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THE VERSE THAT DESTROYS RUCKMANISM

by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.

A sermon preached at the Fundamentalist Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles
Lord’s Day Evening, February 4, 2001

"The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those
that published it" (Psalm 68:11).                                    

Ruckmanism is the false teaching that the King James translation is absolutely inerrant, and is superior to any Hebrew or Greek text. It is the teaching that the King James Version is perfect and that there is no value in examining the Hebrew and Greek text from which it was translated.

In my opinion, the term "King James Only" is a misleading name for this movement. I myself am King James Only. I believe we should preach only from the KJV because it is the best translation, based on the best Hebrew and Greek manuscripts.

Ruckmanites often say that the common man can’t read Hebrew or Greek, so there is no value in referring to these languages in which the Bible was originally written. I have often answered them by saying that Strong’s Concordance gives all the Greek and Hebrew words, and that a nine-year-old child can be taught to use Strong’s Concordance in about 20 minutes. No Ruckmanite has ever been able to refute my statement.

Furthermore, for twelve years I have offered $1,000 to anyone who can give a well-documented quote from any leading preacher or scholar who believed that the KJV was inspired and inerrant before 1950. Some have tried to claim that money, but they have all done so on the basis of quotes like "I believe the Bible." Of course, when read in context, none of these quotes prove that any of the preachers or scholars believed the doctrines of Ruckmanism. Spurgeon did not believe that the KJV was inspired and inerrant. Moody did not believe it. Torrey did not believe it. Frank Norris did not believe it. John R. Rice did not believe it. Bob Jones, Sr. did not believe it. Nor did any other fundamentalist leader of the past believe it.

I have written a book titled Ruckmanism Exposed. It has sold over ten thousand copies in the last twelve years. We continue to sell this book on a weekly basis. One well-known Bible college uses my book each semester to teach that the KJV is the best translation, but that we should refer to the Hebrew and Greek text to clarify the meaning of words. My book exposes the false teaching put out by Peter S. Ruckman, Jack Chick, and other Ruckmanites.

Now there is a clear verse in the Bible that refutes the position of Ruckmanism. It is Psalm 68:11, which says:

I will deal with this verse under three headings:

1. What God "gave" us in the Bible.
2. How the Bible was "published" in many languages.
3. Why the Hebrew and Greek must be appealed to.

I. What God "gave" us in the Bible.

In II Timothy 3:16 we read,

Dr. J. Vernon McGee gives the correct meaning of this verse:

This describes the plenary verbal inspiration of the Bible. "Plenary" means that all of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is from God. "Verbal" means that the very words (in Hebrew and Greek) are from God. "Inspiration" means "God-breathed." The very Hebrew and Greek words were given to the writers.

Now turn to II Peter 1:19-21,

Dr. McGee gives these comments:

So, the Holy Spirit "moved" or "carried" the minds of the writers to put down in Hebrew and Greek the exact words God wanted them to write. The Greek and Hebrew Bible was given through the prophets and apostles. They made no mistakes as the Holy Spirit moved their minds to write down the exact Hebrew and Greek words which God inspired. 

II. But, secondly, let us think about how the Bible was "published" in
        many languages .

Our text says,

God gave the Word, all of it from Genesis to Revelation, to the apostles and prophets. But a great many, a large number, have published and proclaimed it.

Dr. Paul Lee Tan points out:

No other book has been translated into as many languages as the Bible. Tonight, scores of translations are being worked on in small dialects. Soon there will scarcely be a language group on earth that doesn’t have at least part of the Bible in its mother tongue.

Some adherents of Ruckmanism say that these language groups do not have the "pure" Word of God unless the translations are made from the King James Bible English text. This has caused great confusion in some Spanish-speaking lands, and especially in Korea, where the people are being told that they have never had the real Bible, because it was translated from Hebrew and Greek instead of the KJV English text. I say – poppycock! If their language translations were made reliably from the Hebrew and Greek, they already have good translations. Ruckmanism only brings confusion and division on the foreign mission field – as it has done in the English-speaking world.

In Acts 2:4-11 we read of the great miracle at Pentecost, where three thousand people of various language groups heard the Word of God miraculously proclaimed in their own tongues. The people in these language groups said, "We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God" (Acts 2:11).

That is what happens in translating the Bible. Faithful translators take the Hebrew and Greek Bible, given by God, and translate it into the languages of the people. That is exactly what was done when the KJV was translated. It was translated from Hebrew and Greek into English.

The preface to the original 1611 KJV contains these words:

Notice that the preface says, "more exact" – not "exact," as the Ruckmanites twist it. Those who understand a second language know that no translation can be perfectly exact. This is part of the curse that came on all human languages at the Tower of Babel (cf. Genesis 11:1-9). Thoughtlessly, the Ruckmanites have not dealt with this curse on human language.

The preface to the 1611 KJV shows that those translators understood that the KJV was "out of the original tongues" (Hebrew and Greek) and that it was a "translation" – not the inspired Hebrew and Greek, but a translation of the inspired words "into the English tongue." These translators would have been astonished to find that Ruckmanites today claim that their translation "of the original sacred tongues" should be considered by these Ruckmanites as inspired and inerrant!

What I am telling you tonight about the King James Bible is exactly what the very translators of the KJV themselves believed. It is also exactly what John Wesley and George Whitefield believed. It is exactly what Spurgeon and Torrey and J. Frank Norris believed about the KJV. Prove me wrong! You can’t do it – because I am not wrong!

One Ruckmanite recently called me "a liberal" for holding these views. I answered him by saying, "If I am a liberal, so was Spurgeon. If I am a liberal, so were Torrey and Frank Norris!" I also said, "You may call me a liberal if you say that Hymers is a liberal just like Spurgeon, Torrey, and Norris were liberals." Of course he won’t say that, because no thinking person would dare to call Spurgeon, Torrey, or Norris "liberals."

We don’t need to be afraid of being called "liberals" by these people, because Spurgeon, Torrey, and Norris were right – and it is the Ruckmanites who are wrong!

III. This brings me to my third and final point: Why the Hebrew and Greek
         must be appealed to.

These languages must be referred to because they are the languages God used when He "gave the word" in the first place (Psalm 68:11).

Why fuss about this? Because it is important – that’s why! Our faith rests upon the Word of God. If we have a wrong view of God’s Word, all else will go wrong sooner or later. In Deuteronomy we read:

True liberals "diminish" the Word of God. They attack it and say it is full of myths. I heard them downgrade the Bible year after year in the liberal Southern Baptist and United Presbyterian seminaries I attended as a young man. They were wrong to "diminish" the Word of God.

But Ruckmanism commits the opposite error. It adds to the Word of God, breaking the commandment, "Ye shall not add unto the word" in the above verse. They say that the English KJV "corrects" the Greek and Hebrew. They even say that the italics in the KJV, put in by the translators for clarification, are inspired, inerrant and preserved! This is clearly adding to the Word of God, and it clearly violates the commandment of Deuteronomy 4:2.

There is a warning to those who break this commandment of God. It is given in Revelation 22:18,

I am not suggesting any strange or fanciful interpretation of prophecy when I say that hardcore Ruckmanites, who understand the issues and yet persist in their demonic, divisive heresy, are often unconverted men. Those who cling to their heresy, and speak evil of Spurgeon, Torrey and Norris for referring to the Greek and Hebrew, are not good Christians. Their hardness, stubbornness and divisiveness makes them true heretics. And the Bible says:

They should be rejected from our pulpits and from our churches. They will be rejected at the Rapture, and left to experience the horrors of the Tribulation, if they are unconverted men (Revelation 22:18).

Does this seem harsh? It is no harsher than God Himself, who tells us to reject the "heretick" (Titus 3:10). The Greek word here is "hairetikos." It means "a schismatic" (Strong’s Concordance). No one is more divisive (i.e. schismatic) than those who hold the doctrines of Ruckmanism. God Himself tells us to reject the schismatic, the "heretick."

And God will reject you, too, my friend, if you do not humble yourself and come to Jesus. You may not hold the doctrines of Ruckmanism, but if you neglect the warnings of the Bible, you too will be lost throughout eternity. Jesus said:

May God have mercy on us. Many in our churches are unconverted, including preachers. No wonder they follow cunningly devised fables.

Oh, turn to Christ fully! Repent of your heresy and hardness! Throw yourself on the Son of God. He died for you, to pay for your sins on the Cross. He rose physically from the dead and is now seated at the right hand of God in Heaven. Believe on Jesus and He will save you yet!

Scripture Read Before Sermon: II Timothy 3:16; Deuteronomy 4:2; Revelation 22:18-19.

Solo by Benjamin Kincaid Griffith: "I Know the Bible is True"

                                                            by B. B. McKinney (1886-1952)

You can read Dr. Hymers' sermons each week on the Internet
at www.rlhymersjr.com. Click on "Sermon Manuscripts."

THE OUTLINE OF

THE VERSE THAT DESTROYS RUCKMANISM

by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.

"The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those
that published it" (Psalm 68:11).