Peter Ruckman

Last updated • 7 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Peter Ruckman
Peter Ruckman.jpg
Born(1921-11-19)November 19, 1921
Wilmington, Delaware
DiedApril 21, 2016(2016-04-21) (aged 94)
Pensacola, Florida
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s) Pastor, teacher

Peter Sturges Ruckman (November 19, 1921 – April 21, 2016) was an American Independent Fundamental Baptist pastor, author, and founder of the Pensacola Bible Institute in Pensacola, Florida (not to be confused with the Pensacola Christian College in the same city).

Contents

Ruckman was known for his position that the King James Version constituted "advanced revelation" and was the final, preserved word of God in the English language. [1] : 126  This view is often called "Ruckmanism" by its opponents; his followers, "Ruckmanites".

Personal life

A native of Wilmington, Delaware, Ruckman was a son of Colonel John Hamilton Ruckman (1888–1966) and a grandson of General John Wilson Ruckman (1858–1921). Ruckman was raised in Topeka, Kansas, attended Kansas State University, and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Alabama.

Ruckman entered the U.S. Army in 1944 as a second lieutenant and volunteered to serve with the occupation forces in Japan. While there, Ruckman studied Zen Buddhism, and spoke of "the experience of nirvana, which the Zen call samadhi, the dislocation of the spirit from the body". Ruckman returned to the United States "uneasy, unsettled, full of demons". [2] He worked as a disc jockey and radio announcer by day and a drummer in various bands by night. [3] After he began to hear voices, [4] he met with a Jesuit priest to explore joining the Roman Catholic Church. [2] On March 14, 1949, Ruckman received Jesus Christ after talking with evangelist Hugh Pyle in the studios of WEAR radio in Pensacola. [2] Ruckman attended Bob Jones University, where he received a master's degree and Ph.D. in religion. [2]

Ruckman was the pastor of Bible Baptist Church in Pensacola, and his writings and recorded sermons are published by his Bible Baptist Bookstore. [5] Like his father, Peter Ruckman demonstrated artistic talent early in life, and he often illustrated his sermons in chalk and pastels while preaching. [6] In 1965, Ruckman founded Pensacola Bible Institute, in part because of disagreements with other institutions with regard to Biblical translations. Ruckman continued teaching a Sunday school class and participating in other church-related activities until April 2015, when he retired at 93. [7]

Ruckman married three times, the first two marriages ending in divorce. [8] He had ten children. [9] His son P.S. Ruckman Jr. was a professor and authority on presidential pardons who apparently killed his two sons and himself in a murder-suicide. [10]

Philosophy and beliefs

King James Onlyism

According to David G. Burke, Ruckman was a believer in "King James Onlyism". [11] Ruckman said that the King James Version of the Bible, the "Authorized Version" ("KJV" or "A.V."), provided "advanced revelation" beyond that discernible in the underlying Textus Receptus Greek text, believing the KJV represented the final authority in all matters of faith and practice. [1] : 126, 138  Ruckman believed that any edition of the Bible not based on the text of the KJV was heretical and could lead one to lose not only their "testimony [and] ministry" but even their life. [12] : 132 

Ruckman distinguished between the Textus Receptus of the KJV, and the numerically fewer manuscripts of the Alexandrian text-type underlying most modern New Testament versions. Ruckman characterized those who endorse the latter as members of the "Alexandrian Cult," people who believe that while the autographs were God-inspired, they have been lost, and that therefore there is "no final, absolute written authority of God anywhere on this earth". [13] Ruckman also wrote that the Septuagint was a hoax perpetrated by the "Alexandrian cult" under the leadership of the Church Father Origen Adamantius (as part of his Hexapla ) in the 3rd century AD in order to subvert belief in the integrity of the Bible. [14]

Ruckman's position on the exclusive authority of the KJV was strongly opposed by many supporters of biblical inerrancy, including signers of the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy who specifically "deny that any essential element of the Christian faith is affected by the absence of the autographs [and] further deny that this absence renders the assertion of Biblical inerrancy invalid or irrelevant". The majority of those who support the King James Only movement reject Ruckman's position that the English KJV is superior to existing Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, [15] and they also criticize Ruckman because "his writings are so acerbic, so offensive and mean-spirited that the entire movement has become identified with his kind of confrontational attitude". [16]

The website of Ruckman's press notes that although some have called his writings "mean spirited", "we refer to them as 'truth with an attitude'". [17] According to Beacham and Bauder, "Ruckman is without any doubt the most caustic and abusive among King James-Only partisans". [18] James R. White states in his book The King James Only Controversy that to call Ruckman "outspoken is to engage in an exercise in understatement. Caustic is too mild a term; bombastic is a little more accurate. ... There is no doubt that Peter S. Ruckman is brilliant, in a strange sort of way. His mental powers are plainly demonstrated in his books, though most people do not bother to read far enough to recognize this due to the constant stream of invective that is to be found on nearly every page. And yet his cocky confidence attracts many people to his viewpoint." [19] In Ruckman's words: [20]

God called me to sit at this typewriter and pour forth VINEGAR, ACID, VITRIOL, AND CLEANING FLUID on the leading conservative and fundamental scholars of 1900 through 1990.[emphasis in original]

Triadology

Peter Ruckman argued that the Trinity was typified in creation and within human nature itself. As a trichotomist, he believed human beings were composed of body, soul and spirit, arguing that mankind, made in the image of God, reflected the Trinity. In his Theological Studies Ruckman argued that the soul typified the Father, the body the Son and the Holy Spirit the spirit. Ruckman also argued that the Trinity was typified in nature, citing examples such as water, which can exist as ice, steam, or liquid, yet remain one substance. Nevertheless, he conceded that nothing in nature can totally explain the Trinity. [21]

Peter Ruckman rejected the language of begetting, such as in Psalm 2:9, to mean the eternal origin of the Son of God; he rather interpreted it to mean the incarnation of Jesus Christ. [22]

Other beliefs

Peter Ruckman taught dispensationalism [23] and defended the doctrine of eternal security. [24] He believed that even if a believer apostatized, he would be saved, though he would lose his reward. [25]

Ruckman once said that he would have joined the Ku Klux Klan had they not been anti-Semitic, because he agreed with "everything else they say". [26]

Selected works

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acts of the Apostles</span> Book of the New Testament

The Acts of the Apostles is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message to the Roman Empire.

The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events relating to first-century Christianity. The New Testament's background, the first division of the Christian Bible, is called the Old Testament, which is based primarily upon the Hebrew Bible; together they are regarded as Sacred Scripture by Christians.

Nontrinitarianism is a form of Christianity that rejects the orthodox Christian theology of the Trinity—the belief that God is three distinct hypostases or persons who are coeternal, coequal, and indivisibly united in one being, or essence. Certain religious groups that emerged during the Protestant Reformation have historically been known as antitrinitarian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Independent Baptist</span> Christian protestant denomination

Independent Baptist churches are Christian congregations, generally holding to conservative Baptist beliefs. Although some Independent Baptist churches refuse affiliation with Baptist denominations, various Independent Baptist Church denominations have been founded.

Biblical inerrancy is the belief that the Bible "is without error or fault in all its teaching"; or, at least, that "Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King James Only movement</span> Bible translation (KJV) advocacy groups

The King James Only movement asserts that the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible is superior to all other English translations of the Bible. Adherents of the movement, mostly certain Conservative Anabaptist, traditionalist Anglo-Catholic, Conservative Holiness Methodist and Independent Baptist churches, believe that this text has been providentially preserved as a perfect translation of the Bible into English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John 1</span> Chapter of the New Testament

John 1 is the first chapter in the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Holy Bible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reformed fundamentalism</span> Fundamentalism in the Reformed tradition

Reformed fundamentalism arose in some conservative Presbyterian, Congregationalist, Reformed Anglican, Reformed Baptist, Non-denominational and other Reformed churches, which agree with the motives and aims of broader evangelical Protestant fundamentalism. The movement was historically defined by a repudiation of liberal and modernist theology, the publication (1905–1915) entitled, The Fundamentals, and had the intent to progress and revitalise evangelical Protestantism in predominantly English-speaking Protestant countries, as well as to reform separated churches according to the Bible, historic expression of faith and the principles of the Reformation. The Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy, and the Downgrade controversy, kindled the growth and development of reformed fundamentalism in the United States and the United Kingdom. Reformed fundamentalists have laid greater emphasis on historic confessions of faith, such as the Westminster Confession of Faith.

Norman Leo Geisler was an American Christian systematic theologian, philosopher, and apologist. He was the co-founder of two non-denominational evangelical seminaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John 3</span> Chapter of the New Testament

John 3 is the third chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It deals with Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus, one of the Jewish pharisees, and John the Baptist's continued testimony regarding Jesus. Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon said of this chapter that it is the one he would choose "to read to a dying man who did not know the gospel, [as] the most suitable one for such an occasion".

Bibliolatry is the worship of a book, idolatrous homage to a book, or the deifying of a book. It is a form of idolatry. The sacred texts of some religions disallow icon worship, but over time, the texts themselves may come to be treated as sacred in the way idols are; believers may end up worshipping the book in effect. Bibliolatry extends claims of Biblical inerrancy to the texts, precluding theological innovation, evolving development, or progress. Bibliolatry can lead to revivalism, disallows reprobation, and can lead to persecution of unpopular doctrines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Christianity</span>

Women have played important roles in Christianity especially in marriage and in formal ministry positions within certain Christian denominations, and parachurch organizations. Although more males are born than females naturally, and in 2014, the global population included 300 million more males of reproductive age than females in 2016, it was estimated that 52–53 percent of the world's Christian population aged 20 years and over was female, with this figure falling to 51.6 percent in 2020. The Pew Research Center studied the effects of gender on religiosity throughout the world, finding that Christian women in 53 countries are generally more religious than Christian men, while Christians of both genders in African countries are equally likely to regularly attend services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zane C. Hodges</span> American biblical scholar (1932–2008)

Zane Clark Hodges was an American pastor, seminary professor, and Bible scholar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of Christianity</span> Overview of and topical guide to Christianity

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Christianity:

Monogenes (μονογενής) has two primary definitions, "pertaining to being the only one of its kind within a specific relationship" and "pertaining to being the only one of its kind or class, unique in kind". Its Greek meaning is often applied to mean "one of a kind, one and only". Monogenēs may be used as an adjective. For example, monogenēs pais means only child, only legitimate child or special child. Monogenēs may also be used on its own as a noun. For example, o monogenēs means "the only one", or "the only legitimate child".

The Bible-Presbyterian Church ("BPC") was a conservative reformed denomination in Singapore. It existed from 1955 to 1988, following the history of the country, as the Bible-Presbyterian Church of Malaya, then the Bible-Presbyterian Church of Singapore and Malaysia, and finally the Bible Presbyterian Church of Singapore ("BPCOS") before the BPCOS dissolved in 1988. Since that time, Bible-Presbyterian churches in Singapore have continued to exist separately. The B-P movement grew out of the Bible Presbyterian Church in the United States. As of 2009, there were 20,000 members in 32 B–P churches in Singapore. The number of B-P churches in Singapore grew to forty-three in 2020/21 but stands at forty as of 2024

Romans 8 is the eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It was authored by Paul the Apostle, while he was in Corinth in the mid-50s AD, with the help of an amanuensis (secretary), Tertius, who added his own greeting in Romans 16:22. Chapter 8 concerns "the Christian's spiritual life". The reformer Martin Luther stated that this chapter is where Paul comforts "spiritual fighters" who are involved in an inner struggle between spirit and flesh:

The Holy Spirit assures us that we are God's children no matter how furiously sin may rage within us, so long as we follow the Spirit and struggle against sin in order to kill it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ephesians 2</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Ephesians 2 is the second chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Traditionally, it is believed to have been written by Apostle Paul while he was in prison in Rome, but more recently it has been suggested that it was written between AD 80 and 100 by another writer using Paul's name and style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R. L. Hymers Jr.</span>

Robert L. Hymers Jr. is a conservative Baptist pastor noted for his evangelistic sermons and for his emphasis on classical Protestant conversion. He is the founding pastor of the Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles. In the 1980s he drew media attention for his demonstrations against abortion, during which he led prayers for the death of pro-choice Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, which he later regretted and retracted, and for demonstrations against the movie, The Last Temptation of Christ. He is the author of several books on conversion, apologetics and theological subjects.

David W. Cloud is an Independent Baptist missionary, pastor, publisher and writer. He is the founder and director of the Way of Life literature and the editor of the magazine O Timothy.

References

  1. 1 2 Ruckman, Peter (1990). The Christian's Handbook of Manuscript Evidence. Pensacola: Pensacola Bible Press.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Peter Ruckman, Dr. Ruckman's Testimony (audiotape), Bible Baptist Bookstore, n.d., quoted in R. L. Hymers, Jr., The Ruckman Conspiracy (Collingswood, NJ: The Bible for Today, 1989), 3-4, 19.
  3. ↑ Walker, David E. (January 10, 2018). Rightly Dividing the Bible. Vol. One: The Basics and Background of Dispensationalism. HarperCollins Christian Publishing. pp. 67–68. ISBN   978-1-9736-0949-0.
  4. ↑ "It was at this point, on the verge of suicide, that Ruckman began to hear a series of voices. He himself interprets the voices as being the voice of God, for the most part. He thinks that he learned to distinguish the voice of God from the voice of demons through yoga." The Ruckman Conspiracy (Collingswood, NJ: The Bible for Today, 1989), 3.
  5. ↑ "Bible Baptist Bookstore". Archived from the original on February 6, 2007. Retrieved March 11, 2007.
  6. ↑ "John Hamilton Ruckman". PS Ruckman. Archived from the original on August 12, 2007.
  7. ↑ "Dr. Ruckman's Announcement". February 8, 2015. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  8. ↑ By his own admission, Ruckman's earlier family life was turbulent: "I have had two wives desert me after fifteen years of marriage… I have been in court custody cases where seven children's futures were held in the balance; in situations where Gospel articles were being torn out of typewriters, Biblical artwork torn off the easels, women trying to throw themselves out of cars at fifty m.p.h., mailing wedding rings back in the middle of revival services, cutting their wrists, threatening to leave if I did not give my church to their kinfolk; deacons threatening to burn down my house and beat me up; children in split custody between two domiciles two hundred miles apart, and knock-down, drag-out arguments in the home sometimes running as long as three days." Peter Ruckman, The Last Grenade (Pensacola: Bible Baptist Bookstore, 1990), 339.
  9. ↑ "Son, grandkids of controversial Pensacola pastor Peter Ruckman dead in murder-suicide". Pensacola News Journal . The Associated Press. March 7, 2018.
  10. ↑ Keilman, John (March 7, 2018). "Rockford professor — expert on presidential pardons — emailed life's work to others before apparent murder-suicide". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on March 7, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  11. ↑ David G. Burke, ed., Translation That Openeth the Window: Reflections on the History and Legacy of the King James Bible (Society of Biblical Literature, 2009), 201.
  12. ↑ Heaven, hell, and the afterlife : eternity in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. J. Harold Ellens. Santa Barbara. 2013. ISBN   978-1-4408-0184-6. OCLC   862077136.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  13. ↑ The "Creed of the Alexandrian Cult".
  14. ↑ Ruckman, Peter S. (1996). The Mythological Septuagint (PDF). BB Bookstore. p. 5,75. ISBN   1-58026093-4 . Retrieved April 23, 2023. This small tractus was a very abbreviated survey of the work done by the Scholars' Union in the Alexandrian Cult, since the days of Origen, as they attempted to rid the world, first, of the correct Old Latin and Old Syrian texts... The belief in a pre-Christian LXX is the most extreme and radical demonstration of Christian deceit and scholarly FRAUD to be found in the annals of church history.
  15. ↑ James White, The King James Only Controversy: Can You Trust the Modern Translations? (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1995), 1-4. White is an opponent of the KJV-Only position, but he cites such KJV-Only proponents as David Cloud. See, for instance, Cloud's website. Ruckman's position was, however, supported by Gail Riplinger.
  16. ↑ White, 109.
  17. ↑ "Bible Baptist Bookstore". Archived from the original on October 28, 2008. Retrieved December 2, 2006.
  18. ↑ Roy E. Beacham and Kevin T. Bauder, One Bible Only? Examining Exclusive Claims for the King James Bible (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2001, pp. 47–48.
  19. ↑ James R. White, The King James Only Controversy: Can You Trust the Modern Translations? (Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1995), 109. His invective has often been ad hominem. One of Ruckman's targets was Stewart Custer, once chair of the Bible department at BJU: "By far the most shameful and shocking thing about Stewart's work is not his lying (we would expect that) and his stupidity (we take that for granted, but we will document it for the reader); the most shocking thing was the performance of Robert Sumner (The Sword of the Lord) and Bob Jones, Jr. (BJU) in actually seriously recommending" his work. Peter S. Ruckman, Custer's Last Stand (Pensacola: Bible Baptist Bookstore, 1981), iii.
  20. ↑ The Bible Believer's Bulletin, December 1985. Pensacola, Florida: Bible Baptist Bookstore. (as quoted by Cloud, David (2012), "What about Ruckman?", Way of Life Literature, ISBN   1-58318-032-X. p. 15.)
  21. ↑ Ruckman, Peter (1995). "CHAPTER 3 The Trinity". THEOLOGICAL STUDIES VOL. I. ISBN   1-58026-071-3.
  22. ↑ Ruckman, Peter. "15 The Humanity of Jesus Christ". Theological Studies, Volume 1. p. 213. Does this begetting of the Son refer to the origin of the Lord Jesus Christ of the Godhead? Of course not. Certainly not, for as God, He was never born. According to Isaiah 9:6, He always existed and was before all things. The begetting of Psalm 2:7, contrary to the Calvinistic teaching of Hodge, Kuyper, Dabney, and the reform theologians, and contrary to the five-point Tulip Calvinists, refers to that which was transpiring in Luke 1:35. When the Holy Ghost came unto the virgin Mary, the human man, Jesus Christ, was conceived (Luke 1:35) as a man in subordination to God the Father.
  23. ↑ Ruckman, Peter. How to Teach Dispensational Truth.
  24. ↑ Ruckman, Peter (1980). Eternal Security.
  25. ↑ Ruckman, Peter. Ruckman Reference Bible. This denial has nothing to do with salvation. According to the first part of the verse, it is the denial of a Millennial reign with Christ. Verse 13 makes it clear that Jesus Christ won't 'deny himself,' and if you are saved, you are 'members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones' (Eph. 5:30). If you quit believing on Christ after you are born again, that wouldn't change your destination whatsoever (Rom. 8:29); nothing can separate you from Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:38–39)
  26. ↑ Ruckman, Peter (1993). Questions and Answers (YouTube video (originally VHS tape)). 22 minutes in. Archived from the original on December 14, 2021. I'll tell you why I never joined the Ku Klux Klan. It's because they're anti-Semitic. And that's the only reason I didn't join. (pauses to laugh) I mean, I agree with everything else they say.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Peter Ruckman at Wikimedia Commons

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.