Part 4: The Apostate Peter Ruckman

Who's ready to get weird? Like...uncomfortably weird. In the final episode of The Apostate Peter Ruckman we get into the pettiness of bible believers and the biblical evidence of aliens, UFOs, alien-government conspiracies, lizard people, and how Ruckmanism is but one example of religious fascism that has crept upon us for over half a century. Super fun stuff.

Wouldn't it be neat if you could justify all your prejudices by interpreting the Bible however you wanted and then saying that it's the inerrant word of God? If you're Dr. Peter S. Ruckman, that Bible is the King James Version, aka A.V. 1611, and your interpretation will come to be known as Ruckmanism. The souls you save, should they cling to your teachings, will become Ruckmanites. As far as cults go, Ruckmanism is as close as you can get to a cult without renouncing your worldly possessions and turning over your bank information.

Though Ruckman died in 2016, the teachings of Ruckmanism remain relevant to certain Bible-believing Christians who adhere to King James Onlyism. Dr. Ruckman was a viciously smart preacher who could read upwards of 700 words a minute and re-read the bible dozens of times a year. One of the core tenets of Ruckmanism is that the original King James Bible was divinely inspired to the point that it is more accurate than the Greek texts from which it was translated, which is a bridge too far even for many Christian literalists.

Dr. Ruckman was also a vicious drunk, womanizer, domestic abuser, and racist. Through Ruckman's interpretation of the Bible, Black Americans were meant to be subservient, the Jews were meant to serve as a sacrifice for the second coming of Jesus, and Catholicism was a satanic cult.