REFLECTIONS ABOUT DR. FRANCIS NIGEL LEE, MY FRIEND

By Gerald Christian Nordskog—“Jerry” of Ventura, California, USA
President/Owner of Nordskog Publishing Inc.—Publisher of
Christian books: “Meaty, tasty, and easily digestible Biblical treasures!”

Dr. Francis Nigel Lee (5 December 1934—23 December 2011)

My friend Dr. Lee was one in a million, a diamond of the brightest quality, an amazing scholar who earned a huge number of advanced degrees in Christian Theology and Law. The Reverend Professor-Emeritus Advocate Dr. Lee, LLB, DJUR, DCL, PHD, THD, was also a down-to-earth, now-in-heaven, Christian gentleman, husband, and father.

My first encounter with and introduction to Nigel was in the autumn of ’89, one year before my marriage to Gail Grace. Mr. Frank Gauna, subsequently a lifetime friend and fellow member of our Trinity Church in Ventura County, California, had invited Dr. Lee to come speak in Southern California. Mr. Gauna paid all of his expenses for the trip except for the honorarium covered by the sponsoring committee. I headed up to where he gave one of his speeches while in the USA. Frank had told me about Dr. Lee’s several-volume book about the history of the world, and I told Frank I had to have him come lecture for the Southern California Constitution Education Committee.

The Southern California Constitution Education Committee hosted Dr. Lee in the San Fernando Valley portion of Los Angeles, at our two Public Forum Seminars on Saturday November 25, 1989, on Thanksgiving weekend. We advertised it as “All Day” With Francis Nigel Lee from Australia. He was brilliant.

In the morning session, his topic was “Communists: More Religious than Christians.” In the afternoon, Dr. Lee fielded a spirited and extensive Question & Answer Session on numerous subjects. He answered all with fervor and knowledge and understanding to the great satisfaction of the sizeable audience.

A special time I recall was the lunch break. Gail and I took a few friends and our guest speaker from Queensland for a mid-day meal in Chatsworth, California, down the street from the Covenant Presbyterian Church where we were meeting. We got a lecture about the true meaning of “miracle,” which he expounded upon with grace and patience, but set us straight on the supernatural nature of the meaning of that word in the Word of God. And the food was delicious too.

After the all-day conference, he came back to my home, another meal, and more discussions. Dr. Lee could answer Bible inquiries and expound Scripture all night long, but instead we reluctantly allowed him to get an early-to-bed sleep for his departure the next morning. I was impressed when he related to us about his never missing a morning of spending time around the breakfast table discussing the Word of God with his wife, Nellie, and daughters, Johanna and Annamarie, ever, and that included most evening suppers too, except when he traveled to speak. It was obvious he took the admonition of the Lord seriously in his family. He likewise took similar pains with his students at Queensland Presbyterian Theological Seminary, as the Adjunct Professor.

The second great experience close up and personal with Dr. Lee was when we invited him to speak after we moved to Ventura, California. Dr. Lee joined us at the event Gail and I hosted—the George Washington-Patrick Henry Supper Club at the Pierpont Inn, overlooking the Pacific Ocean’s Pierpont Bay. This was in the early summer of ’97 when he was on another USA speaking tour.

As Dr. Lee’s Adventures with God book states, he spoke thrice that week with us. Staying in our guest bedroom in the Ventura Keys, he even went for a boat cruise with us up and down the neighborhood waterways from our dock. His speaking topics included “Restoring the U.S.’s Common Law,” and a lecture about “The American War between the States.” These were on a Saturday evening. Dr. Lee also preached about “Daily Family Worship” at the church we then attended in Ventura, Community Presbyterian Church.

On Sunday morning, we all went to a special dedication at Ventura Missionary Church for a new building. At the open-air service on the grass where the new facility was to be built, we worshipped the Lord. The guest speaker for that service was Rev. Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie, former pastor of Hollywood Presbyterian Church and then Chaplain of the United States Senate. Dr. Lee and Dr. Ogilvie met and exchanged greetings.

That Sunday evening Gail and I hosted our weekly “Alpha” group regular Bible study fellowship. Nigel Lee joined us. Before long, I decided to ask this brilliant friend of ours from Down Under to give his Christian testimony. Wow—tears in our eyes! I am so disappointed we did not have a tape recorder at this informal and emotional spontaneous talk. In part, he related the experience of leading to the Lord the murderer who killed his dad in South Africa, while several times visiting this man in jail. Dr. Lee eventually led the parents of the man to the Lord as well. And we heard much, much more of great interest about the life and journey in Christ of Dr. Lee.

The last time I saw my friend Nigel in person was that week in June when he departed for other speaking engagements in Southern California before heading back to Australia. Yet, my relationship with him would continue on. After I sold Powerboat Magazine, one of our company’s divisions, and moved into publishing Christian Books in 2006, I would again be in contact with him, seeking to publish one of his manuscripts.

Indeed, he agreed to allow me the opportunity of having his new writings to be one of the very first books published by Nordskog Publishing. It was released to the general public in late 2007: GOD’S Ten Commandments: Yesterday, Today, Forever, which Dr. Lee dedicated to Judge Roy Moore, the Ten Commandments Chief Justice of Alabama. Dr. Lee long admired Justice Moore from afar. Justice Moore stood against the world in his defense of placing a Ten Commandments monument in the rotunda of the Alabama state judicial building. Earlier, he drew attention for hanging the Ten Commandments in his courtroom, and for public opening prayers to invoke God’s help to the jury. The Alabama Court of Justice removed Roy Moore from the state Supreme Court bench for his steadfast stand in defense of the Ten Commandments monument. Late last year, Justice Moore gained re-election to his Chief Justice post in Alabama.

In Dr. Lee’s Ten Commandments book, we cited in small print on six single-spaced pages the listing of numerous theological works of his from 1957 to 2007—a half century of his scholarly writings. His book is one of the very most popular, and perhaps the most important, of all the books we have published.

Additionally I have been pleased to publish two further books in e-book format, on praying, and on an eschatology of victory. I also have posted in our The Bell Ringer e-newsletter and on our Publisher’s Corner of Nordskog Publishing’s website several of Dr. Lee’s excellent historical and scholarly essays. Others books were in the works when the Lord called him home to be with Him in Heaven, after his lifetime of speaking and writing and living out the Christian faith, advancing the Kingdom of God on earth as in heaven.
Jerry – 2/6/13


God's Ten Commandments (book)

God’s Ten Commandments: Yesterday, Today and Forever

Book by Dr. Francis Nigel Lee

God gave man Ten Commandments. Every one of them is vital, in all ages. For only by observing them can man live a full life each week, maintain a happy marriage, and function well in his home, his job, and even in the world internationally.

Shop Online

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
No comments yet.

Leave a Reply