More and more Kenyans are getting irked by modern day evangelical pastors conferring many tittles on themselves. Even without being officially ordained, many of these so-called ‘men of God’ - who should know better about humility - insist on being addressed as Reverend, Bishop, Prophet, or Dr, among others.
In some instances, a pastor could even squeeze all the aforementioned tittles into his name, making it a mouthful. Currently, the most abused tittle is 'Dr', with every Tom, Dick and Harry who preaches, insisting on being addressed as such.
Some argue it is a mockery to those who – in all reality – are actually doctors. And that it leaves a lot to be desired about those believed to command highest moral credentials.
“I know the guy at the hospital is a doctor. I also know that a pastor calling themselves ‘Dr’ is either delusional or up to no good,” Njogu Njoroge, a Nairobian, says.
The urge to prefix one’s name with ‘Dr’ is a phenomenon seen with Christian outfits of recent days.
In the good old days one had to choose between the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, and a few Baptist congregations.
Thanks to freedom of worship, the modern Christian has thousands of bizarre options – from ‘Beard of Christ Church’ to ‘Feet of fire Deliverance church’ among many other crazy church names.
“Often, pastors in these churches call themselves ‘Dr’. Yet some have never seen the inside of a lecture hall,” says Dan Opiyo, a graduate of History and a lover of Philosophy.
Margaret Wanjiru, founder of Jesus Is Alive Ministries (JIAM), has first-hand experience of what it feels like to be outed as a fake ‘Dr’.
Post 2008, when Wanjiru first became MP, her church referred to her as Hon Bishop Dr Margaret Wanjiru.
With the promulgation of the new Constitution in 2010, creating new elective positions, Wanjiru set her eyes on becoming the first governor of Nairobi.
However, she quickly waded into trouble when questions about the legitimacy of her college degrees came up.
In 2013 the Commission for Higher Education rejected Wanjiru’s purported academic achievements citing the anomaly that (if her documents were to be believed) she got a PhD (in 2003) seven years before being conferred with an undergraduate degree (in 2010).
According to Wanjiru she received Doctor of Theology from Vineyard Harvester Bible College on July 13, 2003. Later in October 26, 2010, she would graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Christian Leadership from United Graduate College and Seminary International.
Whether in heaven or on earth no one could attain a PhD before a bachelor’s degree.
But Wanjiru’s governorship dreams meant that she badly needed a degree that CHE could recognise.
In October 2014, Wanjiru finally graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in leadership and management from St Paul’s University, “a Kenyan university that is recognised,” she told the press.
“I think these kinds of pastors – and I use that word ‘pastor’ with lots of generosity – are on a selfish mission: to acquire social status,” Opiyo says.
For Wanjiru, shouting from a church pulpit was clearly not transitioning well into shouting from a political dais.
Meanwhile, other pastors continued to bask in the doctorate glory not of their own making. Some racked up titles; asking to be initialled as ‘Dr. Hon. Rev. Bishop EBS…’
University of Nairobi Sociologist Dr Karatu Kiemo (a PhD holder) says that in the mainstream Christian faith of modern times titles do matter.
“That is why titles within churches (even traditional churches) are patterned in hierarchical manner,” Kiemo says. “We have deacons, reverends, bishops, pastors…and so on and so forth.”
The title ‘Dr’, Kiemo argues, gives heft to an otherwise mundane existence. “Mostly these are people who want to be taken seriously,” he says.
More often than not when a pastor calls themselves ‘Dr’ it turns out to be a hoax.
The high octane drama of wailing in guttural voices on TV screens, going through sermons while invoking God’s name and cursing demons, is often a defensive mechanism to the lie, says Kiemo.
The scale of deception that such pastors are willing to go to mesmerises Joyce Mogaka, a genetic engineer.
“Everything about these pastors is fake,” Joyce says. “It is all part of a ploy to rip off gullible congregants: the bigger the larger-than life persona they create, more they believe and the more offering and tithe they give.”
This, she adds, is fake-it-to-make it 101: reverse psychology served on a plate of morality, spiced with hope, and presented as faith.
“How else would you describe it?” she asks, rhetorically. “Someone with a fake title [a conman/woman] who preaches about how not to be a faker.”
It annoys her that someone whose only rise to fame is commanding people, who are often desperate for hope, could make themselves ‘Dr’ when people like her go through rigorous academic journey, spanning decades, to acquire such credentials.
There are only a couple of routes towards title ‘Dr’. “You either are a graduate of medicine, dentistry or pharmacy, or you are a PhD holder in a recognised field of study,” Dr Kiemo says.
Outside these precincts then, one is effectively a phony with sinister motives. Which aptly describes Dr Prophet Victor Kanyari, he who was unmasked by a KTN investigation.
Kanyari admitted that he is a Form 2 dropout. He is, therefore, as light years away from the title ‘Dr’ as a distant planet is to the solar system.
In Kiemo’s more than 30 years in academia he says actual Doctors tend to keep a low profile of their achievements.
“It is very rare for academically accomplished individuals to insist that they be referred to as ‘Dr’ so and so; preferring to be identified by name,” he says.
Hence Kiemo believes that an intensified desire to be referred to as ‘Dr’ points to a desperate, twisted desire to make the title stick where it never existed in the first place.
Pastor Antony Bones of the Good Shepherd church along Ngong Road in Nairobi terms the phenomenon of pastors ascribing to their names title ‘Dr’ as outright conmanship.
“Jesus never had any fancy titles,” he says, “yet he moved from place to place congregating with people who needed to listen to the word.”
Calling oneself ‘Dr’, Pastor Bones says, is selfish; a reaction against an inferiority complex so that one feels valued.
Pastor Bones says he has achieved academic excellence. And he graduated from a theology class.
“I should be called a Reverend (Rev) but I don’t use that title because technically Jesus Christ’s gospel was about serving masses and not about self-aggrandizement.”
Harrison Mumia, the president of Atheist Society of Kenya - even before fake titles are mentioned - is a fierce critic of religion and all it stands for.
When I mention fake Dr titles’ he projects as much scorn, saying: “This is trickery. It is an attempt to gain relevance. It is basically a ploy to make more money from people who are desperate for hope.”
Mumia says that it is unfortunate that many Kenyans continue falling prey to unscrupulous men and women out to earn a living with fake ‘Dr’ titles standing at the pulpit.
