John D. Rockefeller, 1839 – 1937
“Had John D. Rockefeller died in 1902…he would be known today almost exclusively as a narrow man of swashbuckling brilliance in business, a man who personified the acquisitive spirit of the late-nineteenth-century American industry. But just as the muckrakers were teaching the public that Rockefeller was the devil incarnate, he was turning increasingly to philanthropy. What makes him so problematic – and why he continues to inspire such ambivalent reactions – is that his good side is every bit as good as his bad side was bad.”
Note: This is not a book review of TITAN: The Life of John D. Rockefeller. It is my reaction to the content of the book and the man’s life.
He was hailed as one of the greatest business minds to ever inhabit the planet. He was the stone-cold face of the American Industrial Revolutions. He was the Titan of the Gilded Age. He was the puppet master, the man of mystery, the hidden power behind Standard Oil. Some argue that he is the wealthiest man to have ever inhabited the planet.
And he was a Baptist!
Might I add that he was an independent, premillennial, Bible-believing Baptist? And so was I.
When I was entering sixth grade in 1972, my grandfather, a Baptist minister and pastor of the church we attended founded the first church-sponsored Christian school in Palo Pinto County, Texas. Naturally, I was compelled by my Bible-carrying, Jesus-loving, churchgoing parents to attend the school. Early in my education, I was drawn to biographies. I loved to read the stories of men and women who lived extraordinary lives and accomplished incredible things. Since I was in a church school, I was exposed to the biographies of men like world-renown evangelist Dwight Lyman Moody, missionary Adoniram Judson, and theologian Augustus H. Strong. If I studied anything about John D. Rockefeller, it did not leave any lasting impression.
So, now at the age of 60, armed with Amazon’s Audible, I am finally ready to dig into the life of one of the most important figures in American history. I was ready to be wowed. I was not prepared to learn that this mighty man of industry shared my faith. Imagine my surprise to find that Rockefeller was a friend and supporter of some of the biographical heroes of my middle school days – Moody, Judson, and Strong! Moreover, he was a silent benefactor for Helen Keller, the most famous blind person in American history.
The Son of a Saint and a Flim Flam Man
“Taller than her husband, a fiery Baptist of commanding presence, Lucy was rawboned and confident with a vigorous step and alert blue eyes.”
The above is a brief description of John D’s paternal grandmother. The Baptist Puritanical influence on his life came from at least two primary sources – his grandmother, and his own mother, Eliza, who was no less devout than his father’s mother.
John D. grew up under two powerful influences. On the one hand, his devout Mom encouraged his devotion to Scriptural morality and sobriety (in every sense of the word). On the other, his father was flamboyant, colorful, and, some would say, a charlatan.