From Blaming God To Finding Peace

Jeff Bennett: I struggled through life, didn’t really know where I needed to be, type of thing. That’s why I had my search. I didn’t exactly make the greatest decisions through life. And that was one thing I did, is saying I believed in God; He was a person that I blamed for everything, everything that was ever bad in my life, He was the fault. I felt if there was a really true God, my life would have been different than what it was. That was the one thing that changed really fast. 

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Jeff Bennett: My name is Jeff Bennett. I was born and raised in Michigan, in Trenton, Michigan, and spent most of my life in a little town called Maybee, Michigan. I came to Texas about 19 years ago. 

I actually started working when I was 12 years old, so responsibilities started coming in at a young age, full time when I was 17, first house when I was 17, that’s kind of where I’ve been, is taking care of myself and just trying to get through life. The way the family was we talked about, you know, believing in God, going to church, but it never was where I had the faith in God, because it wasn’t taught enough, really, in the church I had to belong to at the time as to where it gave me the real feeling in my heart. It was just something to do or something to say. I knew that wasn’t right. I needed much more. I just needed much more than what I had at the time. The different churches that I have attended over the years, it was like Jesus was God. There was just never anything serious or explained or whatever. And unfortunately, pretty much every place that I’ve attended, every man, every minister, had their twist on things and their thoughts. 

One of the things that I looked for over all the years was to find some place that would teach straight from the Bible, not twist anything, or not allow things to happen within the church that was against the Bible, because I’d studied the Bible enough to know what was right and what was wrong. That was the organized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. That was what I spent 30 years in. And I was actually a deacon in the church performing something that I had no idea what was real. To the time I was 30, I still attended the church because I felt like it was something I had to do because the family did. I didn’t have much of a teenage years. Once I got out of high school, I just, I basically worked and then went to church on Sunday, and that was basically it. 

From the time I was about 30 years old, I knew there needed to be something different. I knew I needed something in my life, but I kind of went through life without a whole lot of meaning or anything. I just basically worked and went home. It was later on in the years, probably about the last 15 years, probably is when I started looking. I’ve attended the Catholic church, Church of God, the Baptist Church. It wasn’t the experience that I was hoping it would be, but it was all stuff that led me to be here. 

A Feeling I Never Felt Before

Interviewer: How were you introduced to the Church of Christ? And when were you introduced to the Church of Christ?

Jeff Bennett: I was first introduced to it in October 2023. A friend introduced me to another person that was actually a life member of the Church, and I had my Bible, and we talked a lot about a lot of things, and this person sent me some videos of Brother Eduardo Manalo. And I think when I’ve seen those videos, it started raising more questions. All the stuff that I through my life, kind of wondered about, it was kind of giving me a direction to go to and some answers. You know, it intrigued me to want to be able to learn more. For one thing, I probably had the feeling when I walked in the chapel that was a pretty big thing. It gave me a feeling that I’d never felt any place before. I walked in and I was, I felt like I had an instant family. I’d never, ever in any church that I have ever gone to, including the one I grew up in, ever felt like I was family even for the 30 years I was there. 

Probably one of the first things I noticed is we’re very serious about learning God’s words. We’re there for one reason. We’re not there to be talking through our lesson or anything else like that. We’re there to be able to concentrate on what God’s words are. It is a Church that speaks God’s words, teaches God’s words, not twisted. I said I believed in God, but I didn’t have the faith. I didn’t feel it was real when I when I came here. I felt how real it was because I felt different inside– the way I thought, the way I felt. When I actually started in Fort Worth, we started our Bible studies pretty fast, and it’s the best thing that ever happened in my life. Feeling God’s presence, I almost feel like I’m completely engulfed. And I’ve never, ever in my life, felt that before.

Interviewer: What were your thoughts when you learned about the [Last] Messenger, Brother Felix Y. Manalo?

Jeff Bennett: He’s what the Bible talked about. It’s in the Bible, you can’t deny it. It’s as soon as you hear it, as soon as you see it, and with Brother Felix Manalo, it’s just, you can’t turn your head. It just makes you want to learn more and know more and I’m very thankful for him.

It Feels Good To Know The Truth

I actually, honestly, I didn’t ask a whole lot of questions. From the point where I’d actually studied the Bible to a point my resident minister did my Bible studies pretty much everything, and I took notes on everything too. Any question I would have had to ask was answered in my Bible studies. Just like about Jesus, understanding that he was a man of flesh and bone and that he wasn’t God. Everything was explained to where I knew what everything meant at that point, it was just all grouped together as just one thing. And that’s like I said prior to this, that’s pretty much how I thought. And it just feels good to know the truth.

I struggled through life. Didn’t really know where I needed to be, type of thing. That’s why I had my search. And, you know, I didn’t exactly make the greatest decisions through life, and that was one thing I did is saying I believed in God. He was a person that I blamed for everything. Everything that was ever bad in my life, He was the fault. I felt if there was a really true God, my life would have been different than what it was. That was the one thing that changed really fast. Just starting, coming here, and my feeling and what I had inside, what I had in my heart, what I had in my mind, was so good that it went from blaming God to being thankful for God. And then me just asking God to take me. I want Him to guide me. I want to be a part of serving Him. And that’s where I am at right now. With every time, it’s just the more involved I get with our Church, the stronger my feelings are. When I get into the chapel, I feel total peace because I know God is there.

I Wanted More

It’s just the most amazing thing in the world to be able to worship and know that God’s there. To believe in God, I was really enjoying the fact that I could be at Church and learn and do something good with my life. And in return, I try to serve, serve God, you know. And I have things in my life that are coming up, and here it is, making my life even better and bringing me closer to God.

This is the best thing that’s ever happened in my life, is being here. You can’t just say you believe in God. You can’t, you know, talk and talk and walk and walk type of thing. Our Church will bring you the feeling that you’ve never felt before. It changed me. It changed my heart.

You’re Happy

I wasted a lot of years trying to find something I didn’t think was there. And that’s kind of what made things so easy. Here is, once I came here, it was everything that I looked for. I’m 65 years old. I was 63 when I learned about our Church. I would like to spend a lot more years here, instead of driving through other places knowing they’re not right. I have had quite a few people ask me, what’s different about my life, because it’s made such a change in me that people have actually seen it. One of the crew chiefs where I work made a comment to me, like, you know, when she’s like, “What happened to you?” You know, what changed? Because you were like, really, really bitter with everything, you had a problem with everything. And it’s like, you’re happy. That was just, it was just my bitterness, because I knew that my life wasn’t where it needed to be. That was pretty much the change that God made in my life, is the fact, He brought me peace, He brought me love. He brought me happiness in Christ’s Church. But prayer is very, very important. Usually in most times that will calm me enough, and that’s where I get my peace at. It fixes everything.

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