September 23, 1999 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, Michigan 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The following is one of the letters I receive from time to time from imitators of Peter Ruckman, who has a church and school in Pensacola, Florida, and who has written many books claiming that the King James Bible is advanced revelation over the Greek and Hebrew text upon which it is based. Those who are not familiar with Ruckman will probably be amazed at the foolish mocking language contained in the following letter. It is one of the characteristics of the man.

Following are a few of the names Ruckman calls men who disagree with him. These are from his books and articles:

"jackass"
"poor, dumb, stupid red legs"
"silly asses"
"apostolic succession of bloated egotists"
"two-bit junkie"
"two-faced, tin-horned punk"
"incredible idiot"
"bunch of egotistical jack legs"
"conservative asses whose brains have gone to seed"
"cheap, two-bit punks"
"stupid little, Bible-rejecting apostates"

Dr. Ruckman’s speech is anything but wholesome and edifying. He calls the New American Standard Version "more of the same old godless, depraved crap" (Satan's Masterpiece--the New ASV, p. 67). In The Unknown Bible, p. 100, Ruckman says, "You see how people get all screwed up?"

In no wise is Ruckman ashamed of his mouth. In fact, he believes God has called him to speak like this. In 1985 he wrote the following testimony: "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. ... God is in charge. He ... destines me to sit at this typewriter and LAMBAST, SCALD AND RIDICULE these Bible rejecting fundamentalists who ‘believe the Bible is the Word of God,’ ... I hereby dedicate myself anew to the task of DESTRUCTIVE CRITICISM AND NEGATIVE BLASTING against every adversary of that Holy Book" (The Bible Believers Bulletin, Dec. 1985).

I, for one, am not an "adversary of that Holy Book." I have never questioned one word in the King James Bible. I have not corrected it and I have not encouraged anyone else to do so. Even so, Ruckman has treated me as an apostate and a fool in his paper. Consider a couple of examples --

"Peter Ruckman ... is the Lord's ‘junkyard dog’ for biting the britches out of conceited asses like David Cloud that don’t have enough real knowledge about the contents of the Book to put into the left eye of a blind mosquito" (Bible Believer's Bulletin, November 1994).

"... you little lying rascal, you. ... you lying little hypocrite ... Davey, ole son, you need to get you a sail stitcher’s needle and puncture your inflated ego. ... you buttery, smook, slick, mush-mouthed sissy ... The wimps all talk alike if you analyze them. ... Correction, Davey! You smooth, slick, little, fluctuating compromiser ... A puffed-up, conceited ass cannot stand to have his balloon punctured" (Bible Believer's Bulletin, November 1994).

This is Ruckman’s standard operating procedure. Are these the words of a man of God?

For some reason, there are many pastors who claim boldly to be premier Bible believers but who enjoy Ruckman’s vicious writings and who defend this twice-divorced, thrice-married pastor. For the sake of warning those who are not familiar with this type of thing, I am reprinting an e-mail that I received today from a Ruckman imitator. I have no idea who "Bro. Alex" is, but it obvious that he is imitating his hero.

LETTER FROM A RUCKMAN DEFENDER, SEPTEMBER 22, 1999

From: Alex Lopez
To: dcloud@wayoflife.org
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 16:41:38 -0500
Subject: Liar

The following was copied from your online catalog "What about Ruckman":

"Let me hasten to say that I DO believe God had his hand upon the translation of the KJV in a marvelous way. I DO NOT believe there are any real mistakes in the King James Bible. The King James Bible has played a crucial role in the preservation of the Word of God in the last four centuries because of the importance of the English language. God gave the English-speaking people an accurate translation. I do believe there are places that could be translated more clearly. I do believe there are antiquated words that could be brought up to date. To say, though, there are changes which could be made in the KJV is entirely different from saying there are changes which must be made, or that it contains mistakes. To say that there are passages which could be translated differently is not the same as saying there are passages which contain error" (David Cloud, What about Ruckman?).

Boy if this doesn’t state you are a bible correcting, egotistical, over educated jackass I don't know what does.

Who the Hades are you (to be loving and charitable) to say what should or could be changed in God’s Holy Book.

You are a thin skinned sissy, who knows nothing about being a soldier for Christ. You are a girl scout.

Sincerely, Bro. Alex

___________________________

CONCLUDING NOTE FROM BRO. CLOUD:

My report "What About Ruckman?" is located at the Bible Version section of the End Times Apostasy Database at the Way of Life Literature web site -- http://www.wayoflife.org/.