Bahamas: Trumpet Message of the Plain Truth
“As I write, I am flying to Nassau in the Bahamas to work out preliminary plans for a campaign to be held there next month,” Herbert W. Armstrong told co-workers Jan. 21, 1976. The ensuing weeks actually found him far from the Bahamas, preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God at testimonial dinners to the elite of the Israeli cities Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, along with Egypt’s capital, Cairo.
Following that Middle East visit, Mr. Armstrong flew to England for meetings with Ambassador College and Church officials at the Bricket Wood campus in England. He then flew from London aboard the Ambassador Foundation’s Gulfstream ii jet, touching down in Nassau, capital of the Bahamas, on Feb. 15, 1976. His plans for reaching this spectacular island chain were already in process 45,000 feet above the Atlantic during an around-the-world flight in 1975. In the Bahamas he would meet with the governor general, prime minister and other dignitaries, and face personal attack in the media, all this culminating with a three-night personal appearance campaign February 20-22.
After clearing customs, Mr. Armstrong’s first appointment was a press conference. He stated the purpose of his visit and answered questions from reporters of the two leading daily newspapers and representatives of zns, the Bahamian national broadcasting station. The conference yielded the immediate fruits of front-page exposure the following day in both newspapers.
On Tuesday, Mr. Armstrong was received by Governor General Milo Butler, and the two reportedly developed a beautiful rapport. As was his practice at such meetings, Mr. Armstrong presented the governor general with a gift of Steuben crystal. After the meeting at the Government House, Mr. Armstrong was honored at an evening dinner event hosted by the Bahamian Institute of Architects. “Mr. Armstrong decided he would stay and speak very briefly because he did not want to give away the impact of his message which he was reserving for Friday and Saturday” (Worldwide News, March 1, 1976).
On Wednesday, Mr. Armstrong met with Prime Minister Lynden Pindling. “The prime minister told Mr. Armstrong he was a longtime listener to The World Tomorrow on radio. We discussed briefly with the prime minister our hopes for a permanent aicf project in the Bahamas” (ibid).
Directly after his visit with Lynden Pindling, Mr. Armstrong spoke for half an hour to attendees of a luncheon hosted in his honor by the Rotary Club. That night he joined 250 attendees as guest of honor at a dinner at the historic mansion of Buena Vista Restaurant. The event was organized by the country’s acting cultural affairs officer, who was a Church member working for the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Archie Harper, a deacon in the Church at the time, along with his friend Edward Robinson, often told me prior to their respective deaths, of their attendance and participation at this event. It was Mr. Armstrong’s protocol to inform those he would visit of his dietary regimen in accordance with God’s commands in chapter 11 of Leviticus. Archie’s son Iain recently recounted a memorable incident: “It was at this luncheon that the group had been served a pork chop meal, and when my father and Mr. Robinson looked across the table at some of the other foundation staff traveling with Mr. Armstrong, they noticed that those men had bitten into their pork chop but that Mr. Armstrong very skillfully and wisely shifted it around the plate though he never touched it.”
It was reported that “There were many people from the elite of Nassau society who attended the dinner, including people in government, in the local university and in industry” (Worldwide News, op. cit.). Church member Betty Robinson, attending with her husband, recalled that “Mr. Armstrong also donated an undisclosed sum of money in contribution to a cultural center called Jumbay Village, erected about 3.5 miles south of the capital city of Nassau.”
The following day, Mr. Armstrong spoke to members and guests of the Kiwanis Club of Nassau. Later that afternoon, at 4:45 p.m., two 15-minute radio interviews aired, featuring information about Mr. Armstrong’s visit.
It was all the more significant when Milo Butler, the Queen’s direct appointee, held a special luncheon on Friday in Mr. Armstrong’s honor. At Government House, his mansion residence, the governor general accepted Mr. Armstrong’s invitation to attend the opening evening of his public appearance lectures. Again at 4:45 p.m., 15-minute radio interviews aired promoting the campaign across the capital.
Milo Butler, along with 485 Bahamians, attended the first night campaign lecture in the Crown Ballroom of the Loews Paradise Island Hotel. “Mr. Armstrong spoke for one hour and 15 minutes developing the same theme he has used in other overseas campaigns, spotlighting man’s problems and their true source” (ibid).
The following day, Saturday, came the unsubstantiated publicized attack on Mr. Armstrong on page 3 of the Tribune, a daily newspaper, that featured the book The Armstrong Empire by Joseph M. Hopkins. However, the same issue’s front page promoted Mr. Armstrong’s visit and answered false racism charges against the Church. In the afternoon, Mr. Armstrong spoke to Church members from across the island chain, gathered for a special combined Sabbath service.
That night, with 576 in attendance, he expanded the theme of mankind’s insolvable problems and their soon-coming solution through the imminent return of Jesus Christ. “He showed that Christ’s return is the only answer,” one of his aides commented. A campaign organizer noted that after Mr. Armstrong’s appearances audience members discussed what they considered “a very fine message.”
Sunday featured the third radio promotion across Nassau, highlighting recorded excerpts from the previous night’s lectures. Mr. Armstrong then had to depart to attend the historic world-class concert of virtuoso Vladimir Horowitz. It was his first performance on the West Coast in 23 years and it came in Ambassador Auditorium, located on the award-winning grounds of Ambassador College in Pasadena, California. Fresh from the Bahamas, Mr. Armstrong joined the capacity audience of 1,262 in presenting Horowitz with a standing ovation at the conclusion of the concert.
Back in Nassau that same Sunday came the final night of the campaign, and upon Mr. Armstrong’s prior direction, representatives of the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation and the Church in the Caribbean addressed 450 guests, covering the subjects of child rearing and family relations, and promoting the Church’s booklet Your Marriage Can Be Happy.
The difference between Mr. Armstrong’s trip to Nassau and that to other countries was the sheer impact upon the majority of Bahamians who live in the capital island, which is only 20 miles long and 6 miles wide. I have visited Nassau various times and enjoyed the warmth of Bahamian hospitality and witnessed firsthand the dedication of those loyal few, like Archie Harper and Edward Robinson, who, following Mr. Armstrong’s death, continued to hold fast to “the traditions” he established in the Church as exhorted by the Apostle Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:15.
Mr. Harper died peacefully in his sleep with the absolute assurance of God’s promised resurrection ahead and that death would soon be swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15:50-54). His rest from the pain of cancer came after five readings of Gerald Flurry’s booklet The Last Hour. I specifically recall in 2005 when 142 gathered at the ballroom of the Cable Beach Hotel for Mr. Harper’s memorial service. That day, I met many of those who had attended the 1976 campaign. Mr. Harper had hoped they would attend his funeral and specifically asked me to remind everyone of the impact of God trumpeting His message of the plain truth to the Bahamas through Herbert Armstrong.
Archie’s fervent prayer was that not only those who attended Mr. Armstrong’s 1976 campaign in the Bahamas, but many more would accept his challenge to “blow the dust off your bible” and prove the truth of the very immutable laws of God that govern human conduct. Believe it or not, your very own future depends upon it!
