John D. Rockefeller

For his eighth birthday, Johnny’s mother gave him the absolutely best present he could ever have imagined. She gave him a hen—his very own pedigree hen with bright eyes and untold generations of potential. For many nights afterward, Johnny was unable to sleep. He tossed and turned while visions of successful chicken farming filled his young and active mind. Johnny couldn’t help but wonder how many chicks the hen would have and how much money he would make from her first clutch.


Over the next few months, Johnny took good care of his hen and cleaned her roost faithfully. He was diligent to watch for signs of foxes and snakes and repaired the chicken coop whenever he found anything that might cause harm. He even caught fat and juicy grasshoppers to supplement the feed he scattered twice a day and made sure she always had fresh, clean water.



Eventually, his little hen began to lay her eggs. Johnny bounced with impatience and hovered anxiously while he counted the days until the emergence of the fluffy little cheepers. Much to his delight, five noisy, healthy chicks were soon snuggled beneath his hen’s protective wings.



Oh boy, I’m going to be the richest kid in the whole county, Johnny thought to himself while he calculated his profits. If I sell them for 20 cents each, I’ll have a whole dollar. That was an enormous amount of money for a young boy to hope for in the mid 1800s.



When the five chicks were old enough, young Johnny loaded the chickens into a crate and set off to seek a buyer. After presenting the virtues and benefits of his stock to several local farmers, Johnny was thrilled when a neighbor agreed to buy all five. Johnny closed the deal with a handshake and shoved the dollar down into his pocket as deep as possible.



His money securely tucked away, the young entrepreneur sprinted excitedly down the long dusty lane and ran all the way home. He was rich! He could buy anything! A kaleidoscope of fantasies swirled through his head as his feet pounded the old dirt road. There were so many things he could buy with his first dollar—toys, candies, ice cream, nothing was out of his reach now. His mom was going to be so proud that her son was now a rich young man.



Johnny was breathing hard from excitement and exertion as he burst into the kitchen. “Ma, you won’t believe it. I sold all five of my chicks. I must be the richest kid in the whole county. Can you believe it Ma?”



She shook his hand like an adult and grinned back at him. “I believe it Son; you can do anything you set your mind to. You’re a smart kid. And you worked hard for this.”



Johnny’s mom was proud of Johnny, but in the midst of the celebration, she realized that this was a golden opportunity to teach Johnny a valuable teaching about stewardship. This teaching would stay vivid in Johnny’s memory for the remainder of his life.



“There is one thing I need you to realize though.”



“What is it Ma?” asked Johnny.



“Well son, not all of that money is yours.”



Dumbfounded and a bit angry Johnny looked at her, “But Ma, it is mine. I worked hard for it, how can it not be mine?”



“The Bible says that our money belongs to God. All money belongs to God. He gave you the strength and health to make your first dollar, now, He asks that you comply with His word and return ten percent to him.”



“But that’s a whole dime Mom! That’s far too much.” The fledgling business man began to negotiate. “Can I just give Him a penny?”



“Now Son, I guarantee you that if you fulfill your obligation with God, you’ll never regret it.” Mom brought their well-used Bible to the table and turned to the book of Malachi and began to read from chapter three at verse six through verse twelve.



"I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty.



"But you ask, 'How are we to return?'



"Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.



"But you ask, 'How do we rob you?'



"In tithes and offerings.



“You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.



“Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.



“I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty.



"Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.



Johnny thought about these words for a minute. “I guess you’re right Ma. After all I’ll still be the richest kid in the county.”



Johnny continued to raise healthy premium chicks and faithfully gave ten percent from each sale to the local Baptist church. In time, he became a prosperous young man and realized that his Mom was right: he never had cause to regret returning ten percent of all income to God.



In 1855, John D. Rockefeller turned sixteen and he found a job as bookkeeper for a local wholesale firm. As always, John demonstrated an excellent work ethic and strove to maintain that the books were accurate and up to date. His work day typically began at 6:30 a.m. and the young man didn’t leave most days until 10 p.m. He did not mind the hard work, and maintained his high standards, even though his wages totaled a meager $4.00 a week. His bosses, Hewitt and Tuttle, paid far below minimum wage because jobs were tight and John was unwilling to quit his job. Even though he was underpaid, he continued to give his tithes (ten percent) to the local Erie Street Baptist church.



He believed and trusted God’s word and that God would open a supernatural door of prosperity when the time was right. And while he waited, John began to give generously, almost fanatically. He gave passionately to the Church and to support preachers, poor congregants, missionaries, and a school for the poor.



God honored his faith and actions. Tuttle—the partner who was always belittling John—soon quit the firm. Hewitt offered Tuttle’s half of the company to his hard-working bookkeeper. John. Shortly, John assumed co-ownership and more than doubled his pay. While John was proud of achievement, he realized it was God who had arranged this door of opportunity, just like He promised. Under John’s indomitable leadership, the company prospered and by the time John turned 23 in the mid 1800’s, he was one of only a few young self-made millionaires in America.



John D. Rockefeller’s willingness to give is something that had stayed with him his entire life and he regularly gave over and above the ten percent standard. John wrote: “I have tithed (given 10% of) every dollar God has entrusted to me. And I want to say, if I had not tithed the first dollar I made I would not have tithed the first million dollars I made. Tell your readers to train their children to tithe, and they will grow up to be faithful stewards of the Lord.”





John was willing to use his money to help people in desperate situations. In 1865, a free-man from Cincinnati heard of John's charitable giving and saw John as his only hope. It took some determination, but he was able to present his case to John and without hesitation, John D. Rockefeller was able to help this black man buy his wife out of slavery.



At the age of 53, he became America’s first billionaire, a level of wealth unprecedented in our nation’s history. Though John had continued to pay tithes on his personal income, his business strategies were considered ruthless and greedy. Then John developed alopecia, a rare glandular disease. His body was in tremendous pain and he lost all the hair throughout his body. The man with enough money to dine at the most prestigious restaurants in New York could only swallow crackers and milk. A friend wrote, "He could not sleep, would not smile and nothing in life meant anything to him."



The wealthiest man in America procured the very best physicians in the world and they stood helpless beside his bed, none seemed to be of any help. The physicians gravely decided that John had only one more year to live



John woke once in a state of great fear and panic. “I had a terrifying dream. I was on the verge of leaving this body. Death was calling out to me and I almost surrendered, but then I heard a voice. The voice of an angel which said, ‘Your mission on earth is unfinished. Do not worry about whether or not you will die. You will live. You are a man with a great destiny to fulfill on earth. Remember this, and don’t forget it. When you leave this earth you will leave your riches behind.’”



This dream made a notable impact on John D. Rockefeller’s focus and the direction of his life. At this point in John’s total worth was approximately 900 million dollars. The dream rekindled his desire to give his money away to benefit humanity. John became quite radical in his giving and gave away 550 million dollars.



While some people considered this act foolish or irrational, John realized something. Not only could he not out-give God, but he could not afford to loose sight of the fact that the Most High God allowed him to have money to give in the first place. John said, “It has seemed as if I was favored and got increases, because the Lord knew that I was going to turn around and give it back.”



As soon as he resumed his extravagant giving, his company, Standard Oil, began to show astonishing profits. Even though he gave away the bulk of his fortune, he gained even more wealth. Even more amazing, “the moment he began to give back a portion of all that he had earned, his body’s chemistry was altered so significantly that he recovered. It looked as if he would die at 53 but he lived to be 98.” What a tremendous story about the power of giving.



John D. Rockefeller had a gift. He was anointed for business. He was empowered to gain wealth. God knew that if John was able to gain wealth he would be willing to give the money back to help others.



John made the following statement: “I believe the power of making money is a gift of God…I believe it is my duty to go on making money and still more money, and to dispose of the money I make for the good of my fellow man according to the dictates of my conscience.”



These vast stores of wealth were the gifts of the great Creator.



“…be careful that you do not forget the LORD,

who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

Deuteronomy 6:12



Thanks to the following for contributions to this chapter:

Rockefeller, John, Sr., “Yes I Tithe.” in (Stories & Testimonies [cited 05 April 2006]

www.generousgiving.org

Segall, Grant, John D. Rockefeller: Anointed With Oil

http://www.businessheroes.org/john_d_rockefeller.htm