Richard Hollerman

As Christians, we are not to be “against” other religions. One may wonder since the above title does indicate a negative attitude against a religion (Christian is not a religion). Although many different “religions” may be in the world and the Christian may not endorse them, yet we want no one to think that the Christian (the true and Biblical Christian) is “against” any of them.

It is true that Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Mohammadism or Muhammadism (or Islam) as well as various other religions that wear the name of Christ, we don’t oppose them—any of them–per se. It is true that some of these religions do oppose Christianity (we think of communism, Nazism, Communism, etc.) as Christians we do not oppose these religions, although we are strongly opposed to the falsehood in them).

The same for Roman Catholicism, Orthodoxy (in its various expressions). or the several thousand different kinds of Protestantism. We know that there are various “cults” as they have been called (we refer to the Jesus Only groups or Oneness groups), the Mormons, the Moonies, the “Jehovah’s Witness” groups, the Adventists, the Christian Scientists, and others. They all are wrong and lost, but they are religions that God loves and wants to save them.

So when we say that we are “against” Catholicism or “against” Roman Catholicism, we know that people like the current “pope” from Argentina, in his upper 80s, is wrong, evil, and does lead many people astray, we want every Catholic to know that we don’t oppose Catholicism, even though the present expression of this false religion, is evil and liberal too, for we love these false religionists. My wife was a Catholic in her former days, but (of course), now she is not. She is simply a Christian and seeks to walk in the ways of Christ.

But Catholicism, as a religion, we do hate and abhor, for it has led multitudes to hell and had sought to lead people way from the ways of Christ. I know a couple former Catholics, but they are not right in God’s sight. One is a present Catholic and the other is a former Catholic.

So we have various thoughts regarding Catholicism. By the way “Catholic” means “universal” or “general.” Although this false church began in the 300s, 400s, or 500s, it was known as the Catholic Church in the beginning. We know that in several dozen ways it is not the same as the early ways of Christ, and the present Catholic Church is far different from what it may have been only 100 or 200 or 500 years ago, it is what we know as the Catholic Church today.

Regardless of the fact that it differs from the early assembly of Christ, we know it as the Catholic Church in our day. We know that 1.3 billion (or 1.4 or 1.5 billion) people now are devoted to this false church with false doctrine, we realize that these people are loyal to this church and we love them—not because they are loyal to Christ (for they are not)—but because of Jesus and what He has exemplified and commanded.

Thus, we oppose and are hostile to this way called Catholicism but we do this because of Christ Jesus.