WHAT REALMS & PORTALS CHRISTIANITY AND ECKANKAR HAVE IN COMMON

By Akin Ojumu

Once upon a time, a bright blinking line demarcated Christianity from mystic religions such as Eckankar. Even as a new, wet behind the ear, follower of Christ whose knowledge of Scripture was infantile, I knew that New Age sects such as Eckankar, Grail Message, Rosicrucian Order, etc., were all demonic organizations to be avoided like the bubonic plague.

Yet, a cursory look at the religious landscape of Nigeria today would reveal an alarming reality. The bright blinking line that separated Christianity from the New Age religious sects in Nigeria has been obliterated. Gone is the unmistakable distinction between Biblical Christianity and Mysticism. In a deadly syncretic mixture, the practices of the Christian Church and the rituals of Eckankar are now so co-mingled that it’s nearly impossible to tell which is which.

Many of the things that are done in the Church today and are highly regarded as deep spiritualism were the very things that we saw the ECKists and Grail Messengers do back in the day. Practices widely accepted and gleefully embraced in the Church, especially by folks belonging to the Realms & Portals franchise, actually trace their origin directly to Eckankar and Grail Message.

These days, people like Enoch Adeboye, David Oyedepo, Joshua Selman, Arome Osayi, Sola Fola-Alade, Lawrence Oyor, Jerry Eze, Edu Udechukwu, Joel Ogede and others openly and proudly promote divination, sorcery, witchcraft, interpreting omens, casting spells, consulting mediums, necromancy, levitation, astral travel, teleportation, translocation, beaming, shifting, warping, jaunting, and all sorts of out of body experiences, without any sort of condemnation and denunciation. 

There are many Christians today who consider those who engage in these New Age practices, which are abominations before God, as super-spiritual Christians with powerful anointing.

Deuteronomy 18:10-12

“There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.”

Take Eckankar as an example. When you examine the core beliefs and practices of ECKists, you’ll be surprised that they are eerily similar to what the apostles and prophets of the Realms & Portals Christianity teach their followers.

Here’s a look at a few of the shared beliefs between the adherents of Eckankar and the Realms & Portals Christians.

1) ECK Master, Apostles & Prophets

The leader of Eckankar is known as “the Living ECK Master” (LEM).

For the most part, Realms & Portal Christians are led by general overseers, apostles and prophets.

2) ECK & Holy Spirit

In Eckankar, ECK is another word for the Holy Spirit, or Life Force, which can be experienced as Light and Sound. It is also known as the Audible Life Stream. Soul can become one with this Life Current – with the Voice of God.

Realms & Portals Christians describe the Holy Spirit as Eternal Light. And the height of their spiritual experience is to hear the Voice of God.

3) Encounters & Experiences

Both ECK and the Realms & Portals Christians put high premium on personal spiritual experiences. To both groups, spiritual experiences are seen as the most natural way back to God.

For the ECKists, spiritual experiences, aka encounters, are attained via Soul Travel, i.e., shifting the awareness from the body to the inner planes of existence.

Likewise, spiritual encounters of the Realms & Portals Christians involve astral travels, levitation, teleportation, translocation, and out of body experiences.

4) Chants, Groanings, & Mantras

ECKists believe that chants or mantras are required to facilitate spiritual growth. One important spiritual exercise of Eckankar is the singing or chanting of HU for about thirty minutes, which is viewed in Eckankar as a “love song to God.”

Similarly, realms & Portals Christians sing chant and groan in tongues for hours, i.e., unintelligible gibberish. In their deluded minds, they are singing “worship song to God.”

ECKists sing their HU alone or in small groups.

While realms & portals Christians are known for chanting and groaning in groups, they also do so alone.

ECKists believe that singing HU draws one closer in state of consciousness to the Divine Being and that it can expand awareness, help one experience divine love, heal broken hearts, offer solace in times of grief, and bring peace and calm. Singing HU is a pathway to spiritual awakening.

Realms & Portals Christians believe chanting and groaning allow them to break through into the spiritual realms where they encounter God and begin to see, hear, and experience things that the ordinary Christian cannot see, hear, or experience. Chanting and groaning is a pathway to spiritual awakening.

ECKists believe the practice allows the practitioner to retreat from the overwhelming input of the physical senses and emotions and regain the Soul’s spiritually higher viewpoint.

Realms & Portal Christians believe that the practice enables them to break free from the constraints of the flesh and transcend into higher and greater dimensions of spiritual power.

5) Dreams, Visions, & Trances

To ECKists, dreams are regarded as important teaching tools, and members often keep dream journals to facilitate study.

In Realms and Portal Christianity, dreams, visions, and trances are portals to the spiritual realms. Many of them publish their dreams, visions, and trances in books and sell them for profit.

6) ECK & Angelic Encounters

ECKists believe that contact with a divine spirit, which they call the ECK, can be made via the spiritual exercises of ECK and the guidance of the LEM.

Realms & Portals Christians believe that encounter with spirit beings, called the Holy Spirit and angels, can be made via spiritual exercises such as praying in tongues to God for hours, especially between 12 midnight and 4am, and also by the laying on of hand of the heavily anointed apostles and prophets.

7) Sacred Writings

The Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad, which means “Way of the Eternal,” is the holy scripture of Eckankar.

Books written by fellow Christian Mystics such as Brother Lawrence (born as Nicolas Herman), Thomas à Kempis, Watchman Nee, E.W. Kenyon, Kenneth Hagins, John G. Lake, etc., are the holy grails of the Realms & Portal Christians. These are the sources from where they learn how to experience spiritual encounters.

8) Author of Your Own Destiny

ECKists believe that individuals are responsible for their destiny and that their decisions determine their future.

Realms & Portal Christians believe they determine the measure and dimension of the Holy Spirit at their disposal. By their actions or inactions, they can sustain or limit the presence of the Holy Spirit, respectively.

What we have listed here are just a few of the shared beliefs of these two pagan religious systems. There are many more things that ECKists share in common with Realms & Portals Christianity.

If you are reading this commentary, and you happen to believe and engage in any of the aforementioned abominable practices, you need to understand that you are an abomination before God. My advice to you is simple. Flee for your life before it is too late for you.

References: Wikipedia, Encylopedia Britannica.