Peter Ruckman

[HappyChristian]

Many people try and justify more than one marriage and say it's okay to pastor if one has been married and divorced...because, after all, he's only married to one woman presently. They say that the verse saying "husband of one wife" is referring to polygamy. But that actually wasn't a prOBlem in the day it was written, so that's truly a non-argument.

And, to boot, it appears that even the secular world understands what marriage-divorce-remarriage is. They call it serial polygamy. More than one wife, just not all at the same time.

As to KJVO and heresy...if someone who claims to be a Christian, regardless of what version they use, is consistently ignoring the principles and commands in God's Word, they should be marked for warning. I know a KJVO pastor (he's passed away now) who tried to kill someone. He said he was doing the work of God: trying to strangle a young man who simply told him God was moving that young man. We would all say, "Horrors! That man is disqualified!" But to point out that PR's serial polygamy is grounds for disqualification is wrong. Hmmmm. (BTW - lest you doubt the story of the strangling, I was there. It took 4 people to pull him off the young man.)

[Anon]

Dr. Ruckman is also a brawler and has ruined his testimony with his nasty attitude towards other people. Jesus was never rude and sarcastic in His teachings. This attitude shows a lack of Christian love, which God says should be in every Christian.

I am not familiar with every single doctrine Ruckman preaches...I am familiar with his divorces, and his snide attitude that is also proud, and his strange alien and prophetical teachings. I also do not agree that it is wrong to study the Greek texts.

Like I said earlier, I agree with Sarah Palin on alot of things too...but it doesn't mean I make her a spiritual hero or even someone I would ever want to take advice from.

The cultlike way Ruckman has gained followers in the past is also suspect, as it is with any MAN who gains such a following.

[Brother Rick]

Dr. Ruckman is also a brawler and has ruined his testimony with his nasty attitude towards other people.

Correct.

Jesus was never rude and sarcastic in His teachings.

Wrong.

This attitude shows a lack of Christian love, which God says should be in every Christian.

I agree, absolutly.

I am not familiar with every single doctrine Ruckman preaches...

If you were willing to hear him out, you'd prOBably agree with about 75% of what he teaches, and you'd prOBably find his teaching to be very clear, plain, and easy to undestand.

I am familiar with his divorces, and his snide attitude that is also proud,

You know all about his personal life, but little to nothing of what he actually teaches? And for his personal life, which you gather from what sources.... you are willing to completly dismiss everything he's ever done in his life? I'm glad God has a lot more grace than you do.

and his strange alien and prophetical teachings. I also do not agree that it is wrong to study the Greek texts.

His kooky ideas about aliens are never presented as anything more than theories, possibilities, and ideas. What's wrong with that?

He doesn't have strange prophetical teachings. He may differ from you on some particulars concenering the Millennium or the Everlasting Kingdom, but that by no means makes him a heretic.

He's never taught that it's wrong to study the Greek texts. He teaches, and I whole heartedly support him on this, that to hold the Greek in authority over the KJB is wrong. When you consider how many Greek texts there are, and that they do not agree with each other, and there is no one Greek text that lines up with the KJB entirely - you must choose from the Greek or the KJB. If you choose the Greek, you're in big trouble because now it comes down to which Greek.

Like I said earlier, I agree with Sarah Palin on alot of things too...but it doesn't mean I make her a spiritual hero or even someone I would ever want to take advice from.

The cultlike way Ruckman has gained followers in the past is also suspect, as it is with any MAN who gains such a following.

A lot of Bible "gurus" have their rabid followers, and there's no doubt that Ruckman has his fair share of them. He by no means encourages them to be this way. In fact, there are churches in this country with the name of "Hyles" in the actual name of the church, and then there's the infamous 100% Hyles buttons that people used to wear. Dr. Ruckman would never tolerate such a thing. At the same time, there are those that have taken Dr. Ruckman's sarcastic nature and tenacity towards Bible correctors much farther than he ever did, damaging the cause of Christ. I don't defend Dr. Ruckman's attitude, it's a big flaw that has hurt a lot of people. But at the same time I don't discredit everything he ever did because I don't like that.

Yes, every Bible "guru" gets his strange following and rabid fans, but there plenty more people like myself who have been able to glean and learn from Dr. Ruckman and other men and use the knowledge for the furtherance of the Gospel and understanding of Scripture.

Luke 6:43, "For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit."

If Dr. Ruckman is such a heretic, and there's nothing good about him or his ministry, then all the fruit coming out of his ministry is rotten apples.

Is Sam Gipp a rotten apple? The man's ministry is being a friend to churches.

Is my pastor, Rick DeMichele, a rotten apple? He's been married to the same woman his whole life, pastors a church of over 1,000 (Which was 200 when he took over 25 years ago), sticks to his guns on the CCM issue, and we regurally give over 500k a year to missions.

My dad graduated from Rick DeMichele school, a by-product of Ruckman's. My dad was married to the same woman his whole life, taught in the Word for the World Baptist Bible institute for 3 years, was an assistant pastor for 1 year, and a missionary for 2 years. We came back from the mission field, and then my father went north to help another man start a church. Then he came down with cancer, brough mom back down to DeMichele's church, joined DeMichele's church on Sunday and died on Wednesday. Was he a rotten apple, becuase he was a by-product of Ruckman?

I listened a lot to Dr. Ruckman as a youn man on tapes while I was in Papua New Guinea. It changed my life and instilled in me a love for the word of God. Having that love instilled in me, I learned how to preach, teach, and write for the Lord. I preached in three different high schools in PNG on a regular basis, preached on the street to crouds of over 100 people, and translated the KJV Daniel from English to Pigin. When I got back to the states, I graduated from the same Bible school my father did. I work two jOBs to provide for my family in this recession, am raising an above average Christian family for the Lord. I can trace a lot of that back to a young 18 year old boy who developed a love for the word of God listening to Ruckman tapes. Am I a rotten apple? A corrupt tree can not bring forth good fruit, after all.

My longwinded point is this, I don't believe anyone should be a follower or a disciple of any one man. There are a lot of pastors out there who do NOT meet the qualification to be a pastor. There are a lot of them, and the married qualification is only ONE of them. Unhospitable, brawlers, inability to teach doctrine, not having family under control... there's a long list. But as David did not see it as his responsibility to go out and touch God's annointed, I too do not see it my responsibility to go out of my way to slam other pastors that I don't think are qualified. The gifts and callings of God are without repentence, and while I don't believe that necessarily means a pastor can stay a pastor his whole life, I for one am not going to be the one to go after him.

A bad tree can't produce good fruit, and yet Dr. Ruckman's ministry has produced a lot of good fruit, and yes, some rotten fruit too. Why is so hard to take a balanced view of things like this? Edited June 2, 2010 by Rick Schworer

[HappyChristian]

Ah, but Bro. Rick, when you say bad tree and liken PR's ministry to that, insinuating that everything is okay...there is no credence given to God! One time in Bible college, some students (myself included) were discussing several things with one of our professors (easily the godliest of all of them, imo then and still today). He made a comment that aptly fits PR's ministry (and others who are disqualified - he is by no means the only one): "God doesn't always bless because of; many times he blesses in spite of."

I am familiar with much of PR's teachings. I attended college near PBI, and knew some students from the college. Now, I know that every college has wacko students, so at the time, that's what I put it down to. But fast forward a few years, to a different state and I meet a pastor who believed the SAME things...also learned from PR! My husband was affected by those teachings as well.

I would not say that I agree with PR on any of his teachings. What I would say is that, where he is Biblical, I can agree with him because it's Bible. I can agree with anyone who is right on the Bible! And I understand your reluctance to "stab" at preachers. I don't think that's what this thread does, though. Paul said to mark those who cause divisions...and PR does. NOT because he is so scriptural, but because he is a brawler (and because of some of his teachings).

I personally am glad that your pastor has allowed God to lead him - and that your dad did, too. That is testimony to God's grace. Just as it is in any of our lives.

(BTW - Saul was a king, anointed by God to be king. Pastors are not kings...)

[Anon]

Right now I know a family who has been all but torn apart because of the beliefs and practices they had from Dr. Ruckman in the past. One is now agnostic and another is close to it....great people...but so jaded now.

[Brother Rick]

Ah, but Bro. Rick, when you say bad tree and liken PR's ministry to that, insinuating that everything is okay...there is no credence given to God! One time in Bible college, some students (myself included) were discussing several things with one of our professors (easily the godliest of all of them, imo then and still today). He made a comment that aptly fits PR's ministry (and others who are disqualified - he is by no means the only one): "God doesn't always bless because of; many times he blesses in spite of."

I am familiar with much of PR's teachings. I attended college near PBI, and knew some students from the college. Now, I know that every college has wacko students, so at the time, that's what I put it down to. But fast forward a few years, to a different state and I meet a pastor who believed the SAME things...also learned from PR! My husband was affected by those teachings as well.

I would not say that I agree with PR on any of his teachings. What I would say is that, where he is Biblical, I can agree with him because it's Bible. I can agree with anyone who is right on the Bible! And I understand your reluctance to "stab" at preachers. I don't think that's what this thread does, though. Paul said to mark those who cause divisions...and PR does. NOT because he is so scriptural, but because he is a brawler (and because of some of his teachings).

I personally am glad that your pastor has allowed God to lead him - and that your dad did, too. That is testimony to God's grace. Just as it is in any of our lives.

(BTW - Saul was a king, anointed by God to be king. Pastors are not kings...)

I really appreciate your post, I found it to be very balanced and reasoned. I'm sorry to hear anyone get hurt by wacko college students, or wacko pastors that have (as my pastor puts it) "man-of-God-itis".

I see your point about God's blessing, and I'm certainly glad that He does bless many times in spite of us. Certainly that applies in the case of Dr. Ruckman, and from all the preaching and teaching I've heard from him - he'd be the first to agree with you.

[OFIB Preacher]

I aplaud the church, for taking a stand! It's not easy dropping any missionary, I don't care where they came from! Praise the LORD, for the stand this church has taken! How wicked Dr. Ruckman's atitude is! The very Bible he says he believes, condemns him!

Last weekend I was preaching in South Jersey and on Saturday night the pastor had me over for dinner. We were talking when he started telling me that they had some missionaries they supported that were sent out by Ruckman's mission board. The missionaries were supported before this pastor came. The pastor wanted to know what these missionaries believed, so he sent them a questioner with a few Ruckamn things on it like what do you believe about advanced revelation, abortion, aliens, double inspiration, and etc.

To make a long story short, the church ended up dropping one of the missionaries support because the answer was "I will follow Ruckman to the day I die". I thought that was a strange answer, but I guess that is the mentality of these type of men.

When this church drops supports of missionaries over doctrine they send a letter to the missionary, sending church, and mission board. Since the mission board in this case is Ruckman the letter got on his desk.

The short letter to Ruckman read something like this:


That was all the letter stated, and they mailed it out to Ruckman

When the pastor got the letter back he opened it and noticed that Ruckman drew a few self sketches of himself on the envelope. Ruckman then hand wrote his answer on the same letter that was sent to him. This is exactly what Ruckman wrote and then signed.

"Don't forget to change your diaper at the Judgment seat of Christ"

Needless to say, the church then knew they made the right decision in dropping the missionary.

[OFIB Preacher]

Me too!

You can either laugh or you can cry, I choose to laugh.

[OFIB Preacher]

He mock's it now, but, he'll stand before God, just like everyone else!

I laughed too when I was reading it.

With that response I guess Ruckman has too high opinion of himself. The part that did bother me the most was that Ruckman was mocking the Judgement seat of Christ.

[OFIB Preacher]

Why listen to a man who refuses to OBey a simple truth, and continues to pastor a New Testament Church even though he is completely disqualified according the Word of God. If he will not OBey that simple truth, will he OBey any truths?

He has been divorced two times and married three times and still in the pulpit.

WHAT ABOUT PETER RUCKMAN?


WHAT IS RUCKMANISM?


Beware of Peter Ruckman


A person can find lots of information about this man on the net, along with many good reasons not to support nor listen to him.

I didn't mean to jump this far ahead in the thread, but, since I'm here, right on, Brother! BTW, you and I know, the answer to your question about the truths found in the word of God, is, a resounding NO,!
I wouldn't walk two steps to listen to anything he has to say!

[OFIB Preacher]

I mean come on, get real, look in the Bible for the qualifications for a New Testament pastor.

1Ti 3:1 ¶ This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
1Ti 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sOBer, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
1Ti 3:3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
1Ti 3:4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
1Ti 3:5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
1Ti 3:6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
1Ti 3:7 Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

Tit 1:6 ¶ If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
Tit 1:7 For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
Tit 1:8 But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sOBer, just, holy, temperate;
Tit 1:9 Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.

The verses you posted are great verse, yet they have nothing whatsoever to do with the qualification for pastor, yet the verses above has everything to do with them. You need to use verses in context, that is divide the truth properly.


2Ti 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Clearly, Peter Ruckman does not meet the qualifications given in the Bible for being a pastor of a New testament Church.

AMEN! He shouldn't even try to put his little toe in a pulpit! The man's not qualified, at all! I'm even talkin' 'bout more than the marriage issue, here!

[OFIB Preacher]

Many people try and justify more than one marriage and say it's okay to pastor if one has been married and divorced...because, after all, he's only married to one woman presently. They say that the verse saying "husband of one wife" is referring to polygamy. But that actually wasn't a prOBlem in the day it was written, so that's truly a non-argument.

And, to boot, it appears that even the secular world understands what marriage-divorce-remarriage is. They call it serial polygamy. More than one wife, just not all at the same time.

As to KJVO and heresy...if someone who claims to be a Christian, regardless of what version they use, is consistently ignoring the principles and commands in God's Word, they should be marked for warning. I know a KJVO pastor (he's passed away now) who tried to kill someone. He said he was doing the work of God: trying to strangle a young man who simply told him God was moving that young man. We would all say, "Horrors! That man is disqualified!" But to point out that PR's serial polygamy is grounds for disqualification is wrong. Hmmmm. (BTW - lest you doubt the story of the strangling, I was there. It took 4 people to pull him off the young man.)

Excellent post!
Whew, what a story! BTW, don't care if the one you mentioned is dead or not, but, both are disqualified, as far as I'm concerned!

[JerryNumbers]

AMEN! He shouldn't even try to put his little toe in a pulpit! The man's not qualified, at all! I'm even talkin' 'bout more than the marriage issue, here!

Right, He is wrong on many issues. But a good Baptist ought to know the qualifications for being a pastor of one of Jesus' New Testament Churches.

It grieves me at the number of Baptist that seem to think that they can ignore the qualifications given in the Bible and let men fill the position of pastor who do not meet them. I wonder if they are ignorant of the Bible, don't care, are they just letting the old devil blind them to God's truths? Those who are this way usually get quite smarty about the issue.

I know of a few Baptist pastors who once believed a divorced man could not hold the position of pastor, yet when they divorce they changed their beliefs on this issue.

[OFIB Preacher]

Take a chill pill, Rick! I've never heard Tim Lahaye called a false prophet, but he sure was wrong when he included Mother Theresa in the rapture in his Left Behind series.

I've seen many ruined from some of the stuff PR teaches. My own husband was almost victim to some of it before we met. Calling a spade a spade is right to do. I'm sorry if you're offended by it, truly.

I don't agree with comparing him to Hitler - but I think the comparison was more that anyone can have followers.

No-one's getting into PR's church: but we have every right to show his disqualifications to warn people. As to the HUGE prOBlem with his tongue: doesn't God have an awful lot to say about our tongues?

Right on, Sis!

[OFIB Preacher]

rick, sorry if my remark offended you, it was as Happy Chrisitan said, a reference to any nut having a following. perhaps I should have said even dogs run in packs! (oops! There I go again!)

Charles Manson? well. ok, I will shut up, but I will not quit warning people about him, or John MacArthur (as in another post!) PR is much more subtle than those I named anyway, he simply poisons minds, and not destroys bodies.

How true! Don't stop warning! Keep it up!
Keep standing for the oldtime way!