Whether it is in Nigeria or elsewhere in the world, Eckankar is still Eckankar.
I joined Eckankar in1968 on my own when I was 17 and am still a grateful member of Eckankar today. I have met Sri Paul Twitchell and also personally known many individuals like Tom Flamma, Frederick Foos and many many other chelas from the early days of Eck. I have volunteered upon occasion without any pressure at all from Eckankar or local Eck leaders. To this day, I have not found anything that can equal the “sacred” teachings of Eck or the “personal inner guidance” of the various Eck Masters who have proven themselves to be “real and helpful” at every turn. Indeed, I know Eckists who received guidance from these same inner Masters long before encountering the outer teachings of Eck in 1965 or afterwards. As for myself and my immediate family members, our past life memories have not dimmed and the guidance of these Eck Masters in other lives is known personally to us, and not through speculation or mere belief. This includes the physical appearance of Yaubl Sacabi for a couple days to my whole family at a crucial time when my mother was deceased. He quietly gave us love and support and it was only a day afterwards that we realized his true identity after he had gone.
NEVER have I felt fear, guilt, cult tactics, financial manipulation or anything of the like while being an Eckists these past 43 years as an Eckist. Time after time, I have received ONLY benefits with life problems concerning survival, deceased relatives and friends as an act of kindness and concern by these same Eck Masters, right on up to the present Living Eck Master, Sri Harold Klemp. Well do I also remember the grace given to my father by the inner Master Wah Z at his hour of passing from this life.
As for one of the previous comment makers… I remember him, and I also remember the personal problems he had that had nothing to do with Eckankar that made his life unnecessarily challenging. But that was not the fault of Eckankar… since we each must hold personal responsibility for what we do and what we do not do in this life. To the Eck Masters and Eckankar… I can only say thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the blessings showered upon my family all these many years.
Eckists are not God fearing, but God loving and allow others the freedom to believe in whatever religion or spiritual belief system that they choose to believe in.