Marcus Rogers’ New Cash Cow 🐄

picture credit: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/death-cash-cow-prosun-roy

Marcus Rogers has just announced the launch of his Bible college, a satellite of Christ Exalted Seminary. They will offer Associate, Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate programs. He says he is looking forward to taking classes himself.

This is quite a 180 for a guy who is known for repeatedly and recently making statements that define other seminary students and graduates as “Pharisees puffed up with head knowledge” and who says “real” knowledge comes through the Holy Spirit. Click here for a video with one example of this. Could there be financial gain afoot?

What is Christ Exalted Seminary?

According to Marcus, CES is a fully accredited college and seminary. The reality is, it is neither a college, a seminary nor fully accredited.

Here is an excerpt from their home page

And instead of academic standards, there is a strict attendance policy. This is the opposite of most higher learning institutions, where students’ attendance is their own responsibility and academic standards are high.

This is their ENTIRE section on academic excellence. The words academic and excellence do not even appear!

Curriculum and Faculty

The entire curriculum is a series of long PDF files. It is designed to be distributed to churches for them to offer their congregations. For each section there is an online quiz that generates the score at the end. It is unclear what the role of the church is for this process, besides recruiting students from their congregations. Perhaps the church is provided the lesson outline for the instructor to review during the Zoom classtime.

You can read a list of the curriculum offered here. It all seems pretty sound, but it lacks any teaching in Biblical languages, hermanuetics, and textual criticism. It also lacks any content on epistemology, systematic theology, homiletics, and apologetics. A bachelors’ degree is 107 credit hours, as opposed to a standard 120 at verifiably accredited institutions.

This curriculum lacks the intellectual and academic rigor required by most reputable seminaries. Corey Minor has a great video about Marcus Rogers’ new college venture. In his video he gives an example of what this means. At the school he attended, Dallas Theological Seminary, Students do not take the course on the book of Romans without taking 2 semesters of Greek language first. The book of Romans involves detailed teachings on complex and essential doctrines, and knowing Greek to English translations is essential to understanding the context of the book.

A good seminary does not just go through the contents of the Bible, they teach how to correctly interpret Scriptures, and ensure not just that a student has memorized facts, names and figures, but can understand, explain and teach them to others, verbally and in writing.

The courses are described as requiring one class per week via zoom. The content from Associates to Bachelors to Masters has no progression of theology. It simply runs from Genesis to Revelation in order over the 6 year period. The website says there are topics built in such as church government and revival history, but these topics are not ever addressed in a systemic way.

CES lists no faculty on their website. Nor does it have any requirements for the church faculty charged with overseeing the program. There is no attribution as to who created this content. Here is the section about their “Leadership”

Admission requirements

From the CES website:

Their tenets of faith are problematic as well. They are based on Word of Faith and New Apostolic Reformation doctrines, which contain a lot of heresy. But even so, there are some tenets that Marcus would not agree with, even some he considers essential gospel doctrine.
Here are their doctrines, I have added some notes in bold

What We Believe

Christ Exalted Seminary adopts the following statements as its fundamental truths and doctrines:

• The Bible is the inspired Word of God and the revealed will of God without error. The Bible shows us God’s principles and standards for living; it sustains us in all circumstances (2Ti. 3:15-17; 1Pe. 1:23-25; Heb. 4:12; Joh. 1:14).
• There is only One True God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit    (Deu. 6:4; Isa. 43:10; Mat. 28:19; Luk. 3:22; Joh. 1:1, 14; 10:30). This is a very vague statement on the Triune nature of God. It leaves it open to the Oneness heresy doctrinal definition.
• Man was created in God’s image. By voluntary transgression, man fell, and his only hope of redemption is in Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Gen. 1:26-31; 3:17; Rom. 5:12-21).
• Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born of a virgin, came to Earth to save man from sin and the consequences of sin through His shed blood. On the cross, Jesus Christ became sin and sickness, providing both salvation and healing for all mankind (Psa. 103:3; 2Co. 5:21). This salvation comes by believing in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and confessing with your mouth, Jesus is Lord (Luk. 1:26-35; Rom 3:24; 10:8-10; Eph. 2:8).This is contrary to Marcus teaching that salvation comes through speaking in tongues and baptism. It is also an assent of the Word of faith doctrine of healing
• The inward evidence, to the believer, is the direct witness of the Spirit (Rom. 8:16). The outward evidence, to all men, is a life of true holiness and love (Joh. 13:35; 1Jo. 3:23).
• Salvation and justification are by faith in Jesus Christ and not by human works; however, our works are evidence of our faith and will determine our rewards in eternity (Rom. 5:1; 10:9-10; 14:10-12; 2Co. 5:10; Gal. 5:5; Eph. 2:8-9; Tit. 3:5-7; Jam. 2:18).
• Baptism in water is a declaration to the world that a believer has died with Christ and has been raised with Him to walk in newness of life. It is through baptism that we publicly identify with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Mat. 28:19; Act. 2:38; 10:47-48; Rom. 6:3-6; Col. 2:11-14; 1Pe. 3:21). Again, Marcus disagrees and this should be a deal breaker for him as he believes it is essential to the faith that salvation requires baptism
• Christians need to partake of the Communion elements, in remembrance of the work of the cross, which represent the Body and the Blood of the Lord Jesus. The way a believer takes Communion can affect his or her health. Sickness can come from not recognizing or discerning the Body of the Lord. It is by participating in the Lord’s Supper that we proclaim His death and the power of His Blood to save, until His return (Isa. 53:4-5; Mat. 8:17; Joh. 6:53-58; 1Co. 11:23-30; 1Pe. 2:24). Marcus does not believe in practicing Communion.
• All believers are entitled to, and should ardently expect and earnestly seek, the promise of the Father which is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, according to the command of Jesus Christ. This experience is distinct from and subsequent to the experience of the new birth (Luk. 24:49; Act. 1:4-8; 2:38-39; 10:44-46; 11:14-16; 15:7-9; 1Co. 12:1-31). This is heretical Believers receive the Holy Spirit at conversion, no seeking required
• All believers should have the evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. The full consummation of the Baptism of believers in the Holy Spirit is evidenced by the initial physical sign of speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance and by the subsequent manifestation of spiritual power on public testimony and service (Act. 1:8; 2:4; 10:44-46; 19:2, 6; Rom. 8:26-27). This is a damnable heresy, one Marcus affirms
• Necessary for the church is the manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The manifestational gifts of the Holy Spirit are the gift of the Word of Wisdom, the gift of the Word of Knowledge, the gift of the Discerning of Spirits, the gift of the Gifts of Healing, the gift of the Working of Miracles, the gift of Faith, the gift of Divers Kinds of Tongues, the gift of Interpretation of Tongues and the gift of Prophecy (Mar. 16:15-18; Act. 5:16; 1Co. 12:8-10). Notice the gift of teaching is not mentioned
• The Church is the Body of Christ. Each believer is an essential part (Rom. 12:3-8; 1Co. 12:4-30; Eph. 1:22).
• God’s will is to heal and deliver His people today as He did in the days of the early Church. Jesus has provided by His stripes healing for us physically (Isa. 53:4-5; Mat. 8:17; 1Pe. 2:24) and mentally (Isa. 26:3: Rom. 12:2; 2Ti. 1:7).Again, heretical Word of Faith doctrine
• God’s will is to meet our needs financially (Luk. 6:38; Joh. 10:10; 2Co. 9:6-10; Php. 4:19; 3Jo. 2) and socially (Pro. 3:4). More Word of faith doctrine, prosperity gospel
• We have authority over sickness, disease, demons, curses and every circumstance in life (Luk. 10:19; 2Co. 10:4-5; 1Pe. 2:24). New Apostolic Reformation doctrine, making man a mediator of salvation.
• Our Blessed Hope is as follows: Jesus is coming to gather all His saints to Heaven (1Co. 15:51-52; 1Th. 4:16-17; 2Th. 2:1).
• Those who have not accepted the redemptive work of Jesus Christ will suffer eternal separation from God and burn in the Lake of Fire (Rev. 19:20, 20:10-15).
• There is yet to come a pre-millennial Second Coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Psa. 2; 22:27-28; 110; Mat. 24:29-31; 25:31; 2Th. 2:8-10; Rev. 16:13-16;   19:11-21; 20:1-7; Isa. 2:4; 11:9; Jer. 23:5; Dan. 7:7-28; Mic. 4:3-4; Hab. 2:14; Zec. 9:10, 12; 14:9).
• There will be a literal rule of Christ upon the Earth, a resurrection of the regenerate to eternal life and the unregenerate to eternal damnation, and an ultimate victory of the eternal Kingdom of God (Mat. 24:31-46; Act. 1:11; 24:15; 1Th. 4:13-18; Rev. 22:7, 11, 20).
• There will be a Millennial Reign of Jesus. The return of our Lord Jesus Christ with His saints from Heaven to rule and reign for one thousand years on Earth as the Scripture promised (Rom. 11:25, 27; 2Th. 1:7; Rev. 19:11-16; 20:1-70). After that, there will be a new Earth (Rev. 21).
• We are to worship the Lord in spirit, song, dance, and with the raising of our hands. We are to praise and worship Him with our whole being (Psa. 28:2; 63:4; 134:2; 141:2; 150:1-6; Joh. 4:24; 1Ti. 2:8). The Bible describes these but they are not prescribed in this manner

These tenets give us a clear idea of the quality of Bible instruction to be expected. And as we will see, they require an assent to these tenets but obviously do not do diligence to see if students and churches are being compliant. This will create an opportunity for the heretical teachings of Firehouse to be incorporated into this program.

Christ Exalted Seminary is not even a college

It literally does not exist. Here is the address listed on their contact link

Let’s try to find the campus!

Google search of the address:

Let’s look a little closer. It’s a building owned by Regus, a company that provides rental office space and virtual addresses for rental fees.

Information from Regus website about the services they provide

Accreditation (?)

So we’ve determined that this “seminary” has:

• No campus
• No faculty
• No academic standards

So how did it get fully accredited and by whom?

First a quick intro to the term “accreditation”

Study in the States– the educational website portion of the DHS website provides this definition

Accreditation is the recognition from an accrediting agency that an institution maintains a certain level of educational standards. The U.S. Department of Education maintains a database of accrediting agencies it recognizes. While the US government does not directly accredit schools they use their database as a determining factor as to whether a college can participate in federal loan and grant programs.

The accreditation process is a comprehensive review of a school’s mission, faculty qualifications, and curricula, and the process includes self-evaluations, peer-reviews, committee reviews, and the development of in-depth strategic plans. It also includes financial audits. More about the college accreditation system

Get Educated.com has a list of phony accrediting agencies that have been associated with diploma mills (colleges that offers college degrees using substandard criteria and have little educational value) Transworld Accrediting Commission is on the list.

Transworld Accrediting Commission

The list of TAC accredited institutions is a list of Who’s Who of the televangelist network. All these televangelists have banded together to form their own Bible colleges so they can teach whatever heresy they want, and award themselves PhD’s. Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Rodney Howard-Browne and Andrew Wommack are just a few of the many Word of Faith false teachers listed on the website. They have also created accrediting agencies, like TAC, to rubber stamp them. Christ Exalted clearly doesn’t meet at least some of TAC’s standards, which are not very strict in the first place. Two examples- CES does not have an administrative office space, nor does it provide a list of library and media resources.

It’s all about the money

These diploma mills that use the gospel to purvey legitimacy to institutions of Biblical studies are unabashed cash cows. Though tuition is only $800 per year for CES, it has no overhead, no faculty, no campus, no library, no student services. It is simply a pre-made PDF curriculum with automated quizzes. The tuition is nearly 100% profit, and as an incentive for pastors like Marcus Rogers to do their recruiting for them, they offer a percentage of the tuition to the church, which also has little to no overhead or expenses for running the program. Here is how it is presented on the CES website:

Marcus Rogers’ College Career

For those who don’t know his background, Marcus was homeschooled by his mother through high school, until he left for the Army at age 18. While in the Army, he attended a community college in Virginia. After leaving the Army he took a psychology class at Truman College, a community college in Chicago. After leaving the Army he made several posts about having intentions to enroll at Moody Bible Institute, a very conservative and orthodox Bible college in Chicago. Some of his followers believe he actually attended Moody. He made a comment in his video announcing the college venture that when he went to Moody he did not see the spirit in the people there. This would mean his doctrine was so far off that he was not going to be able to enroll. He has never been a student at Moody. He has no formal training whatsoever in any kind of Biblical studies.

Conclusion: This is a cash cow.

It is a money making scheme for the phony college and the churches that participate. While students may gain some valuable Bible knowledge, they can participate in many free online Bible study programs available on the internet and gain the same knowledge. Students should not trust that their “credits” will transfer to another college or university. It’s not a big deal to charge money for an online learning program, but when you inflate it to the level of Bachelor’s, Masters or PhD degrees that require much more rigorous and disciplined work, it’s dishonest and greedy.

This new venture into Biblical studies is not likely to change anything about Marcus Rogers’ false teaching. The doctrines for the curriculum are vague, the accountability is non-existent and it is all up to him and his mother to determine how the curriculum is presented. As moderators of the Zoom class, they can interject any of their heretical teachings at any time. It’s interesting that he announced this venture just weeks before the first class. He needs to get a bunch of unsuspecting students signed up before the word gets out that this is a scam.

If you thought Marcus Rogers was prideful before, just wait til he has a phony degree to wave around.