They Kept This Secret for Over a Hundred Years…

by Ronald R Johnson (www.ronaldrjohnson.com)

In his novel, Magnificent Obsession, Lloyd Douglas encouraged his readers to invest in the lives and talents of other people, but to do it secretly. By empowering others and doing it secretly, he claimed, we could strengthen our relationship with God in ways that would be visible in our personal and professional lives. Many of his readers wrote to him asking whether he truly believed what he was saying or was he just writing a story?

The answer is that he not only believed it; he lived it.

The obvious question is, If he spent his life investing secretly in other people, then how would we ever know… since he (and his beneficiaries) kept it a secret?

I’ve been studying the life and works of Lloyd Douglas for many years, and I believe I have uncovered one of the investments he made while he was working at the University of Illinois from 1911 t0 1915. A young man named Roger Zombro had recently set up shop as a clothing merchant on Green Street, just off campus. Lloyd Douglas had no money, but he made a huge – and clever – investment in Zombro’s future… an investment that changed both of their lives. As far as I can tell, neither of them ever broke their silence about it. What Douglas did has remained a secret for over 100 years. It’s a remarkable story.

I tell about it – and I share the detective work I did to uncover it – in a 32-page booklet entitled, The Secret Investment of Lloyd C Douglas. To get a free copy of this PDF document, please fill out the form below. I can’t wait to share this fascinating story with you. And I’d love to hear what you think about it.