Confessions of a God Seeker Author Proves the Eckankar Lie

The following is an excerpt from a letter written to Harold Klemp from Ford Johnson, author of Confessions of a God Seeker, who discovered that Eckankar is a hoax and a fraud. You can read more on this website: http://www.thetruth-seeker.com/openletter.asp

"...the real story behind Eckankar was different from what is the common belief among Eckists. I was shocked to learn that Eckankar had no ancient lineage whatsoever. Indeed, how could anyone have known that even Gail Twitchell, Paul’s wife and the co-founder of Eckankar, had declared some years earlier, that Eckankar was a fraud and that “Paul had simply made up the whole Eckankar thing?” A startling admission, but one that explains why she has had nothing to do with Eckankar since. How could anyone have known that Paul literally invented an entire “line of masters” and gave them a history that came to life in his imagination and his writings? Fueled by our belief and our imaginations we projected them into existence and they became real to us in our inner and outer lives just as children have inner and outer experiences with Santa Clause and as Jesus appears to Christians. And, how could Eckists have known that even the position, title and concept of Mahanta was part of what Gail Twitchell meant when she said, “Paul made up the whole Eckankar thing?” And, virtually no one knows that you acknowledged as much in court documents during the Darwin Gross v. Eckankar legal battles. Through your lawyers, you admitted that Eckankar "was not used to describe any religious doctrines [the Mahanta, a necessary inclusion] until the mid-1960's when it was coined, adopted and first used by Paul Twitchell "; far from the ancient teaching that the Shariyat and other Eckankar books proclaim.

"When I first read Gail‘s statements, I was astounded. I was not prepared to believe what she had said nor could I then fully understand the ramifications of her statements. That is why I sought independent verification of her assertions. But, the deeper I dug into the history of Eckankar — what Paul did and how he did it — the more I uncovered. My discoveries were beyond shocking, beyond anything I could ever have imagined. Unfortunately, Gail was correct in her claims, for the evidence presented in Confessions points to no other conclusion. I would not have believed the extent of Paul’s fabrication and lying if I had not spent more than one year untangling the web of distortions with which he surrounded the spiritual truths that Eckankar also contains.

"Confessions [of a God Seeker] documents how and when Paul invented the concept of the Mahanta and where he got the term. It shows the four techniques he used to create the names and histories of many of his Eck Masters and the source from which he plagiarized or created his writings on the Hu, the blue light of the Mahanta and other parts of Eckankar’s doctrine. The book also reveals how Paul injected dire warning and “curses” into the teaching, describing what would befall anyone who left Eckankar or challenged the Mahanta, even though he openly admitted that this was just a tactic used by spiritual leaders to keep their followers in line. He wrote:

"The oldest technique of keeping the loyalty of the chela …is with fear. These threats are very common. They usually go like this: “If you leave me you will get caught in the astral and won’t get out.“

Having warned us of what to look out for and that this was a technique of “those masters on the lower planes…” Paul injected the following warning in his own writings:

"Within the Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad is found the quotation, “He who leaves the path of ECK, or refuses to follow it, shall dwell in the astral hells until the Master takes mercy upon him and brings him upon the path again.”

"Confessions illustrates how Paul repeats this pattern over and over again. He warns us of what to look out for, thus gaining our confidence, then springs the same device on the unsuspecting reader. The detrimental effects of these obviously manipulative “curses” on vulnerable and unwary Eckists can be found all over the Internet. Paul engendered mystical trust and devotion in his followers while surrounding the boundaries of Eckankar with subtle — and not so subtle — threats. This explains, in part, the almost magical spell — and often fear—that seems to permeate the Eckankar community. For, Eckists are totally convinced — as was I — of the truth, integrity and benign quality of Paul Twitchell’s writings and of Eckankar’s doctrine..."