Why The Ongoing Reformation Should Also Go Against Anti-Catholic Cults
It's easy to be too focused on Roman Catholicism without considering that every cult has its own set of rivals. Consider the history of religion when cults appear - rival cults also appear. Islam has been rivals with contemporary Judaism and Roman Catholicism. Roman Catholicism also has rivals in the form of anti-Catholic cults. Just because someone speaks against Rome doesn't mean they're automatically saved. Some of the most known critics of Rome like the Members of the Church of God International (MCGI), Seventh Day Adventists (SDA), Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC), Mormons, Christian Science, Charismatics, and the Jehovah's Witnesses but they all teach false plans of salvation. Some of these anti-Catholic cults even outright deny the Deity of Christ such as the INC and the Jehovah's Witnesses. The Mormons also have bizarre teachings that are hardly known by the public today such as Jesus being Satan's half-brother or that God the Father had sex with Mary, Jesus' earthly mother, to provide Jesus with a body. All these teachings are just as bizarre and false as Mary as a co-mediator and Peter as the first Pope.
I remembered there was this offer before from the Charismatics and SDA if they could team up with the Baptists. Although Baptists didn't emerge from John the Baptist they certainly came before the Reformation. Some Baptists tend to identify themselves as Protestants only because they protest against Rome while others don't identify themselves as such. In my case, I don't consider myself a Protestant while I embrace any Protestants as family members if they show signs of being truly born again. David W. Cloud of Way of Life Literature has embraced Calvinist Christians even when he flat-out rejects their Calvinism.
What's the big issue with anti-Catholic cults and why must the reformation go against them? Consider the stance of how many of them are run or have their so-called "last messengers". Mormonism declared Joseph Smith as the last messenger. INC declared Felix Manalo as the last messenger. SDA declare Ellen Gould White as the last messenger. The Jehovah's Witnesses or the Watchtower declare Charles Taze Russell as the last messenger. The MCGI or the Ang Dating Daan declares Eliseo Soriano as an anointed prophet. They all start having one new bizarre doctrine after the other. I even remembered having a discussion with an INC who pointed me out verses to justify their existence. As usual, the verses were taken straight out of context. Did Sola Scriptura cause this division? Not at all. Although Protestants may be divided by denominations and certain differences (such as some groups practice infant baptism alongside believer's baptism) they are still united spiritually in soteriology. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about the anti-Catholic cults. That's why I could say that there's such a thing as a Protestant Christian but not a Christian springing out from the anti-Catholic cults.
True, Roman Catholicism is no Christian church but then again so are the rival anti-Catholic cults. What do they have in common? They tend to make their own councils that tend to have a loose interpretation of the Scripture, focuses more on central councils than the Bible, adding faith to works, adding or subtracting when presenting doctrines regarding Christ, and they are built on several Bible plus manmade doctrine. I remembered discussing with a Mormon some time ago about Sola Scriptura and he admitted he rejects it. The same went for the INC. Roman Catholicism and its rivals may go against each other but they do have a lot of common heresies. I could still embrace Protestants who practice infant baptism because they don't teach it as a substitute to believer's baptism or cause it to have a person truly born again. However, vital doctrines such as soteriology and the Deity of Christ is where I draw the line between me and anti-Catholic cults as well as with Roman Catholicism.