In Search of Christ
Dennis Stanley | What is Jesus Doing Now?

When it comes to Jesus Christ, there is one thing that moves me beyond description. It is a question. I first asked this question when I was relaxing by a pool at a hotel during my many travels. I and the business traveler relaxing next to me, who was a stranger to me, struck up a conversation about Jesus. Our conversation wound itself around to His resurrection the remarkable expression of His godly abilities by taking up his own lifeless body and living again. I asked my traveling friend a question that has since changed every aspect of my life. I did not receive an answer from the traveler, and I would not arrive at the answer immeidately. I had to search for the answer. But the question itself, and my search for the answer, alters my life, even to this day. It changes how I live, how I think about my family and my own purpose in life, and how I worship. The question was:

If Jesus took up his own body and is now alive, where is He and what is He doing?

I have always been taught that Jesus came to earth, took a body, and then lived a life that would show us the better way to live and how to obtain life eternal. I have read the many accounts in the New Testament of how He taught the people and healed the sick and afflicted. What I have read indicates that He was scoffed, scored and ultimately rejected by his own beloved people, the Jews. The scriptures also point out that He suffered for our sins in the garden and was then raised upon the cross to die for us – to die for me! When I consider these things, I am left with one dominate feeling - Jesus must have loved me and cared for me a great deal. And not just me but all mankind of every shape, size, personality, and color. And thus, I ask, if He loved me (us) enough to do that, what is He doing now?” Has he gone back to heaven and left me to my own devices? I have the bible and His teachings but what is He really interested in me now? Or, has he gone onto to something else, leaving me to manage for myself? I don’t think so. The remarkable truth is that Jesus lives. And he is as interested in you and me at this very moment as he ever was, including when He was on the earth. And He works feverishly to save us and to help us. I’ve come to understand that He knows each one of us individually and the potential He sees in us remains undimmed, regardless of our individual frailties and weaknesses. If that is true, and I know that it is, how then do we get to know Christ? I mean really know him as we do the loved ones that surround us. Rather than think of him as a distal, unknowable, mysterious God, I have found that He can be brought close to us, that He is knowable, and that we can have a relationship with Him, even as a close friend. This site, containing mine and other’s comments and testimonies, is dedicated to knowing Jesus on a profoundly deeper level. It is about knowing Christ, not just knowing about Him.
Yes, I am a Mormon.

If you don’t know, the term Mormon is not actually what I like to be called. Of course, I am not offended when I’m referred to as a Mormon, not even in the slightest. But, more accurately, I like to say I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is important to me because first and foremost, I believe in Jesus Christ with all my heart. I believe He is the Savior of all mankind. I even believe He died for me, although I’m still trying to make sense of why He was willing to do that, but I learn a little more every day. I know, logically, why we all needed a redeemer, but when it comes to someone sacrificing himself for me, I still cannot fathom the love he must feel to do such a thing. My lack of understanding of the personal motivation of Jesus does not change my desire to follow Him, but I am continually amazed at the depth of love someone must feel to sacrifice themselves for another. So, yes. I’m a Mormon. And I believe in Jesus Christ. And though I work everyday to emulate Him by modifying my behavior and doing my best to love others, I continually fall short and I need His grace, which is His unexplainable desire to love me and forgive me even though I am a weak and simple nothing of the earth. I’ve come to believe that I (and everyone) am important to Him. I cannot comprehend why, but I just go with it. I accept it. I’ve learned to embrace the truth and doing so helps me to feel a remarkable amount of peace.
Christ in Other Cultures
Dennis' experience with the Japanese and Jesus Christ?


I lived in Japan for 2 years. I was there primarily to teach others about Jesus Christ. But, I also interacted with the Japanese people on a cultural basis, taught English classes, and learned how fold the language and culture in to my very soul. Let me just say, I love the Japanese and I couldn’t shake the feeling that my personality was more Japanese than anything else. What I mean by that is that they expressed themselves in the way I natively felt and had always wanted to express myself.

Certainly, while I was there, I learned much about their religious culture. Most where Buddhists, some Shinto, and others from a variety of religious cultures. One thing that I believe firmly is that regardless of culture, there are those all over the world who are deeply inspired of God. Buddah, Confusious, Plato, Socretes are among these. I have also come to believe that Jesus Christ transcends and specific earthly culture and is pertinent to everyone one the earth.

I remember teaching one 90-year-old grandma, Mrs Sugiuda, about Jesus Christ for the first time. After a few minutes of talking about Jesus, I noticed that a tear of two was running down of the folds in her elderly face. I stopped the discussion and asked what she was feeling. She explained that when she was eight years old, her school instructors taught the class that Jesus Christ was a wise man. She said that whenever they talked about Jesus Christ in school, she always felt a ‘warm feeling’ inside her, as she described it. And then she told us that as I was speaking of Christ, these 82 years later, that she was feeling that same warm feeling. Mrs. Sugiduda continued to learn of Jesus Christ and was baptized. It does not matter what culture, what color, what background, or what biases one has.

I have come to believe that people all over the world can sense the truth when they learn more about Jesus Christ. And, I also now believe that the most powerful source of peace comes into our live when we follow Him, try to be like him in small ways, and to worship Him.
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Copyright Dennis Stanley. All rights reserved. Copyright 2021