Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen Received the Gospel From Herbert W. Armstrong
On Jan. 13, 1984, Queensland’s premier at the time, Joh Bjelke-Petersen, greeted the ambassador for world peace in the state capital Brisbane. Premier Bjelke-Petersen was not only the longest living, but the longest serving Australian state premier, governing from 1968 to 1987. Herbert Armstrong was informed the premier would be 73 years old the day that he was to meet him. As a protocol gesture he organized the delivery of 73 red roses to Mr. Bjelke-Petersen’s office before his arrival.
The meeting began in the main conference area of the Queensland state government offices. The premier “asked Mr. Armstrong about his view of world conditions and related some of his personal experiences. Mr. Armstrong told him that world peace would come, but not by human effort” (Worldwide News, Jan. 30, 1984). After Mr. Armstrong shared Christ’s gospel message with the state leader, in the spirit of Matthew 24:14, Mr. Bjelke-Petersen invited him into his personal office for tea. He then noticed the 73 red roses and thanked Mr. Armstrong for the gift, commenting that he planned to give them to his wife, Florence, who served as a state senator. A few months after this meeting, Queen Elizabeth ii knighted Joh Bjelke-Petersen for his “services to parliamentary democracy.” He was known thereafter as Sir Joh.
“The outspoken premier has proven himself a strong leader, leading his state from being one of the poorest to one of the richest and most rapidly developing states in Australia” (ibid). During his tenure he removed inheritance taxes, which brought a flood of retirees from the southern states of Victoria and New South Wales to Queensland. By the early ’80s, all states had followed suit, stemming the tide of national relocation to the prosperous northeast. Construction increased throughout the state, particularly on the Sunshine Coast, in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast.
Despite what the critics, detractors and antagonists claim, history records the state’s dramatic improvements in infrastructure, commerce and development under Sir Joh’s leadership. He led in the implementation of modern hydroelectric dams, railways, airports, bridges, universities and cultural centers. In addition, the 1982 Commonwealth Games and World Expo ’88 were also large projects which he championed, creating many jobs, boosting the economy and drawing increased tourism to the state.
In coverage of his Australian trip and meeting with the longtime leader of Australia’s sunshine state, Mr. Armstrong wanted readers to remember a key spiritual act of this conservative politician. “It is interesting to note that Premier Bjelke-Petersen called for a day of prayer during the 1982-83 drought here. A southern premier mocked him. How interesting to see that Mr. Bjelke-Petersen’s state received rain, while devastating fires burned the mocking premier’s state” (ibid).
In 2007, 14 years after Sir Joh’s call for rain in Queensland, Prime Minister John Howard repeated Sir Joh’s call on a national level. During his January 18 program this year, titled “Why Natural Disasters,” Gerald Flurry reminded Key of David viewers around the world of that moment when Australia’s prime minister said “we should all literally and without any irony pray for rain ….”
“So he directed them to pray in this secularist world, and the following week the 10-year drought was broken,” Mr. Flurry told viewers. “The following week after he asked all of his people to pray. One third-generation sheep and grain farmer said, ‘This is the best opening autumn break rain we have had for 10 to 12 years.’
“Do we have that kind of leadership in our land today? Well, those kind of heartfelt prayers really do get results if we’re trusting God and taking these things seriously. But has Australia already forgotten that great miracle? In 2010 Australia suffered under the worst flooding ever. Three years later, the worst flooding ever! Well, maybe they stopped praying. Maybe they stopped taking God seriously. That’s the way it usually happens. We’ll get excited for a little while, and then we get back to our old ways and often sinful ways, and then the problems come again—the massive weather upsets or disasters of some kind that we call ‘natural’ disasters, and they’re anything but natural, usually.”
Much of eastern Australia is being subjected to widespread floods yet again at this very moment. Australians should have learned from the miracles of 1982-83 and 2007. They should have learned from the leadership of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen and Prime Minister John Howard and their respective courageous calls for citizens to pray for God’s intervention in the weather, and to believe and put their trust in the great God.
In addition, the island continent should have remembered the longtime humanitarian work and the gospel warning of Herbert Armstrong broadcast throughout its shores. Australia received a powerful witness from Herbert Armstrong via The World Tomorrow on radio and television, the Plain Truth magazine and numerous public lectures. He sponsored outreach youth programs and established Church congregations in all Australia’s capital cities and many of its major provincial districts. These efforts combined to serve the spiritual, physical and emotional needs of thousands nationwide, turning hearts to the supreme God, believing the Bible prophecies that God would soon intervene and bring mankind lasting world peace.
