How Ministers Scam Congregations Using Fake Minister Degrees

I have a friend who contacted me who has been feeling weird about her church. She said something just didn’t feel right about her pastor. She proceeded to tell me of some instances which seemed to me as if the church was love bombing her after she has been attending for less than a year. She isn’t a member with a legitimate donation card, but evidently they seem to be working on her to commit more to the church. Apparently, her other church friend is not experiencing this love bombing. When asked, she said her friend is already a donating member. Coincidence?  The love bombing is where congregation, and especially it’s leaders swarm you, fall at your feet, and lure you in with excessive adoration and praise, even to the point of liking every Facebook post you put up. A minister who is stalking your Facebook page, ready to like your posts is just strange, if you ask me, but I digress. I immediately began to suspicion the motives of the church leader, who my friend referred to as “doctor”, yet used his first name only in the title.

“Dr.” Busted

I thought, “she called him Dr., but used only his first name. He can’t have a real doctorate”. Within minutes, I was at my computer and found this “minister’s” profile of credentials on his website. One click led to another very quickly as I tracked back his education.

According to the information I uncovered, this man was falsely leading people to actually believe that he earned the title of Dr. from a seminary which was accredited. This was false. In fact, he was a member of an apostolic movement, as well as a paying member of a group that provides funds for anyone to start a church. For an annual fee of just a few hundred dollars, one can be a member of a very real-sounding institution. His degree? It wasn’t a degree. It was a certificate, and he called himself a recipient of a “doctor of divinity”.

Buy A Degree, Pretend You’re a Scholar

What is this, and how are ministers doing it? It is simple. Tom, Dick and Harry find a website that provides fast service, toss them $150 through PayPal, and they’re ready to perform a marriage ceremony next weekend. Go to the right link, and in no time flat, you can be called “Doctor”. Write up a blurb, make it sound good, send in your blurb and don’t fuss too much. Soon, you’ll be recognized as a church leader and you can accept money when you start your new church. What kind of theological training does this one particular website claim that you need? None. You can get away with teaching whatever you want as long as you find a location, market your new church, and get people to show up.

Fake Minister Degrees? Let’s call this Dial-a-Pastor. Or Dial-a-Doc. Check this out from Universal Life Church.

I also found online training at “theology schools” which actually have cheap looking Godaddy websites, and a call to action for you to send money. Just send money, and we’ll make you look like you went to college by offering you a fake minister degree. I’m all for advancing in Christian education, and heck, I don’t even have a degree in theology, and here I am discussing it every day, and even writing on topics which I have become advanced in. I have studied theology for many years, but never would I trick the world into thinking I obtained a college education, worthy to be called “doctor”. This, after floating through an online course while getting hooked up with a few “credentials” that look legitimate. This is the ultimate way to scam a congregation into thinking you’re someone you’re not, and start raking in the cash. I have nothing against online training. I’ve taken many, many courses online. But honestly, for a minister to fool a congregation with a fake college degree, if you ask me, is the reason why there are so many false teachers in false churches today.

While I cannot judge the heart of some of these Dial-a-docs, I can certainly say they know exactly what they’re doing when they hang up a certificate that looks legitimate. They know you’ll think they attended an accredited college campus. They know you’ll be impressed. That’s why you paid for a fake degree. I would rather see a pastor with no degree at all than one who thought the world needed to be fooled with fakes. These are people coming to learn about God, and their teacher is fooling them. There’s something wrong, here.

You will be blown away if you haven’t already seen how ministers fool congregations into thinking they have a legitimate college degree. One website tells you that your degree is based on life experience, and they have actual links on their site to “order fake degrees” or “replicas”, or “phony” degrees. They boast about how real their fake degrees look. The false churches are eating this up.

This is what the churches are becoming. People who pay a price and get a phony degree online, while convincing everyone they exhausted themselves in college to earn actual college credentials. If you’re a member of a church and you have a strange feeling about your church minister, maybe it is time you start asking questions. It is your right to know who is teaching you, or whether you’re in a false church. Ask to see his/her degree, and ask what accredited college they attended.

Welcome to the world of Dial-a-Pastor. Click here to see an example. See for yourself and Google “get a fake religious degree”. Here’s yet another example of how “Dr.” is used in front of the first name, appearing to look like a friendly, down to earth real collegiate scholar.

Pretty wild. I may have now seen everything.