BBB: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 self- pity. 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-to- coast 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
English- speaking 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 soul- winning, "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!