I’ve recently finished reading Ian Murray’s biography The Life of Arthur W. Pink. I’ve not heard or read much about the life of A.W. Pink until reading this biography. I hadn’t realized that one good reason for that is that so little about his life is known at certain periods, and Pink himself left sparing biographical details. The biography combined some good detective work with a wonderful treatment of Pink’s sermons and writings in his periodical Studies in the Scripture. In the opening chapter, “A Spiritualist Becomes a Christian,” Murray recounts the early period of Pink’s life when he was dedicated to the occult and was fast becoming something of a star in the occult circuit. Pink had been raised in a Christian home with faithful Christian parents, but along with his two siblings rejected the faith as he grew. He began to devoutly practice Theosophy, an anti-Christian cult headquartered in Madras, india that promoted esoteric eastern ‘wisdom’ beliefs, denied the personality of God, claimed to unify all religions, and promoted communication with the spirits of the dead.
We can imagine the heartbreak Pink’s faithful Christian parents felt at seeing all their children wander from the Truth, and at seeing Pink wander into serious spiritual darkness. Murray tells the story of a father’s faithful prayers and witness to his erring son, and how a brief word hurriedly spoken turned Pink from idols to serve the true and living God. In Murray’s words:
The date when the Besant proposal [Pink had been invited by Annie Besant (1847-1933), leader of the Theosophic movement, to come study with her and assume major leadership in the movement] came to Pink is not known. It was probably early in 1908, for we know that in that year he was still in Nottingham. He was not twenty-two years of age, and so deeply involved in the occult that he later recorded, “Five years ago I was a medium,” practising “clairvoyance, psychomancy, and magical healing.” All this time Pink was earning a living in business. He also continued to live at home, which tells us something about his patient parents. Hey grieved, prayed and were not altogether silent. His father always waited up until his son returned from meetings late in the evening and to Arthur’s annoyance often accompanied his “Good-night” with some brief but telling word of Scripture. One such evening, in the year 1908, as Pink hurriedly passed his father and dashed upstairs to his room, the text which he received was, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Prov. 14:12). As he shut the bedroom door, intending to do some work on a speech for an important annual meeting of theosophists that was to take place on the Friday evening of that same week, the text remained with him and so disturbed his concentration that work was impossible. The story continues int he words of Charles and Elsie Pressel:
A.W.P. decided he was fatigued, and would take a bath to relax, but during this process all he could see “mentally” was “There is a way that seemeth right, etc.” Again he returned to work on his speech and all his mind brought forth was Proverbs 14:12. He, A.W.P., told us he could not longer reject the God of the Bible and began to cry unto the Lord in prayer, convicted by the Holy Spirit and his power to bring a soul to see his lost condition and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour. His early training taught him about the Lord, but now, like Paul of old, was the appointment with a Holy Sovereign God. For almost three days he did not leave his room to join the family, but his father and mother prayed, and in late afternoon on the third day A.W.P. made his appearance and his father said, “Praise God my son has been delivered.”
A.W.P. kept his next appointment before the Society of Theosophists; the speech he was preparing was never completed but by God’s grace he made known to them the God of the Bible. A ‘groan’ went up from the listeners. Many remarked that he had ‘gone mad’ and needed a rest, for they were aware of his plans to join Madame Besant. (pp. 11-12)
The last speech Pink gave the theosophists was a straight gospel message on the true God and Jesus Christ, his Son, and the great salvation found only in His Name. The rest, as they say, is history. Pink’s sudden and radical conversion was evidenced by his daily reading of ten chapters of Scripture, daily memorization of Scripture, an immediate sense of call to the gospel ministry, a long ministry of preaching and especially writing on three or four continents–all for the glory of the Lord. 
The first book I read by Pink was The Sovereignty of God. It would be theologically one of the most formative, provocative, and worship-producing books I’ve ever read. It settled a lot for me about the centrality of God in all of life, His utter sovereignty in all things, and my need to bow in praise of His name. God put me on my knees before Him as I was reading that book. I hope never to get up.
I thought of this anecdote from Pink’s life because I know a lot of parents worry about the eternal prospects of adult children who appear spiritually dead. Take heart: God the Holy Spirit may use a choice word spoken in passing to wrestle the wretch into an awakening that leads to everlasting life, fruitfulness and glory. Pray and speak. The Lord is at work.
