The Ruckmanites identify as fundamentalist Christians within the Independent Baptist movement who follow the teachings of Peter Ruckman.1 In 1965, Ruckman founded a school called the Pensacola Bible Institute (“PBI”), 2 where he taught a unique brand of Christianity until he died in 2016.3 During his career, he authored numerous publications and recorded hundreds of sermons, many of which can be found at PBI’s online bookstore.4 He also trained numerous pastors in his unique brand of Christianity, and one such pastor has a church in Aurora, Colorado.5 Peter Ruckman has his own reference Bible, called the Ruckman Reference Bible, which contains his own “advanced revelations” that he and his followers believe are uniquely revealed in the King James Bible.6
The Ruckmanites are part of a larger movement within fundamentalist Christianity known as King James Only, KJVO, or King James Onlyism.7 The King James Only movement claims that the King James Bible is superior to all other Bibles, and its adherents profess varying degrees of confidence with this claim.8 On the light end are those who merely claim the King James Bible is the best Bible and the only Bible one should read.9 In the middle are those who claim the King James Bible is more accurate than other translations and/or divinely inspired and/or as accurate as the original Greek and Hebrew manuscripts.10 On the extreme end are the Ruckmanites, who claim that the King James Bible contains advanced revelations from God that make it superior to the original Greek and Hebrew and superior to all other Bibles in the world.11
The King James Only movement is a remarkable phenomenon based on a preference for the most traditionally known English Bible, the fear of liberalism and degradation of conservative values, and loyal Christians who trust their pastors to do the scholarly work for them in choosing which Bible translation is best and why. For the Ruckmanites, this loyalty is particularly problematic because Peter Ruckman taught that almost all scholarship and education is corrupt, evil, and untrustworthy.12 The written published defenses that have been made of the extremist side of the King James Only movement in nationally distributed publications13 have been thoroughly discredited on the bases that they are not supported by reliable evidence and objective scholarship,14 but if you talk to the extreme KJVO adherents about the critiques and refutations of their beliefs they respond with the dogmatic refrain that you find repeated in the Ruckman Reference Bible – that scholarship should be thrown out when it calls their faith in doubt.15 Ruckmanites believe that by maintaining the specific brand of faith they have been taught they are fighting on God’s side against evil and corruption.16
Ruckmanites are taught to believe all other Bible translations are corrupt and part of a widespread conspiracy to destroy the word of God.17 Ruckmanites believe at least 99% of the world is lost and on the way to hell.18 Ruckmanites believe the Rapture of the Church19 is coming in the near future and the date can be predicted.20 Ruckmanites believe in a theology called bible-believing dispensationalism, wherein God created different covenants with different groups of people in different time periods, and if you do not get “Raptured” you will be left behind to endure years of horrible tribulation and you will have to earn your way into heaven, which will be very difficult.21 Ruckmanites believe that after the horrible tribulation there will be a 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ wherein faithful followers will receive rewards and get to rule with Jesus, and unfaithful followers who wasted their time on earth will be naked and ashamed for 1,000 years before going to heaven.22 Ruckmanites are Young Earthers a/k/a Young Earth Creationists; they believe the earth is about 6,000 years old, and dinosaurs lived at the same time as humans.23 Ruckmanites teach mistrust of people who believe in evolution.24
Ruckmanites also regularly read and distribute Chick Tracts25 and encourage children to do the same. These cartoon booklets paint the world and various minority groups in dark caricatures and have been recognized by numerous authorities as hateful, misleading, and inappropriate.26 They teach children to be fearful of large portions of humanity. Ruckmanites believe they are helping the lost world by distributing this literature.27
The Ruckman Reference Bible is among the most doctrinally unsound reference Bibles.28 It is completely inappropriate for children and should, by any modern standards of decency, either not be sold at all or be sold with a warning. The Ruckmanites venerate this Bible, and the commentary is also sold separately at the group’s bookstore. It would take many hours to go through all the outrageous statements, but like Peter Ruckman’s other writings, it is full of hatred, fear-mongering, conspiracy theories, and judgment toward almost everyone outside of the Ruckmanite group. It is strongly anti-Catholic, antisemitic, anti-Muslim, anti-intellectual, anti-science, racist, anti-homosexual, and full of slurs, fearful messages, and dark prophecies. This website contains a small sample of statements from the Ruckman Reference Bible that are by no means the worst or the only ones of their kind. In fact, these statements are collected in order from just the first two of the 66 books in the Bible. Peter Ruckman was viciously antisemitic29 and openly supportive of the KKK30 in his sermons, some of which are still available online today. Surprisingly, none of the pastors in the group criticize or take public issue with any of the atrocious teachings of Peter Ruckman. He is regularly praised and his writings are positively reviewed. Even online his hateful writings have lots of positive reviews from his followers.
The Ruckmanites regularly gather at the headquarters in Pensacola for big events called blowouts. There are very few African-Americans in this group.31 Nobody would dare say they are homosexual in these assemblies because homosexuals are openly referred to as perverts. This group is so convinced that they have all the mysteries of the universe unlocked and everyone else is lost that they will not even consider learning from people outside their group. They live in a bubble of pride that is being compromised by the growing access to information and scholarship on Christianity and history. The numbers are dwindling,32 and they are pressing children hard to stand up for God by trusting and obeying the Ruckmanite leadership above all others.
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I will not move or change my position on the authority of the Authorized Version. No matter how good a ministry may look on the outside, no matter how pure and righteous it may seem, if it is not founded on the Book of God, it is not the right work. I am very dogmatic about this. I believe God has His pure fountain and Satan has his corrupt fountain. If God has the ability to preserve your soul he has the ability to preserve a Book without error and fallibility. My soul rests in the fact that He did preserve the Book, the King James Bible. If I am planting tomato seeds I will not expect and orange tree when the crop comes up. If I plant the right seed (from the right Book), I know it will produce the right fruit. Any other fruit, even if it resembles the right fruit, is corrupt fruit. . . . If someone tries to talk you out of believing in the Book you must see it as a direct attack on God Almighty.
P.35 (Bible Believers Baptist Church Publishing Jacksonville 2014) (emphasis added)
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Ruckman; https://www.ruckmanism.org/timeline-major-events-life-peter-s-ruckman (detailed timeline of the life history of Peter Ruckman)
2 PBI has no accreditation, no website, and the Facebook page has not been updated since 2011. https://www.facebook.com/p/Pensacola-Bible-Institute-100072318163213/ Presumably, PBI does not see the benefit of an online presence given the substantial negative feedback published online about this group.
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Ruckman; see also ruckmanism.org
4 https://store.kjv1611.org/ Peter Ruckman has more publications at this bookstore than any other author by far. The store even sells a seven foot long shelf collection of “all of Dr. Ruckman’s written material”, available for $1,312 on October 14, 2024, at https://store.kjv1611.org/ruckmans-seven-foot-shelf-collection/
5 Adrian Dominguez is a graduate of PBI, personal mentee of Peter Ruckman, and pastor of the New Heights Baptist Church in Aurora, Colorado. His wife is also a graduate of PBI, and his oldest daughter is a recent graduate of PBI.
6 See, e.g., Bible Believers’ Bulletin. Aug. 2008, p.3 (“We call these truths advanced revelations because the Lord God revealed them through the King James Bible long after 1900.”); The Book of Acts. 1974, 1984, p. 438 (“You must resort to the infallible AV (1611) text for an advanced revelation found in NO Greek manuscript.”) available at https://www.ruckmanism.org/advancedrevelation
7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_James_Only_movement
8 James R. White, The King James Only Controversy, (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Pub. 1995) pp.23-28
9 Id.
10 Id.
11 Id.
12 See, e.g. Ruckman Reference Bible, at 15 – Gen. 6:16 “. . . When in doubt, always throw scholarship out.”, at 20 – Gen. 9:15 “. . . any scholar who believes it was a local flood has called God a liar.”, at Gen. 9:19 “. . . History infallibly corroborates the material found in a King James 1611 Bible with complete disregard for the researches and opinions of any 500,000 highly-educated idiots who ever lost their minds trying to correct God.”, at 31 – Gen. 15:6 “. . . This is the great Bible stumbling block for all Baptists who were dumb enough to listen to the faculty members of any major Christian school. Their “historic position” is a macabre joke.”, at 52 – Gen. 25:8 “. . . When in doubt, always throw the scholars out.”, at 85 – Gen. 42:36 “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31) The answer is “the world, the flesh, and the devil.” (You might add, “Most of the Christian scholars, nearly all the leaders in higher Christian education, the Bible revisors, and all critical Bible commentators.”)”, at 107 – Exod. 5:2 “’I know not the LORD.’ This is the profession of the 21st Century ‘agnostic’: about fifty thousand College professors and faculty members. . . . The word agnostic is ignoramus in Latin. . . . The agnostics are part of the large company that will be destroyed at the Second Advent of Christ in the New Testament . . .”, at 115 – Exod. 9:20 (explaining that learning from educated outsiders is going against God), at 1680 – Appendix 8 Higher Criticism (generally sewing mistrust in all higher education) (emphases and internal quotations in original).
13 See, e.g., Sam Gipp, Is The Bible Inspired, (Daystar Publishing 2004); G. A. Riplinger, New Age Bible Versions: An Exhaustive Documentation of the Message, Men & Manuscripts Moving Mankind to the Antichrist’s One World Religion (A V Pubns; 4th edition 1993); Dr. Samuel C. Gipp, THE ANSWER BOOK A Helpbook for Christians, (Bible and Literature Missionary Foundation, Shelbyville TN 1989); Peter S. Ruckman, Satan’s Masterpiece! The New ASV (Pensacola Bible Press 1972).
14 Here is a collection of over forty years of sound, critical scholarship refuting the foundational principles of the King James Only movement: Mark Ward, The Use and Misuse of the King James Bible, (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press 2018); James D. Price, King James Onlyism: A New Sect (Singapore: Saik Wah Press, 2006); Roy E. Beachum and Kevin T. Boulder, One Bible Only? (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publishers 2001); Doug Kutitlek, J. Frank Norris and His Heirs: The Bible Translation Controversy, Pasadena, TX: Pilgrim Publications 1999); J. B. Williams, From the Mind of God to the Mind of Man (Greenville, SC: Ambassador-Emerald International, 1999); Robert Picirilli, Should We Use the King James Only? (Nashville, TN: Randall House Publications, n.d.); Michael Grisanti, The Bible Version Debate: The Perspective of Central Baptist Seminary (Minneapolis, MN: Central Baptist Seminary, 1997); James R. White, The King James Only Controversy (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 1995); Estus Pirkle, The 1611 King James Bible (Southaven, MS: The King’s Press, 1994); Doug Kutilek, “Ruckman’s Phoney ‘Advanced Revelation’,” The Biblical Evangelist, 24:5 (May 1, 1990), 4-6; Ronald L. Walker, A Position Paper of the King James Controversy (Little Rock, AR: Heritage Baptist Temple, 1988); David D. Shields, “Recent Attempts to Defend the Byzantine Text of the Greek New Testament,” Ph.D. Diss. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1985; Eugene H. Glassman, The Translation Debate (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1981); Samuel E. Schnaiter, Textual Criticism and the Modern English Version Controversy (Greenville, SC: Bob Jones University Press, 1981); Stewart Custer, The Truth About the King James Version Controversy (Greenville, SC: Bob Jones University Press, 1981); A. Carson, The King James Version Debate: A Pleas for Realism (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1979).
15 The author of this article is a member of numerous King James Only and fundamentalist Christian groups online.
16 See, e.g., a passage from Ruckmanite leader Dr. David Peacock in his book, The Man The Message The Ministry:
17 See, e.g., Sam Gipp, Is The Bible Inspired, supra, preface, pp.1-3 (presenting the reader with a provocative choice to either stand up against all outside education and fight for the word of God or live with “Coward’s faith” and “ridicule” from the true believers of the Bible); read the summary for Ruckman’s Alexandrian Cult book series here: https://www.amazon.com/Alexandrian-Cult-Dr-Peter-Ruckman-ebook/dp/B005IQLZBO
18 At New Heights Baptist Church Aurora, one remark Pastor Adrian Dominguez would repeatedly make before service from the pulpit was to imitate an outsider and say, “you Independent Baptists are all alike, you think you are the only ones going to heaven,” to which Mr. Dominguez would reply as himself and say, “oh no it’s worse than that, we don’t even think most of us are getting in, hahaha.”
19 “The Rapture, in Christianity, the eschatological (concerned with the last things and Endtime) belief that both living and dead believers will ascend into heaven to meet Jesus Christ at the Second Coming (Parousia).” Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rapture-the
20 See, e.g., https://www.ruckmanism.org/raptureguessing (documenting the numerous Rapture date predictions made by Peter Ruckman); In the last four years since the pandemic began, the date for the Rapture has been predicted to come in the Springtime at 6pm by 2025 by pastor Gene Kim and before 2026 by pastor David Peacock of the Ruckmanites.
21 See David E. Walker, Rightly Dividing the Bible Volume One (Westbow Press 2018) pp.25-26; see generally Clarence Larkin, Dispensational Truth or God’s Plan and Purpose in the Ages (Martino Publishing 2011); Daniel G. Hummel, The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism, How the Evangelical Battle Over the End Times Shaped a Nation (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing 2023).
22 Pastor Brian Donovan, the head pastor for PBI’s church, explained this from the pulpit to a room full of church members when he was a visiting preacher at New Heights Baptist Church Aurora on May 15, 2022.
23 See, e.g., Sermon from Sam Gipp 03/12/23 “What The Devil Wants You To Do” at 48:00 – 52:00 for an explanation about how people just believe in evolution because they don’t want to accept that they are sinners going to hell. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg3oAyu1mHQ
24 https://www.chick.com/
25 See for example, (1) The Southern Poverty Law Center (formally listing Chick Publications as a hate group) https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/general-hate (2) The Hindu American Foundation (explaining how Chick Tracts promote hate of multiple religious groups) https://web.archive.org/web/20140721075336/http://www.hinduamericanfoundation.org/pdf/hate_report_2007.pdf (3) Catholic Answers (explaining how Chick Tracts spread “hate and paranoia” and contain false and anti-Catholic messages) https://web.archive.org/web/20110904055234/http:/www.catholic.com/library/sr_chick_tracts.asp (4) BBC News on July 24, 2020 (“delivery of disgusting anti-Semitic and homophobic books to residents in Bristol is being investigated by police”) https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-53530824 (5) The Straits Times on December 4, 2008 (reporting a criminal trial in Singapore against a couple for distributing Chick Tracts) https://web.archive.org/web/20100323231106/http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_310229.html (6) Planet Princeton on September 16, 2021 (“Some of the tracts have sinister messages about homosexuality, while others claim that Mormons, Muslims, Catholics, Buddhists, Communists, and those who believe in evolution are all going to hell if they don’t repent and accept Jesus Christ as their savior”) https://planetprinceton.com/2021/09/16/princeton-neighborhoods-blanketed-with-anti-catholic-anti-muslim-homophobic-chick-tract-comic-books/
26 See, e.g. this comment on p.40 – Gen. 19:31 “… nowhere in the area, not even in Zoar, would they have any luck in finding a husband, because faggots don’t have children. Sex perverts do not reproduce; they recruit. Their ‘manner of all the earth’ is the unnatural manner given in the New Testament (Rom. 1:26-28). Nothing was left for Lot’s two daughters, in that vicinity, but Frisco, queer, Socratic, faggoty fruits. The whole place was an ‘Afghanistan Banana-stand.’” or this comment on p.5 – Gen. 2:19 “ . . . In northern Alabama, Negroes used to eat red clay out of the clay hills on Sunday afternoon with spoons to get back their original color. Our Lord (being a Shemite/Oriental) is ‘red-brown,’ and that is why the King James Bible says He is ‘ruddy’ (Song of Sol. 5:10). But at the same time , the Song says He is ‘white.’ This word has been carefully removed from every apostate, ‘racist’ English ‘Bible’ on the market on the grounds that the attempt to mix the races is more important than the words of the Holy Spirit in the Holy Bible (See Song of Sol. 5:10).” (italics and quotations in original).
27 https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkxs_mkSqJdwDUQ4hEveyg8z7MboYtoJVAy?si=aRhAOMUwB_FLNwcA (Ruckman sermon from 1993 stating “city Jews” are “the most repulsive people in this world”)
28 https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx-BYg-tXWkgaaQzhNsCtaER25nenNYoFY?si=IqJVdBuQDTagKIrb (Ruckman sermon from 1993 stating the only reason Ruckman did not join the KKK is because they are antisemitic)
29 See Ruckman Reference bible at 118 – Exod. 11:7 “Notice, again, the deep-seated, Scriptural, Biblical, absolute truth that all men are not created equal in God’s sight, nor are all races the same. Therefore, they do not have any business mixing. ‘Mother Nature’ doesn’t make the difference. The genes and chromosomes do not make the difference. Look at the verse: ‘That ye may know how that the LORD doth put a difference.’ Not one highly-educated teacher in any State school in the world believes verse 7.”
30 Daniel G. Hummel, The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism, How the Evangelical Battle Over the End Times Shaped a Nation (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing 2023) p.318.
31 PBI has no accreditation, no website, and the Facebook page has not been updated since 2011. https://www.facebook.com/p/Pensacola-Bible-Institute-100072318163213/ Presumably, PBI does not see the benefit of an online presence given the substantial negative feedback published online about this group.
32 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Ruckman; see also ruckmanism.org