I need some assistance ASAP, please.

[Sword of the Lord]

I had been considering Catholicism for quite awhile, and so two or three weeks ago I renounced my Lutheran (LCMS) faith, spoke with a Catholic Priest, and got the ball rolling towards joining the Catholic Church and attended Mass several times. However, my convictions are cutting me deep and they're impossible to ignore. I'm also having faith based nightmares in which it is clear to me that I'm doing the wrong thing.

I wouldn't feel right by simply seating myself in the pews alongside my brothers and sisters in my Lutheran Church and approaching the Lord's Table and accepting His Body and Blood without another word said. So what should I do? What do I need to do? What must I do?

 

[filosofer]

Greetings.

The best advice is to speak with the LCMS pastor of the church where you had been. Explain in detail what you have been struggling with and now your concerns about leaving. He should be understanding, compassionate and willing to work with you.

At least that is how I would approach your situation, if I were you were your pastor (and I am a pastor).

 

[Kotton]

I tried to go from Lutheran LCMS to Catholic. I found quiet a bit of beauty in the Catholic church and very little problem in the actual worship service.
My problems came first from a little booklet in the narthex about the angels moving Mary's physical house from place to place. Then we had Guadalupe Sunday. Nothing really except a picture of this apparition leaning against the altar of the Church. Curious I began to study this on the internet and found this apparition's words were all directed to herself. She claimed to be Mary, but never directed any attention to God/Jesus. She calls for a church to be built in her honor. She promises to care for the people. In my Lutheran mind their was no way this could actually be Jesus' mother Mary who if sent back to earth would tell of Jesus life, death and resurrection, not glorify herself as this thing did. I read more and found the RC basically accepts this apparition as perfectly OK and has dedicated the Americas to her.
. My problem increased as I read some of the Marian doctrines from the doctors of the Roman Catholic Church. My problems increased as I read some Marian prayers and read the Catholic Encyclopedia at my local library. I read more about other appearances of Mary and Jesus in foreign lands that did not promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ but promoted Mary instead.
The biggest problem was that in my mind these things were wrong, heresy and the Magistariam/Vatican did absolutely nothing to correct or stop these cultic practices It is almost as if they add a paragraph or two to the creeds.
"and we believe in the holy sinless and ever Virgin Mary who merited to be the Mother of God and our Mother. Mary with God created her son Jesus Christ and approved of his brutal death for She loved her Children the Church. Mary with Jesus suffered in this world and Mary almost died along with her Son at the cross. This wondrous Mary who now provides for us Grace and Mercy from her maternal heart. Mary who now intercedes for us to a God who as her son can not say no to her. And I believe that Mary will prevail in the end and bring peace to her children the Church. The only way to Jesus is through his mother Mary, and the only way for his grace to reach us is through her. Mary will ultimately crush the head of the serpent and will reign as the queen of the universe with her son".
It was these extreme Marian doctrines, seemingly uncontested and instead embraced, that lead me out of the RC church and back to the LCMS. They claim they do not worship Mary as they do God, but many of the prayers, a song or two, and approved and unapproved apparitions certainly seem to advocate worship due only to God.
I think many RCs are going to heaven as they trust in Jesus as their savior. However I think some are trusting in someone else.