Is this Ruckman’s favorite person to talk about?

When reading Ruckman's literature we cannot help but wonder if he himself is his favorite person to talk about. One does not have to search long among Ruckman's writings to encounter extended mentions of his personal feats, exploits, achievements, experiences and heroic actions. For instance, in what he implies was a sermon, he starts off as follows in the very first minute:

I’m going to talk to you a while this morning about myself, for a while. As “foolishly boasting,” you know. Most of my sermons are about something else, but I’m talking about myself this morning … I’m never that much interested in anybody else. (Ruckman, Peter. Personal Testimony of Dr. Peter S. Ruckman. n.d., CD audio recording, 1992, track 3)

We believe Ruckman at times displays narcissist behaviour. One sign of such conduct are repeated denials or an inability to recognize that there is an inordinate fascination with oneself. In the following quote, Ruckman denies overestimating his own importance, while doing just that:

I know who the targets are in the next two or three years. On this "prophesy" I can't miss because the government has defined what a "target" is. A target is any white, adult male who publishes or promotes facts, documents, or figures that reveal the planned genocide and "search and seizure" of American assets. …
So, the next man on the hit list would probably be that famous junk yard dog from Pensacola, Florida, Peter S. Ruckman. I don't kid myself about these things. I don't overestimate my importance, but I know where I stand with the New World and the New Age and the News Media. …
This means, if the Lord tarries, I know my destination. I am predestinated to stop a bullet or maybe a more subtle method, such as an accidental car wreck or accidental plane crash or a logical looking "suicide" or an ordinary "heart attack." (Bible Believers' Bulletin. May 1997, pp. 12, 14, 17)

We are not trying to brag about our knowledge or trying to strut it (although it seems this way to the prejudiced bigots… (Ruckman, Peter. The Books of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians. 1973, 1980 p. 350)

Ruckman frequently uses falacious arguments. An example of one is that he often portrays himself as if it were virtually impossible to fool him, frequently bringing up his academic accomplishments and life experiences as if that has uniquely equipped him to recognize falsehoods like no one else on earth:

What you know about the contents of Scripture, I know, and if it is in THE BOOK I probably know it a great deal better than the men who TAUGHT you THE BOOK know it. If that is “foolishness in boasting” (2 Cor. 11:17, 12:6), so be it. I will “stand to it” at the Judgment Seat of Christ. You’d better get prepared to “stand” too; (Bible Believers' Bulletin. Sep. 2005, p. 13)

It will be a cold day in Mobile, in July, when these Alexandrian jacklegs lecture me on “What the Bible Teaches.” I have been through it 130 times in English, and I study it in German, Spanish, Latin, Hebrew and Greek;
Ruckman, Peter. How to teach the Bible. Pensacola, FL: Bible Baptist Bookstore, 2000 reprint, p. 2

[After bragging at length about his experiences and accomplishments] They would call the above “bragging,” “blowing your own horn,” and “boasting,” but only to cover up the fact that they themselves HAVE NOT HAD ENOUGH EXPERIENCE IN LIFE to teach a young man anything … (Ruckman, Peter. The Mythological Septuagint. Pensacola: Bible Baptist Bookstore, 1999, p. 93-94)

You don’t slip us the shaft that easily. You see, some of us who have been around here over half a century know a con man when we see one. You might fool some proud, educated chump who is looking for a way to let folks know how smart he is, but you aren’t going to fool us old exinfantrymen and ex dance band drummers for a minute. We know the shills and the eyeshades when we see them, and we’ve seen crap games where the man could roll the bones better than you could translate. (Ruckman, Peter. The book of Minor Prophets Vol. 1 Hosea-Nahum. 1978, 1984 reprint, p. 4)

"Ruckman" knows everything the cloned robot knows, has read everything he has read, and studied under the men who taught him (and if Ruckman has not yet read some unique material, he could obtain it and correct it in less than two days). (Bible Believers' Bulletin. June 2000, p. 6)

You won't fool a man who has READ everything you've read and more … You won't fool old junk yard dog Pete Ruckman SN 0927153. (Bible Believers' Bulletin. May 1990, p. 18)

Ruckman may add an obligatory "by the grace of God" in passing while mentioning unbelievable accomplishments, as if that made it immune from being labeled as personal boasting as in the following:

I have run or walked, by the grace of God, more than 9,000 miles in my bare feet since I was fifty-five years old (1976). (Bible Believers' Bulletin. Dec. 2002, p. 4)

Ruckman loves to come across to his followers as almost superhuman. Here is a small portion from an editorial in his paper in which this becomes apparent:

My bare feet (9 EE) have pounded the blacktop and the asphalt of the highways and streets of … [lists about 20 cities] from 10 p.m. to midnight. At one time —when I was sixty-two years old— I had callouses on my feet you could strike a match on. I jogged an average of one mile a day for nearly twelve years (50 to 62 years old) and then took up ice hockey at sixty. … I am not boasting. I am simply saying that God gave me a life so full that it would do for ten lives of just about anyone. (Bible Believers' Bulletin. Oct. 1990, pp. 8, 16)

In a book about Bible manuscripts, Ruckman feels the need to fill two pages with his accomplishments to compare with the supposed lack of experience of competing teachers:

I am a teacher with five earned degrees: three of them being degrees for a teacher. But I have lived in barracks, foxholes, Quonset huts, fraternity houses, dormitories, tents, Swali huts, motels, slit trenches, hotels, trailers, and houses. I have spent my life on beaches, in forests, in the mountains, on the streets, in the jails, on the highways, on the airwaves, on the ocean waves, in gardens, in jungles, on railroad tracks, drill fields, highways, dirt tracks, athletic fields, paths, gravel roads, and black tops. I began in the ministry (1949) by preaching in jails and on street corners. At seventy-seven years of age (1999), I am preaching in jails and on street corners. …
My pedagogy for my position as a “Bible teacher” has been playing in Country and Western bands, Swing bands, Jazz combos, and marching bands, and participating in football, baseball, softball, soccer, racquetball, tennis, ice hockey, street hockey, Aikido, Karate, roller-blade hockey, Taekwando, Judo, golf, weightlifting, and water polo. Along the way, I taught myself how to play four musical instruments and how to paint (and draw) in pen and pencil, charcoal and crayon, pastels and colored pencils, acrylics and oil, and water color. I did this while splitting kindling, cutting down timber, tilling dirt, shoveling manure, mending fishing nets, cleaning out septic tanks and grease traps, digging post holes, raising German shepherds and three families, paying off three houses, nineteen cars, two churches, and a school. 
THAT is the kind of talk that these turkeys can’t stand (2 Cor. 11:10–12, 18). They cannot deal with FACTS, where “Ruckman” is involved. They would call the above “bragging,” “blowing your own horn,” and “boasting,” but only to cover up the fact that they themselves HAVE NOT HAD ENOUGH EXPERIENCE IN LIFE to teach a young man anything … (Ruckman, Peter. The Mythological Septuagint. Pensacola: Bible Baptist Bookstore, 1999, p. 93-94)

Many examples of Ruckman focusing an inordinate amount of attention on himself can be gleaned from his writings. Here are some random examples:

My toting of 8-foot four-by-fours on both shoulders (garden work) and two fifty-pound sacks of fertilizer or seed on the shoulders (garden work) and playing two hours of ice hockey and street hockey “at a lick”—sometimes in temperatures of seventy to eighty-five degrees— and jogging a mile a day (in my bare feet) on asphalt highways for thirty-four years, and practicing martial arts (Judo, Karate, Tae Kwondo, and Aikido) up until I was seventy-five years old… (Bible Believers' Bulletin. Dec. 2006, p. 2)

Ever sleep in the woods at night? I mean as a grown man. I have. Ever sleep on the beach at night? I have. Ever hunt wild turkey in the woods? I have. Ever have the lightning crash around you about once every four minutes for half an hour? I have. Have you been in the surf while a hurricane was coming in? (I mean at forty-eight years old!) I have. Have you actually seen the Japanese in their rice paddies or coming into town with their “honey buckets?” I have. Have you ever gone into the bamboo thickets of Luzon, on Corregidor, and cut bamboo with a machete? I have. (Ruckman, Peter. Bible Believers' Bulletin Reprint #7 Strictly Personal. 2004, Pensacola: Bible Baptist Bookstore, p. 274)

In what is supposed to be a commentary on the book of Psalms, as he commented on Ps. 104:30 –which is about the glory of God and his creative acts– Ruckman directed the focus to himself:

I have body surfed the waves of the Atlantic in a "northeaster"; I have slept on the moonlight-washed deck of a liberty ship in the South Pacific. I have rolled on the pounding swells off the coasts of Washington and British Columbia till half of the passengers were sick; I have fished the Gulf of Mexico in the morning, at noon, in the evening, and after midnight. I have swim in Manila Bay, Chesapeake Bay, and Pearl Harbor, and have gone underwater to retrieve keys, glasses, fishing nets, rods and reels, and billfolds, in waters eight to fifteen feet deep, both in sunlight and moonlight. I have had manta rays come at me when I was waist deep in the water, sharks dive for me. When I was in two feet of water, stingrays strike me in muddy water, bluefish bite my shirt sleeve and bust their teeth out chomping down on a knife, blade jammed in their mouth to retrieve a hook; and I have stood in schools of "spots" and "L-Ys" at night that were so thick they literally brushed against my bare feet and arms, passing through. (Ruckman, Peter. The Book of Psalms. Vol. 2. Pensacola: Bible Baptist Bookstore, 2002 reprint, p. 1036)

Quite often Ruckman portrays himself as if he was God’s gift to mankind. As if Christianity would have degenerated to outright apostasy without his intervention:

By 1901, the Lord God Almighty was "fed up" (see Isaiah 1:10-13) with Christian colleges, seminaries, and universities, and as J. Frank Norris and Billy Sunday tried to get things back together against hopeless odds, the Lord decided he would raise up a "joke on scholars." The joker's name was Peter Ruckman. …

As near as I can figure it, along about 1918-1920, the Lord said to Himself: “It’s time to stop this destruction of my book and turn this nation back to the truth before I give them the Sodom treatment.” He then looked “for a man” (Ezek. 22:30). … 

What the Lord needed was a "bookworm" who could digest 500 years of Christian scholarship, interpret it correctly, place it in its proper light in regard to the Holy Bible, and defend it against 5,000 to 10,000 apostate, conservative scholars who would rather die and go to hell than submit to God's authority. The pedagogy began November 19, 1921… (Bible Believers' Bulletin. Aug. 2010, pp. 2, 7)

Do you know of any one writer in church history since A.D. 70 who wrote over 10,000 pages of comments on the Holy Scripture while he was establishing New Testament churches, supporting missionaries, winning souls to Christ, and preaching on the street? Name one. One will do just fine. (Bible Believers' Bulletin. April 1996, p. 2)

In the following quote Ruckman refers to himself in the 3rd person and compares himself with other ministers with whom he disagrees:

Of course, God gives him ten times as many souls, ten times as many ministers (over ninety have been ordained in our pastorate since 1960), ten times as much information from The Book, and ten times as many places to preach as He gives them… (Bible Believers' Bulletin. June 1995, p. 16)

I got in on things that have been denied to ninety percent of God’s ministers. (Ruckman, Peter. Bible Believers' Bulletin Reprint #7 Strictly Personal. 2004, Pensacola: Bible Baptist Bookstore, p. 270)

The Bible instructs us that we are not to compare and measure ourselves in the manner Ruckman does. For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. (2 Cor. 10:12)

Admittedly, amid all his grave faults, Ruckman does possess some qualities that are admirable. Among them are a strong work ethic, tenacity, studiousness, etc. It is apparent that Ruckman is talented, more so than average person. However, in evaluating whether someone is worthy of being a role model, one should not be awe-struck by how talented he may be, and all the opportunities he has had, and thereby blindly overlook all his faults and weakness and evaluate whether God is pleased with his life. When the Apostle Paul wrote about spiritual gifts, he introduced the topic with the following warning: For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. (Rom. 12:3)

As we documented in a similar article Is Ruckman Arrogant?, he repeatedly claims to have come up with many new teachings in the Bible, he frequently brags about his accomplishments, his intellect, his many followers, it was demonstrated that his speech exudes arrogance, and while decrying scholarship, Ruckman elevates himself as a scholar.

Even if Ruckman's teachings on the Bible were correct, unless he somehow were to be the only one proclaiming truth, his incredible arrogance alone as displayed in his speech should be enough to reject his ministry. Let us be mindful of Proverbs 8:13, which says The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

 

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

9 Responses to Is this Ruckman’s favorite person to talk about?

  1. Mark says:

    Thanks for analyzing this man Ruckman. One thing comes very clear to me: Ruckman and his followers are very good in serving 'problems and issues' that are not relevant for the child of God. Their many many many lies mixed with a little Thruth, are so visible, they do not believe God. Putting them aside and not eat from their table is the best yo can do. 

  2. Charles says:

    Wow… 

    "Even if Ruckman's teachings on the Bible were correct, his incredible arrogance alone as displayed in his speech should be enough to reject his ministry." 

    Can you not see you are sounding just like a Pharisee? 

    I sympathize with your view; Ruckman comes across as arrogant, especially when taken in isolated context, even in multi-minute excerpts or whole single speeches. 

    But truth is greater than our feelings. I can only imagine the pressure that the apostle Paul went through, as so evident in his epistles, whether from local church accusations or from persisten worldly assault due to his missions. He was very not nice at times, and for good reason, dealing with very selfish humanity, saved or not. But he, a very not nice man at times, led me to being born again by reading Romans. That is the Holy Spirit illuminated the word the scripture, and I believed on Jesus the Word in my heart. Jesus also was very sarcastic and even intrerpretable as arrogant, dealing with the Pharisees. 

    Ruckman's explanations on scripture being given by inspiration is valuable and freeing knowledge to defend the word against assaults via arrogant Christian non-KJV scholarship. And against a probably soon vast ecumenism. And it is very reasonable and understandable; may you recognize what sounds from your writing to be roots of bitterness. I'm sorry for whatever has led you to your view. I sincerely pray for you. 

    • Webmaster says:

      “But truth is greater than our feelings.”

      That is a valid point, but only valid if we are dealing with the only one who had the truth. He doesn’t have exclusive claims to the truth. I rephrased the sentence you objected to with the inclusion of the phrase “unless he somehow were to be the only one proclaiming truth.” We don’t go by feelings in what we write on Ruckman, as we back up our beliefs with Scripture and we are specific as to where we believe Ruckman is wrong, quoting him extensively in the process.

      “Ruckman’s explanations on scripture being given by inspiration is valuable … it is very reasonable and understandable;”
      We absolutely disagree, and it is even the topic of the latest article: Ruckman’s teaching on inspiration is confusing and hard to follow.

    • Alan Lado says:

      Charles, there is a vast difference between Jesus being harsh toward Pharisees and a man meticulously listing all of his accomplishments, one by one, making you adore him for his qualifications to teach you. There is a vast difference between PAUL THE APOSTLE sometimes being …selfish? and a man constantly exalting himself over the rest of the world in written and spoken form in the most diverse contexts. Notice the difference between Galatians 1 when Paul describes how God picked him up and the way Ruckman describes "God raising him up." Thinking that Ruckman is a misunderstood Jesus Christ or a poor Paul the apostle only reveals a personal fondness and idolatry for him. I too am a KJV only man, and I only listen to this teaching and this type of preaching, but if you are sincere, you ought to recognise something is wrong about this man's way of looking at himself. He's done quite a job mocking "fruits and faggots", yet he seems to love to point fingers at himself. As I just said in another comment, we are never more like the devil than when we're proud of ourselves, and we are never more like our Lord than when we're humble. You should also check 1 Timothy 3 and see if the Bible itself upholds Dr. Ruckman. Ruckman's view on humility seems to be "well… I'm just telling you the truth: I did this, that, the other, that too, and better than him, her or you, and by the grace of God, I am better than this person, that man, those over there, these over here, him back then, those now, anyone to come, them, you, or anyone, glory to God. Some may say I'm being proud, but it's because THEY really are the ones with their pride being hurt by me being so awesome a teacher."

  3. Nate Beck says:

    And your favorite person to talk about is Ruckman lol

  4. Anon says:

    For me, I will say Ruckman did some good things, and some good sermons, but his attitude has influenced many people to believe it is 'manly', indeed Christian to treat people with no respect. It is not OK. Ruckman could have done his teaching and espoused his views in his own fashion without taking on the role of Pastor, which has caused many issues amongst Bible believers, when they are influenced by his behaviour as some form of role model. 

  5. Anon says:

    I also wanted to add something else, from understanding Ruckman's life, he was exceptionally gifted but seemed to struggle to fit in. Not in the army, not in academia (despite the several academic qualifications), as a radio DJ, apparently not.

    Something I have wondered about is with Christianity he found a way to combine his talented intellect with his ascerbic mannerisms to create a lifestyle of being admired and manipulating others. We all have our faults, but in an honest examination, did or would he really think he had the qualifications to be a leader of the flock as a Pastor?

  6. Alan Lado says:

    God is a humble God. The Lord Jesus said to his disciples that by looking at him they were looking at the Father. And he said

    “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

    The point of Psalms like Ps. 104 is not God bragging on himself, but to show us men how tiny and insignificant we are in front of such majesty and power. It is meant to humble us and admit that he is God.

    Pride is the mother of all sins. Because Lucifer wanted not to kill God, to lie to God, to steal something from God, but to be higher, greater! You can judge a tree by its fruit. Dr. Ruckman is so far the most arrogant minister I've encountered. King James is the Bible I read, no other. But I simply can't listen to this man. We are never more like the devil than when we're proud. We are never more like God than when we are humble.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *