Doug Batchelor might be the richest caveman to have ever lived. His mother was a Jewish actress and his father was a Gentile multimillionaire.
Growing up among the rich and famous did not appeal to Doug. He was restless and was more comfortable hanging out with the troublemakers. At one point in his life he and his family were living on an island. The island was filled with mansions. The only way on or off the island was by private boat or security bridge. Doug and some of his friends were bored so they broke into their neighbors' homes for fun. They even began to dare each other into breaking into homes that were occupied with the lights on. The community hired a security guard to sail around the island to try to protect the homes from these criminals.
Even though Doug never got caught on any of those adventures he did get into plenty of trouble. His parents didn't know what to do with him. After their divorce they shuttled him to one another in hopes that one of them would be able to straighten him out. They tried everything that money could buy. They sent him to fourteen different schools in nine years, including a strict military school, a lenient experimental free school, and they even tried a school that was on a yacht that sailed around the Mediterranean so these rebellious rich kids could not run away. Doug found a way to run away and he followed some friends up into the desert mountains above Palm Springs. In those mountains he found a fair sized cave with a little stream that ran in front of it. Doug decided to make this his home. He spent most of his time in the nude, except whenhe hiked down into the city to panhandle, shop, or visit friends. On those occasions he would put on the only clothes he chose to own, his one and only pair of overalls and boots. Doug set up his cave quite nicely with a sleeping area, a little homemade wood stove for making banana bread, and he dammed up the creek and made a swimming pool. He even had a pet cat.
But even then, freed of the materialism of this world, Doug was still not satisfied. He tried various types of drugs, had girlfriends, searched out all kinds of different religions, but nothing seemed to fill the void in his heart. When he had moved into the cave he had noticed that he was not the first one to live there. Someone had left a Bible on a rock ledge inside the cave. Finally, he decided to read it and it began to change his life. For the first time in his life he felt that life had a purpose, that there was a reason for his existence. At first he read only from the first part of the Bible, but then, with much hesitation, he began to read the second part of the Bible including the life and teachings of Y'shua. He was surprised at how loving, caring, and forgiving Y'shua was. Doug decided Y'shua had to either be a lunatic, or a liar, or who He claimed to be, the Messiah.
As Doug continued to read he was certain that Y'shua was who He claimed to be. He knelt down in that cave and confessed his sins and invited Y'shua into his heart. Doug was filled with peace and contentment. The whole world seemed like a different place. His experience with God was so powerful as a result of reading the Bible that he prayed for God to give him more people to share his new experience with.
Just about this same time his mother had a conversation with someone who worked at NBC News. She happened to mention that her son lived in a cave. The man thought it would be a great story so he had a helicopter flown up into the mountain to interview the rich caveman. Doug was amazed at how God had answered his prayer and made sure that when the cameras were rolling he shared how reading the Bible was filling his life with true joy. A friend of Doug's, who lived in another cave on themountain, gave Doug a few books that his mother had given him, such as The Great Controversy, Patriarchs and Prophets, and Desire of Ages. Doug started to eat up those spiritual books with a thirst for God that he never had before.
Doug is no longer living in the cave. He has since married, fathered six children, and is currently the president of Amazing Facts, a ministry that shares the love of God and the power of the Bible around the world. Doug's complete story is told in a book called "The Richest Caveman."
Originally from: Jewish Discoveries by Jeff Zaremsky, pages 162 - 164, which contains a total of 22 fascinating chapters of biblical history and lessons plus 25 rich Jewish tradition sections, and 27 powerful testimonies, with over 40 beautifully rendered professional works of art all on over 300 jam packed pages. You can own this treasure by visiting www.Jewishheritage.net
