On Tue, 4 May 2004 18:57:41 -0500, "Glenn \(Christian Mystic\)"

Please tell WHAT specifically had you "guessed as much?"  

Jason is STILL promoting himself as "Dr. Jason Gastrich, B.A., M.A.,
Th.D."

One either uses the term "Dr." OR one uses the initials after the
name.  It is improper to use BOTH with a signature.  You would think
"Dr. Jason" would know that.  

His Bachelor of Arts is legit, from San Diego State University - San
Diego, CA.

Jason claims a "Doctorate of Religious Arts in Theology (Th.D.)
degree"  from Shepherd Bible College and Seminary in Largo, FL.
Shepherd Bible College also claims one of Jason's "organization" as an
accreditation.  

Shepherd's web site says: "Shepherd  Bible College is fully-accredited
by the (World-Wide Accreditation Commission) of Christian Educational
Institutions."  

THE TRUTH IS:  the WWAC is a business run by Paul Richardson.  "Dr."
Paul Richardson claims that Jesus appeared to him, smiled at him, and
even touched him.  So, it appears that the Shepard degree mill is
actually accredited by one fundie minister and Jason's little
organization.  

Someone who looked into this earlier noted that "Dr. Paul Richardson
(there goes that doctor again) has earned his degrees by attending the
Southern Bible College in Houston, Texas (a pentacostal school) for
over a year, and finally received his bachelors from  International
Bible Institute and Seminary. And that school is a bit questionable,
as I can find one web page for it but and many bio's of people who
claim they went there. However the web page is of some apparent
diploma mill in Arkansas, while most of the Bio's mention Orlando. Of
course, Dr. Paul Richardson doesn't tell us where the school is
located. His masters is from the Northgate Graduate School in Edmonds,
Wa. Of which I can find no mention. And he got his doctorate from the
same school where he got his bachelor's degree. And just to make it
interesting, this ministry will ordain you for $15.00 and even
includes a ceremony. All in all, pretty sad excuse for a supposed
Doctor...Especially since he is accrediting colleges.  Thus Jason
received an honorary doctor's degree from a diploma mill that is
accredited by someone else who has very questionable credentials.  And
that is exactly how sad and sleazy the whole affair is.

The degree "Th.D. is a higher academic degree, NOT an honorary degree.
Jason's little Florida degree mill (which it is) should have known to
give him ther CORRECT honorary degree.  But you get what you pay for
sometimes.    Shepherd Bible college is considered a degree mill by
anyone who studies the false credentials and false accreditation of
the school.  It is a Bible correspondence school at best.  Shepard
Bible College as a member of On-line Christ Centered Ministries of
which Mr. Gastrich is Founder and President.  As someone pointed out
earlier, I suppose the Shepard Bible College wouldn't want to be in a
organization headed by a mere Mr. Gastrich so they made him a doctor.

His "Master of Arts in Biblical Studies " is from a correspondence
school in Louisiana that now has a "campus."  

Steve Levicoff and John Bear are considered the two leading experts in
distant education.  Steve is a Jewish Christian, seminary and Bible
College teacher and author of a book called "NAME IT AND FRAME IT"
dealing with diploma mills.  

In 2000, Steve commented that Louisiana Baptist University is "a
degree mill run out of a Baptist church and formerly called Baptist
Christian
University.  LBU claims accreditation by ACI (everyone's accreditation
mill), although they managed to attain candidacy status with TRACS a
few years back (and, when TRACS began to clean up its own act, LBU was
dumped).  They have operated under the umbrella name of Baptist
Christian Schools for many years.  They also run a counseling
credential mill (the National Association of Marriage & Family
Counselors) and have an affiliation with the Louisiana Baptist
Theological Seminary (which, of course, is located at a P.O. box in .
. . Missouri). Therefore, is it a legitimate institution?  Hardly.

This was about the time they moved into an office building.  Steve
continued to describe Jason's alma mater: "LBU is still claiming a
mickey-mouse accreditation (not ACI, but a newer one shared, according
to a Yahoo search, by Tyndale Seminary in Texas, another degree mill).

Dr. John Bear said the following regarding LBU:  
"According to NCAs "Overview of Accreditation General Institution
Regulations, under the rubric Faculty, referring to a regionally
accredited degree institution it states "It employs a faculty that has
earned from accredited institutions the degrees appropriate to the
level offered by the institution". Faculty who "earned" their
doctorate
degrees from the above listed schools do not appear to meet this
standard, regardless of their creative or intellectual endeavors or
accomplishments but based specifically on the level of acceptability
of their doctorates! Obviously a degree from Columbia Pacific or
Louisiana Baptist in no way measures up to NCA's standard and a SCUPS
degree is valid in California but not appropriate for a doctoral
program costing students an inordinate amount of money!

"Also there is the issue pertaining to image! Why should a student who
is expecting to enhance their career prospects and who is attempting
to avoid the criticisms, skepticism and stereotypes associated with
distance learning by attending an RA distance learning program rather
than a state approved or diploma mill, be placed in the uncomfortable
position of having to explain or defend why their faculty mentors have
such questionable credentials!"
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=louisiana+baptist+degree+mill&hl=en...

In a nutshell, Jason is calling himself "Dr." based upon an honorary
"degree" from a diploma mill in Florida, and claiming to be a
"candidate" for a Ph.D. from is an unaccredited school which, unlike
most legitimate seminaries, requires virtually NO language requirement
for the graduate programs.  As far as I can tell, the Chancellor of
LBU has one or two accredited degrees, out of SIX..  And at least one
out of six of his graduate degrees come from THAT school.  

In addition, virtually ALL of the staff claim to have one or more
UNACCREDITED graduate degrees.  

Jason has said he will not call himself "Dr." until next year.  But he
has it plastered all over his web site and other places.  He has
created various aliases and posted "reviews" of his own materials on
various forums, hit and run.  When he is cornered on an issue, he runs
again.  

In addition, LBU has an alumni page.  Jason created a "link" to that
LBU alumni page...with one twist.  Jason's link was a FALSE LINK
leading to another page on HIS OWN WEBSITE.  The truth is that JASON
IS NOT LISTED on the LBU alumni page.  So Jason deceitfully created a
'mock'up of that LBU page (replete with their logo), through HIS own
web site, just in order to write HIS VERY OWN third-person 'bio' (and
top that off with HIS own picture), as though it should be considered,
by everyone here, that Jason is just like any of the other 'featured
alumni' at LBU?  For those interested, here is the actual link to
LBU's alumni web page:
http://www.lbu.edu/featuredalumni.htm

Jason posts HIS link to the FAKE DECEPTIVE LBU alumni page on
alt.atheism as well as other forums.  His posts the page as legit.  A
premeditated fraud.  

In a nutshell, LBU, like is an unaccredited school which, unlike most
legitimate seminaries, requires virtually NO language requirement for
the graduate programs.  As far as I can tell, the Chancellor has one
or two accredited degrees, out of SIX..  at least one out of six of
his graduate degrees come from THAT school.  Virtually all of the
staff have one or more UNACCREDITED graduate degrees.  

Glenn, this thread was pretty dead and I don't really know why you
responded to it.  But I have nothing against Jason per se.  I DO HAVE
MUCH AGAINST any ego-driven opportunists who uses the Gospel to make a
buck, to promote their personal agenda while giving a bad name to the
cause of Christ with fake degrees paraded as legitimate.  Jason has
continued to use ethically questionable tricks to promote himself,
then after getting caught, he would deny that he did it.

JESUS SPOKE OF PEOPLE LIKE THAT!  He said,
"The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of
Moses...they do all their deeds (4) to be noticed by men; for...they
love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the
synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being
called 'Dr. Jason Gastrich' by men."
Matt23

My problem is with religious frauds.  It makes life so much more
difficult for those who really have the right heart for ministry.
Jason is a perfect example for a non-believer to REMAIN a
non-believer.  

D*

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as
 when they do it from religious conviction."
        Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Pense'es, #894.