From the January 1997 Bible Believers' Bulletin, page 8, 10, & 14 - By Dr. Peter Ruckman (edited to be brought up to date with modern terms).
For many years now, our policy has been to grant permission to Christians to reproduce our "logos" (the Lion and Shield, or Bible and Sword), our four-page cartoon tracts, and any quotation that they wanted to take from our publications. I have also, many times, given permission (by phone) for my cassette sermons to be reproduced if they were GIVEN AWAY to prisoners, native missionaries, new converts, etc., who could not afford to buy the cassette.
All of this is now going to have to come to a "screeching halt," as they said in the 1940s.
From now on, we are going to have to enforce the copyright on our cassettes, books, MP3's, videos, and pamphlets. We have no other choice. The misuse of "permission" and the fraud involved, have now become so great that steps will have to be taken. The problem, as usual, is that there is a national (and international) demand for "Ruckman's" material - provided you do not have to be associated with the author.
We encountered the same thing on the mission field: they want your young men (along with their tithes!), but not the man who trained them, under whom the young men were called by the Holy Spirit to their "field."
The pastors and "zealots" behind this embezzlement and fraud are all "King James Bible believers" and all "use" our material. It has now reached the point where computers, FAX machines, scanners, and even the "Internet" are being used to generate "electronic media" and to SELL disks (including CD-ROMs), which could contain our entire works. Other materials of ours, including entire books, are appearing as individual "files" on "computer bulletin board systems," and anyone with a personal computer (PC), a phone line, and a "modem" can then "download" these files onto their own computer disks. These disks are being both reduplicated and then RESOLD to others.
This began with giving some Christian permission to "copy our work" as long as he didn't sell it. Well, he did sell it, and it is being resold.
Our bookstore-which printed the work, published the work, paid the printers, and paid for the material involved-never received one cent of remuneration so they could print other books or even republish the stolen book, when it needed republishing.
Up in Ohio our cassettes are being reduplicated without our permission and being sold at "cut-rate" prices, so Christians will come to the defrauder instead of doing business with the Bookstore. These "King James Bible believers" brag about how much more generous they are than our Bookstore; they do this after stealing material from a man they personally despise.
The truth is that I have never given any man on the face of this earth permission to copy a WHOLE BOOK, or to publish it, or to sell it in any form (printed copies, FAX, electronic files, computer bulletin board systems, "e-mail," or the Internet). I have given permission to foreign missionaries to translate some of my books into a native language. Since I have received no royalties from my books, tapes, cassettes, tracts, pamphlets, MP3's or videos, and received no pay for the time I spent in research or writing, no one is going to accuse me of being "mercenary," unless he is just a habitual liar (which some of the brethren are!). The Bookstore regularly gives away more than $500 worth of materials to missionaries and native pastors (and prisoners) every month. None of this could be possible if the books were stolen and "e-mailed" or placed on the Internet or computer BBSs for anyone to pick up for nothing.
One "copier" told people to write to him when they wanted to contact the Pensacola Bible Institute. He used that name for his return mail. Another one placed an entire electronic copy of Riplinger's book, New Age Bible Versions, on the "Internet," so her enemies could obtain her work for nothing. They got it. Now, all of this is being done by over zealous, stupid Christians who either want to go down in history as great "disseminators of the truth" or simply want to make a living off our material without supporting us or our ministry.
As of this date (January 1, 1997), I am granting NO MORE PERMISSION to anyone on the face of this earth to reproduce "ANY" of my books or pamphlets or audio or video cassette tapes or transcripts of my audio or video cassette tapes, without a written, signed statement from myself, and from the writer or Bookstore Manager, if someone other than myself--with all the conditions of the copying contained in the written letter.
In the meantime, if you find any of my stuff popping up on computers or FAX machines or the "Internet" or "email" or "computer bulletin board systems" (BBSs), you can put it down as FRAUD and deceit. If the Bookstore had not been able to recover expenses through the years, not ten of the 120 books could have been published, including the Bible Believer's Commentary on the Book of Revelation. Only pastors who record or video my messages while I am in THEIR CHURCHES are entitled to sell only that material that was recorded live, on their equipment, at their expense, in their churches.
In summary: All of my material is copyrighted, with all rights reserved. Any reproduction or copying of my material either in whole or in part-printed, electronic, or otherwise (including computer Bulletin Board Services, the "Internet," and printouts resulting from the same, or from FAX, plain-paper copiers, "ditto" and "mimeograph" machines, or any other photostatic duplication or printed or electronic form), without express written permission from Dr. Peter S. Ruckman and the Bible Baptist Bookstore, Pensacola, Florida, is a clear infringement of copyright, and is against the law.
We are extremely sorry to have had to make this decision, but it is made and will be enforced in the future. The "right" to reproduce Ruckman's "material" never included the right to make disks containing five to ten books which are to be made available to people with computers.
Furthermore, the treacherous Christians who are engaged in this commercial plagiarism knew that as well as they knew their own name when they asked for "permission." They just took advantage of my liberality and desire to get the truth out.
Before we get some help from the law in chasing down the offenders, we want to give this public notice. The Bookstore has a right to operate, and those who are the worst offenders in these matters have been devouring material from that same Bookstore for nearly twenty years. They now want the material without the Bookstore being able to sell any more material. (They also want our young men without the church and the school that produced that caliber of young man.)
As Homer Smith (Word for the World Missions) said: "Ruckman isn't fit to be pastor." Well, a man who would make a living off of another man's ministry—his material and his young men—isn't fit to be a deacon.