<snip>

: > The bogus Ph.D. is one of them. And whether
: > you think it is pertinent or not, it will color others' perceptions
: > of you and your ministry -- and even their perception of the God you
: > claim to serve.
:
: Bogus Ph.D.?  I have a Th.D. from Shepherd Bible College.  They
: awarded me this degree.
:
: > You would be better off disavowing the "honorary degree" given by an
: > institution to which your ministry at one time claimed to give
: > "accreditation". It will be an albatross around your neck until you
: > do.
:
: This is untrue.  You'll never be able to find me or my ministry
: calling what we do (or did) through OCCM "accreditation."  We have
: never and can never accredit anyone.  In fact, we have found a couple
: of OCCM members calling our approval an "accreditation," and we've
: warned them to stop.
:
: I'm sorry you can't see this whole degree attack as the nonsense that
: it is. SBC was an OCCM member for over a year.  After writing my
: apologetics book and contributing significant time, effort, and
: resources to reaching the lost, SBC awarded me an honorary doctorate.
: They simply recognized my works and rewarded me for them.  This is
: exactly what thousands of other schools have done for thousands of
: other people.
:
: I have absolutely nothing to apologize for.
:
: Now, if I seem irritable, it's because I've already explained this
: more than once.  Somehow, it seems that you have half of the story and
: some incorrect details.  This is what bothers me.
:
: Regards,
: Jason

Ralf:
Save the wounded feelings routine. Your misuse of the title "Dr." on
your various websites is inappropriate and you know it. That you persist
in purposefully presenting yourself as something you know you aren't is
sufficient evidence for folks to challenge your integrity. You aren't
bothered that you keep being challenged over the issue; you're annoyed
because people see through you.

When your title was challenged in the past, your response was SBC
awarded you an honorary doctorate because "The State of Florida has
given them the right" to do so (http://tinyurl.com/6leoq). However, as
with the title you use so conspicuously on your web sites, you are aware
that this statement is (at best) misleading.

At the time you were offering the defense of your title, SBC was
claiming it "grants degrees under the authority of the Florida State
Board of Independent Colleges and Universities in compliance with
Section 1005.06(1)(f), Florida Statutes". That statement was not
correct, however.

The FL DoE Commission for Independent Education (CIE) oversees
independent schools and colleges, authorizing them to offer diplomas and
degrees. However, religious schools such as SBC are allowed to operate
*without* government oversight so long as they submit a sworn affidavit
that they met certain criteria (see http://tinyurl.com/5a354 and scroll
down to item [f]). Further, CIE only allows schools like SBC to award
degrees so long "[t]he titles of degrees issued by the institution
cannot be confused with secular degree titles." Your usage of the title
Dr. on your websites violates that constraint. You are not legally
obligated to make that distinction since you are the recipient of the
award, not the grantor, but you have an ethical obligation to clarify
this when using the title.

Like you, SBC is distorting the facts in its claim in order to convey a
false impression. There is no authorization granted to SBC by the CIE -
instead, CIE gives schools like SBC release from governmental oversight.
SBC's claims at the time deliberately gave a false impression and you
use that to your advantage.

Btw, I checked out the CIE institutions directory
(http://www.firn.edu/doe/cie/pdf/directory.pdf) at the time you were
first making this claim and I could not find any reference to SBC. I
even went as far as to contact CIE and there wasn't any information
about the school. I'm not prepared to say SBC was making a fraudulent
claim at this point, but I find it very curious that CIE had no record
of this school.

None of this is addressed or clarified on the various web sites where
you identify yourself as "Dr." (http://jcsm.org/DrGastrich.htm,
http://jcsm.org/misc/JasonGastrich.htm, http://www.occm.org/Board.htm,
http://skepticsannotatedbible.org/). Instead you present the title in a
manner that gives the reader the false impression you received your
degree via traditional means (i.e.: you actually worked for it). One has
to dig hard and deep, on USENET no less, to learn the truth on the
issue.

If you were what you claim to be, you'd make this clear - specifically
in order to prevent anyone from reaching false conclusions about your
qualifications. You certainly are aware of the problem; one is thus
forced to conclude you don't want to provide this clarification because
it would sully the pedigree you are trying to create for yourself.

It is telling that the political website you created during the
California gubernatorial recall election in 2003 did *not* use the title
of Dr. You're just smart enough to realize that if you did somehow
manage to get some notoriety from this effort, the title of Dr. would
have blown up in your face. You evidently feel you don't run that risk
on your websites.

You'd probably be correct if you hadn't screwed up and tried to pull
that stunt on USENET. People who visit websites are generally passive
passive consumers of information, taking claims such as your title of
"Dr." at face value. However, you didn't consider that folks who
frequent USENET will question your claims, especially specious claims of
a Doctorate from a diploma mill like SBC.

Apart from CIE, SBC also referenced OCCM and WWAC as sources of
accreditation. OCCM is a "professional association" you founded. At the
time, SBC listed OCCM as an accrediting institution (it has since
changed that claim). In that same time frame you were granted an
"honorary" degree by SBC. This wouldn't be that big of a deal except
that it is part of a larger pattern of deceptive and misleading claims.
Taken in that context, this smacks of a convenient quid pro quo.

WWAC was the only listing that was an actual "accrediting" organization.
However, WWAC is pretty much a stand alone entity that is able to
accredit schools such as SBC simply because they say they can. They are
not recognized as an accrediting institution by anyone but themselves.

The website for WWAC is http://fgcfi.tripod.com/wwac.htm. Note that
this page states plainly that the WWAC is not recognized by the U.S.
Department of Education (nor by any other credible source from what I
can tell). WWAC defends its lack of formal recognition by appealing to
the bible.

   "Theological Seminaries should not be accredited by accrediting
    associations that are "recognized" by an agency of the federal
    government, because it is contrary to the Biblical principle of
    'Separation of Church and State,' indicated by Christ when He
    said, '...Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and
    to God the things that are God's...' (Mark 12:17).

   "What business does a Christian educator have going to the world
    of unbelievers for recognition and acknowledgement when 2
    Corinthians 6:14 clearly tells us, 'Be ye not unequally yoked
    together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness
    with unrighteousness?'

   "A Christian educational institution securing accreditation from
    an association which is attached to a governmental agency is a
    Scripturally condemned and unholy union as James 4:4 says, 'Ye
    adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of
    the world is enmity with God?'"

(So, should Mark 12:17 be quoted when folks challenge things like
mandatory school prayer?)

Btw, if anyone would like to see the size of the Shepherd Bible
"College" at it's Florida address, check this out:
http://tinyurl.com/4ojdv

No sir, you are not operating in an ethical or moral fashion. You are
consciously and intentionally presenting yourself as something you most
decidedly are not. You are just barely legal, skirting the limits of
illegality but never quite plunging in. Others in these news groups give
you the benefit of the doubt because you spout messages similar to their
own beliefs. They are more generous than I am - to me it's obvious you
are engaged in fraudulent behavior and are hiding behind the bible in
making your pitch.

Ralf
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