Beware of Gail Riplinger

I received this via e-mail. It appears that Gail Riplinger, so-called advocate of the KJV has a serious problem….

I have one thing to say to Mrs. Riplinger, if she wants to try and sue me.

Bring it on bitch!

Here’s the story:

GAIL RIPLINGER THREATENS TO SUE DR. AND MRS. WAITE

January 15, 2010 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) –

Gail Riplinger, the favorite female preacher of a shocking number of Independent Baptists, is now threatening to sue the elderly Dr. and Mrs. D. A. Waite. She has demanded that he (and me, as well) make immediate and public retractions and apologies.

I have published two articles about Riplinger in recent weeks, “Gail Riplinger’s Lies to Dr. and Mrs. D. A. Waite” (November 24, 2009) and “Gail Riplinger’s Lies to the Waites Part 2” (December 14, 2009). These were based on published reports by the Waites. The essence of these articles is as follows:

In 2007, the Waites received uncertified reports that Riplinger had been divorced twice and married thrice. On October 24 of that year, they called her to inquire about the matter, and Mrs. Riplinger expressly told them that she had been married only once, to her current husband Mike Riplinger. Wanting to be certain that she wasn’t misunderstood and wanting to be absolutely sure of the matter, Mrs. Waite posed the question in a variety of ways, but Gail strongly denied that she had ever had any other marriages. As a result, Dr. Waite defended her at the Princeton King James Bible Conference in January 2008. When someone inquired at a question-answer session if Riplinger was divorced, Waite said that he had confirmed directly from her that this was not true. In June 2008, the Waites, having decided to pursue the matter further, obtained certified copies of Gail Riplinger’s three marriage licenses and two divorce papers.

Gail was married to Terry Latessa in June 1969, and that marriage ended in divorce five and a half years later, in February 1975. In November 1976, Gail married Franklin Kaleda. That marriage ended in divorce eight years later, in August 1984. Less than two months after her second divorce, Gail married Michael Riplinger.

In July 2009, Mrs. Waite wrote to Gail Riplinger to confront her with the evidence and to challenge her about the lies. As of this writing, five months have passed, and the Waites have not received a personal reply or apology from Riplinger.

They did receive an e-mail, though, from Bryn Riplinger Shutt, Gail Riplinger’s daughter. This was sent on July 21, 2009. She claims that Gail’s first two marriages were not “consummated” and that at least one of her former husbands was a homosexual. Shutt says, “These men’s physical anomaly or homosexuality, neither of which she had anticipated, deferred anything but a strained friendship, wrought with their cruelty.” Shutt also says that Riplinger’s first husband “abandoned her almost from the start to pursue his homosexual lifestyle.”

This “explanation,” which has been published in various places, only increases the problem.

First, even if Riplinger’s first two marriages ended because of an “anomaly,” they were still marriages and the divorces were real divorces, so Gail Riplinger was lying to the Waites no matter how you cut it. There is a legal process for annulling a marriage, but Gail did not pursue such a course on the basis of a “physical anomaly” in either case.

Second, as we have seen, the first marriage lasted over five years and the second marriage lasted eight years. That is a long time for a woman to stay with men who have “anomalies”! These were not marriages that lasted a few weeks or months.

Third, in the divorce filings, there was no mention of “homosexuality” or “no consummation” or an “anomaly.”

Fourth, the Waite’s investigation into the matter uncovered the fact that Gail lived with her second husband in a trailer near Kent State University; they attended church and Bible studies together there and bought a house together four years into the marriage. They also started a corporation called Truth and Life. Both signed the legal papers. [Some are saying that Riplinger’s divorces were before she was saved, but this does not appear to be the case.]

(The previous nine paragraphs are from “Gail Riplinger’s Lies to the Waites Part 2,” December 14, 2009).

______________________________

Riplinger claims that Waite published lies about her and that I re-published these lies. In an e-mail to Dr. Waite dated January 4, 2010, she says,

“My attorney, Hugh A. Richeson, has requested that I enumerate these misstatements for you (See e-mail ATTACHMENT) and ask that you immediately publish retractions and apologies, in the same format and to the same audiences. Send me notification and documentation that you have done so. If I have not received said notification by Jan. 18, 2010 (two weeks), I will be forced to rectify the situation through those avenues open to me.”

It is obvious that while Gail Riplinger preaches about the KJV, she refuses to obey it.

“I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren” (1 Corinthians 6:5-8).

In fact, the lies actually keep rolling in from her side. She begins her diatribe entitled “Waite’s Misstatements Documented” with the claim, “I have never defended myself personally, as the LORD is my defense.”

That is a blatant lie right off the bat. In her book Blind Guides she spends an entire chapter attacking me in the most vicious, childish manner and DEFENDING HERSELF TO THE HILT! The book’s full title is Blind Guides: G. A. Riplinger Exposes Critics of the KJV. I have NEVER criticized the KJV, yet she devotes a chapter to exposing me! What a libel! (For more on this see the article “Gail Riplinger’s Fertile Imagination,” February 16, 1996, at the Way of Life web site.)

As for what I published in regard to her lies about her marital status to the Waites, she simply ignores the issue. But that is the entire issue, as far as I am concerned! The rest is between her and the Waites. The words “marriage” and “marital” and “divorce” appear nowhere in her diatribe! The reason is obvious. She cannot refute what the Waites have exposed there. She has been caught red-handed.

It appears that she is using her threatening letter to Dr. Waite to try to obfuscate the issue of her marital deception to her supporters, but it will only work for those who are blind (wo)man followers.

She also claims throughout her diatribe that I quoted from Dr. Waite’s “personal correspondence” with me, when in fact I simply quoted from Mrs. Waite’s published reports on the issue. Mrs. Riplinger is so careless in her research that she cannot even get this simple fact straight.

This is what I have warned about from the first time I published anything about Riplinger (which was “The Problem with New Age Bible Versions,” O Timothy magazine, Vol. 11, Issue 8, 1994). She is exceedingly careless and her research is undependable, being corrupted not only by shoddy research, misuse of quotes, but also by her weird reasoning. She is exceedingly gifted in missing the point.

Riplinger ends her “Misstatements Documented” diatribe against Dr. Waite by giving the gracious, octogenarian preacher (he was born in 1927) a severe tongue lashing with a slew of Scriptures taken out of context. Consider the following excerpt:

“‘Evil surmisings’ are consuming you. Your hatred is thinly covered by deceit. ‘A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow.’ ‘Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.’ ‘The words of a talebearer are as wounds…He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him; When he speaketh fair, believe him not: for there are seven abominations in his heart. Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation. Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him’ (Prov. 25:18; 26:22, 26:22-27). The Bible warns of one who ‘goeth about as a talebearer…’ It says, ‘meddle not with him…’ (Prov. 21:19). ‘Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people’ Lev. 19:16. ‘It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling’ (Prov 20:3). The Bible also says, ‘He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife’ (Prov. 28:25). We are not to sit ‘in the seat of the scornful’ (Psa. 1:1). ‘Go not forth hastily to strive, lest thou know not what to do in the end thereof, when thy neighbour hath put thee to shame.’ ‘Debate thy cause with thy neighbour himself; and discover not a secret to another: Lest he that heareth it put thee to shame, and thine infamy turn not away’ (Prov. 25:8-10)” (Gail Riplinger, “Waite’s Misstatements Documented”).

Riplinger charges Dr. Waite with evil thinking, hatred, pride, talebearing, abominations of the heart, deceit, digging a pit, being a fool, and sitting in the seat of the scornful.

Pastor Phil Stringer, Ravenswood Baptist Church, Chicago, pulls no punches on this issue,

“Every pastor has had to deal with a woman who acts the way that Dr. Riplinger does. A frustrated preacher, a female Pharisee, a self-absorbed woman who wants to preach to everyone. She sees the speck in everyone else’s eyes but is blind to the mote in hers. She declares war on everyone and then complains when anyone answers her. If a member of my church ever wrote a letter like Dr. Riplinger’s to a preacher, I would immediately begin church discipline. … Dr. Riplinger claims to be distressed over all the bitterness and division among King James Bible believers. Yet, no one is more bitter and divisive than she is. No doubt book sales have made Dr. Riplinger a wealthy woman. She can try to destroy the Waite’s financially through frivolous lawsuits. … Everyone who believes 1 Corinthians 6:5-8 must stand against Dr. Riplinger. Regardless of where you stand on the Bible version issue or on Dr. Riplinger’s ‘discoveries’ or ‘new doctrines,’ it is time to take a stand against Dr. Riplinger’s ungodly and unbiblical behavior. … Genuine Bible believers must take a stand against such wicked methods of intimidation. In my opinion, no one should ever spend a penny on one of Dr. Riplinger’s books again. You might be financing one of her lawsuits against your brother or sister in Christ. False teachers depend on lawyers. Bible teachers don’t need them” (Stringer, “Does Dr. Gail Riplinger Have a Right to Sue Those who Disagree with Her?” January 15, 2010).

Riplinger thinks she is a preacher, and I am not surprised, since she has been allowed to teach by real preachers who should know better. Her books are teaching and preaching books on the most serious, authoritative subject there is, the Bible. She stands before mixed crowds of men and women and teaches and preaches on this subject. She not only teaches and preaches to men, she mocks and reproves men.

She is wrong and has no biblical authority to do what she is doing (which is probably why her writings are so confused). On the authority of the King James Bible I can say that she will answer to God and so will those who have exalted her.

“But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence” (1 Timothy 2:12).

Two things are forbidden here. The woman cannot teach the man and she cannot take authority over the man.

This woman would do well to heed this solemn verse from the authorized, inspired King James Bible and shut her mouth.

____________________________

Distributed by Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/wayoflife/subscribe.html . TO UNSUBSCRIBE OR CHANGE ADDRESSES, go to the very bottom of any email received from us and click “Manage My Subscription.” If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 27th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://www.wayoflife.org/publications/index.html. Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but only from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/wayoflife/makeanoffering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org

—

I present this as facts. If Mrs. Gail Riplinger wants to try and muzzle my right to free speech, she can try. However, she should know, that if she tries to sue me. I will counter-sue her for harassment and I will attempt to collect the maximum possible and there will be no settlement. I would like nothing more than to end that little false gospel ministry of hers and put her out of business. So, like I said Gail, Bring it on, bitch. 😡