INTRODUCTORY NOTE
The following list of quotes is in response to an
incident that occurred earlier this year* in which a Christian friend of mine
was told by a pastor of a local church that Dr. Peter Ruckman was in support
of his church’s stand on the power and authority of a pastor in the local
church as being “just as” our Lord Jesus Christ’s Power and
Authority over the entire church. *(1997)
My friend knew that I have read most of brother
Ruckman’s books and so he asked me what I thought about this matter. I informed
him that based on my knowledge of brother Ruckman’s books and tapes I did not
believe that he would support such a statement but that I would review some of
brother Ruckman’s books to see what he had to say about this subject.
I want to make one thing clear before I go any
further into this inquiry. My final authority in all matters of faith and
practice is the King James Bible (AV). I believe in my heart that God’s word,
the Scriptures, should be the final and absolute authority for all born again
Christians. In this treatise I do not appeal to Brother Peter Ruckman as an
“authority”, although he was being referred to as an “authority” in support
of a belief held by the pastor of the local church. I am simply
providing for the reader direct quotations from brother Ruckman’s books to
demonstrate what brother Peter Ruckman truly believes about this matter.
I have divided this inquiry into 5 Headings:
1. Peter
Ruckman’s quotes on Christ’s Headship in the church.
2. Peter
Ruckman’s quotes on a Pastor’s Authority.
3. Peter
Ruckman’s quotes on Apostasy in the church.
4. Peter
Ruckman’s quotes on Heresy and Heretics.
5. Peter
Ruckman’s quotes on Related Subjects.
Again let me reiterate. This is not an appeal to
brother Ruckman to settle a doctrinal dispute. A claim was made that Dr. Peter
Ruckman was in support of a belief held by this pastor and some
Christian brethren on this island. The purpose of this treatise is to let the
reader see for himself what brother Ruckman truly believes by reading his words
from his books. If anyone knows of any other statements made by brother Ruckman
regarding this matter, pro or con, I will add them on to this list.
Please note: All of the following quotes are cited
verbatim from brother Ruckman’s books without any personal comments.
Sincerely
yours for The Lord Jesus Christ and for the Truth,
George H. Anderson Jr.
(Bold, Italics, & CAPITALS - Dr. Peter Ruckman's. Underlines
are mine.)
BBC - EPHESIANS
Page 203 (Eph 1:1-6)
Now
these "Christians" who are only on earth must be a peculiar breed. We saved Christians
are joined to a Body whose Head is in Heaven. . . .
. . .
BBC - EPHESIANS
Page 223 (Eph
He
is the "Head" of the church and the only "Head"
the church has ever had or ever will have.
There is no "visible head"
to this Body, for you
enter
this Body by the Spirit (Eph 4:4) and are baptized into it by the Spirit (1Cor
the
Head must be a Spiritual Head.
BBC - EPHESIANS
Page 258-259 (Eph
God
has a "family" (Ps 45:9-14), and in that family there is ONE BRIDE
(Eph
BBC - EPHESIANS
Page 320 (Eph
Christ
is the head of the body (
"Christ also loved the
church, and gave himself for it" (vs 25). The
verse settles beyond any question the matter of the local church and the "church, which is his body." To say that Christ died for the local church would be nonsense. The
local church includes unsaved church
members, and the first New Testament
local church had a devil for a treasurer.
. . . . .
BBC - EPHESIANS
Page 324 (Eph
. .
. . . A man and wife are the same flesh and bones even when they are apart; since this
is a mystery, it is a perfect illustration of a Christian
on the planet earth, in the back end of the universe, who
is ONE with the risen Saviour now seated more than 50,000,000 light years above the solar system (see extended comment under 1:20 and 3:18).
BBC - COLOSSIANS Page 496 (
The Christian's
head is in heaven, . . . .
.
BBC - COLOSSIANS Page 589 (
1.
"CHRIST
IS ALL." He is the Body
into which the believer is placed and this body is a new creation
(see Eph
2. "CHRIST
. . . IN ALL." He is the regenerator within the individual believer
who
restores the image which Adam lost when
he sinned. This image is plainly the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and this is
exactly what Paul told us in the
Epistle (
BBC -
HEBREWS Page 16 (Heb 1:4-9)
. .
. . . The anointing on the “head of Aaron” (Ps 133) clearly shows us that our
“HEAD” is the Lord Jesus and that He is in heaven (Col 1:18). We
are the body; He is the HEAD.
The Head should always run the body (1Cor 12).
BBC - HEBREWS
Page 49 (Heb 2:9-13)
. .
. . . But it goes beyond this; we are also, in a sense, His wife. We are the husband’s “bride” (Eph
1.
Christ is the head
of a body that makes up his bride.
BBC - HEBREWS
Page 52 (Heb 2:9-13)
. .
. . . “Our Lord’s work issues in His becoming THE
HEAD of a saved
community.”
BBC - HEBREWS
Page 63 (Heb 3:1-6)
. .
. . .HE WHO FOUNDED THE CHURCH HAS MORE HONOR THAN THE
CHURCH.
BBC - HEBREWS
Page 146 (Heb
The
Christian priesthood (1 peter 2:9) headed up by one permanent High
Priest (Heb 3:1) does not resemble the black-robed Catholic priesthood in
any particular.
BBC
- THE BOOK OF REVELATION Pages. 21 & 22
When Jesus says in Revelation 1:8
that He is the “Almighty,” that means just what it says. If any church makes
one statement contrary to a plain statement in the
word of God, then that statement is no more important than a three-year-old
Eskimo discoursing on nuclear physics. The Lord Jesus Christ is the final authority. He is the Almighty; He is the
beginning and the ending; He is the absolute authority, and where
He speaks “the church” may shut its mouth and act decently.
HOW TO TEACH THE
BIBLE Page 37
3. The mystery of the Body of Christ (Eph.
3, 5). This is a mystery about a Body that is “ESPOUSED” to be married (2 Cor. 11) and yet has already
become “one flesh” with it’s Head
(Eph. 5).
[Brother Ruckman
commenting on the Paulicians] . . . . .
Another name applied to them by the apostate Catholics of their day was “Acephali” (headless), which was the Catholic way of mocking them for
not recognizing Peter and his “vicars” as the visible “HEAD” of the church.
Unlike the Bible-rejecting popes, they
believed what the Apostle Paul said
about the “HEAD” of the church” (Eph 1, Col 1).
. . . .
God will not let any saved sinner (Fundamentalist or Evangelical)
steal His Glory (Isa 48:11), no matter how godly he thinks he is because of his secondary
separation.
RUCKMAN’S QUOTES: ELDER (BISHOP, PASTOR) AUTHORITY
(Bold, Italics, & CAPITALS - Dr. Peter Ruckman's. Underlines
are mine.)
BIBLE
BELIEVER'S COMMENTARY – MATTHEW
BBC - MATTHEW
Pages 400-402 (Mt.
Pgs
401-402: "Minister . . .
servant." The two words can be used almost interchangeably. The first
one is the word for "deacon" (Gk diakanon).
The second is the word for
"slave" (Gk. doulos),
thereby identifying the "chief" or the "great one" as a bond-servant, running barefoot through the dust, to wait on the Master's table. Thus the Christian
concept of a "great one" or a "chief" turns out
to be just the opposite from the one taught by
Pg
402: . . . . . Thus the ministry has become a PROFESSION instead of a CALLING,
and the ministers compete for success
instead of obeying to be faithful, and the successful are considered RIGHT and the failures are
considered WRONG. Any method is resorted to, in the name of Christ, right or wrong. in order to be "somebody" and put your name on the map.
Shades of
A minister,
then, is a "servant," (See
Romans 16:1, 1Peter 5:1.) As an ordained elder, he is admonished to be an EXAMPLE,
and a "feeder of the flock"
and an "overseer" of a
flock; but never a "dominator,"
exercising "dominion"
)Latin: Domini, Dominus - God!)
Pg
401 . . . . . "Dominion and authority" is characteristic of
BIBLE
BELIEVER'S COMMENTARY - BOOK OF ACTS
BBC - ACTS
Pages 218-219 (Acts 6:1-4)
Pg
218: The pastors of the first church - 12 pastors! (vs 2) - are relieved of all
hindrances and encumbrances which might "entangle them" with the
world (1Tim 2:4) so they can labor in "word and doctrine" 1Tim
Pg
219: . . . . . . You will notice that the authority delegated to the
"eleven" (Matt 28:18-20) was SPIRITUAL authority,
".
. . the MINISTRY OF THE WORD" (vs 4), is the ministry that Paul
is engaged in all of his life,
BBC - ACTS Pages 221-222 (Acts 6:5-8)
Pg
221: In the first business transaction conducted by the local church that deals
with money matters the "WHOLE
multitude" (vs 5) is consulted. This sets the precedence for a local church
and shows that although the pastor and deacons may exercise
spiritual authority, it is the
congregation who decides the issues, and they "vote" the deacons in "and THEY chose ... they
set before the apostles" (vss 5,6).
BBC - ACTS
Pages 221-222 (Acts 6:5-8)
Pgs
221-222: Now, anyone familiar with the operation of the average Baptist church
knows exactly what is involved in a church "vote" at a "business
meeting," and for this reason most
of the larger churches in America are run by one man who hires
and fires, selects teachers, appoints deacons, buys and
sells, teaches and preaches,
and decides nearly all the issues for the congregation without
consulting them first about anything. In religion (as in politics) it has
been found out long ago that the
way to get a job done efficiently is by centralized
control.
Adolph did more to prosper
Pg
222: The cost for true local church practice "according to
the New Testament," is exposing the congregation to the wolves and
peacocks of Acts 20: 29, 30; spending hours on your knees praying that
the "politickers" in the congregation will hang themselves if they
have enough rope; that the Associational "Missionary"
will not be able to bribe your deacons into getting the Sunday School
literature of the NCCC; that Mrs. So-and-So will not be able to raise a
majority of her kinfolk to oust you
because you hurt her feelings when you moved the piano (see Prov 18:19 and
comments!); and that the two families who are trying to get control of the finance
committee will have their hands so full with "in-law problems" and
job problems they won't have time to steal the ballots or bring people to the business meeting who haven't been
to church since Columbus discovered America. (Oh, yes! there is more going on
in this country than bus ministries with 4000
in attendance!).
BBC - ACTS
Pages 420-421 (Acts 15: 6-12)
Pg
420: Now we attend the second real "business meeting"
of the church. The Holy Spirit is careful to avoid using the word
"council" when describing this meeting.
Furthermore the church business here is doctrinal business (unlike Acts 6:1-5), and the purpose of
it is to determine New Testament doctrine while the Pauline Epistles are being written. . . . . .
Pgs
420-421: ". . . and when there had
been MUCH DISPUTING" (VS 7) Sounds like a good old Wednesday night
business meeting, doesn't it? . . . . . Every
local church that ever got "tore up" or "unhinged" was torn
up and unhinged in a business meeting. I do not know of one exception to the
rule in 24 years of the ministry.
The only way this can be avoided is for the pastor to control the
meeting, the Sunday School, the Treasury, the board of Deacons, the teachers,
the bulletin, the church secretary,
the flower committee, the janitor's closet, the parking lot, the pulpit, the
nursery, and the principal. (Oh, I almost forgot the choir!) Where there is
real "liberty" in a local church there is always
room for catastrophe, and there are always full-time "church
operators" who think the highest calling on this earth for a Christian is to run other people's
affairs. They all follow the same pattern; they all like to hold the
reigns that control the horse, but none of them like to be seen sitting on the "buckboard" when the
wagon gets stuck. When this happens it is always the pastor's
fault! And the pastor - nine times out of ten - hasn't had the reigns in his hands twice since the last time a
wheel broke down. This kind of thing goes on day and night in more than 200
churches per state in
BBC - ACTS
Page 434 (Acts
The
apostles (vs 23) are obviously the first class that needs to be mentioned. "The elders" (vs 1) are
obviously the next class that needs to be mentioned, since many of them were NOT "apostles." The "brethren" (vs 1) are
obviously the third class, as many of them were neither "apostles" nor "elders."
The stupid conjecture that the
"brethren" must be synonymous with the "elders" (on the
basis of the Alexandrian and Western manuscripts) is just about as blind an exposition as you could attempt. The Holy Bible
told you that it was "THE WHOLE
CHURCH" (VS 22) that decided the matter: not the
"elderly brethren." or "the
elders who were brethren." The "whole church" was NOT the
"elders" or the "apostles," or the "elders and the
apostles:" it was "THE
BRETHREN."
BBC -
ACTS Pages 584-602 (Acts
pg
597 "TAKE HEED therefore ... to all
the FLOCK" (VS 28)!!
"The flock," these days, is usually
a ZOO. And if you are going to pastor the flock, you had better get
prepared to either love them and give them their liberty
in Christ, or else avoid
them and dictate terms of unconditional surrender to them;
for as surely as Business Meetings tear up churches, there isn't one big church
in the United States where the members
make the decisions. And if you are a "decision-making-member"
you had better abandon all hope of ever getting credit for "building a great work," for no first-rate pastor is going to tolerate your audacity
and individuality for one minute: he is going to give you the boot!
BBC - ACTS
Pages 588 (Acts
pg.
588: . . . . . You don't follow Paul (1Cor 11:1) unless
you sit down with people in their homes and deal
with them from an open Bible about their spiritual,
economic, domestic, religious, and
mental problems; and if you think the Pauline epistles don't deal with those problems you've never read the Pauline
epistles.
BBC – 1 TIMOTHY
Page 56 (1Tim 3:1-7)
The
passage deals with the qualifications of a "bishop,"
called an overseer in Acts
BBC – 1 TIMOTHY
Page 66 (1Tim 3:8-13)
The
pastor is to be a "steward" of these mysteries (1Cor 4:1-2), and pass
them on to others (2Tim 2:2).
BBC – 1 TIMOTHY
Page 68 (1Tim 3:8-13)
The "good degree" is a high
standing in the sight of the congregation, but this high standing is a
SPIRITUAL high standing (as in the case of the elder who rules "well"(see
BBC – 1 TIMOTHY
Page 92 (1Tim
"Meditate upon these things..." (vs
15): the GIFT,
BBC – 1 TIMOTHY
Page 93 (1Tim
'... that thy profiting may appear to
all" (vs 15). Results and success are never to be the aims of the ministry, for all ministers
will be tried for the QUALITY of
their work (1Cor
BBC – 1 TIMOTHY
Page 108 (1Tim
Five
things are now said about the ordained “elder” (not just an older man as in verse 1) who functions
in the church as a leader or overseer.
1.
If he rules WELL, he deserves twice the
honor a man should ordinarily get.
2.
This is especially true in a case where
his labor is in THE WORD and doctrine.
3.
You are to pay him for his work and labor
(see 1 Cor 9:1-12).
4.
You are to rebuke him (or his
adversaries) OPENLY when sin is apparent.
5.
You are not to believe any rumors about
him unless two or more witnesses testify, and they have to confront him when
they testify (see Matt
BBC – 1 TIMOTHY
Page 109-110 (1Tim
What
does it mean for an elder to “RULE
WELL”?
1.
He is to volunteer for the office of Bishop or Pastor (1 Tim 3:1).
2.
His primary job is to FEED THE SHEEP (John
3.
He is to be an example to the flock: “Follow me. If I do it, you do it.”
4.
His motive
for service is not to be the big paycheck (1 Peter 5:1-4).
5.
He is to nurse some sheep, father some
sheep, and BEAT some sheep (1 Thess
6.
He
is to kick some of the sheep out of the flock (1 Cor
7.
He is to pay his bills (1 Tim 3:7) and
maintain the respect of the lost (not their LOVE: their respect).
8.
He is to declare ALL of the counsel of
God (Acts
9.
He is to study and meditate in the Book
day and night (Ps 1; 2 Tim
10.
He is to follow the instructions given in
1 Tim 5:21-22,
11.
He is to preach AGAINST people as well as
things (1 Tim 6:3-5, 17, and 20-21; 2 Tim
12.
He is to preserve the MYSTERIES in the
faith (see comments under 1 Tim
13.
He is to follow the instructions of 1
Thess 5:12-22 and Rom 12:7-21.
Now THAT is a good
“ruler.” The rule is “over” other Christians in the Lord (Heb
BBC – 1 TIMOTHY
Page 111 (1Tim
The
young pastor is to rebuke an elder if the two or three witnesses confront him
in the pastor’s presence and he confesses guilt. Further, the pastor must rebuke the witnesses if they turn out to be false. “OPENLY”
means publicly, to the congregation.
BBC – 1 TIMOTHY
Page 114 (1Tim
“Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be
partaker of other men’s sins…” (vs 22). The two things come together by
association, for if you ordain a novice
hastily (see 3:6 and remarks), you are indirectly responsible for his sins when
he “blows it.”
BBC – TITUS
Page 353 (Titus 2:1-6)
The
WORD OF GOD IS “BLASPHEMED” WHEN:
1.A man preaches what he does not practice or teaches what he does not
practice (Rom
2.
A servant refuses to obey his master with
the right spirit (1Tim 6:1-4).
3.
A Christian woman argues and fights with
her husband (text, and Titus 2:5).
BBC – HEBREWS
Pages 218-219 (Heb
Now
a “pastor” should have a natural love for people as PEOPLE, as well as individuals.
. . . . . It
is a great blessing every time I mount the pulpit to preach, because I am never
prejudiced in favor of anyone. What you
know about the individual lives of
the members of your congre-gation will not affect and
twist your message because IT IS OF NO IMPORTANCE TO YOU.
How
is that for a blessing? I can be with Christians (say four or five hundred of
them) and know all kinds of things about them that are just terrible and still
love them in the Lord and overlook
their failures . . . . .
BBC – HEBREWS
Page 240 (Heb 11: 1-7)
There
has to be a time in your life when you learn to live the life of faith,
learn to trust God, and learn to act on faith.
BBC – HEBREWS
Page 241 (Heb 11: 1-7)
Now,
here is where the matter of FAITH pops up. When a young man answers the call to
the pastorate, he is supposed to have been exercised in the life
of faith. “No pew can get
any higher than the pulpit.” If the preacher hasn’t ever lived by faith, who in
the congregation is going to learn anything about it?
BBC – HEBREWS
Page 261 (Heb
Faith
that is not tried is not real
faith.
BBC – HEBREWS
Page 346-347 (Heb 13: 7-9)
“Remember them which have the rule over
you…” (vs 7). It is plainly a spiritual
rule that he is talking about, exactly as Paul worded in 1 Timothy 5:17
(“let
the elders that rule well…”) and 1 Timothy 3:4 (one that ruleth his own house…”).
. .
. . . “whose faith follow, considering
the end of their conversation” (vs 7). The “ruler” here is plainly
a spiritual ruler . . . . .
HOW TO TEACH THE
BIBLE Page 5
If
you sit in judgement on the Book, then YOU are the final judge. You are superior to the Book, and that
is the message you will convey to every young man who sits in front of you. You will, consciously or unconsciously,
take the Holy Spirit’s place in the Trinity and cause every man-following man
in that room to follow YOU
instead of GOD ALMIGHTY.
HOW TO TEACH THE
BIBLE Page 8
. .
. . . When you are completely dedicated to establishing your authority at the expense of God’s word, you can never see the verses that are AIMED AT YOUR SINS.
HOW TO TEACH THE
BIBLE Page 47
This
means that the first fundamental of all
fundamentals, taking precedence over EVERY so called “essential doctrine”
or “essential fundamental,” is “Who gets
to run whom?
HOW TO TEACH THE
BIBLE Page 69
. .
. . . A Bible teacher who cannot defend his position or destroy a false
position with scripture is not in the action; he has deserted. He is not “a good
soldier of Jesus Christ”; he is
a coward. If a “Bible teacher” cannot speak according
to the scriptures (Isa.
HOW TO TEACH THE
BIBLE Page 83
Show
the Bible student what the Book says about soul winning, prayer, assembling
together, forgiveness of sins, self-judgement, devotions, personal work, witnessing, charity, giving, praising God,
and clean living. But never make the mistake of thinking that when teaching
these things you are teaching the
Bible: the Bible is a BOOK, not a
series of things taken out of a BOOK. You
can use scripture, and you should use it in abundance in dealing with all of
the human and practical problems
that will come up in life and in the ministry; but this is not teaching the BIBLE. This is USING
the Bible to teach something. Do you
get the difference?
HOW TO TEACH THE
BIBLE Page 86
A
real BIBLE TEACHER will not hesitate to correct every one of them (plus the men who taught them) with THE BOOK. Where the Bible corrects them, he will follow it instead of them. The real Bible
teacher can never be a follower of any man or group of MEN
(note how that last definition condemns the educational institutions who condemn others for “following a man”). No man or
group of men are
the final
authority for
ANYTHING. The Holy
Bible is the final authority.
(Quote from Knights of
Columbus literature) . . . . . One can almost see the “Knights of Columbus”
penning, “Jesus delivered power to His
one TRUE CHURCH, which is the
CATHOLIC CHURCH; therefore, the rulers of the Church HAVE THE
AUTHORITY OF CHRIST HIMSELF, AND HAVE POWER TO . . . . . “
(Bold, Italics, & CAPITALS - Dr. Peter Ruckman's. Underlines
are mine.)
BBC - ACTS
Page 418 (Acts 15:1-5)
". . . certain of the SECT of the Pharisees which BELIEVED
. . ."(vs 5).
The
last two words are ominous for it shows that a born-again believer
can take part in sectarian views which are typical
of "Cults" - not "Denominations."
BBC - ACTS
Page 626 (Acts
The
persecuting spirit is seen
demonstrated in this chapter. It is a formal
spirit (vs 30) that centers around physical objects; it is an ignorant spirit (vs 34) that comes from emotional feelings instead of
investigation; it is a perverse
spirit (vs 29) that refuses to accept a fact when presented; it is an unreasonable spirit (vs 31, 36)
demanding death for a man of different religious beliefs, and it is an intolerant spirit (vs 28) that
will not stand for any opinion but its own.
BBC - COLOSSIANS Page 542-343 (
"The tradition of men" is to reject the truth, alter the truth, camouflage the truth, hide the truth, imitate the truth, slander the truth, resent the truth, disobey the truth, and get rid of
the truth (Matt 15:2,3).
"The tradition of men" (Mark
7:3,5,8,9,13) is to make it a practice of adjusting any truth which is
detrimental to their own self interests to a place where it is profitable and expedient to their own
self interests.
BBC - COLOSSIANS Page 633 (
We
have known modern Christians in this century (who were "Fundamental,
Pre-millennial, etc.") who professed to believe in the Absolute Authority
of the Bible and then stated their personal
opinions as Divine Fiats of God's decrees. Every one of them
rejected the AV as an "Infallible Authority." Every one of them worshipped his WORK instead of his Saviour,
and every one of them feared and hated real Bible believers.
BBC -
COLOSSIANS Page 634 (
. .
. . . However, to all practical purposes,
the modern Demas approaches "the ministry" in this same fashion.
He is only using the Bible as a TOOL to present an earthly,
literal, visible "testimony." He doesn't believe it any more than
some of you do; he only finds it "expedient" to use it and profitable
to profess faith in it. This is the
opportunist of 2Tim
B.
THE MARK OF A LAODICEAN APOSTATE:
1.
He
is proud.
2.
He
knows nothing.
3.
He
is hung up on questions and strifes.
4.
He
is motivated by envy.
5.
He
has a corrupt mind.
6.
He
is destitute of the truth.
7.
He
mistakes GAIN for godliness.
BBC – 2 TIMOTHY
Page 288 (2Tim 4:1-5)
The passage is a reference to apostasy WITHIN
the body of Jesus Christ.
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