Ken Johnston presented at the 2017 International UFO Congress. He was billed as Dr. Ken Johnston, per information he provided. However, further investigation after the 2017 event revealed he is not a doctor and does not have an accredited Ph.D. We apologize for the mistake and any confusion it has caused.
Soon after Mr. Johnston presented at the International UFO Congress, we were alerted to discrepancies regarding Mr. Johnston’s Ph.D., so we investigated the matter on our own. In Mr. Johnston’s book, Ken’s Moon, there is a picture of a Doctor of Divinity diploma dated January 1, 1985, although the caption reads 1981. When we asked Mr. Johnston about the degree, we were emailed a picture of a second diploma that said it was a Doctor of Metaphysics. This second diploma is dated January 1, 1987. We were told Mr. Johnston’s degrees were from the Reformed Baptist Seminary (RBS), a very respectable organization. However, the title on the degrees read “The Reform Baptists Theological Seminary.” The stamp on the degrees has the name “Colorado Reform Baptist Church Inc.”
When researching the Colorado Reform Baptist Church, we found a Baptists forum that calls the company “a sham.” We also found an investigation by journalist James Oberg on the matter of Mr. Johnston’s degrees. Mr. Oberg had contacted the owner of Colorado Reform Baptist Church Inc., William Conklin. Regarding his conversation with Mr. Conklin, Oberg writes: “To begin with, he insisted that a ‘Doctor of Metaphysics’ degree is NOT a ‘Ph.D.’ and nobody has any right to term it as such. The ‘school’ was never accredited and never had any academic standing. He had set up as a money-making venture and operated for about a decade, in the 1980s. It had no campus, no faculty, no library, just an address.”
We also contacted RBS. They do not list any doctorate degrees in their academic programs, and the person who answered the phone said she would check to see if there had been any such programs in the past. We got a call back from the Dean of the Reformed Baptist Seminary (RBS), Dr. Robert Gonzales, and he said they are not affiliated with the Colorado Reform Baptists Church Inc. In reference to the title of Mr. Johnston’s diploma, he noted RBS stood for Reformed Baptist, not Reform. He also said they have never offered a Doctor of Divinity or Doctor of Metaphysics. He is only aware of actual PhDs using the term Dr. legitimately, including himself. He also said he has heard of Conklin who he says was a scammer who ran a degree mill. He called it a bogus organization.
Oberg’s full investigation into Mr. Johnston’s background unearthed further inaccuracies in his claims. Oberg’s presentation can be found online. It should be noted that despite the many discrepancies in Mr. Johnston’s claims, Oberg believes Mr. Johnston does deserve to be recognized for his background as a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corp, work on the Apollo Program as an electrician, and youth outreach programs.
When presented this information, Mr. Johnston said Conklin had convinced him back in 1981 that he ran a legitimate organization, and that he did not intend to falsify his education.
