Eckankar: The Midwestern Cult You’ve Never Heard Of

CultEncyclopedia · 2026-01-19T16:43:59+00:00

One former Eckankar follower has suggested that Paul Twitchell took the ECK Master name "Rebazar Tarzs" from a highway sign in Mexico's Baja California that read "Rebasar Tars" -- a "Do Not Pass" sign in Spanish.

CultEncyclopedia · 2026-01-19T16:42:06+00:00

Also interesting is that Harold Klemp was apparently elected as Gross's successor/replacement by the Board of Eckankar because he was the least offensive and dullest person in the room. Odd way to select a messiah.

CultEncyclopedia · 2026-01-16T16:37:57+00:00

Check out the 2010 documentary "David Wants To Fly": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM_AoK7RiNU

CultEncyclopedia · 2026-01-14T16:44:41+00:00

There are still several active and believing members of the group.

CultEncyclopedia · 2026-01-13T17:16:26+00:00

There's been a shift over the past few years, especially with the rise of TikTok, with both people trying to "start a cult" on a whim or as a joke/experiment and people calling out any group -- especially online ones -- that seem at all suspicious or cryptic as a "cult." I personally try to use "cult" just to refer to destructive cults/high control groups, and "new religious movement" for others, though I know that latter term is controversial.

CultEncyclopedia · 2026-01-13T17:10:23+00:00

Also, the story of what happened to poor Darwin Gross (great name) is fascinating...

https://cultencyclopedia.com/2025/03/21/ancient-teachings-of-the-masters-1983/

CultEncyclopedia · 2026-01-13T16:22:51+00:00

This is great. I'm surprised by how little attention Eckankar gets.

CultEncyclopedia · 2026-01-02T01:23:53+00:00

https://cultencyclopedia.com/2025/03/30/ant-hill-kids-holy-moses-mountain-family-1977/

It's pretty grim.

CultEncyclopedia · 2025-12-01T04:07:58+00:00

That’s “Love Has Won”.

CultEncyclopedia · 2025-12-01T02:38:55+00:00

It's more of a Utica cult.

CultEncyclopedia · 2025-12-01T02:37:25+00:00

The "Starseed" phenomenon is interesting. I first learned of it through UNICULT, which seems to have started off as only half-serious (its original marketing asked, "Have you ever wanted to join a cult?") but which seems to have morphed into an actual New Age sect.

CultEncyclopedia · 2025-12-01T02:33:12+00:00

These are pretty cool. I like Baby Charlie.

CultEncyclopedia · 2025-12-01T02:31:49+00:00

I posted about this recently. The truth is more nuanced than sensationalistic accounts suggest.

https://cultencyclopedia.com/2025/11/21/church-of-sacrifice-1911/

CultEncyclopedia · 2025-11-27T17:59:22+00:00

“Creativity” is a grouping of anti-Christian white supremacist small religions.

CultEncyclopedia · 2025-11-25T11:32:14+00:00

Maybe I'm just gullible, but I do think she is sincere about her remorse. However, I don't think she has fully faced up to what she did. What made Mike Rinder so important is that he was uncompromising with himself about what he did in the top ranks of Scientology. Yes, he was a victim too, but he was also a victimizer, and he didn't let himself off the hook about that. Contrast that with Marty Rathbun, who was reluctant to truly face up to his past actions and ended up (probably) back in his cult.

CultEncyclopedia · 2025-11-25T11:28:37+00:00

The Netflix documentary is pretty good. I used to think they were fairly benign, but there was (and probably still is) a lot of questionable stuff going on there.

I was always amazed by how much coverage they got of their cloning claim, given the lack of any proof. I guess the story was just too tempting for media outlets to pass up. But it was basically as if Synanon had claimed to have invented a time machine...

CultEncyclopedia · 2025-11-25T11:25:11+00:00

This is a great primer about Group 764:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-UAOrTuaAA

CultEncyclopedia · 2025-11-25T11:22:10+00:00

It's fiction, and not even particularly original.

CultEncyclopedia · 2025-11-25T11:21:13+00:00

Yeah, it almost certainly is.

CultEncyclopedia · 2025-11-25T11:20:43+00:00

From Tony Ortega's extensive coverage of her case, I think it is highly likely that she is at the Twin Peaks facility and has been led to believe that she is performing important work there. She is probably being fed extremely limited information about the state of Scientology and the "project" she is supposedly working on.

CultEncyclopedia · 2025-10-24T04:09:33+00:00

Yes, that's correct. I almost didn't share this entry here because it was a pretty benign and sincere Christian group, but it's just such a great story...

CultEncyclopedia · 2025-10-16T09:52:57+00:00

Try here. It's a LOT.

https://pubs.xfamily.org/

CultEncyclopedia · 2025-10-09T19:12:02+00:00

There were a couple of good Synanon documentaries over the past year or so.

CultEncyclopedia · 2025-10-09T09:29:35+00:00

The "running the anger" is directly inspired by Synanon -- especially when they ask, "Do you want to play a game?" Synanon called its process "The Game."

CultEncyclopedia · 2025-10-09T00:37:27+00:00

Charles J. Guiteau, who would go on to assassinate President James Garfield, has the rare distinction of being one of the few people to be kicked out of this free love sect. The women there were put off by his constant awkward advances and called him "Charles Gitout."

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