What follows is an excerpt from Arthur Pink’s volume on Saving Faith. The articles that this book is comprised of were originally written in the 1930’s. They could have been written today. It is also startling to consider that if what he wrote was true in his day, then how bad we must be in our day. Perhaps we are simply blind in darkness and we love it so. We think it is good to keep the presses going and the machinery of organizations oiled and operating. But if the message of the Gospel is truly perverted in our day, we are simply sending out error and false gospels. We are told many times in Scripture to beware of false teachers. Perhaps we should judge and compare what we hear and read to Scripture and to the writers of old. After all, we are dealing with eternal things.
It is generally recognized that spirituality is at a low ebb in Christendom and not a few perceive that sound doctrine is rapidly on the wane, yet many of the Lord’s people take comfort from supposing that the Gospel is still being widely preached and that large numbers are being saved thereby. Alas, their optimistic supposition is ill-founded and sandily grounded. If the “message” now being delivered in Mission Halls be examined, if the “tracts” which are scattered among the unchurched masses be scrutinized, if the “open air” speakers be carefully listened to, if the “sermons” or “addresses” of a “Soul-winning campaign” be analyzed; in short, if modern “Evangelism” be weighed in the balances of Holy Writ, it will be found wanting-lacking that which is vital to a genuine conversion, lacking what is essential if sinners are to be shown their need of a Saviour, lacking that which will produce the transfigured lives of new creatures in Christ Jesus.It is in no captious spirit that we write, seeking to make men offenders for a word. It is not that we are looking for perfection, and complain because we cannot find it; nor that we criticize others because they are not doing things as we think they should be done. No; no, it is a matter far more serious than that. The “evangelism” of the day is not only superficial to the last degree, but it is radically defective. It is utterly lacking a foundation on which to base an appeal for sinners to come to Christ. There is not only a lamentable lack of proportion (the mercy of God being made far more prominent than His holiness, His love than His wrath), but there is a fatal omission of that which God has given for the purpose of imparting a knowledge of sin. There is not only a reprehensible introducing of “bright singing,” humourous witticisms and entertaining anecdotes, but there is a studied omission of the dark background upon which alone the Gospel can effectually shine forth.
But serious indeed as is the above indictment, it is only half of it-the negative side, that which is lacking. Worse still is that which is being retailed by the cheap-jack evangelists of the day. The positive content of their message is nothing but a throwing of dust in the eyes of the sinner. His soul is put to sleep by the Devil’s opiate, ministered in a most unsuspecting form. Those who really receive the “message” which is being given out from most of the “orthodox” pulpits and platforms today, are being fatally deceived. It is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but unless God sovereignly intervenes by a miracle of grace, all who follow it will surely find that the ends thereof are the ways of death. Tens of thousands who confidently imagine that they are bound for Heaven, will get a terrible disillusionment when they awake in hell.
Mark 12:38 In His teaching He was saying: “Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like respectful greetings in the market places,
Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. 5 “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. 11 “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.
Isaiah 9:16 For those who guide this people are leading them astray; And those who are guided by them are brought to confusion.
Jeremiah 28:15 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen now, Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie.
2 Peter 2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned.
1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 Corinthians 11:13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.
Ephesians 4:14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;
1 Timothy 4:1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,
2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,
Acts 20:29 “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 “Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.
We live in a day where virtually anyone can get a piece of paper with the name “reverend” on it and all sorts of people are called missionaries. As you look at the Scriptures above in light of the quote by Arthur Pink, please don’t just read this and go on with life. We live in an age where many vital things of Scripture have been redefined and so truths have been removed from Scripture while many hold on to humanism that uses the words of Scripture. The truth of Scripture has been so watered down that humanism and man-centeredness has taken over in the local churches in the guise of conservative morality. People are said to be saved if they repeat a prayer or walk an aisle rather than looking at Scripture which tells us over and over again that souls must be converted from being a child of the devil to a child of the living God. Souls must be transferred from the domain and bondage of the devil and sin into the kingdom of the Beloved Son and the freedom of holiness. Souls are told that they can be saved from hell without being saved from sin, which is salvation apart from conversion. It simply cannot be if Jesus is Truth.
If Pink was (is) correct, let us not imagine that it is about other people and not “me.” Maybe it is not just the neo-orthodox, the liberals, and the immoral people who sniffed in the opiate of the devil. It could very well be that the orthodox, the conservatives, and the Reformed have done so as well. Oh how the modern things seem right to men from their views, but we must know that the fallen heart has not an ounce of spiritual perception. The Pharisees were very religious and yet they had no spiritual perception though they thought they did. Oh that God would split the heavens and come down. Oh that God would shine forth His light into the darkness of our souls and wake us up. Our man-centered methods and ways are not moving the Gospel forward but instead the ways of darkness and the philosophy of man. Men, women, and children must truly be converted and God uses the true Gospel to convert sinners. God saves sinners to the glory of His grace and not to the glory of the free-will of human souls. It is the grace of God that converts sinners and the methods of men to get men to make a decision point to the power of self rather than the power of grace. If we are preaching a Gospel that has a fatal omission, then we are preaching a false gospel that blinds others and us. It may hurt our pride to admit that we do so, but since eternity is but a breath away we need to be on our knees crying out to God for truth and for Himself. There is nothing else.
God Loves... Himself 
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