User talk:Candleman888

The Clever Giver by Solomon Johnson
Fiction Story based on actual accounts and actual true events. The names,locations,and some dates have been changed to protect the families and individuals. The story is posted below:

It was 1992 in the Month of October, and I was praying for a way to give $100,000,000 to the work of God. I'd always wanted to give to the church, to God, His work, to others, even charities besides church. My dad had told me that ,"The reason you don't have money is because you give it all to the church." I had enjoyed putting money into the offering plate. Some say its sowing seed into the Kingdom of God. I got a thrill when I gave. It is more blessed to give than to receive. Sometimes I didn't have anything but a literal penny, and others I'd put one hundred to two hundred dollars into the offering when It came around to me. I loved to give even when I was in High School. I 'd have a job after school where I made extra cash and my fellow students would always come to me to borrow or ask for money for something out of the vending machine between classes. i always had money in High School and College. I had saved over $3000 when I was in Army boot camp during the summer when I was seventeen. I had been homeless in the Salvation Army Corps after a divorce. I joined the program at 1726 Butternut Abilene, Texas. The Pastor over it was Major Dewey Washington. He had a wife and two beautiful blonde haired daughters. They were always around to help the homeless who stayed at the Corps there. I was a Van Driver, Yardman, and Desk Monitor at night to pull my own weight to contribute since they didn't charge you to stay and eat there. We residents of the program received $6 grants each week of which we can do anything we wanted to do with it. Some purchased cigarettes and other things. I put a dollar in the tithe plate,and a dollar in the offering plate, and invested into a copy of the book "Think and Grow Rich"by Napoleon Hill. I had already read the book over three times as instructed and about this time I was on my sixth reading. I once heard a guy by the name of James E. Tollison say He'd read it over 25 times and because of this He was a Ten Millionaire going for Hundred-Millionaire helping a hundred other people to become millionaires. He was the president and founder of the "Future Millionaires Home-study Course on Empire Building" of Phoenix, Arizona. Max Gunter in His books "Instant Millionaires",and "The Very Very Rich and How They Got That Way", wrote of at least 3 Millionaires who attribute their Wealth to reading "Think and Grow Rich". Earl Nightingale famous Broadcast personality made millionaires and also attributes His success to reading this book. The more I read this book and the bible the more I wanted to make a difference through giving. It was because of reading this book and the bible I decided upon one day as a goal to give a hundred million dollars to the work of God. The more I read the more motivated I became I could actually see with my eyes and touch with my hands the physical manifestation of the money already in my possession. I saw myself standing right in front of it. And this is what i wanted to give. I didn't have a dime, but i had desire. And somehow that desire would become physical reality. i didn't know how, but one day I knew it would! It was just a matter of time! When I heard about the State of Texas considering legalizing a state lottery., I began to pray for the bill to pass. and it did. I felt like if I could win the Lottery I could give the hundred million to God. Crazy?Maybe? But it was a thought that would begin to transmute itself into physical reality. By the way My name is Solomon Johnson. I'm 49 years old, six feet four inches tall, weighing one hundred and eighty nine pounds soaking wet. I'm a light complexioned African American man with short wavy black hair. I'm clean shaven and I wear gold rimmed thin glasses. I've been told that my voice is sexy and forceful. I'm enthusiastic, optimistic, and a great communicator. I am really outgoing. I graduated from Dayton High School in '76 ,June, went to college at Abilene Christian University, Attended George Leonard School of Real Estate, received my Paralegal Diploma through distance studies, served the State of Texas as a Correctional Officer at the Wynne Farm in Huntsville, Texas amongst other things. As an outgoing individual I never meet a stranger. Everyone is a friend. If I was to put my personality in one word, I would use the words of Dr. Gary Smalley and Steve Scott's Master Strategies of Super Achievers and say, I am an "Otter" personality type. Now time and years passed on ,and the coveted goal of giving a hundred million dollars still had not come to pass. I always saw in my heart my minds eye the hundred million dollars I wanted to give away one day. I had did some research on the lottery in the library reading stories in magazines, newspapers, and books of others who had won the lottery. After reading "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill over fifteen times now I could see how the principles and the secret of Andrew Carniegies wealth played out in these Winner's lives. I saw a pattern. The first pattern I saw was that almost all the principles of success were used. One in particular when people won quick and big even after years of playing or even after a short few months. They won quickly and faster when they partnered up with someone else. It was one or more people. Napoleon Hill called it the Master Mind Principle, the master power. Jesus Christ put it this way "If two or three touch and agree as asking anything you will have it. Some call it the team concept. Whatever you call it, it works! 1995 After having children Sometimes it was hard to make ends meet. We would pray for something and find scratch and win tickets on the ground for a dollar, ten dollars, twenty dollars, and buy groceries with it. I married a local girl by the name of "Mary". This was my second marriage. I had obeyed the call to preach the same month. Mary was a couple of years younger than I was. She was very mature ,smart, and beautiful. I loved her brown eyes when the light shined against them. Her face was angelic, and Her loving heart shined in her eyes and her face. I loved her almost to the point I'd have to repent. I kept that in check because I didn't want to lose her. You never put anything or anyone above or equal to God in your life...Never! She had a hundred and thirty one intelligence quotient. She made my life such a joy and gave me a reason to stay in society, other than the call to preach. We had six sons and two daughters: James, Luke, Ray, Christopher, Raymond, Rick, Denise, and Marie. Christopher was in college at M.I.T.; Marie was living with a room mate(woman) with my grand-daughter,Rosie: Denise was married living on the other side of Dayton ,Texas. We moved to Dayton And made our homestead there back in 1992 After I had left Abilene. We weren't rich yet, but we were happy. We all had each other and a lot of love. The other four were still at home in elementary school. As church going people we saw the offering plate passed around a lot. It seemed they always needed more than we had to give, and I always wanted to be able to just satisfy the need. Once and for all. Now the church i went to didn't believe in gambling of any sort. At least the Pastor didn't, because about fifty percent of the people in our faith didn't have a problem with it even preachers who preached in our church before. It was a major sin to gamble according to some. So everyone that used Bingo, or Raffles to raise funds, money for charitable, non-profit purposes, even churches was sinning and going straight to hell with their eyes wide open. POW! Just like that. Go figure? So I stopped playing the Lottery for Ten years from 1996-2006. It didn't do any good. The church still needed money, and We still didn't have any miracle financial deliverances or anything else significant. All the while the desire to give$100,000,000 still burned in my heart. I tried all kinds of business opportunities ,and a few sales jobs to no avail. It still appeared that the cheapest way was to win the lottery. That brings me to the next secret...I noticed in my research and observations of lottery winners that they also had some who played the same numbers for fifteen years this was a repetitious pattern also. When i got tired of waiting for something to drop out of the sky like manna, i purchased a lottery ticket after 10 years, but I purchased it for someone else other than myself. At first I purchased it for my wife, she won. It wasn't a lot, but she was a winner. I purchased again and she won again still only small change. We didn't lose any money. So I still didn't want to be selfish and I purchased one for the church. It didn't win. Maybe because the Pastor didn't believe in the lottery and would have been antagonistic towards the winnings? I said to myself ..why not purchase the tickets anonymously don't pay any attention to the numbers. Purchase from one to ten tickets or one Multi-draw ten dollar ticket and give it away. At first i gave them to friends at work. Then I said," these people know me:" and I remembered," What you do in secret will be rewarded openly." So the thought of giving them to total absolute strangers anonymously was born. I once heard preachers say.."if somebody gave me a lottery ticket or I found it on the ground I'll cash it in, since I didn't gamble or put any money down on it".. I remembered that the same bible they use against the lottery says, "Chance happens to us all," and " The lot is cast into the lap and the LORD is the disposing thereof:" Both in the book of Proverbs. I always heard preachers preach over the pulpit that it was in written in the bible " to not play the game of chance" but I never saw that in the bible. No one had ever shown it to me. I studied the bible from Genesis to Revelations and hadn't seen it yet. I believe a lot of these preachers who had issues with gambling when they were in the world or so called "lost" or not in church, or not preaching so to say were convicted by their own consciences and /or God to not gamble because they themselves had a problem with it. And these transfer that to others as scripture or as from God to everyone. That was for them. It's like someone who had a problem with meat sacrificed to idols. Their conscience can't handle eating the meat because of what it was dedicated to, but another man with stronger faith that doesn't have any issues with it can thank God for it " bless it" and eat. Eating in faith. A lot of preachers preach absolutes because they can't live in a world without them. We go to the ten commandments that say " Thou shalt not lie, but yet in the same bible it says Rehab the prostitute lied to her countrymen hiding the spies of Israel, and it was counted to her as righteousness. This was when Joshua faught the battle of Jericho. It literally says she told the representatives from her city/country that they went one-way when in fact she had them hid in her home. It is written in that same bible that it was counted to her as righteousness. Why? The motive?Who she did it for?Hmmm? In the same way if a person buys a lottery ticket to give away unselfishly sacrificialy where is the sin? Some will say. "Its still gambling" Life is gamble. Everytime we start a business ninety eight percent of the which fail. A gamble? Even in sales there is the element of chance-Law of Averages so to say! So here I am with this desire to give looking for a way to give millions and it occurs to me "Give the whole ticket anonymously secretly with no way for them to tie or trace it back to me. A very generous unselfish random act of kindness?Clever Giving? The Clever Giver can change their world! They can cause a ripple in the sea of mankind that will have far reaching ramifications! What kind of impact would this kind of giving make? I thought on these things and my imagination ran away with me!WoW! What if people did the same thing I did giving anonymously secret Lotto, MegaMillion, PowerBall tickets to absolute strangers? How would people react? What would they say? Who's lives would they touch? Where would the ripples end? When would the ripples stop?What would be the expressions on their faces? All these questions flashed into my mind seeking answers and I wondered.. I started off just giving the tickets to cashiers, People at the gas pump, and a waitress for a tip. I gave one to a cashier at McDonalds in Dayton, Texas. As the days went by something began to happen. People talked about these strange happenings. People were winning and keeping it secret, but only telling those close to them. I sent a couple of MegaMillion Lotto tickets to a non-profit charity called "Little Mitches Road Depot", it was a homeless shelter off county line road. Six Zero Seven Off FM 1960. I put one of the names of the fund raising telephone callers on the outside of the envelope as a message on the return address section.. I wrote "God bless you Jerry" with a little note and mailed it. When i inquired discreetly via the person I Knew and put their name on it. The person I gave the credit to didn't know anything about it. and wasn't notified or spoken to about it to this day. It was kind kept hush hush. They had won a few thousand dollars, but didn't give the credit to the fund raising telemarketer. They called it a 'gift" program not true employment... You find out a lot about peoples integrity when the "Jackpot" is in the Three hundred millions. The good thing about giving the lottery ticket is you leverage a dollar bill into possible Millions or hundreds of Millions. Destiny, Serendipitity, God, Chance could just kiss that dollar, kiss that ticket, bless it and "POW"-Million dollar gift! You become a Clever Giver giving someone hope, fun, excitement, and maybe Millions out of a simple unselfish sacrificial random act of kindness to a stranger. Now you sit down and let me tell you about the time I sent a Lotto Lottery ticket which was in the hundreds of Millions of dollar Jackpot range to the "President of the United States of America". You know legally "the President can't receive gifts. So I sent it anonymously secretly with no return address with a little note giving "the President" permission to give it to the "Katrina Victims fund". Did the President win? This one I don't know whether it won or whether it was just a piece of paper. I don't know, but it sure was fun. Its the not knowing sometimes that makes it even more exciting and adventuresome. Who knows?Secret Service? While you're sitting there picture and visualize,imagine you're a major Christian radio station executive who just received a Hundred Million Dollar Jackpot Lotto ticket in the mail from guess who?-Solomon Johnson, Yours truly. It's a Multi-Draw $10 ten dollar ticket. On May 5, 2007 ,Saturday it Hits the Jackpot!I Its a Jackpot Winner. You can't find the person who sent it. no return address. No phone number to contact. Nothing to trace or find the person that sent it. Its Hundreds of Millions of dollars. Its a gift with no strings attached! You want to recognize the person that gave it. But all you know is their name on a typed letter describing why they sent it, and that they hope and pray you "pay it forward"! What do you do? How do you handle this? The other radio and the television stations in the city area are outside your door clamoring for an interview.. That's exactly what happened to KSJJ Radio of Dayton Texas. It was Wild! Man that was so fun! People are still talking aboutit, and they never found out the true identity of The Clever Giver. What a Blast! Clever Giving provokes our fellow man to good works: giving in this manner has not only expanded my horizons, but opened my heart to spiritual possibilities beyond my imagination. There was a man named Cornelius once mentioned in the bible. He gave alms to the people and his alms and prayers went before a memorial before God. He was blessed with an angelic visitation, a vision, and salvation for his whole house. All because He prayed,gave alms,and feared God. Thats powerful. Think of the leverage of that one dollar into a gift of Hundreds of Millions of dollars sowed into the Kingdom of God, or just someones life. Someone once said,"Give and it will be given to you, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will people give into your bossom, for the measure you give will be given back to you." What is the measure of Hundreds of Millions of dollars given? What are the consequences thereof? Thinking of the Law of Increasing returns, and Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Think of the possibilities. Clever giving has benefits that can stagger the imagination. It brings a feeling of wonder and awe. If you gave one dollar each and every drawing, that's two dollars and week, fifty two dollars time two: thats one hundred four dollars a year to total absolute strangers or charities ect. to leverage into Hundred Million dollar gifts. Its still worth doing! The fun, wonder, excitement, and hope you spread alone is worth it. Don't forget about fostering good will. That's priceless isn't it?. Clever giving comes at a time when the world needs goodwill, peace, and love towards all mankind! Wouldn't you feel inspired and motivated to give if someone gave you a hundred million dollar winning lotto ticket? How would you feel? What would you do? The Clever giver struck again one Monday, in April of 2007. He mailed a Lotto ticket with multi-draw to a reporter of Channel 13 news Houston named Christina Dobner,a friend he met while she was interviewing him for a news broadcast in the Houston Area. I included a letter explaining what I was doing and why and suggested she "pay it forward". Serendipity-Luck-whatever you want to call it kissed this unselfish gift of agage love. Instead of a frog turning into a prince, it was a little one dollar Lotto ticket gift turning into Millions. She didn't share this with everyone. As a matter of fact she didn't even tell her co-workers. She got an attorney to claim the "Jackpot" anonymously to keep the "news" stations from knowing anything aboutit. Christina is living the life she always wanted now. She's taking the time to rest and smell the roses for once in her life. All because a clever giver gave in a clever way! I understand she left the TV Broadcasting business and now travels across the nation and world. I received an email from her the other day, and she just wishes she knew who the clever giver was that gave her her new lease on life. To my great pleasure, I never told her..Ha!ha! Ha! This is FUN! The front cover of the Dayton Chronicle, May 5,2007, Saturday, Page 10G: Reporter Louis Starks writes," The Clever Giver Strikes Again", the Dayton Chronicle received a Lotto Texas Lottery ticket from an anonymous giver who call themselves "The Clever Giver", The Jackpot Prize was Ten Million Dollars. The articles goes on to state: "If you are The Clever Giver, Please come forward so that we can thank you, and find out what charity you want to donate this money to." People are coming out of the woodwork to take the credit, but the real "Clever Giver" hasn't come forward as of yet." This time it was channel 13, channel 11, channel 2, 26 & 39: The publicity on this generous act was in the Billions. It was on the radio stations all over the Dayton area. Thats all you heard. People talked about it at the grocery stores, at work, at church, preachers preached about it on Sunday, People made bumper stickers about it., women talked about it at the beauty salons: it was all over the internet, It was on the covers of Magazines all over the world. People began to anonymously become the clever giver. There was no way to really find out who the original clever giver ever was. It was so many People giving lotto gifts anonymously given from person to person. And no one was talking. It was like a type of "Santa Claus"! The New York Gazzette, Monday, May 7,2007 front page story hit the news stand with a bang. The headline read, "Who is the Clever Giver?" No one seemed to know who this philanthropic person was who was giving away anonymous big "lotto", MegaMillion,and/or PowerBall" lottery tickets. No one could trace this enigmatic hero of sorts down. I had mailed some tickets purchased while i was in New York to strangers just picked out of the phone book. This one particular winner "Hit the Lottery", but it wasn't as big as the others. It was only two hundred fifty thousand dollars. One out of the ten tickets that were mailed won! When the reporters asked the lady that recieved the winning ticket how it all happened She Catina Closson said," I went to check my mail like I always done. and amongst the stack of mail with the junk mail, my electric bill, phone bill, was this envelope.. It was a security type envelope normal in size, white. There was no return address and it was address to me Catina Closson at 175 Huguenot St. New Rochelle, NY 10801. I took the mail inside opened this particular envelope. When I opened it, I saw a lotto lottery ticket inside. The first thing I thought was "S-C-A-M", but there was a note handwritten also inside with the ticket. It read, "Here's an anonymous no strings gift, enjoy, signed anonymous. P.S."Pay it forward" ,The Clever Giver. I had heard about this on the news so I called You guys. I didn't even know I had won $250,000.00 until just before you arrived here (speaking to the reporter). I thought I'd gotten a Jackpot winner because thats all I heard about. Yet I am still happy and thankful to God and The Clever Giver. God bless Whoever you are!" As I was watching the news broadcast on TV the reporter zoomed out a little bit. Ms. Closson was an unmarried brunnete caucasion woman in her fifties about 5 feet 3 inches tall, 135lbs, brown eyes. She was wearing a pink and white lacey dress down to her knees, with black high heels shoes. She wasn't bad looking. She was a librarian just a six blocks away from her apartment. The interview was taking place in front of her apartment complex. The Clever Giver caused alot of buzz in New York that day. I began to wonder if everyone who received a "lotto" ticket gift anonymously in the mail or from a stranger face to face would "Pay it forward". What would the end results be? I pondered this notion as I walked from the living room to the Kitchenette in the Hotel room I was in.. I was on a trip for the work of God to Preach a revival for a Bishop Warren Mitchell.. I made a vow not because I believe it was sin or wrong, but just for myself to not purchase a lotto ticket again. it was personal. Yet to my surprise one year later, I received a Hundred Million dollar Lotto ticket in the mail from a stranger anonymously. It really is true, You really do reap what you sow! I had sent these special gifts to :Tele-evangelist, The Salvation Army Corps,The Methodist church Relief fund, Oprah's Angel Network, Random people out of the phone book. I finally had the hundred million dollars to give to the work of God, and I did. The end. The Clever Giver. Candleman888 (talk) 04:25, 14 September 2010 (UTC)