Dr. Peter S. Ruckman's Two Steps for Salvation: Believe and Confess (The Sinner's Prayer in the 1960s-1970s) vs. Robert Breaker Who Calls It a Work, Part 5
had glasses. He was three or four years older than I was, but he he looked 10
years younger than I looked. I was 27, he must have been 33 or 34. He didn't
look didn't look a day over 19. Looked like a girl. And I said, "Ah, no. That's
no man." And the Lord said, "Now, if you don't think that fellow's got guts..."
And he said "guts," G-U-T-S. He didn't say "intestines" like the New Scofield
Reference Bible translate "stink" to "odious." I don't know who wrote that
Bible, but the Lord didn't write it. And he said, "If you don't think that man's
got guts, you just check him when he comes out."
I said, "All right, I will." I was raised to do what I was told. Spin the
record, spin the record. Get on the truck, get on the truck. Get off the truck,
get off the truck. Ready, aim, fire; ready, aim, fire. Run up the hill, run up
the hill. Hit the dirt, hit the dirt. One man told me to go jump in the lake one
time over there in Manila during a drunken party in New Year's, so I went out in
the middle middle of the bay and jumped in it, the nearest place I could find.
I said, "All right, I'll check him." So out he came. When he got through
preaching, he came out and walked by the door. And as he passed by the door to
the record room, which is in the right-hand side of the announcer's booth as you
head north leaving the building, walking by Melvin Young's office on the second
floor of Hanna Pharmacy at Gregory and Palafox, I said, "Hey there, preacher,
what do you know?" He turned around and stopped in the doorway and said, "I know
the Lord Jesus Christ. What do you know?"
Well, I liked to flipped. I didn't know what in the world to do. I like to
swallowed my stogie. And I said, "Well, uh," I said, "I don't uh... I don't know
him." And he looked me right smack in the eyeballs and said, "Well, would you
like to know him?" And I said, "Yes, as a matter of fact, I would." And he said,
"Well, what are you waiting for?" And that floored me. I got floored a lot of
times that morning. I said to myself, "What am I waiting for?" I thought to
myself, "Is this man crazy?" Why, for three months, I'd been taking convert
courses in catechism. I'd been put in the ashes on my forehead on Ash Wednesday.
I'd been taking the palm leaves home and putting them up in the mantle on Palm
Sunday, all throughout the week. I'd given up beer for Lent. I'd been tithing
for weeks, putting money in the alms box, giving money to beggars out on the
street. And this guy said, "What are you waiting for?"
For 27 years, I'd hunted. I'd ransacked the libraries of this world. I'd gone
through experiences in in Buddhism, and then Rosicrucianism, that some of the
teachers hadn't had. And this man says, "What are you waiting for?" I must have
smirked. I thought to myself, "Why, you're crazy." And I said, "I don't know."
And he said, "Well, come here." And I followed him. He went back in the record
room. It was a narrow room with record shelves on both sides up to the ceiling,
hundreds of records. And there, right in the midst of Glenn Miller, and Benny
Goodman, and Artie Shaw, and Stan Kenton, and Patti Page, and Doris Day, and
Gordon MacRae, and Fats Waller, and Nat King Cole, and Perry Como, and Vic
Damone, and Cozy Cole, and Ella Fitzgerald, and Mildred Bailey, and Louis
Armstrong, and Nat King Oliver, and Bunk Johnson, and Woody Herman, and Will
Bradley, and the rest of them.
I bowed and prayed and asked Jesus Christ to save me for the first time in my
life, in so many words. That preacher took out a Bible and put it right in front
of my face and said, "Do you believe this is the word of God?" I said, "Yep."
That's it. That's it. And you know something? If he'd pulled that book out six
months ago, I'd have probably said just what I said to Lieutenant Self at the
replacement depot in Angeles, Philippines, in the Luzon Islands, which is
southwest of the town going toward the Mariveles Mountains. I'd have said, "Put
it away, it's a bunch of baloney."
But I didn't say it then. I'd read that book January, February, March. I knew
what that book was. That book was the living word of the living God. And I said,
"That's it." He said, "Do you believe you're a sinner?" I said, "Sure, I'm a
sinner. Said I know I'm a sinner." And he said, "You believe that Christ died
for sinners?" And I said, "Well, I guess he did." He said, "Do you believe he
could save a sinner?" I said, "Well, I suppose he could." He said, "You know, I
was a real college graduate, brother, just as agnostic as you ever saw." And he
said, "Do you believe he could save you?" I said, "Well, I don't know whether he
could or not." He said, "Well, are you willing to ask him to save you?" And I
said, "Sure." And he said, "All right, if you'll ask him to save save you, give
me your hand." He held out his hand. I shook his right hand. He said, "Now bow
your head and pray."
I said, "I don't know how to pray." He said, "Well, just go on and pray in your
own words, just the best way you know how." I said, "I'm not I'm not much at
praying." I said, "I know Hail Mary, I know Our Father, but I I don't know how
to pray myself." And he said, "Well, just in your own words, ask Christ to save
you." I said, "Okay."
So I bowed my head and prayed. I prayed about a minute by the clock, and in that
minute, I think I said about eight cuss words. And when I got through, he was
smiling. I said, "What you laughing at?" And he said, "Did you really mean that
prayer?" And I said, "You blankety-blank right, I meant it." And he said,
"Well," he said, "if you meant that prayer," he said, "you're saved." I said, "I
don't feel any different." He said, "You're not supposed to feel any different."
And I said, "Well, how do I know I'm saved, then?" He said, "You just know." I
said, "No, I don't." He said, "Yes, you do." I said, "I do not." He said, "You
do so." I said, "I don't either." He said, "You do too." You know, for a minute
there, it's getting kind of thick.
And he took out that Bible, he turned to 1 John 5:12, and he said, "Read
that." 1 John 5:13. And I read it, and it said, "These things have I written
unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know you have
eternal life."
(On-screen text card)
His testimony is that he believed and confessed.
According to Robert Breaker: The heart believes and calls out to God and
Romans 10:13 according to him is not verbal.
Ruckman verbally confessed to God and frames that as the moment of salvation not
the mental assent of believing the gospel.
Ruckman isn't even fully sure he believed in God's word after it.
Breaker and Young Ruckman do not believe the same.
(On-screen text: December 19th, 1970 | 01:50:29)
(Audio from cassette: "9b Dr. Ruckman's Full Length Testimony I / II")
Dr. Peter S. Ruckman: He says, "God says there you know you have eternal life.
Now do you know or don't you?" And I read that thing. I read it slowly and
carefully. And I said, "Well, uh, I guess I do." He said, "What do you mean, you
guess you do? The verse says you know you do." I read it again. It said, "These
things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that
you may know you have eternal life." He said, "Now God says there you know you
have eternal life. Now do you know or don't you?"
I said, "Well, uh, yeah, I guess I do." He said, "What do you mean, guess? Read
it again." I read it again. And, brother, he said, "You don't think God's a
liar, do you?" I said, "No, no, no, no, no, I don't think that. I've read enough
of that Bible to know that." He said, "Well, God says there that he wrote those
things to you that you might know that you have eternal life. Now do you know or
don't you?"
Hey, boy, I'm telling you, I was between a rock and a hard place. And I said,
"Well," I said, "uh, okay, I know." Although I must confess, I felt like I was
lying when I said it. And he said, "All right." He said, "Uh, would you be
ashamed to confess Christ before men?" I said, "No." He said, "All right, you
come out to my church, and next Sunday night make a public confession of
Christ." I said, "Uh, okay, I'll be there."
(On-screen text: September 20, 2021 | 52:22)
(Video clip of Robert Breaker)
Robert Breaker: So, I don't beat around the bush. I don't tell people just ask
God to save you, because they may do that with the mouth and not believe from
the heart. Now they might not get saved till years later. Or they might not get
saved at all. They might be lost and go to hell thinking they were a Christian
because they said, "Well, I did..." But that's not what saves you.
(On-screen text: 1971 | 20:19)
(Audio from cassette: "100c DR. PETER S. RUCKMAN - Let the Dead Bury the Dead")
Dr. Peter S. Ruckman: ...not be saved. He that hath the Son hath life; he that
hath not the Son of God hath not life. About 5 years ago, I think it was, a
fellow in Dallas got up on a tower. This wasn't Oswald, this is another fellow.
At a university, a school there, and he shot a bunch of people on the campus. I
mean, just picked them off like squirrels. Just I just guess for the fun of it.
Nobody could figure out any motive. And they got him down, and they buried him.
And he was orthodox. Of course, he was a murderer, but he was orthodox. He had
everything but life. I checked on that fellow. One of the most orthodox fellows
you ever met in your life. He had a catechism, which I've read...
(On-screen text: 1971 | 31:44)
(Audio from cassette: "100c DR. PETER S. RUCKMAN - Let the Dead Bury the Dead")
Dr. Peter S. Ruckman: ...well-bred people, cultured people. Maybe they're people
that have some of this world's goods, when so many don't. But Lord, you said in
your book, if they don't have life, they're dead. You said in your book, the
dead can bury the dead. You said in the book, we're born dead in trespasses and
sin. We believe the book. And Lord, we don't just believe it because you said
it, we believe it because we know it to be so. And Father, we pray now in Jesus'
name, the Holy Spirit of God will activate and quicken and bring to life any
person here this morning that doesn't have life. Heads bowed and eyes closed.
Let's remain in prayer just a few minutes before the invitation.
How many people here this morning can raise your hand—I'm not going to ask you
to do this to embarrass you, but just for testimony—how many people in this
building this morning can raise your hand and say, "Preacher, I know I have
life. I've got it. This morning, I know I'm alive in Christ. I know when I got
my life, I know where I got it, and I've got life and I know it." Would you
raise your hand, let me see them? Hold your hands up high just a moment. All
right, put them back down.
Now, if you couldn't raise a hand, if you couldn't raise a hand, will you do
this? This morning, will you by faith accept God's gift? The gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. God will give you life. He'll take
that old dead man, resurrect him, give him a new birth. And you can go out of
this building this morning knowing that come hell or high water, judgment or
death, you have life. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the
Son of God hath not life. It has nothing to do with a faith or beliefs. It has
nothing to do with religions. It has nothing to do with churches. It has nothing
to do with sacraments. It has to do with the Son! He that hath the Son hath
life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Will you accept the
Son? Will you receive him? It has nothing to do with what you're going to do
about your sins. You can't do anything with them but just die in them. It has
nothing to do with what you're going to do after you leave here. You'll mess up
a hundred times before you hit the grave, probably. He that hath the Son hath
life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
Father, bless the message, bless the invitation, save the unconverted in our
midst, and speak to them about these matters by your Spirit, and say what I
can't say, and do what I can't do, for Jesus' sake. Amen, amen.
375. Let's turn to 375 in the hymnal. We'll sing about four stanzas of hymn 375.
(Congregation sings "Just As I Am")
Oh, here's a... Brother Rimmer, would you come down here a minute? Just stand
right over here. Here's a young man. Are you saved? You know you're saved? Could
you lead him to Christ? Here's a young man. Is there a young man in this
building? You've not been saved, you don't know how to be saved? Here's a young
man about your age. Just come down, let him show you how to get saved.
Mrs. uh... Miss Mitchell, would you come down here out over here? Here's a
Christian lady here. Knows she's saved, knows how to lead people to Christ. You
women here this morning, you get saved just like that. You'll lead them to
Christ if they come, won't you? You know how to do it? See? See? You haven't got
an alibi in the world here if you're unsaved this morning. You haven't got...
Uh, Brother Moore, would you come down? Here's a married man, a little bit older
than Brother Rimmer. You men here this morning, you've not been born again,
you've not been saved? Why, just come right down here right now and take him by
the hand. He'll lead you to Christ in less than five minutes. Five minutes.
There's nothing going on here, folks, but just the old-time religion. If you
come around here looking for something else, that's all you're going to get. And
then, old preacher, too, any preacher in the world can't save you. Jesus Christ
can save you. I got people in this church here who lead souls just to Christ
just as quick as I can. Some of them have led more people to Christ than I have,
personally, individually.
There's a girl. Uh, Whitey, are you saved? Come over here a minute. Just stand
right here. You know how to lead a boy to Christ? All right, sit boy right...
How old are you, boy? 10? There's a 10-year-old boy. Is there a boy here this
morning, you've not been saved? There's a live one right there. There's a live
one. If you're a dead one, come on, get saved. You got nothing to wait for. Just
step right here. Is that one of the Gentry girls? Out here? Yeah. How about you
coming down here? Now, the Lord is going to fix you up. The Lord's got this
thing worked so you're not going to deal with the preacher. When you when you
reject the Lord Jesus Christ, your your argument's not with me. The Lord got a
perfect mate for you and a perfect match for you anywhere in this world. If
you're an unsaved lawyer, I know a lawyer who's got life in him. He's in Panama
City, his name is Herbert Sapp. If you're a doctor and you're unsaved, I got a
doctor to match you. You got a saved doctor here in town. If you're a high
school student, there are saved high school students here in town. You're not
going to get out. How old are you, young lady? 14? All right, there's
a 14-year-old girl. There's a young teenage girl here in this building this
morning, you've not been saved? You can get saved right now. And I won't say
anything to you. I won't say a word to you. We'll sing, you just come on. I
won't even say any more than just, "God bless you," if you come. And somebody
your own age will take care of you. You haven't got an alibi in this world.
Let's sing another stanza.
(Congregation continues singing "Just As I Am")
While our heads are bowed and eyes closed...
(On-screen text: 1973 | 4:26)
(Audio from cassette: "184c DR. PETER S. RUCKMAN - Come Unto Me")
Dr. Peter S. Ruckman: ...tell you, it's a lot easier to live for God than it is
for the devil. I mean, ask a man who owned one, man. I was out there 27 years, I
can tell you how it was. These 24 years with Christ have been a pushover
alongside that one.
(On-screen text card)
1949 + 24 = 1973.
(On-screen text card)
Dr. Ruckman does not believe the blood atonement and confession were exclusive.
He believed in the blood atonement and confession.
(On-screen text: 1972 | 14:19)
(Audio from cassette: "184c DR. PETER S. RUCKMAN - Come Unto Me")
Dr. Peter S. Ruckman: ...cross. "In whom we have redemption through his blood,
even the remission of sins." That's one load you don't have to carry. You might
have to carry some, you don't have to carry that one. "Take take my yoke upon
you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest
unto your souls."
(On-screen text: 1972 | 16:59)
(Audio from cassette: "184c DR. PETER S. RUCKMAN - Come Unto Me")
Dr. Peter S. Ruckman: ...not a cautious invitation. It says, "Come unto me, all
ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." I don't care what
kind of sins you got, I wouldn't care to see a list, and neither does the Lord.
They're all taken care of at Calvary. All of them. You say, "How many?" All of
them. Bible says, "The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all
sin."
(On-screen text card)
I am going to show you the next few minutes again to prove that none of this is
cherrypicked or deceptively edited to make you think that Ruckman believed in
something he didn’t.
(On-screen text: 1972 | 21:41)
(Audio from cassette: "184c DR. PETER S. RUCKMAN - Come Unto Me")
Dr. Peter S. Ruckman: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. My yoke is easy, my
burden is light, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." All right, let's have
a word of prayer.
Father, we pray the Holy Spirit be manifest in this hour, and no man be seen or
felt or heard. I pray that, Father, the river of water of life be so deep in
this building the only thing anybody can see is the head, the Lord Jesus Christ,
above the waters. That might trust him as a Savior, and come to him with their
problems and trials and temptations, lay them at his feet. Father, we pray
tonight if there's anybody in this building that's never been saved, help them
trust you as a Savior right this minute. We pray they'll pass from death to life
and take your yoke and learn of you, because you're meek and lowly, and your
yoke is easy and your burden is light. Let's remain in prayer just a few minutes
while the piano's playing.
I don't know everybody here tonight for chapel tonight. I see some guests, I
don't know whether you're saved or not. But is there anybody here tonight who's
not saved? Is there anybody here tonight who has never received Christ, you've
never been to Christ as your Savior? If there's anybody here like that tonight,
would you raise your hand right now and say, "Preacher, I never been saved. Pray
for me." Would you raise your hand? Is there anybody like that here tonight?
Would you raise the hand? You're all saved?
All right, let's tarry a few minutes. If you're all saved, are the sins and the
disappointments and the burdens and the guilt and the worry isn't where it ought
to be? Not in you. On him. He gave the invitation. He said, "Take my yoke. I'll
help you pull it. You and me get in the yoke together." And he said, "My yoke is
easy, and my burden is light."
Father, bless the message. May the Lord Jesus Christ be real to us, real in our
lives. Heavenly Father, may these things be spoken about tonight be real to us.
May we not forget them in trying hour, maybe apply them, Father, be doers of the
word not hearers only, for Jesus' sake. Amen.
All right, we're going to close here. I I guess all you people here tonight are
saved people, I hope you are. You never can tell. Oh, we had one young man here
tonight came down to the school to get some books for a bookstore up north, and
he said he got saved in a in a Saturday night Bible class down there at Brent on
Daniel and Thessalonians or something. I never... Give a word of testimony. Come
on.
(On-screen text card)
A man is going to give his testimony. Breaker believes that the heart calls out
to God. This man, however, believed and confessed as a requirement for
salvation. This contrasts with Breaker's belief that confession is just
something you can do after getting saved, not a requirement for getting saved.
(Audio from cassette continues: Testimony)
Speaker: Uh, I think Brother Ruckman was taking that teaching that Saturday
night in Daniel, chapter 8, I believe it was. And uh, I received the Lord Jesus
Christ as my Savior, and my Lord. The Brother Peter was teaching about the
tribulation uh in the statement uh from Thessalonians. Taking another class on
Daniel. And uh, I had been in a Southern Baptist church all my life, and I knew
that I wasn't saved. Uh, and that night, I came uh to the realization that I was
just a good rotten sinner, all my righteousness was filthy rags. And uh, I came
to realize that salvation was in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and uh,
and that night, I just uh got down on my knees, a guilty sinner before God, and
uh, asked the Lord Jesus Christ to save me, and on the authority of God's word,
he did. Amen.
(Video clip of Robert Breaker)
Robert Breaker: You know, has the moon turned to blood? Has uh the sun turned to
darkness? Nope. So this is right here. So what are you doing going around
telling people just with your mouth come to God and ask him to save you and
calling him, when that's more over here? Why aren't you preaching Paul over
here, trust what Jesus did? You sound like an absolute fool who doesn't know
your Bible if that's the only verse you're taking people to to try to win them
to the Lord. Are you literally telling them, "Hey, do this, because I don't want
you to go to the rapture"? Hey, I'm just as... I mean, when the guy's left
behind at the rapture, he's going to get mad. Guess who he's going to get mad at
first? His preacher. "Why am I here? He told me I got saved by repeating a
prayer." Huh.
(On-screen text card)
That young man (according to Robert Breaker) was not saved, to put it lightly.
(On-screen text card)
I will now show you the full, unedited clip.
Robert Ray Breaker II, the father of Robert Ray Breaker III, went to church in
the late 1970s to early 1980s.
Ruckman is using active verbs when telling his members to be saved by repeating
this prayer after him: “Bow your head back there and say, 'Lord, it may cost me
something, but I’m going to do it.'”
The phrase "may cost" is an active verb.
This is not the verb choice of someone who is already saved and simply
confessing that fact. Instead, it is the verb of someone in the process of
getting saved, which aligns with Dr. Ruckman's teaching that belief and
confession were both requirements for salvation.
(On-screen text: November, 27, 1977 | 51:28)
(Audio from cassette: "Poncis Pilot [MAN IN A MESS] DR Peter Ruckman")
Dr. Peter S. Ruckman: (Singing)
What will you do with Jesus?
What will you do with Jesus?
Neutral you cannot be.
Someday your heart will be asking,
"What will he do with me?"
(Speaking) Now right now, you can do anything you want to with him. Reject him,
ignore him, praise him, love him, yawn him off, use his name as a cuss word,
help yourself. And listen: one second after the Lord takes your soul finally—and
I don't mean life after life with some fake deaths—one second after your soul is
gone not to return, he'll do to you anything he wants to do.
Let's stand for prayer, shall we? Heads bowed and eyes closed, please. We're
going to pray in a minute. Before we pray, is there anybody in this building
here this morning that's been trying to get rid of the decision of receiving
Jesus Christ? You've been unable to receive him and put him off, and you put the
thing off and put it off? While we're in prayer, heads are bowed and eyes are
closed. Let me give you the best advice you'll ever get this side of the grave:
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."
While we're in prayer, while the musicians are playing, heads bowed and eyes
closed. If you're here this morning, you haven't made the decision, will you
make it today? Will you make it now? God help you. God help you. Now, today. Oh,
come on, man! Moral courage. Moral courage. Fortitude, principle, guts. Bow your
head back there and say, "Lord, it may cost me something, but I'm going to do
it. May cost me my family or my job. Might cost you more than that before it's
all over. But I'm going to do right. I'm going to take Christ, my Savior." God
help you, man or woman. When you've lost courage, you've lost it all.
I don't know what God has for you in the next 10, 20 years if the Lord tarries,
but I know you're at the crossroad right now. If Pilate just could have risen to
the occasion, it'd have been a different life. But he couldn't make it. He
couldn't make it. So he went on his way, his life just as ruined as it was
before. No change, no hope.
Father, bless the invitation this morning. We pray, Father, you'll line this
altar this morning with people accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. Help
them to boldly come, and honestly come, and and hopefully
