The Shepherd of Hermas says to 1. Take the mark of the beast, 2. Give up to the beast, 3. Kill anyone not receiving the mark of the beast, 4. Form a one-world government, etc. …Or does it? 🤔 Are Gail Riplinger’s “explosive” claims verifiable? Short answer: No, because she lied.
A friend asked me, “What’s wrong with what she wrote about the Shepherd of Hermas? She backs it up with summarized portions of the work. Is she misrepresenting the actual words? Is she making stuff up?”
I replied, “💯 She misrepresents and makes stuff up about the Shepherd of Hermas many times!
A friend asked me if her claims about Hermas from her Prophecy Club speech were accurate and I started looking into it. Soon I was sickened and horrified by the gross ignorance and lies I found. To be clear, I’ve checked all of the statements about the Shepherd of Hermas as well as almost everything in New Age Bible Versions Chapter 40, “The Final Bible!” (which is about the Shepherd of Hermas and Epistle of Barnabas), and out of over 100 claims, almost nothing checked out. Her 12 Mandates of the Antichrist (claiming Hermas teaches to take ‘the name’ of the beast, give ‘up to the beast’, form a one world government, kill those not receiving his ‘name’, etc. etc.) were all completely false.
To save time, I’ve copied and pasted the following response to another of my friends to answer your question with more details about selected points.
“On page 623 the Antichrist’s disregard for “the desire of women” (Daniel 11:37) is related to Hermas’s statement that, “These men should repent and put away their desire for women (22) and return unto these virgins and walk in their power…”. In actuality, it says, “[T]hese men, being such as they are, should repent and put away their desire for THESE women, and return unto the virgins, and walk in their power… “. (Hermas 13[90]:1) These women in the passage are directly stated to represent vices such as Unbelief, Intemperance, Disobedience, and Deceit (Hermas 15[92]:3) and the virgins represent the virtues of Faith, Continence, Power, Long-suffering, “Simplicity, Guilelessness, Purity, Cheerfulness, Truth, Understanding, Concord, Love”. (Hermas 15[92]:2) From reading the passage, I would say no good Christian should desire “these women” and Daniel 11’s description of the Antichrist is not even remotely related. Gail currently justifies reading Hermas as an occult document written to appear Christin by misrepresenting Blavatsky’s statements regarding Hermas earlier in “The Final Bible!”.
“On page 630 where Hermas is quoted as saying “I took courage and gave myself up to the beast (22)…” presenting this as proof that Hermas wants Christians not to have victory over the Antichrist, but rather To accept him and take his mark. In context, the passage of Vision 4 says “And I began to weep, and to entreat the Lord that He would rescue me from it [the beast]. And I remembered the word which I had heard, “Be not of doubtful mind, Hermas.” Having therefore, brethren, put on the faith of the Lord and called to mind the mighty works that He had taught me, I took courage and gave myself up to the beast. Now the beast was coming on with such a rush, that it might have ruined a city. I come near it, and, huge monster as it was, it stretcheth itself on the ground, and merely put forth its tongue, and stirred not at all until I had passed by it.” (Hermas 1[22]:7-9) As I listened to the audiobook, I understood “I took courage and gave myself up to the beast” to mean “I took courage and fully accepted that the beast was coming and prepared for battle.” However I have since learned from looking up a translation that came just before Lightfoot’s that what was meant is that Hermas made himself clearly visible to the beast and boldly faced it prepared for conflict. I also took time to look up a modern English translation and the passage in Greek and found the Roberts-Donaldson translation says, “I boldly faced the beast.” A friend of mine translated the greek phrase “θαρσήσας εἰς τὸ θηρίον ἐμαυτὸν ἔδωκα” as “I courageously faced the beast.” In fact, Hermas does have victory over the beast in the passage by the power of Christ. Furthermore, the old lady which typifies “the Church” (2[23]:2) says to him, “[T]ell them [the elect] that this beast is a type of the great tribulation which is to come. If therefore ye prepare yourselves beforehand, and repent (and turn) unto the Lord with your whole heart, ye shall be able to escape it, if your heart be made pure and without blemish, and if for the remaining days of your life ye serve the Lord blamelessly. Cast your cares upon the Lord and He will set them straight.”. (Hermas 2[23]:5) This is so far from a command to “Give ‘up to the beast’” (NABV, 615) that I doubt even the Antichrist himself could employ this passage to get Christians to surrender to him much less use a translation from 1893. Somehow, Gail has been able to flip the passage on its head and sell the idea that the Shepherd of Hermas teaches people to “give up to the beast” to thousands of unsuspecting Christians.
“See what Lightfoot’s translation of Hermas says for yourself at https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/shepherd-lightfoot.html#google_vignette
“Gail and Bryn are well aware of these last two criticisms and have published 2 documents in an attempt to respond. However they manage to avoid addressing these problems directly, opting rather for the copout at the quotations of Hermas are not intended to be accurate since it was called “an abstract” on page 617, misrepresenting my statements, attacking my character, and questioning my motives. I’m sad to say that after supporting her for over a decade, I have recently been on the receiving end of some of her harshest statements and gas lighting. I have responded to both documents on my YouTube channel the Bible Version Conspiracy (see live streamed episodes 18, 21, 22, 31, 32 and 33 in particular) and will continue to do so on our website as opportunity allows.
“I could list many more if called upon to do so, but this should meet your request. I hope this answers your question and helps to bring the closure you’re desire. Feel free to reach out to Gail about these matters. Please let me know if you have any questions. God bless!”
BTW, she also lied about “‘If you think you have everything you need in your Bible…we don’t think that’s true.’” 🤦♂️ More on this later.
God bless!
Joseph Armstrong
bibleversionconspiracy.com
This content was originally published to our Buy Me A Coffee page on March 19, 2025. buymeacoffee.com/josepharmstrong/can-gail-riplinger-back-shepherd-hermas-claims
Bible Version Conspiracy 