Solomon once said that there are many evils under the sun (Eccl. 6:1). One evil that I have observed is fraud perpetrated upon the church. One of these frauds is the use of paper doctorates to convince the congregation that the pastor is highly educated. I first encountered this phenomenon when I was a young college professor at a “Christian” college. One day I heard about one of our co-professors who had resigned. The Wall Street Journal had run an article about “diploma mills” where you could get a doctorate by paying a hefty fee. Apparently a professor in our college had such a diploma proudly hanging on his wall and was forced to resign after the article on diploma mills came out.
Since that time, I have known many cases where pastors and writers have employed the cheap doctorate or other degree in order to exalt themselves and effectively defraud the Body of Christ. These individuals better fall in the category of the Scribes described in Luke 20: 46 (NIV) where it says:
“Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.”
It is surprising how often I have seen this situation including with “well-respected” and well-known pastors, religious writers and academicians. In short, the desire to be esteemed and applauded by the church and the world for being trained and educated have overcome the virtues of being honest and truthful. These easy doctorates are usually done by mail with institutions that sometimes grant a doctorate with only 30 hours of on-line class work and giving time for “life-experience.” In short, this is the academic equivalent of credit for “time served.” The cost of the paper degree is often high and has become a lucrative business for those granting them.
In fact, one extremely well-known writer in the area of end-times studies, proclaimed himself as having a doctorate of divinity (D.D.) but no one has ever been able to substantiate where it came from. Nonetheless, the gullible have flocked to this individual’s teaching despite his bogus credentials.
Often these cheap but exalted-sounding degrees are given by institutions which have strange-sounding names such as the Southwestern School of South Dakota (a name I made up). The institutions are bogus and on numerous occasions, the accrediting institution certifying the graduate school granting the doctorate is bogus as well. In one recent example, I found several well known ministers proud of their doctorates from an upper level theological seminary which had been formed by a person who did not even have a doctorate in theology. Instead the individual had a degree in Oriental Medicine from another “diploma mill”.
I am speaking out on these issues because there is a deep dishonesty being perpetrated upon the Church of Christ. This fraud may be so prevalent in religious circles because we are people of “faith.” Yet it seems to me that faith should be different from gullibility. Because most Christians desire to be honest, perhaps they see others as honest especially those who proclaim themselves to be “shepherds” of the sheep. In the academic area in Christians circles, we apparently have more than one ecclesiastical P.T. Barnum.
Most people are afraid or unwilling to speak out regarding this evil perpetrated upon the people of the church. Perhaps they are unwilling to be viewed as being “critical” or un-Christian for speaking about this fraud or perhaps they are just uninterested and will leave it to God to judge the dishonest who masquerade as shepherds and leaders.
I, for one, do not believe that you have to give up your intellect or judgment when you follow Christ. Scripture says that we are be as “harmless as doves and as wise as serpents” (Matt. 10:16). When you come to Christ, you do not have to leave your brain at home. False teachers get away with their actions because what they say and do looks good and attractive while no one speaks up. Often the gullible are simply too busy or too lazy to look carefully at a person’s credentials.
Our Faith has opportunities for those with formal education as those without it. Paul had formal training as a Pharisee from the great teacher Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). Jesus, on the other hand, had no formal learning that we know of. Yet at age 12 he could garner the respect of the teachers in the Jerusalem temple and as an adult could confound the Pharisees and scribes and teachers of his time. There is ample room for both leaders who are trained and those who are naturally gifted in the Church of Christ. However, there should be no room for those who fraudulently proclaim themselves as being highly trained and degreed when they are not. That practice is dishonest.
