After Darkness, Light

2 Corinthians 4:1-6 tells us that Satan blinds the eyes of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the Gospel. He wants to eclipse and to cover the light. That was certainly what he was doing in the Middle Ages. The Roman Catholic Church was corrupted in its doctrines, most of which remain intact today. So they are still corrupted in their doctrines, all of the essential things that the Protestant Reformation was about, Rome continues to maintain those false beliefs, and essentially their theology of salvation was in error. How can a sinner come to be right with a holy God? How is a person saved? They believed and still believe that saving grace comes through the sacraments. They will acknowledge they believe in salvation by grace, salvation by faith, salvation on account of Christ, but it's not grace alone, it's grace plus merit. It's not faith alone, it's faith plus works. And it's not Christ alone, it's Christ plus your own inherent righteousness and you get that righteousness infused to you as you go through the sacraments; as you participate in the very sacraments of the church, the sacrament of baptism, the initial sacrament that infuses righteousness, they believe, into the soul of the believer, and then is maintained through the sacrament of the Mass, the Lord's Supper, penance, all of the other aspects of Catholic doctrine.