Ruckman: Hear Him Bleat! See How He Runs Down Non-KJO's!
The following work first appeared on the web a few years ago but was taken down. Lucky for you, I found a copy and have re-posted it.
It's interesting to observe in this essay that while Ruckman occasionally tosses a token 'isn't the KJV great' stanza in this rambling, that he appears to take most of the credit for the successes instead of Jesus, or even to the KJV (which would be just as wrong as giving the accolades to himself, but it is inconsistent with KJV Onlyism).
Observe how many times the name "Ruckman" appears in this essay. He sure does think highly of himself.
And look at how he sets prophecy dates in this writing; he states that he expects the Second Coming to happen in Spring of 1989, and goes on to say, "I would GUESS [the Second Coming is going to happen] somewhere between the 14th of May and the 20th of June."
Other than additional paragraph breaks to make reading easier on the eyes, the following work is unaltered in any way:
STRICTLY PERSONAL
by Dr. Peter S. Ruckman
The ancient adage says that "the mills of God grind slowly but
exceedingly fine." It has been a "long haul," so to speak, for the apostate Fundamentalists of the twentieth century to "get" the message which God gave us for them almost forty years ago.It has been a long uphill pull from this end, and I must confess that when I think back seriously about the price that was paid to attain the present results, I am tempted to indulge in a little selfpity. Fortunately, God has always given me enough to do so I could not afford that luxury for more than a few hours at a time. Again, He has been so good to me personally that I have always felt very stupid whenever I indulged in it.
Still, it has been a "long way to Tipperary" from the first time Father Sullivan backed off before a KING JAMES BIBLE like he was being attacked by a swarm of hornets (1949) to "Hymner" and "Kutilek" responding the same way (1989). THE BOOK HAS NEVER DISAPPOINTED ME.
I observe today (1989) it has the SAME POWER AND AUTHORITY it did when I pulled it on Father Sullivan in my "convert courses" at St. Michaels in 1949. I often marvel at how similkar his reactions were to the reactions of Stewart Custer, Bob Jones III, Robert Sumner, and Curtis Hutson. It is really quite amazing.
Now, after forty years of hammering at the door, and battering at the door, and putting off "time charges" around the door, the door is breaking in. Everywhere there is chaos among the apostate scholars who kept the Body of Christ in bondage in America since 1901.
Everywhere there are "divisive" doctrines and "new postures" which "split the unity of the Body," according to the depraved, fallen nature of the apostate Fundamentalists who wanted to be the final authority for the Body of Christ in the last days.
One by one they have seen their silly little "historic positions" blasted apart. One by one they have found their "godly
friends" and "dedicated scholars" shot down by the AV HOLY BIBLE, and time after time after time they have seen
their "preferences" for what they "use" held up to the touchstone of God's word and revealed to be nothing but egotistical hot air.NESTLE had to give up 400 Alexandrian readings for Receptus readings, the Southern Baptist Convention nearly came apart at the seams over BIBLICAL AUTHORITY, BBC in Springfield was riven asunder with a controversy over BIBLICAL AUTHORITY,
Hymner and Sumner got as hot in their polemics as the most "hate-filled Ruckmanite" who ever lived, and a dozen authors made a living publishing books about the AV versus Biblical authority.The train now is well down the track.
You cannot imagine how great is the satisfaction that I have gotten from watching the whole self-righteous, traditional, non-Biblical, "historical" mess CAVE IN LIKE A BERRY BASKET while
the thin-skinned sissies on the faculties holler about Proverbs 6:19 and Ephesians 4:15 and other verses they don't believe any way since they never had a Bible to start with. "Ruckman" is the great threat. HE WASN'T IN 1960.All "Ruckman" was at that time was a "small school" (quoting Bobbie Sumner) somewhere in Pensacola, Florida. Even in 1970 there were only a few "misguided souls" who had been "led astray" by his heretical teaching: i.e., YOU CAN BUY A COPY OF WHAT GOD SAID, THE WAY HE SAID IT, AND USE IT TO CORRECT ANYTHING OR ANYBODY WITH, INCLUDING YOURSELF (Heb. 4:12-13).
But my, how times have changed! It is now "a gigantic movement uprooting historic positions." It is a coast-tocoast deception led by a "bad and angry man." It is "everywhere you look" due to the work of one godless heretic who "founded a cult." It is undermining scores of works with its insidious suggestion that good men and godly men are not reliable. "It is a threat to
our libraries." Look out! Beware of RUCKMANISM!Who is Ruckman?
Ruckman is a SAVED SINNER who plays hockey and fishes for mullet. Ruckman got seven children up through the public school system with all of them Bible believers, church attenders, and none of them on drugs or liquor. Ruckman's house, cars, school, and church are paid for, and if God would let him adopt some more children he would do it, with eleven grandchildren standing around to help out.
WHO IS RUCKMAN?
He is a born again, Bible believing, BAPTIST preacher in Florida. He believes every "fundamental" that any "Fundamentalist" believed since the foundation of the world, and in ADDITION TO THAT believes that the AV HOLY BIBLE is the word of God, containing the words of God, and that it is the absolute, final, and
infallible authority in all matters of faith and practice for the Englishspeaking people.My, what a deadly heretic!
Well, they still think the problem is "Ruckman." THE PROBLEM HAS NEVER BEEN "Ruckman." The problem has been A BOOK and the HOLY SPIRIT who bears witness to that Book.
They think if they could just get rid of "Ruckman" they would solve the problem. Lester Roloff and Bob Gray would replace Ruckman, and if you are not careful, Jack Hyles and Brad Weniger will replace Ruckman.
Getting rid of Ruckman will solve nothing if that Book IS WHAT WE BELIEVE IT TO BE. If that Book is what we believe it to be, you are "in Dutch" up to your neck till the Judgment Seat of Christ if you correct ANY of it.
Now, of course, this threat won't stop the apostates who MAKE THEIR LIVING by correcting it, or the apostates who want you to think THEY ARE SMART ENOUGH TO CORRECT IT, or the
apostates who "use" it without BELIEVING it. But be that as it may, boy, has it been fun to watch them shuffle the deck trying to keep dealing out their infidelity!We've got them running now, on a national scale.
I remember a man in the Bible one time who had plenty of trouble with his wives and his inlaws. He also had trouble with a man who wanted to take God's place on the throne of Israel. This man was run off into the bushes and cut out of his inheritance so that only those who were in debt, distress, or discontentment would enroll in his school.
While he taught them, he had to run for his life. But out there in the wilderness there came to him, gradually, armed men, until the Bible says he had a host like the "host of God" to help him. The time span for this was about ten years. Our span took a little longer; it took about forty.
At the beginning of those forty years, God raised up individual pastors, individual evangelists, and individual soul winners who made up their mind to publicly raise the issue of the authority of the AUTHORIZED VERSION.
They did it and got clobbered right and left by the faculty members of Bob Jones University, Tennessee Temple, Arlington, Springfield, Wheaton, Moody, Fuller, and Lynchburg. They stuck by their guns.
Then God began to raise up tract writers and pamphlet writers who magnified the issue and published their works. They
got blasted right and left by the same faculty members. They stuck by their guns, and soon students in the schools began to join their ranks.Ruckman's works (cassette tapes and books) were smuggled UNDER COVER (you wouldn't believe it) through the hallways and into the classes and into the dorms, and the opposition to the apostates increased.
Then, later, the Lord began to raise up book writers, polemic letter writers, and finally he laid his hand on THREE of the most outstanding soulwinning, "once married" church builders in America. Five thousand church members followed their lead, then ten thousand, then fifty thousand.
A modern apostate Fundamentalist is now faced with A REAL PROBLEM. It will remain until the Rapture, and he will hit it again at the Judgment Seat of Christ, and "Ruckman" will no more be involved in it than Wayne Gretsky or Mike Tyson.
It has been a long triathlon. I must confess that I have not only
thought of "resigning" along the way, but DID on THREE occasions. It didn't do me any good one time. I'm still in for "the duration." (If some of my CRITICS have resigned once it would have been accepted with applause!)It is now 1989. Personally, I think the Lord is coming in the late
spring. If I were to hazard a guess now (after receiving an orthodox Jewish calendar from a Jew) I would GUESS somewhere between the 14th of May and the 20th of June. That, of course, is only a GUESS.If that does not wind it up, then at least I will have survived long enough to see the effect of forty years of ministry in this century. In addition to THIS ministry--"SOWING DISCORD AMONG THE BRETHREN!"--the Lord gave me about five thousand souls, three hundred young men called to preach, thirty-one missionaries on the mission field, seventy young men in the pastorate or associate pastorate, plus good health for over half a century.
It has been a long haul. A price has been paid. Certainly the devil did not walk up to me and pat me on the back and say, "WELL DONE, THOU GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT." He got to Adam, he got to Job, and he got to David. He got to ME; I'm no better than anyone else. Across that race course lies many a thorn and busted piece of glass, many a wound, many a bandage, many a scar, and many a tear. BUT THE WORK WAS DONE.
I was able by the grace of God to turn the light on the greatest SPLIT that ever existed in the Body of Christ, a SPLIT WHICH WAS THERE THREE CENTURIES BEFORE I SHOWED UP; THE SPLIT BETWEEN BIBLE BELIEVING CHRISTIANS AND CONSERVATIVE EVANGELICALS OR "FUNDAMENTALISTS." Viva la difference!