In fellowship with God: The Bruce Judge Story

By Bruce Judge

This book traces the spiritual experiences of Bruce's business career that culminates in a call for all Christians, Muslims and Jews (and all others who seek truth and God in spirit) to reconcile. Jesus taught that the truth of God is simply too marvelous for human understanding so we must accept God in faith and in spirit. With that in mind it

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stratton Press
• Release date: May 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781643453064

Book preview

Preface

This book traces the spiritual experiences of Bruce’s business career that culminates in a call for all Christians, Muslims, and Jews (and all others who seek truth and God in spirit) to reconcile. Jesus taught that the truth of God is simply too marvellous for human understanding, so we must accept God in faith and in spirit. With that in mind, it is a terrible conceit for any religious leaders to state that theirs is the only way to God. God will find a way to him for all who lead a good life exhibiting the fruits of the spirit and search for him in spirit.

The purpose of the book is a call to all God’s people of Islam to abandon all hatred, hostilities, greed, and dissension as these do not come from a god whose nature is love, compassion, and forgiveness. God wants to bring them peace and prosperity, but that can only happen when all hatred and hostility is abandoned. If they do not heed this call from God, then he will leave them to destroy themselves, which after all is what is happening now.

Fighting only breeds more fighting, whereas love will conquer where guns will fail. This book is the spark to start the fire that God will cause to spread throughout the world.

Look at the current destruction and desolation in the Middle East. Millions of Muslims are refugees in alien lands.

This is what the prophet Zechariah described:

And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: This is what the Lord Almighty says: Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.

But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.

When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen, says the Lord Almighty. I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land was left so desolate behind them that no one could come or go. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.

(Zech. 7:8–14)

Introduction

Rev. John Milburn, rector at St Johns Bulimba in Brisbane, once asked his congregation, Why are we not created perfect? Drawing on God’s instruction on what to tell his people, Bruce sent an email to John Milburn.

You asked why were we not created perfect?

God does not deal in negatives. Take out the negatives and it becomes we were created perfect.

Perfect for God’s purpose. All God’s creation is perfect for his purpose. God not only does not deal in negatives – he does not deal in imperfections.

We were created to be in fellowship with God.

God created this world, this universe. His power and majesty are so great we cannot imagine how great he is. When Jesus was asked by his followers to show them God, he told them to look at him and have faith. We simply do not have the words or the capacity to understand just how great God is.

He is the God who caused the big bang from which our world and the sun were created. His creation fills the world, the universe and beyond.

In a children’s talk I gave at St Mark’s Clayfield when my close friend the late Phil Crook was Vicar I asked the mothers in the congregation whether they would trade their children for a robot recently invented in Japan which would be totally obedient to them at all times. One young mother whose infant was crying called out I would but after the service came up to me and said I wouldn’t really.

If we are happy to put up with a child’s misbehaviour because we love them then how much more would the perfect father—God—want to give his children their own free will. We give our children dolls and puppets to play with when they are very young but most soon grow out of that. If we don’t give dolls and puppets to grown ups to play with then how much less can we expect God to be satisfied with dolls and puppets for company. It seems ludicrous to even contemplate that. Put quite simply God cannot have fellowship with a puppet or a doll or a series of clones mimicking his will. His might, majesty and power are beyond our comprehension so how could we expect him to play with dolls and puppets which is what we would be if we were made totally obedient to his will.

But remember also that God is eternal. Time means nothing to him.

We lived in France for nine years, returning to Brisbane in 2002. During that time, I gave many family service addresses at Holy Trinity, Cannes. On one occasion, I had a child take one end of a fishing line outside the church and tie it to the railing. I then asked the children (and the adults too) to imagine that the line did not just go out the church door, not just across France to London, not across the Atlantic to New York, but rather that it went on forever. That line, I told them, represents the life of the soul. Then with a marker pen, I put a small mark on the line and said that represents the time we have on this earth. God looks at the life of our soul and knows that events here on earth will all pass and ultimately be insignificant to those who save their souls from destruction through faith in Jesus.

When I was a child, around eight years old, my parents consented for me to be inoculated against polio. The nurse scratched my upper arm, which blew up into a very painful boil that lasted for some weeks. My parents insisted that the short-term pain was necessary for my long-term benefit. They were of course right.

I feel that God is like that. Our short-term trials here on earth are a necessary learning curve for us to learn what happens when we separate ourselves from God, but he knows that we will ultimately regard those trials and tests as insignificant. Jesus tells us not to worry about the body, but to worry about he who can consign your soul to eternal fire.

So God has created us to have fellowship with him—and if we do, we will save our souls for eternal life with him. Fellowship does not mean an hour’s worship on Sunday, but rather constant talking to God every hour of every day. God wants us to share all aspects of our lives with him. This is what fellowship means, and we were created perfectly for it.

Chapter One

The Real Ariadne Story

In 1982, Bruce bought control of a stock exchange–listed company, South Pine Quarries, which was insolvent and effectively bankrupt.

With support from New Zealand Insurance, South Pine was recapitalised and renamed Ariadne Australia. By 1986 and early 1987, Ariadne had risen to being Queensland’s largest company by market capitalisation with expected profits of $300 million and a turnover above $2 billion.

As the early days of Ariadne were ones of survival and rebuilding, it was not possible to find top-flight executives for a struggling company, and certainly not enough income to fund them. Ariadne’s early successes were greatly helped by bringing over from New Zealand part-time help from former Judge associates Graeme McKenzie and John Holdsworth.

By 1986, Ariadne had outgrown its accounting systems and management structure. So in June 1987, Bruce announced to his fellow board members—all executive directors responsible for different divisions within Ariadne—that the management was to be restructured.

In 1986, Ariadne had successfully taken over one of Australia’s major industrial groups, Repco. Repco had had several years of losses, and Bruce followed a plan for reconstruction developed by their top two executives, Don Collis and John O’Brien. Bruce worked closely with both these men and had developed a huge regard for their integrity and ability.

So the reconstruction of Ariadne was as follows:

That Don Collis would take over as managing director and John O’Brien become executive director responsible primarily for the reconstructed Repco Industrial Division.

That William E. Simon, Ariadne’s partner in several savings and loans takeovers in the USA and a former US Secretary of the Treasury, would join the board and become deputy chairman.

That John Todd, the head of New Zealand’s Todd Group, would join the board with particular responsibility for Repco.

That Dr Nick Girdis, a major Queensland property developer, would join the board with particular responsibility for Ariadne’s growing property interests, particularly for Sanctuary Cove, regarded as Australia’s premium resort development.

That William E. Simon would bring a team from Salomon Brothers New York to establish new accounting and control procedures for Ariadne. The senior partner of Arthur Andersens Brisbane, Ariadne’s auditor had been employed earlier to do this but had not performed to Bruce’s expectation.

This was announced to the board in June 1987. In July, Bruce was to travel to Europe to complete negotiations to take a 50% interest in Goode Durrant & Murray, listed on the London Stock Exchange. Goode Durrant was one of the world’s major private tea traders and also had strong property holdings. Bruce thought that this would be a good base for Ariadne’s entry into Europe.

While in London, Bruce and wife Philippa would take three weeks’ vacation—their first nonbusiness break since buying into South Pine in 1982. Accompanying Bruce and Philippa were William E. Simon and John and Tina Todd.

Taking this break proved to be Bruce’s downfall. He had appointed his personal solicitor, Peter Maloney, to be deputy chairman with the specific brief that he ensure that all legal formalities were properly completed and that all the executive directors were kept honest. Little did he know then that Maloney was to prove the least honest of them all.

There was an Ariadne board meeting on Bruce’s first day back in Brisbane in late August 1987. The executive directors led by Peter Maloney as deputy chairman insisted that the executives had run the company well during Bruce’s six weeks away in Europe, and they no longer supported the bringing in of William E. Simon, John Todd, and Nick Girdis. Bruce asked them how they would run the company. In response to this, Geoff Wilson explained that they had finalised plans to bid for the balance of the shares in Wreckair, Australia’s largest industrial hire company. Wreckair was a listed subsidiary of Repco and was already fully controlled by Ariadne. Bruce noted that some millions of shares had traded over recent weeks at around $1.20, so what was their plan?

Wilson replied that they—the board members other than Bruce—had agreed on a cash bid at $2.20, and that as Bruce had instructed them before leaving for Europe that as the market looked weak, they should examine all listed shares held and, if they looked fairly priced, to sell, or if they looked cheap, to look at bidding for the outstanding shares. So they had followed that instruction and agreed their takeover offer with broker Paul Morgan. It was all ready to go awaiting Bruce’s return and formal agreement. This astonished Bruce. Bruce told his fellow directors that he could not believe that anyone could have reached that decision as Ariadne already owned 70% of the stock, Ariadne executives comprised the entire board, shares were selling in considerable volume at $1.20 so no control premium was needed, so therefore $2.20 was obviously excessive.

The other directors complained, Wilson saying that Bruce’s role was as chairman only, and it was his duty to support the majority decision of the board. Bruce then asked for the calculations they had made to reach the bid price of $2.20. There were none; he was told that broker Paul Morgan had set the price.

Wilson and Maloney then told Bruce that they planned to go ahead as it had been agreed by the board and Paul Morgan while Bruce was away in Europe and that the earlier board decision must stand.

Bruce told them emphatically that if they went ahead, he would ask for a public investigation into the whole affair, particularly into who the buyer was of the millions of shares recently bought. Bruce suspected this was Paul Morgan, who it later turned out was the broker buying.

Geoff Wilson then proposed a further meeting in two weeks, during which time they would produce the proof that $2.20 was the right price.

Bruce said that all he would agree to was a cash bid on market at $1.35 and see what happens.

The next shock for Bruce was to find that Don Collis and John O’Brien, who were to move to Brisbane, had called a meeting of the Repco Board, by then essentially Repco management plus Bruce, while Bruce was in Europe, awarded themselves a generous golden handshake, and had resigned.

So September 1987 began with major problems. In New Zealand, David Jenkins, as finance controller of Judge Corporation, Bruce’s NZ-listed vehicle, met Bruce and said that he had finalised with Keith Taylor of stockbroker Jarden & Co long-term finance to cover short-term borrowing from the Bank of New Zealand as instructed by Bruce and thought he should get a substantial bonus, plus a rise in salary. Bruce promised this once Jenkins had produced final documents for verification. They were never forthcoming. The funds were required for the purchase of the majority shareholding in Kupe.

Kupe Group Ltd had an attractive portfolio of commercial property.

Keith Taylor then contacted Bruce, saying that Graeme Hamilton, the CEO of Kupe Group Ltd, was being threatened with bankruptcy, and if this became public, it could have a severely negative effect on Judge Corp and Ariadne shares. At the same time, Alan Coull at Judge Corp was getting very concerned that the due diligence done by associate Renouf Corp into the purchase of the majority of shares in Kupe was fraudulent. Alan suspected that their key staff had been paid off to overlook many of Kupe’s undisclosed liabilities.

Taylor then asked Judge to buy Hamilton’s shares in Kupe, Judge Corp, and Ariadne. Bruce declined as he