by James Jacob Prasch

Richard Engstrom is spokes - member of a Tennessee King James Only communal sect which defends Christian pot smoking , calling itself "US" and operates a web site calling itself 'Apostasy now'. It is unclear to some if the apostasy refers to themselves or those they attack as apostate, including Jacob Prasch & Moriel, and their communal setting with a defence of Christian pot smoking and a propensity to openly lie and bear false witness has led various discernment ministries to regard them as a cult. The web site is operated by cult member Kevin Burge and the guru is by some thought to be Dean Flanders.

Ruckmanism (taking its name from Peter Ruckman) is a strange cult taking a KJV Only position to a heretical extreme where the 1611 edition of the translation is given priority over the original autographs in the original languages. There are variations and degrees of Ruckmanism. It is often combined with the white supremacism of Ruckman himself and the Identity Movement racism whose influences have been seen on the Balam's Ass web site. Others are believers in Armstrongism (British Israelism), hence their stress on the purity and superiority of the English language. Many Ruckmanites are caught up in wild conspiracy theory speculation (Texxe Mars, WB Howard, W Buester). Others are Freemasons, drawing on the fact that King James established the Masonic lodge system . Cabballistic Jewish mysticism is incorporated into both Rosecrucian and masonic belief and it is caballastic rearrangements of letters that Ruckmanite apologeticist, Gail Riplinger (a home economics graduate debunked as illiterate in Greek) uses as an apologetic for her contention on the inspiration of the KJV; her book is endorsed by such Ruckmanites as Engstrom, Barbara Aho, Victoria Dillen, WB Howard, and W. Buester.

While Moriel agrees with the conservative Evangelical scholars dating back to the Puritans, and the wide body of conservative Evangelical scholarly opinion based on Dead Sea Scrolls research that the New Testament writers used midrashic hermeneutics in the writing of the New Testament, we have warned that Caballah is rooted in gnostic superstition and mysticism (ref. 'The Metatron' by Jacob Prasch). Caballalistic practice has nothing to do with the Hebraic origins of the Christian faith. Riplinger's arguments for the inspiration of the KJV however depend on the Caballastic mysticism and are embraced by Aho, Dillen, Howard, Buester, and Engstrom.

Despite his obvious Ruckmanism, Engstrom has tried to deny the undeniable and maintain that he is not a Ruckmanite. The recorded facts however, clearly indicate otherwise.

Engstrom endorsed Riplinger's book in his review , despite its caballastic mysticism. In his defense of Riplinger, Engstrom takes the classic Ruckmanite line that "one does not need to know literary criticism, manuscript history, and Greek and Hebrew to know which is the best translation.

Unless of course one claims the mystical gnostic revelation claimed by Riplinger, Engstrom fails to say how one can logically determine which is the best translation if one cannot read the original being translated. That Engstrom, as with nearly all Ruckmanites, is a pseudo academic fraud and a charlatan (as is documented in the other articles on Ruckmanism on this site) goes without saying. But even charlatan would ordinarily have more sense than to stand on a totally irrational assertion that one can know which is the best translation without knowing how to read what is being translated. Yet such a position devoid of fundamental logic is typical of all Ruckmanites and reflects a the same manner spiritual deception evident in Jehovaha's Witnesses, Mormons and other cults when challenged by the logical implausibility of their beliefs.

In the convoluted logic (or lack of logic) customary among Ruckmanites, we see Engstrom attacking a much accepted opinion among Evangelical scholars that the New Testament contains midrashic hermeneutics, yet he will sanction Riplinger's book that effectively uses caballah to contend for the superiority of the KJV instead of using the Greek & Hebrew scholarship she is and Engstrom are incapable of !

While Engstrom indeed taken the gold medal for lying among Ruckmanites when he was caught red handed bearing false witness, Engstrom however only takes the silver for idiocy. Engstrom retorted that only two leading Evangelical scholars (Lightfoot and Longenecker) have ever cited midrash in the gospels without having the common sense to first check their bibliographies and discovering there are dozens, but others like Aho, Buester, Howard and Dillen are so ridiculous that they identify the KJV as the 'Reformation bible" too hideously ignorant to know it was produced a century after Luther's 95 Thesis!

Engstrom and his cult reiterated and reaffirmed their unmistakable Ruckmanism however when they demanded to know if their commune with only the KJV could arrive at all biblical truth, and reacted angrily when the priority of the original languages was asserted on the basis of Nehemiah 8:8 which affirms the authority of the original meaning in the original language, which they angrily rejected. This is pure Ruckmanism. Engstrom then went on to align himself with admitted Ruckmanites in a concerted attack on those identified with studying the Jewish origins of biblical Christianity (including Moriel).

All cults lie, and Engstrom was already caught bearing false witness. It is therefore little wonder that he is again caught lying about his Ruckmanism. Engstrom may claim all he wishes that he is not a Ruckmanite. But his own written words prove that he is.