Cults and World Religions
The Rosicrucian Fellowship
One of the interesting changes from the 1985 edition of Kingdom of the Cults to the 1997 Edition is the elimination of this group. The question might be, why drop it? Or, why was it included in the first instance?
Martin calls the Rosicrucian Fellowship one of the most mystically inclined religious groups in the world. He does not classify the Fellowship as a cult but rather includes it in his appendix. 218 He sees the literature of the group as being a mix of symbolism, anthropology, transmigration (reincarnation cycle), and spiritism. We include the Fellowship in our study as it represents one of the links between spiritism, Eastern Religions, and the occult.
History
This is an ancient cult or group dating some 600 years in the past. It mixes pagan mythology with Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism. The cults mixes all of the “truth” of these religions in an effort to create a master system of beliefs.
Christianus Rosenkreutz (1378-1484) became opposed to the teachings of the Christian Church. He claimed that he was a revealer of the mysteries of the truth, especially the mysteries of the rose cross. The cult arose at a time when secret occult societies flourished. Its life was continued when others died, because of a “blessing” from Freemasonry, another secret society. The Masons not only pronounced Rosicrucianism genuine, the Masons borrowed usages and customs from the Fellowship.
The letters AMORC are the identifying mark of the Fellowship. The group denies it is a religion. Rather, it is a brotherhood which attempts to help mankind master its destiny. The best estimates of its modern size places the number of followers at under 100,000.
Beliefs
Seven is the symbolic number of the Fellowship. Man progresses through seven steps of growth to become perfect. There exist seven worlds with seven divisions, all governed by a Universal Spirit. Everything is unified under this system.
To the Rosicrucian, the Cross becomes the symbol of evolution – man’s past, present, and future merging together.
Jesus manifested Himself to assist man in this evolution.
God is an impersonal being, composed of seven spirits, with the Universal Spirit at the top. Or, more properly, the seven spirits together comprise the Universal Spirit.
Man has undergone various epics or stages of development on earth. The Rosicrucians believe in the mythical lost continent of Atlantis. The Caucasians of today come from this ancestors of this continent.
Man is evolving into a divine person, already being a demi-god. It is this evolution which will allow mankind to ultimately become the universal brotherhood of man.
In Perspective
Why touch upon this group? Remember that this cult is 600 years old. While we think of the ideas of New Age as being new, many of the New Age ideas find their life in Rosicrucianism. And, this cult is nothing more than spiritism and the occult combined with other religions! Although we have not yet gotten to our materials on New Age, the thing to remember is that there is nothing new about the foundations of New Age.
Footnote:
218. Walter Martin, The Kingdom of the Cults, Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers,
1965, 1977, 1985, 507. Martin’s inclusion of this group in the appendix suggests his view that
this is a world religion, not a Christian cult, but clearly one which influences the cults.
