The Antichrist

In "The Antichrist," A. W. Pink shows the development of the idea that the system of the Roman papacy is the Antichrist and demonstrates it as an error resulting from the papacy's persecution of Christians in the middle ages. He argues that the intensity of their experience led persecuted Christians to view the identity of the Antichrist as a system rather than as an individual person. Against this error Pink constructs from Scripture a profile of the Antichrist. He demonstrates expository preaching and gives a clear example of how the Bible interprets itself. The book is a collection of lectures given by him between 1913 and 1923. His argument is laid out in the Introduction. The next two chapters show why he does not believe the Roman papacy can be the Antichrist; Chapters Three through Seven give a profile of the Antichrist's identity; and Chapters Eight through Seventeen are an exposition of the theme through the Bible. Through it all runs Pink's dry humor. Arthur W. Pink was born in England in 1886 and died in Scotland in 1952. He attended Moody Bible Institute for six weeks, grew impatient, and moved to Colorado where he began pastoring a church. He pastored churches in America and Australia then returned to Great Britain. After his death his writings became influential in the American Evangelical churches. He was influenced by Protestant, Calvinist, premillennial dispensational and evangelical thinking. We don't hear much of Pink in American Mainline Protestant churches, probably because he wasn't credentialed by a major institutional church and because of his lack of academic pedigree. Pink, along with Calvin, has recently become "disendorsed" by a fundamentalist group. He was and remains an "outsider." His pastorates were short, lasting about two years. With his wife, Vera, he spent his later years in the Scottish Hebrides and there he enjoyed a ministry of writing. He published a newsletter with about 1,000 subscribers and enjoyed a wide correspondence. Life in the harbor town of Stornoway allowed Pink both the stimulation and the solitude to think--luxuries not readily available to parish pastors. There he enjoyed both continued learning and the freedom to change his views from time to time. It is regrettable that this volume does not include a bibliography. If you're a Bible fan, check out some of his references. If you are an American mainline minister, you probably won't like the book. For you, relativism has probably replaced a practical theology of Good and Evil. If you are a fundamentalist preacher, you probably won't like it, either. For you, the idea that Luther and the Puritans were wrong about the papacy is probably too much to bear. And, if you are an internet addict who loves to guess about the end of times online, this book probably won't appeal to you. For you, it will seem too intellectual, too academic, and you'll probably miss the humor in it. However, for the vast majority of American Christians, Bible fans, and people who want to know what Christians believe this book is a masterful must. The logical flow is flawless, the addition of historical thought to Scripture is interesting, and the certainty of the faith is a welcome comfort in these uncertain times.