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Eckankar and Other New Age Religions
by Greg Williamson (c) 2002, 2007
UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, ALL SCRIPTURE QUOTATIONS
Known as the "Religion of the Light and Sound of God," Eckankar is a classic example of New Age religion. Hard to pin down, the New Age movement represents a nebulous blend of many and various religions, philosophies, and belief systems, including Eastern mysticism, the occult, and traditional, orthodox Christianity. Claiming to find the common denominator(s) in the world's many religions and/or seeking to blend the most prominent features or teachings of very different philosophies or belief systems is a common feature of New Age religions.
To begin with, it should be noted that such an approach to religious faith does a grave disservice to every serious practitioner of the belief systems it seeks to blend. For example, Eckankar claims that "the Light and Sound are twin aspects of God" that are "often called the Holy Spirit." It then goes on to use the apostle Paul's Damascus Road experience as an example of a personal encounter with the Light of God, and Jesus' disciples' Pentecost experience as an example of a personal encounter with the Sound of God. In reality, Paul saw and heard the risen Lord Jesus Christ, and the disciples saw and heard a manifestation of God's Holy Spirit who came to establish the Christian church founded and built on the teachings of Jesus Christ. To put it rather bluntly, all of Jesus' disciples were just that; they were not ECKists, and they did not believe in or pass on any of the fundamental teachings of Eckankar, including karma and reincarnation. To use Jesus' disciples' experiences as proof of Eckankar is like using modern-day Communist China as proof of Western capitalism. The similarities are, at most, very superficial.
Such an approach to religious faith is very misleading. Suppose someone decided to write a book about your life. They interview you, jotting down some basic facts from your personal history, including some major accomplishments, and take note of the type of person you are today. Fine so far. But then they decide to spice it up a little by adding bits and pieces from several other biographies. And so there you are earning your college degree at age ten, and going on to win an Olympic gold medal by age twelve. At age fifteen you are made the CEO of IBM, and Bill Gates calls you for advice. By the time you're twenty, you have won the Nobel Peace Prize twice. And by age thirty, you have made two space flights. It's easy to see that the end result is a little truth mixed with a lot of error. Even though those amazing feats may represent actual accomplishments by actual people, you did not do them. To say that you did is to remove those events from their original context and place them into an artificial one (your own personal life story). In a word, it's a lie. New Age religions are a lot like that, as beliefs and teachings are extracted from their original contexts and pasted together in any way the particular religion's founder decides. The end result is a little truth mixed with a lot of error.
It has been observed that the most basic difference between Christianity and all other religions, including Eckankar, is Jesus Christ. And the most basic difference between Jesus Christ and all other religious teachers, including Paul Twitchell and Harold Klemp, is Jesus' claim to be God -- along with all the miracles he performed as proof of his claim. While Jesus came to offer eternal life to anyone and everyone who will accept him as their personal Lord and Savior, he never taught that human beings are in any way divine or could become so. Personal, saving faith in Christ -- i.e., spiritual rebirth -- includes the assurance of a future resurrection from the dead and a new, glorified body in which to spend the remainder of eternity praising and serving God. No where does the Bible or Jesus give the slightest hint of reincarnation. Within Christianity, cults can be identified by their: claim to have new revelation from or about God; denial of the sole authority of the Bible; distorted view of God and Jesus; and denial of salvation by grace. Like other New Age religions, Eckankar tries to sidestep being identified as a cult by not being classified as a Christian religion. However, by using traditional, orthodox Christian terms such as "Holy Spirit," "sin," and "Soul," it seeks to connect with people who have had at least some exposure to Christian teaching. People who have a hunger for spiritual things ("seekers") but who for a variety of reasons have rejected traditional Christianity can tend to find Eckankar and other New Age religions appealing. However, like a diet made up exclusively of processed sugar, such religions may taste good and may provide some energy, but they are fatally lacking in vital nutrients. Eckankar's attempts at self-validity are obvious. By claiming to be an ancient faith that "resurfaced" within the past few decades, it strives for an authority that precedes many, if not all, of the world's largest organized religions. And again, by incorporating popular Christian words and phrases, Eckankar seeks to be at least partially identified with a religious faith that has stood the test of time for some two-thousand years.
Within our current cultural climate of political correctness, hyper-tolerance, and absolute relativism, we can tend to overlook the fact that any and every religion, philosophy, or belief system makes exclusive truth claims. Eckankar, for example, claims to be the only way to true spiritual enlightenment: "Of all religions on earth today, Eckankar offers the most direct teachings on the Light and Sound of God. For people who experience these twin pillars of God, life becomes fresh and new again." Message: Eckankar offers the truth that will set you free. Christianity, too, makes exclusive truth claims based on the teachings of its founder, Jesus Christ:
The (Christian) Bible represents God's self-revelation to humankind. (Please click here for An Introduction to the Bible.) In a nutshell, its message is that God created us, we rebelled against him, and he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to restore our broken relationship. The truth is that all of us are born into this world spiritually lost and separated from God. Furthermore, there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. No amount of meditation, spiritual exercise, candle-lighting, or soul-searching can in any way alter the cold, hard fact that we are all sinners who repeatedly violate God's law and who have no right whatsoever to stand in his holy presence. The world's many different religions testify both to our common human yearning for a real, personal relationship with a perfect and righteous God, and the utter futility of attempting to attain such a relationship through our own efforts. That's the bad news. The good news is that God, who is very much aware of our hopeless condition, loves us so much that he made a way -- the one and only way -- to bridge the otherwise unbridgeable gap between us and him. In the person of Jesus Christ, God not only revealed himself to us, but he even became one of us in order to pay the price that our sins demand. In a word, it's all about Jesus. And while Jesus is utterly unique in his life and teachings, fundamentally his message was (and is) himself. While any and every religion may scratch the surface of truth, only Jesus Christ is the embodiment of God's self-revealed, authoritative truth.
The following information is quoted verbatim from the official Eckenkar website (http://www.eckankar.org).
Although the ECK teachings have ancient roots, Eckankar was introduced as a modern-day religion in 1965 by Paul Twitchell. A seeker from an early age, he was introduced to a group of spiritual masters who would change the course of his life. These were the ECK Masters. While they trained Paul to become the Living ECK Master, he explored a wide range of spiritual traditions under different teachers. The high teachings of ECK had been scattered to the four corners of the world. Paul gathered these golden teachings of Light and Sound and made them readily available to us. By 1965, Paul was offering Soul Travel workshops to the public. He wrote many books on Eckankar and the Light and Sound of God. Today, Eckankar is a nonprofit religious organization and church which has members in over one hundred countries. The spiritual home of Eckankar is the Temple of ECK in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
Followers of Eckankar believe that the Light and Sound are twin aspects of the Holy Spirit, the divine life current that flows from God. This current, known as the ECK, sustains all life. Light and Sound have long been a part of religious rituals throughout the world. Chants and hymns are among the most well-known examples of sound in the Christian tradition. The singing of cantors plays an important role in Judaism. Om, sung in some Eastern religions, is often used in meditation. Likewise, the Light of God is symbolically represented in most religions. Stained glass, precious stones, and skylights are common in religious structures. Native American celebrations, as well as those of certain other religions, use fire and drums, as well as chanting, all examples of light and sound. Each ceremony represents the effort of people to speak to God in their own way. The Light of God has appeared to many saints and mystics. Saul of Tarsus had a dramatic encounter with the Light of God on the road to Damascus. Moses saw It in the burning bush. Throughout history light has been depicted around images of holy people and in illustrations of angels. Today, many refer to this light in popular books about near-death experiences. Eckankar teaches how to recognize the Light of God. Sometimes It comes as an inner scene or vision. It can be a flash of blue or white light. It appears in many ways. The Sound of God was the rushing wind that visited the disciples during Pentecost. Some hear It inwardly. It can be heard as the sound of rushing water; the single note of a flute; the music of violins, woodwinds, or bagpipes; or even the buzzing of bees. Of all religions on earth today, Eckankar offers the most direct teachings on the Light and Sound of God. For people who experience these twin pillars of God, often through practicing the Spiritual Exercises of ECK, life becomes fresh and new again. As we unfold spiritually, we learn to express the love of God through service to others.
Sri Harold Klemp was born in Wisconsin and grew up on a small farm. He attended a two-room country schoolhouse before going to high school at a religious boarding school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After preministerial college in Milwaukee and Fort Wayne, Indiana, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. There he trained as a language specialist at Indiana University and a radio intercept operator at Goodfellow AFB, Texas. Then followed a two-year stint in Japan where he first encountered Eckankar. In October 1981, he became the spiritual leader of Eckankar, Religion of the Light and Sound of God. His full title is Sri Harold Klemp, the Mahanta, the Living ECK Master. As the Living ECK Master, Harold Klemp is responsible for the continued evolution of the Eckankar teachings. His mission is to help people find their way back to God in this life. Harold Klemp travels to ECK seminars in North America, Europe, and the South Pacific. He has also visited Africa and many countries throughout the world, meeting with spiritual seekers and giving inspirational talks. There are many videocassettes and audiocassettes of his public talks available. In his talks and writings, Harold Klemp’s sense of humor and practical approach to spirituality have helped many people around the world find truth in their lives and greater inner freedom, wisdom, and love. |
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