Here's an article I found from a 1963 Watchtower.
Rosicrucianism—Compatible with Christianity?
“YOU can control your fate! Only one power controls your destiny, a strange force sleeping in your mind. Awake it! Command it to obey you! Push obstacles aside and attain your fondest hopes and ideals. Let the Rosicrucians show you how this can be done.” Thus began a full-page advertisement that appeared in the professional magazine, The Writer, October, 1962.Such claims as these have caused people to ask, What is behind Rosicrucianism? What are its origin and history? What are its teachings and goals? Is it compatible with Christianity?“Rosicrucian” comes from two Latin words, rosa and crux, which mean “rose” and “cross.” The symbol of Rosicrucianism is that of a red rose in the center of a cross. There are various groups that claim to be Rosicrucian, the above claims being made by Amorc, one of the three better-known groups in the United States. Its name Amorc stands for Ancient Mystic Order Rosae Crucis. It carries on a large correspondence educational campaign, has local chapters in different parts of the world as well as a headquarters “university” at San Jose, California. Amorc as such goes back about fifty years.1 Although many authorities deal with Rosicrucianism as though there were no other form of it, the facts are that others take strong exception to the claims, teachings and methods of Amorc.2 However, since most persons ask about Rosicrucianism because of Amorc’s advertising, it will be included in our consideration of Rosicrucianism.As for the history of Rosicrucianism, there may be said to be two origins, one factual and historical, the other traditional and legendary. Historically, Rosicrucianism goes back to the early seventeenth century, when one of Europe’s leading scholars, Johann V. Andrea, published anonymously the Fama Fraternitatis, a book directed to the rulers of Europe and making a bid for political, social and religious reform.3 This work contained the legend of one Christian Rosenkreuz, or Rose Cross, from which Rosicrucianism got its name. He was a monk who was supposed to have visited India, Persia and Arabia and brought back with him the secret wisdom of the sages of those lands. It created quite a stir at the time and its ideas were taken up by various ones, thus continuing down to the present day what might be termed, in a very loose way, the Rosicrucian movement.4As for traditional or legendary Rosicrucianism, it is said to go back to the Great White Brotherhood of Egypt in 1500 B.C., was supposedly brought to Palestine by Solomon, to Italy by Pythagoras, and so forth. It includes Essenism, recognizes the role played by Christian Rosenkreuz, and traces its United States origins to the year 1694.5, 6Historical Rosicrucianism originally may be said to have had a strong Protestant flavor and appears to have been an effort to combine Christian and pagan teachings, science and religion, astrology and philosophy, medicine and occultism, love of knowledge with love of man. Says one authority: “The Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians is a body of esoteric teachings, handed down for ages by wise men deeply versed in the esoteric doctrines and occult lore. This wisdom originally came by way of the Orient, and in fact, even today comprises part of the Inner Teachings of some of the highest Oriental Brotherhoods . . . We must ‘Look to the East, whence comes all light.’”7For centuries alchemy, the attempted transmuting of baser metals to gold, appears to have been one of the chief preoccupations of the devotees of Rosicrucianism, although its modern spokesmen insist that a spiritual alchemy was meant, the refining of the “character” of the individual.8 According to Amorc, Rosicrucianism is “an international fraternity. Members . . . study the mysteries and scientific laws of the world . . . Present-day Rosicrucians believe that the inner soul of man can help him to master the problems of daily life.”9Is Rosicrucianism compatible with Christianity? According to Amorc, which claims to be nonreligious, it is. They say: “Orthodox Christians of the most devout kind can consistently belong to the Rosicrucian Order, just as a devout Christian might study law or music, art or chemistry without compromising his position in the Christian Church.”10 Others speak of themselves as “Rosicrucian Christianity.”11ITS CHIEF TEACHINGSince it is thus claimed that Rosicrucianism is either Christian or compatible with Christianity, it should be compatible with the Bible, for of it the Founder of Christianity stated: “Your word is truth.” And the apostle Paul wrote: “All Scripture is inspired of God and” able to equip completely the man of God for “every good work.”—John 17:17; 2 Tim. 3:16, 17.Among the most basic teachings of Rosicrucianism are reincarnation and its correlative, the immortality of the soul. “The Rosicrucians hold as a very important part of their teaching, the occult doctrine of Metempsychosis, Reincarnation or Transmigration of Souls, the essence of which doctrine is the survival of the individual soul after it passes from the physical body in death, and its reimbodiment in a physical body by a rebirth after a sojourn in the resting place of the souls.”12 And says Lewis of Amorc, “We discover in reincarnation and Karma the only rational and acceptable explanation and cause of the seeming injustice of the inequalities of life . . . The laws of Reincarnation alone make understandable and acceptable the conditions and experiences of our lives . . . Each personality came into existence ‘in the beginning of all creation,’ and has always existed and will exist into eternity.”13Proof is claimed for reincarnation in the impressions and notions that people at times have of having experienced certain things before or having lived at some other time, in that heredity cannot account for all differences in personalities and in the existence of child prodigies, such as Mozart. The various groups of Rosicrucians, however, have their own details as to how long the soul may hover close to the body after death, the stages of transition and the length of time between rebirths. According to Amorc, Jesus Christ was the only one ever to complete the reincarnation and be united with God.14What about these teachings of the immortality of the human soul and reincarnation? Are they compatible with Bible-based Christianity? No, they are not! How can they be when the Bible plainly tells us that Jesus “poured out his soul to the very death,” that “the soul that is sinning—it itself will die,” that when man “goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish,” and that in Sheol, or the abode of the dead, “there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom”?—Isa. 53:12; Ezek. 18:20; Ps. 146:4; Eccl. 9:10.Were reincarnation true, there could be no resurrection, for no one would be dead, but all in a state of “transition.” But Jesus Christ plainly told us: “Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out.” As for the so-called proofs of reincarnation, if everyone on earth lived before, then why only the rare exception when persons seem to remember having lived before, and why does only one in hundreds of millions turn out to be a prodigy such as Mozart if every last one of the human race is a reincarnation? No, such circumstantial evidence is all too strained, too tenuous, too slender a thread on which to tie the reincarnation teaching, even if it did not contradict the Bible!—John 5:28, 29.CHRISTIANITY UNIQUE AND EXCLUSIVEThat Rosicrucianism is not compatible with Christianity can also be seen from the fact that Christianity claims to be unique and exclusive. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world,” and, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Of himself and his followers he further stated: “They are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world.” Christians are told that there can be no sharing, no fellowship, no harmony, no agreement between them and other religions.—John 8:12; 14:6; 17:16; 2 Cor. 6:14-16.But Rosicrucianism does not agree with these Christian principles, for we are told that Christian Rosenkreuz “founded the mysterious order of Rosicrucianism with the object of throwing occult light upon the misunderstood Christian religion.”15 It is also claimed that Amenhotep IV, upon whom many Rosicrucians look as “their traditional first Grand Master,” and “known as the heretic king, . . . abolished the polytheistic religions of the time to advance in their stead the world’s first doctrine of monotheism.”16—1375-58 B.C.But not so. Monotheism was the form of worship practiced by Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob long before Amenhotep IV ever came upon the scene. And in 1513 B.C. Jehovah God by means of Moses instituted a complete system of worship with the nation of Israel, the distinguishing feature of which was the monotheistic worship of the one true God Jehovah. Supporting the Scriptural position in this matter are such late or recent works as Man, God and Magic, by Ivar Lissner, which develops the theme that ‘man’s original concept of God was monotheistic.’—Ex. 20:1-7.Rosicrucianism further claims that Moses received his wisdom from Egypt and that Jesus in his infancy went to Egypt not only for protection but also to receive education and training.17 But if this is so, why do neither the writings of Moses nor the Gospels contain anything about the mysteries of the Egyptian White Brotherhood? Much store is also put in the Book of Jasher18 and the Great Pyramid of Egypt,19 but neither Jesus nor his apostles made any reference to either. They stressed the need of going to God’s Word and showed that it was all we need to guide us on life’s pathway.Rosicrucianism, by mixing worldly wisdom with Bible teachings, claims “to explain the mystery of life and Being from the scientific standpoint in harmony with religion.”15 But according to God’s Word, divine wisdom and worldly wisdom cannot be mixed: “It is written: ‘I will make the wisdom of the wise men perish, and the intelligence of the intellectual men I will shove aside.’ Where is the [worldly] wise man? Where the scribe? Where the debater of this system of things? Did not God make the wisdom of the world foolish? For . . . the world through its wisdom did not get to know God.”—1 Cor. 1:19-21.OTHER WEAKNESSESAmong the other weaknesses that must be charged to Rosicrucianism is its divisiveness. Rosicrucianism is as badly divided as is Christendom, in view of its size. Thus one group stresses astrology as though it were the chief teaching of Rosicrucianism,20 whereas another insists that it has absolutely nothing to do with astrology.21 One “authority” scruples against the term “metempsychosis,” and others use it interchangeably with reincarnation.The historicity of Rosicrucianism leaves much to be desired. It is not at all as clear as many of its devotees would have us believe, nor made so clear in what may well be the most comprehensive discussion of Rosicrucianism, at least in the English language, namely, The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross.Still another weakness of at least certain branches of Rosicrucianism is their inconsistencies. This is especially true of Amorc Rosicrucianism, quite likely due to its trying to appeal to as many as possible to take its courses by mail. Thus, on the one hand, it is said that “reincarnation alone makes understandable and acceptable the conditions and experiences of our lives,”13 and, on the other hand, it is said that “whether the doctrine of reincarnation is true or not, is of no importance to the student of the practical teachings of Rosicrucianism.”22Further, it is stated that Amorc Rosicrucianism is not at all a religion; yet what is reincarnation, the basic tenet, if not a religious belief? Then again, it is claimed that there is nothing in Rosicrucianism to make a Jew or Mohammedan unhappy,23 yet it is claimed that science and mysticism “disclose only one known incident of perfect development of any Ego, whereby the need for further incarnations on earth was brought to an end. This is in the case of Jesus the Christ, who . . . having attained Christhood through the highest perfection and pureness of consciousness, ascended into heaven and there was absorbed into the consciousness of God and there the Ego of Jesus became one of the Divine elements of the Godhead.”24 Would Jew and Moslem agree with that?Also, the prospect is held out to the inquirer that he can get all this information without too much time and effort, merely an hour or an hour and a half a week, and that no higher education is required.25 But when he checks deeper into this Amorc Rosicrucianism, he finds that what is vital is a “psychic idiosyncracy,” and “that the student who enters upon the study of the science in this life for the first time cannot expect to become an exponent of the technique in the same life.”26NOT COMPATIBLETruly, Rosicrucianism is not compatible with Christianity. Whereas Christianity is most exclusive, Rosicrucianism is one of the most eclectic movements, teachings or fraternal organizations on earth, for it has borrowed and appropriated to itself from the widest variety of beliefs and practices. Among its various groups are those that stress Egyptian origin and yet quote liberally from the Bible; that borrow from both the mysticism of the Jewish cabala and the nirvana of Buddhism; that claim relationship with the wisdom of the Greeks and with the alchemists of the Middle Ages; that claim to be very scientific and yet hold ever so many things that cannot be demonstrated historically or scientifically; that appropriate to themselves theosophical works as well as the teachings of yogi.2 It may be said to be an extreme attempt to absorb all the wisdom of this world, at the same time coloring it with the Bible.Rosicrucianism places particular emphasis on, “Man, know thyself.” Obviously it is man-oriented and therefore most incompatible with Bible-based Christianity, which is God-oriented and which counsels: “This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.” Denying the existence of Satan and his demons, Rosicrucianism has been overreached by them. So it is indeed a case of choosing between eclectic Rosicrucianism and exclusive, Bible-based Christianity. The two are not compatible in any sense of the word.—John 17:3; 2 Cor. 4:4.
REFERENCES 1 Rosicrucian Questions and Answers—Lewis, p. 171. 2 Not Under the Rosy Cross—Clymer. 3 The Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th Edition, Vol. 23, p. 737. 4 The Encyclopedia Americana, Vol. 23, p 701. 5 The Mysteries of Osiris—Clymer. 6 American People’s Encyclopedia, Vol. 16, p. 948. 7 The Secret Doctrines of the Rosicrucians—C. E. Brooksmith, p. 12. 8 Rosicrucian Questions and Answers—Lewis, p. 229. 9 World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 15, p. 443.10 Rosicrucian Questions and Answers—Lewis, p. 263.11 Rosicrucian Christianity—Max Heindel, Lecture No. 4.12 The Secret Doctrines of the Rosicrucians—C. E. Brooksmith, p. 165.13 Mansions of the Soul—Lewis, pp. 104-107.14 Ibid., p. 199.15 The Rosicrucian Fellowship, February, 1963, p. 88.16 Who and What Are the Rosicrucians?—Amorc, p. 8.17 The Mysteries of Osiris—Clymer, pp. 115, 175.18 The Book of Jasher—Amorc Edition.19 The Symbolic Prophecy of the Great Pyramid—Lewis.20 The Rosicrucian Fellowship, February 1963, pp. 67, 90.21 Rosicrucian Questions and Answers—Lewis, p. 225.22 Ibid., p. 267.23 Ibid., p. 261.24 Mansions of the Soul—Lewis, p. 199.25 The Mastery of Life—Amorc, p. 23.26 The Technique of the Master—Andrea, p. 28.
