It’s unclear what drew Arthur Walkington (A.W.) Pink (1886-1952) into the occult. Was it a fascination with the magical arts or a rejection of his upbringing? A.W. advanced rapidly through the leadership ranks of a Theosophy group and was invited to give a major address. His father quoted a verse to A.W. as he dashed up the stairs one evening after returning from a Theosophy meeting, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it leads to death” (Prov. 14.12). A. W. set to work on his speech and didn’t emerge from his room for three days. When he appeared, he announced his conversion to Christ and went ahead with the speech by declaring his newfound faith in Christ and resigning from the group.
A. W. threw himself into Scripture study, reading ten chapters daily and copying verses on paper to carry around with him. He memorized the entire letter of Ephesians this way. He pastored several churches but wasn’t particularly successful. He was, by all accounts, introverted and rather eccentric. The last sixteen years of his life, he lived off the coast of Scotland, as a virtual recluse. People knew little about him except that at a certain hour each day he took a walk through the town. Hardly what we would call a “people-person,” yet God used him, just as he does all flawed people. A. W. was good at writing and led his “paper flock” well. For thirty years, he wrote a monthly magazine called “Studies in the Scripture.” It was a deep dive into the Bible, six to eight articles, twenty-eight pages each month. Several notable Bible scholars and influential pastors of the mid-twentieth-century credit him with drawing them into deeper union with Christ and his Word.
A.W.’s closing prayer brings us back to who supplies the strength and power: