New Age Versions by Gail Riplinger (2023)

A review of the book
New Age Bible Versions
by G. A. Riplinger

Here is a book that I probably never would have read, had it not been for the firestorm of controversy surrounding it. I have read many books on the “conspiracies” of the New Age. The only purpose it seems for most of them is to call the “New Age” movement, the Apostasy – as if the Apostasy is something being thrust upon Christendom from the outside.

Not many who have read this book are neutral: they either love it and aggressively recommend it or they hate it and castigate both the book and the author. My interest in this book grew as I observed that those who are the most outspoken critics of it, treat the Bible as not perspicuous, nor do they hold to any Scripture-based doctrine of preservation. In short – they regard the Bible as the somewhat questionable product of men.

The author’s aim in this book is to prove that all of the new Bible translations, beginning with the Revised Standard Version of 1881, are the product of a conspiracy by occultists and “New Agers”, to denigrate and replace the Authorized King James Bible. She presents a broad range of evidence: from the differences in the translations as compared to the KJV, to the biographical data on the “perpetrators” who are responsible for the “NEW” text, namely, Wescott and Hort.

New Age Versions is a long book: 690 pages if you include the appendices and notes. Nonetheless, I read almost every page and by the time I got done, I concluded that Gail Riplinger had without any doubt made her case. If all you do is peruse her charts that categorically trace the changes in the “new, improved” versions as compared to the KJV – that alone tells the tail and the conspiracy against the Word of God is glaringly obvious.

One of the foremost criticisms of this book is that the author is not an expert in the field of “textual criticism.” That may be so, but the author is no slouch. Riplinger is an highly educated (B.A., M. A., and M.F.A.) college professor who has written six college textbooks and was selected for the Honor Society’s teaching award and membership in a national Education Honorary. In response to the criticism that these credentials do not qualify one to write on the subject of Bible translations, I would say that having seen the author’s evidence, even I could have written such a book, and I cannot even read Hebrew or Greek.

Riplinger succeeded in making the case that all of the new translations including the New KJV, are not only inferior to the KJV, but also represent a concerted effort to do away with the Word of God and the faith once delivered unto the saints. The words have not just been updated to reflect modern usage. No, what we are talking about here are SUBSTANTIAL changes so that the new versions do not say the same thing at all in many places – or whole words, phrases, and verses have simply been omitted – in THOUSANDS of places.

Does it take an expert in Biblical languages to make this case? No, it does not. All it takes is a systematic review of the changes in the recent translations that depart substantially from the text of the KJV. Riplinger, however, not content to stop there, presents damning evidence in the form of copious quotes from many of the new version translators that plainly show their bias against the Word of God in general, and against the KJV in particular.

Obviously, and beyond all controversy, every attempt is made in the “New Age” versions to deny or obliterate the cardinal truths of our Faith. In thousands of places, they have diminished the Divinity of Christ, blurred the reality of miracles, or intimated against His or our resurrection, etc. Throughout – they have modified the language to conform to Roman Catholicism and pagan Eastern religions, even while those same influences are at work to “christianize” the lingo in their realms – so that, as Riplinger suggests, the shock of a one-world religion can hopefully be avoided. From the popularity of these “New Age Versions” it is apparent that their presupposition upon the gullibility and apathy of Apostate Christendom has worked. Only time will tell how far they will go with the next generation of Bible “translations”.

Without a doubt, the underlying message in ALL of the “new and improved” versions of the Bible is, “Hath God said?” This is evidenced by all of those “little notes” that deny the veracity of the KJV, which has been received as the Authorized version in this world for over 400 years.

I do have some criticism of this book. We expect, or at least hope for, meticulous honesty from scholars, and I was disappointed a number of times in this book where the author was both careless in detail and less than honest in inference. The fact is that there are passages in the KJV that could have been better translated, and there are some readings in the new versions that are unmistakably superior. The author, unfortunately, was loathe to give any credit where credit was due, and was quite ready to throw out the baby with the bath-water.

Nonetheless, to those of you who have refrained from reading this book because of the ridicule it received by the “experts”, I would say that any of these “experts” that cannot unseat Riplinger’s conclusions are on the wrong side of the argument. And no, I have not seen ANY refutation of her premise or evidence – all they do is call her names and ridicule her credentials. If you remove from this book, every inaccurate detail, every bogus inference, and every biased nit-pick against the new versions and their authors – the case is still made, comprehensively, categorically, and undeniably.

I recommend this book to everyone who favors ANY other version of the Bible over the KJV. Why? Because all of the new versions are based upon an intentionally perverted Greek text, written by men who avowedly despised the KJV and the Textus Receptus/ Massoretic text upon which it stands, and the author proves it.

I do NOT recommend this book to the KJV ONLY cult because they will only use it to re-enforce their idolatry. I am NOT in agreement with those who think that the KJV is even more highly inspired than the text from which it was translated. I do NOT think that the KJV is perfect, but I do insist that it is the best translation that we have in hand and ought to remain as the AUTHORIZED version. I would even like to see a new revision of the KJV that updates some of the language – but it would have to be done by scholars who will remain faithful to the text upon which it stands, preferably, scholars that believe in a divinely preserved Bible.

Let me conclude this review by showing you just ONE pertinent place where your new bible disagrees with the KJV. Every one of you can base your preference upon this one change:

These verses have always been understood to be a Promise that our God would preserve our Bible – seeing to it that we received a reliable Bible, a Bible that faithfully repeated the Word of God to us, a trustworthy and perspicuous Bible.

As you can see by the “new” translation of these verses – this promise has been cleverly wrenched out of the Bible, and of course there is no end to their long-winded and bogus “explanations.”

(Psa 11:3 KJV) If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

Review by Richard Engstrom