Scriptures, together with dates. Works after 1930, when Pink had left early errors, being the most useful.

Despite his oddities Pink was given to the church as a Jeremiah for his times. Rejected, isolated, without a church home, yet faithfully seeking to help the few that remained. And like Elijah he was privileged to have a glimpse that 7000 remained, and more than 7000.

[Chase Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always loved Iain Murray’s writings. Revival and Revivalism was a historical theological assessment of the second great awakening and what followed that has been a great addition to church history and a proper understanding of revival. It is with that background in mind, and respect for Murray, that I give this book 4 stars.

The life of Arthur W Pink is NOT what one would expect from a man who is considered today to be a theological giant. He preached, taught, and edited the circulation of a magazine largely in anonymity. He was just not appreciated in his time, largely in this readers view, as a result of his lack of church membership. Despite this fact, this is a good read and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a better understanding of AW Pink.

Why am I giving this 4 stars then? This is due to a profound disappointment of Iain Murray’s misrepresentation of dispensationalism on many occasions. Pink began his theological journey as a dispensationalist and later altered his view. Moreover, the “flavor” he seemed to experience was that of unfulfilled prophecy, a pessimistic view of the times that led to lack of church membership, and essentially — naval gazing. Therefore, I choose to believe the best and trust that Pink’s assessment of dispensational theology as a whole was influenced by this. Let’s give brother Pink a pass!

However, Murray’s misrepresentation of dispensationalism remains… With Murray’s theological knowledge, historical knowledge, ties to current dispensational theologians (John MacArthur and TMS), etc. one would think he would approach defining this theological system in a gracious and fair way. However, Murray simply agrees with Pink’s assessment and adds that dispensationalism is merely man’s opinions and invalid as a theological system. Disappointing…

As a premillennial dispensationalist I can tell you that Murray’s definition is no where near what I believe. Addressing the absurd and ridiculous in a theological “camp” is a straw man that, while easy to construct and burn down, can just as easily be shown to be worthless and unhelpful. No one appreciates being told what they believe and think, but this occurred often enough and was ridiculous enough to make me feel as if this tangent on a book about AW Pink was justified.

I will continue to read, love, and learn from Iain Murray and his insightful writings. I just wish there would have been a correct representation of what fellow believers of the Lord Jesus Christ believe.

[Rob Spykstra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ian Murray has not disappointed me yet in terms of his thorough research of those he writes about. Amazing what he was able to glean about A.W. Pink considering that Pink was a man who shied from writing about his personal life. I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about this reclusive man. The book reveals what is so often true of an individual. Their impact is not understood and felt in their life, but only after their life. Two things I gleaned in terms of practical application is that every man is flawed and that community is necessary to shave off the edges of those flaws. Pink's life is one which could have benefited from direct regular contact with sinners. Secondly, Pink was a man I admire for taking deep biblical truth and demanding personal application. He was a man who found a balance between knowledge of God's will, that is, a deep understanding of Scripture, and obedience -- the necessary outcome of knowing God's will. A good read . . . highly recommend.

[Anson Cassel Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing a biography of British Bible expositor A. W. Pink (1886-1952) is no easy matter. Pink, who (largely after his death) helped spark a reconsideration of Calvinist doctrine among evangelicals, rarely discussed his personal life in either his writings or his letters; and much has to be deduced through indirection. Furthermore, what is known about Pink’s career is of limited interest except in illustrating how a person “born to write” could go from one failure to another in the pastorate without throwing in the towel. Iain Murray has done a fine job with the materials available, and though I would have apologized less for Pink’s idiosyncrasies, I respect the choice he has made.

[Mike Viccary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book incredibly helpful even though I have read it before. I have been blessed by Pink's work over the years. However reading of his life again made me reflect on mine. How weak and beggarly is the church still. How weak and beggarly am I. I am in great need of the fellowship of the saints. Pink's life shows this in spades and yet the diligence and attention to Scripture and exposition puts us to shame. Oh that we dig deeper in His word but did not neglect fellowship and service amongst the brethren.

[Martin Woodier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read Iain Murray’s first edition of The Life of Arthur W. Pink soon after its release in the early 1980s, a read of this second edition, revised and considerably expanded was more rewarding than I could have imagined. Pink has incredible wisdom on issues of deep spiritual significance, doctrinal importance and walking closely with Christ. Where Pink is less wise, Iain Murray has wisdom to unpick the weaknesses and use them to teach really important truths, especially in the last two chapters.

[Jemima · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! What a life. Marginalized. Alone. Died unnoticed. What a blessing this man’s works have been in my life. His wife, Vera stood by him, supported his work, typed all his manuscripts. What a blessing she must have been to him. A remarkable steadfast life.

[Mathias Seiwert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another faith-strengthening & well-written book by Iain H. Murray--praise the LORD! Great lessons learned, especially the importance of the Word of God and trusting the LORD when there seems to be so little fruit/results as you follow His plan for your life.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on Arthur Pink. Often misunderstood, Murray explores the character and beliefs of Pink. There is much to learn from reading Pink, and Murray’s book helps facilitate that process:

[Christopher Keller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Balanced analysis and encouragement that the Lord will use his own as he sees fit and not how we often envision it. It's a prayer to be as filled w/ the scriptures as this man.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy any biography by Iain H. Murray, he has an eye to give a good biography, with warts and all, and he does so by highlighting their strengths and their weaknesses too. This biography on A. W. Pink is no different.

First Murray traces the history of Pink, how he grew up in a pious home, but became attracted to the occultist realm. He then traces how Pink was slowly advancing in the occult society until one night where Pink’s father, as his custom, waits for Pink to return and speaks some words or bible verses to Pink. That night, Pink was constantly interrupted by the very verse spoken by his father “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 14:12). That marked the return of Pink to the faith. So real was his conversion that he took the pre-arranged appointment to speak at the occultist meeting to preach the gospel to the people gathered there.

Murray then showed how Pink was called to be pastor at various churches in the U.K. until his move to Australia, which proved to be his most enjoyable time as a preacher. Not only did he enjoy his time there, the people were rejoicing at a preacher who finally preached the words of God to them. He was able to speak to large crowds and people were coming to hear him speak, however, due to his inability to agree fully to the church’ doctrinal belief. He volunteered to resign and thereafter left his beloved Australia, going to the U.K..

After a period of dry season, being unable to find any church to pastorate, Pink was given a change to go the U.S.A. to do some open preaching. However, being unable to find a permanent place that he could fully agree with, he was on the move again, going back to his homeland, the U.K. This time, he was no longer looking for any more churches to pastorate, but to long hours of reading, studying and writing, until his eventual death in 1952.

What I have learnt from his life is firstly, the importance and amount of studying and writing he undertook! He sure was a reader and thinker. Astonished to learn that he reads roughly over a hundred pages of puritan writings a day! (Including the notoriously difficult puritan, John Owen). How he is able to do that, I do not know, but I sure hope to be able to be given the ability at such a pace. To be sure, he was not learning for learning’s sake, he was learning because he needed to write his magazines that were distributed to readers all over the world.

2nd, both his strength and weakness, his conviction to the truth is something that I should emulate, however, his withdrawal from all churches is well… staggering. I cannot agree to the total withdrawal from all churches for any Christian, given the many denominations the Christian Church has, I’m sure one would at least have agree with the major points he held. Secondly, I’m not sure if Pink himself had any 2nd tier doctrines that he could agree to disagree within a church, that does not seemed to be the impression I had as I was reading through this biography.

Inside this biography there are also many helpful sections like a chapter by Murray on “Interpreting Pink’s Isolation”, a bibliography of Pink’s Major Writing, which also highlighted Pink’s maturation of his understanding of the doctrine of grace between his first edition of “The Sovereignty of God” and future editions

Murray has done a great job on this biography on a rather obscure author (outside of the reformed circle) hopefully this biography will spur more to read Pink for themselves.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent. There were more instances than I'd like of "We don't know why this happened but maybe..." Not a thriller by any means; the guy led a mostly boring life as far as I could see. Still worth reading though. Mostly, it's a story about a theologian struggling through life without being particularly gifted socially.

[Dean Gergi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I. Murray is my favorite author on history and biographies and this book is, alongside with Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' life, one of his best. As someone said: "Real men don't wear pink, they read Pink" :)

[Nathan]

I love A.W. Pink. His writings have always rung a strong chord in my soul. Eventually I decided to look at the man behind the pen. That's this book.



"[A]t the heart of Pink's desire for a wider ministry was his burden that so few cared for a deeper understanding of the Word of God," writes Murray. "It distressed him that so many struggling Christians remained unfed" (pg 209). I hear that. In this sense, Pink and I are kindred spirits.



Yet I also spotted a deep concern in his lifestyle: his growing separation from mainline church. "In his failure to identify with any one branch of the church he lost the opportunity to work patiently with others for an improvement... an individualism that inevitably made his ministry unacceptable to his contemporaries" (pg 166). Whatever the cause for this divide (Pink's own pride, criticism, or stubbornness), I took it as a warning for my own life.



Throughout his life, Pink read incessantly, so he was a much different man at death that at birth. His perspectives grew and changed, leading him to sometimes contradict himself later in life. Murray advises caution reading Pink's work prior to the 1930s. I think that's wise.



Subject aside, I found Murray tough to read. The biography was fairly rigidly chronological, making it hard to slog through. But I did enjoy to frequent quotations from Pink himself. And Appendix 3 (a chronological list of Pink's writing) was useful.



Overall, if you like Pink, you'll like this. If not, you won't.

[Mwansa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written book about a great but humble man. Though the amount of information on his life is not as vast as it is about some others e.g C.H. Spurgeon. Nevertheless Ian H. Murray managed to grasp the character of the man presenting his genius, and character as well as his flaws. This is the life of a man who wished to not only know more of and draw closer to God himself but desired to help others do the same. He had a real passion for people though he was a man who knew a lot of solitude. The last two chapters of the book really help you understand not just the man but his most famous work, i sort of feel I have known the man and I have come to an appreciation of how God uses men in whatever circumstances they are in. Lastly though it is sad that his work in exposition of the scriptures was not appreciated in his lifetime we, and especially I, am grateful for the work God used him to accomplish.
This verse characterized Pinks life the most in my view
"For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen"
Romans 11 vs 36

[Pete Williamson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came to this book knowing next to nothing about Pink except from what a few others had told me. Part of the reason for that appears to be the very limited amount of material that we actually possess of his life aside from his voluminous writings. Murray has done another great job of cobbling together the various bits of correspondence and personal testimony to paint the picture of a very compelling man who really stood out in his day (early-mid 20th cent.) for his intent to teach Christians and proclaim to unbelievers an unadulterated gospel.

[Mark Sylvester · Rating 3 out of 5]

Introverted, misunderstood, secluded, and isolated from the world around him, but Pink continues to have great influence in his writings. He dealt with a lot of misrepresentation, and was forced to stop preaching and persevere in his writing ministry despite low numbers and harsh criticism. Learned a lot from this book, like how one is always learning and developing in their knowledge of God and His Word. I Wish there was more info about his life, but it's largely limited because Pink rarely wrote about himself and spent the last 12 years of his life basically secluded from the world.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Also read 6/18/00; 6/9/99; 1997; 4/26/07

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a fan of Pink and enjoyed reading his life. He was far from perfect but was used in many great ways.

[Philip Harrelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was very encouraged reading of Pink's commitment to writing and preaching in the face of extreme attacks by the lukewarm.