BROTHERS
BECAUSE OF
BLOODSHED
by
Dr. Francis Nigel Lee
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
FROM ATHEIST TO CHRISTIAN MINISTER
THE LEE FAMILY IN SOUTH AFRICA
PROF. LEE'S BURIAL MESSAGE FOR HIS FATHER
THE SALVATION OF MY FATHER'S SLAYER
1995 LETTERS FROM AND TO A JAIL
"I AM GUILTY OF THE CRIME!"
"MAY I COME VISIT YOU IN JAIL AGAIN?"
PROF. LEE AGAIN VISITS HIS BROTHER
PROF. LEE'S BURIAL MESSAGE FOR HIS MOTHER
VISITING THE HELDERKROON FARM
TELLING CORNELIUS ABOUT HIS PARENTS
CHRISTMAS MESSAGES FROM AND TO THE PRISON
A PRISONER WITH TUBERCULOSIS PRAYS FOR MISS LEE’S RECOVERY
MY OWN JAIL VISITS WHILE PREACHING IN AMERICA
THE SOLUTION: BIBLE CORRESPONDENCE COURSES
READER, WHERE DO YOU STAND?
FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Francis Nigel Lee was born in 1934 in the Westmorland County of Cumbria (in Great Britain). He is the great-grandson of a fiery preacher whose family disintegrated when he backslid. Though Dr. Lee's father was an Atheist, he married a Roman Catholic who raised her son in that faith.
At the onset of the Second World War, Dr. Lee's father was appointed by the Royal Navy as Chief Radar Officer (South Atlantic). So the family then moved to South Africa. There Dr. Lee became a Calvinist; had the great joy of leading both of his parents to Christ; and became a Minister of God's Word and Sacraments in the Reformed Church of Natal.
Emigrating to the U.S.A., he attended the very first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America; transferred his previous ministerial credentials to that denomination, and pastored congregations in Mississippi and Florida. He was also: Professor of Philosophy at Shelton College in New Jersey; Research Scholar-in-Residence at the Christian Studies Center in Memphis; and Academic Dean of Graham Bible College in Bristol Tennessee. He was then the only person in the World serving on the Executives of both the British Lord's Day Observance Society (headquartered in London) and the Lord's Day Alliance of the United States (headquartered in Atlanta).
Preacher, theologian, lawyer, educationist, historian, philosopher and author, Lee has produced more than 300 publications (including many books) -- and also a multitude of long unpublished manuscripts. In addition to an honorary LL.D., he has twenty earned degrees -- including some ten earned doctorates* awarded for dissertations in law, literature, philosophy and theology. His latest major work is a dissertation of more than 800 pages on Tiny Human Life: against abortion, AID, AIH, SHW, IVF and human cloning.
Dr. Lee rises early; reads God's Word in eight languages; then walks a couple of miles before breakfast. He has been round the World some six or seven times; has visited eighty-eight countries (several repeatedly); and has visited every Continent. He continues to be in demand as a promoter of doctoral students in Australia, Britain, South Africa & the United States.
A diehard predestinarian and unreconstructed Southerner, Dr. Lee is affectionately nicknamed "General Lee" by his closest friends. Now in Australia, he is the Professor of Systematic Theology and Caldwell-Morrow Lecturer in Church History at the Queensland Presbyterian Theological Hall.
His wife Nellie is in Fulltime Christian Service as a godly Homemaker. Their elder daughter Johanna teaches English, German and Modern History in Brisbane, at Parkridge High School. Their younger daughter Annamarie (whom Dr. Lee baptized as a baby in 1970) is now Secretary/Librarian at the Queensland Presbyterian Theological Hall, Brisbane, Australia.
* Th.D.: The Covenantal Sabbath
Ph.D.: Communist Eschatology
D.Min.: Daily Family Worship
D.Ed.: Catechism Before Communion!
S.T.D.: Rebaptism Impossible!
D.R.E.: Baby Belief Before Baptism!
D.Jur.: Women Ministers & Australian Litigation
D.Litt.: Holinshed on the Ancient British Isles
D.C.L.: The Roots and Fruits of the Common Law
D.Hum.: Tiny Human Life -- Abortion and Test-tube Babies
FROM ATHEIST TO CHRISTIAN MINISTER
My heart has ever been prone to wander away from my God -- ever since my conception. Shortly after my birth, I was baptized and sealed in the Name of the Triune God -- as His property. Then I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church by my religious yet unconverted mother. For the first seven years of my life, I went to church daily. Yet, under my atheistic father's influence -- I myself, when only eight, completely broke with Christianity.
Thereafter, I dedicated all my talents to the furtherance of the false religion of atheism. I avidly studied rationalistic books on palaeontology, archeology and anthropology. By the time I was a teenager, I was a most convinced and articulate evolutionist. I openly laughed at Christians. For I thought they were trying to tell me that all the world's problems started when a mythical Eve munched an apple "once upon a time" some 6000 years ago.
During my early teens I studied astronomy, chemistry, languages, chess, poker, bridge, and even Buddhism. Yet none of these satisfied my restless soul for very long. Going on to university, I majored in law, intending to enter politics via my legal practice -- and thus to dedicate my life toward ameliorating human conditions.
To help me get ahead in politics, I bought a Bible and started reading it. Six weeks later, during a university summer vacation job, while trapped in a goldmine, God suddenly and dramatically converted me to Christ. There and then I promised Him that if it pleased Him to spare my life, I would dedicate all my energies to His service. Delivering me, God then sent me home, where I had the great joy of leading both of my parents to Christ. Then He led me to join a Bible-believing denomination, and thereafter sent me to a Seminary.
Since then, God gave me the grace to work for and acquire many university degrees, including the Th.D. in Systematic Theology and the Ph.D. in Christian Philosophy and Communist Philosophy (to which latter I am of course squarely opposed). During and since that time, I have pastored congregations and been a college professor -- and am currently both teaching and preaching.
Today, in the words of the Westminster Confession (II:1), I believe that Jehovah Elohim, the Creator, is the only God. Contemplating His blessed attributes is the most profitable activity in which any man can ever engage.
For "there is but one only living and true God, Who is: infinite in being and perfection; a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts or passions; immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will for His own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him; and withal most just and terrible in His judgments; hating all sin; and Who will by no means clear the guilty."
To me, this means God alone is the only worthwhile object of human adoration. And my own heart was ever restless, until it came to its own permanent rest in this glorious Being (Matt. 11:28).
Now this God Jehovah Elohim is the Father, Son, and Spirit. In my adult life, He has fulfilled the promises sealed to me in His Own Triune Name when I was previously baptized (Matt. 28:19). To me, such thinking is eminently practical. For, like everybody else, I am often faced with making decisions regarding priorities as to what is my most important duty. Is it my obliga-tion: to the municipality, to my state or province, or to my federal government? To my congregation, to my presbytery, or to my general assembly? To my wife, to my children, or to myself? To my denomination, to my fellow Christians irrespective of denomination or nationality, or to my country?
Here, the doctrine of the Trinity helps me to give due consideration to the interests of all these entities. For in the Trinity, there is a basic unity of interests amid the Diverse Persons. No one Person is ever more important than the Others, nor than the Triune Divine Community as a whole. Neither is that Community more important than the distinct personalities of each of the three Persons.
Now all things in the universe are meaningless: save when regarded as creatures of the Triune Lord. States the Confession (II:2): "God hath all life, glory, goodness [and] blessedness in and of Himself; and is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which He hath made, nor deriving any glory from them -- but only manifesting His own glory in, by, unto, and upon them. He is the alone Fountain of all being
-- of Whom, through Whom, and to Whom are all things; and hath most sovereign dominion over them to do by them, for them, and upon them, whatsoever Himself pleaseth."
This means, quite frankly, that everything we see and do is ultimately absurd -- except insofar as we consciously believe it is in the Triune God alone that all these things consist (Col. 1:17). Only this knowledge gives real purpose to my life.
To me, faith in the Triune God alone is very important. Without it, life would be impossible to me now. For "without faith, it is impossible to please Him; for he that comes to God, must believe that He is and that He rewards those who diligently keep on seeking Him" (Heb. 11:6).
Only once after my conversion have I ever doubted my saved status before God. That was when I became uncertain whether my "faith" in Christ was really and truly "saving faith." Mercifully, however, God soon showed me that it is not by faith that I am saved -- but by grace (and only "through" faith). even that instrument of faith is not from myself. God gave it (Eph. 2:8).
So I now have no trust in my experiences about my faith. I put all my trust only in Christ Himself, irrespective of my experiences of Him. I have no faith in my faith. I have faith only in Christ. And by regular Bible study, prayer, church attendance, and the use of the sacraments -- God strengthens such faith. See the Confession X1V:1.
In spite of my many personal sins and weaknesses, and even though I do distinguish between central and peripheral matters, I certainly hold strong convictions about many things. This is because, realizing the fragility and relative worthlessness of my own views, I am convinced utterly that God's views alone have any ultimate value. So I am now determined to think God's revealed thoughts after Him. It is only in the light of His Infallible Word, the 66-book Bible, that I see the light about everything and anything.
As the Confession correctly states, "a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word -- for the authority of God Himself speaking therein [XIV:2].... The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life -- is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelation of the Spirit or traditions of man" (I:6). For, as the Larger Catechism (Q. 5) declares, "the Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God -- and what duty God requires of man."
To me, then, Scripture is given not only to make us wise unto salvation but also to furnish us thoroughly unto all good works (II Tim. 3:15-17) -- even unto the good works of Christian education, Christian medical practice, Christian business activity, Christian farming, Christian housework, and Christian everything-else (Gen. 1:26-28 & Ps. 8). This does not mean that the Bible is a handbook for all of the special sciences. Yet it does mean that the Bible is indeed the Sourcebook for everything. Indeed, no special sciences are to be studied contrarywise to the clear teaching of Scripture.
For although, as the Confession declares (I:6), "there are some circumstances ...common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence" -- this is always to be done "according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed." Evolutionism, which I previously championed, is therefore not just unacceptable even "for the birds." It is also not even for the "creeping things." For God made all of His creatures "after their kind." Gen. 1:11f,21f.
Sometimes I am asked about my thoughts on life after death. Here I believe with the Bible (Ps. 51:5 & Eph. 3:3 & John 3:3-5) that, as a result of man's fall, all men are now by nature conceived in iniquity and born in sin --and hence cannot even see (and still less enter into) the Kingdom of God, un-less they be born again. Until man is regenerated, he is nothing more than a lost soul under the righteous judgment and wrath of a virtue-loving and sin-hating God (Eph. 2:12 & John 3:36). Unregenerates are thus on their way to eternal separation from God in a place called HELL, where they are to suffer constant agony in body and in soul -- for ever. Mark 9:42-49 & Rev. 14:9-11.
Yet I also believe God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). Those who believe in Jesus as Lord of their lives, inherit eternal bliss -- in three (triune) stages.
First, they receive Christ here and now -- and thereby enter into the Kindom of Heaven here on Earth (John 5:24). Second, when they die, their souls go to HEAVEN -- where they enjoy conscious bliss with Jesus until His second coming (Rev. 4:1-11). And third, with Christ's second coming back to this Earth to transform it, He brings Heaven and its inhabitants with Him -- so that Heaven then comes down to Earth (Rev. 21:1-2). Then the saved will get back their immortalized bodies, and thenceforth perfectly love God and enjoy Him forever in both soul and body (I Cor. 15:35-58). See here the Catechism, Q. 1.
Meantime, I believe that Christians are to live to God's glory in this world here and now. To me, this means that Christians must be "triunely" involved in three united and related activities all their time.
First, they must subdue the Earth and all its fullness to the glory of God the Father -- precisely through serving the Lord in the ordinary practice of their professional careers (Gen. 9:1-6 & I Cor. 10:31). Second, they must evangelize the Earth and christianize all its nations as commanded by God the Son -- and get them to obey all things whatsoever He has commanded, even from Genesis through Revelation (Matt. 28:19 & Mark 16:15). And third, they must promote the coming of the Kingdom in all its many facets -- with all their might, through the power of God the Spirit, as all history further unfolds toward its divinely-predestinated consummation. Luke 11:2 & Rev. 14:13.
While doing all this between Christ's first and second comings, I believe that Christians are to see the hand of God in all things. They are to thank Him for His blessed providence even in their adversities -- and also in their ordinary day-to-day circumstances.
As the Heidelberg Catechism (Q. 1 & Lord's Day 10) states, my only com-fort in life and death is that I am not my own but belong with body and soul to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He "so preserves me -- that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation."
This blessed providence is "the almighty and everywhere-present power of God, whereby as it were by His hand He upholds and governs Heaven and Earth and all creatures." So: "herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty -- yea, and all things -- come not by chance, but by His fatherly hand."
There is also an intensely practical result of believing all of this. For thus we learn how to "be patient in adversity; thankful in prosperity; and that in all things which may hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father -- that nothing shall separate us from His love, since all creatures are so in His hand that without His will they cannot so much as move."
This, then, is my God-given faith, dear reader. May the Lord Himself grant, by His great grace, that it may also become yours too!
-- Dr. Francis Nigel Lee
Author of the publications: About Sunday; Abraham Kuyper and the Rebirth of True Knowledge; A Christian Introduction to the History of Philosophy; Antichrist in Scripture; Are the Mosaic Laws for Today?; Baby Belief Before Baptism!; Biblical Christianity versus Unbiblical Pacifism; Biblical Principles for Church Architecture; Biblical Private Property versus Socialistic Common Property; Calvin on Creation; Calvin on the Sciences; Calvin on the Weekly Sabbath; Catechism Before Communion!; Catechizing Toward Revival!; Christian Philosophy in Twentieth Century North America; Christocracy and the Divine Savior's Law for All Mankind; Communism (A Christian Evaluation); Communism versus Christianity; Communism versus Creation; Communist Eschatology; Creation and Commission; Culture (A Philosophical and Theological Analysis); Daily Family Worship; Dr. John Owen Re-Presbyterianized; Effective Evangelism; Have You Been Neglecting Your Baby?; John Calvin (True Presbyterian); Keys of Revival in the Modern Church; Materialism, Idealism and Calvinism; Lee vs. Jordan on Paidocommunion; May Christians Ever Go to Law?; Matthew Henry's Covenantal Home Life; Missions as the Heart of the Church's Calling; Mount Sinai and the Sermon on the Mount; Nationality and the Bible; On Common Law; Origin and Destiny of Man; Pentecostalism (New Outpouring or Ancient Heresy?); Philosophy and the Bible; Principles for Church Discipline; Rebaptism Impossible!; Revealed to Babies!; Revival and Daily Family Worship; Revival Through 'Prophesying'; Should the Preacher be the Only Elder to Rule in the Congregation?; South Africa's 'Total Depravity'; Sprinkling Is Scriptural!; Ten Commandments Today!; The Anabaptists and Their Stepchildren; The Basic Ideas of Communism and How They Are Propagated; The Biblical Theory of Christian Education; The Central Significance of Culture; The Christian Afrikaners; The Christian Manifesto of 1984; The Covenantal Sabbath; The Eldership (I-II); The Family Fabric; The Fascination History of Early Britain; The Ministry of the Word; The Office of Deacon; The Sabbath in the Bible; The Salvation of the Early-Dying Infants of Infidels; The Westminster Confession and Modern Society; Toward a Biblical Philosophy; Toward a Biblical Theology; What About Baptism?; What Really Happened (The Severe Limitations of Most Histories); What Saith the Scriptures About Race and Nation?; What Sunday is Really All About; Will Christ or Satan Win This World? -- and of many unpublished writings.
THE LEE FAMILY IN SOUTH AFRICA
Mr. William Sydney Lee, "Uncle Syd" to his close friends, was born in East London in South Africa on 29th September 1908. There he lived as a small boy, and again from age 32 until murdered in his home when nearly 86.
His wife, Mrs. Alice Maud Lee (nee Smith), "Auntie Maud" to her friends, was born in England on 31st March 1908. There she married, moving with her family to her husband's land South Africa -- where she died when almost 89.
Their only child, Francis Nigel -- "General Lee" to his close friends -- was born in Kendal, County Cumbria, in Britain, on 5th December 1934. When only seven he moved to South Africa with his parents. There he grew up. After becoming a Christian, he later became a Minister of the Word and a Doctor of Theology. After leading his father and his mother to the Lord, Dr. Lee emigrated to the United States in 1967; and thence to Australia in 1980.
Mr. and Mrs. Syd Lee lived in Barrydale (South Africa) for the last quarter-century of their lives. There they celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary in April 1994, as shown on the accompanying photograph.
Three months later, Mr. Syd Lee was murdered in their home, and then laid to rest in the family grave (see below). Mrs. Maud Lee was then hospitalized and later admitted to the Tomlinson Old Age Home. As his faithful wife, she too was finally laid to rest alongside her husband -- after her son Dr. Lee preached at her funeral service on 14th October 1996.
______________________________________________________________________
PROF. LEE'S BURIAL MESSAGE FOR HIS FATHER
(read out at simultaneous worship services in South Africa and Australia)
It has pleased the Holy Triune God of life and death to take my father, William Sydney Lee, to Heaven. This occurred at about ten p.m., on the Lord's Day, 17th July 1994; in the age of 85 years, 9 months, and 18 days.
Uncle Syd, as his dear friends in Barrydale (South Africa) called him, was born at East London in South Africa on 29th September 1908. After his mother became widowed when he and his sister Doris were still tiny, the family went to his mother's country Britain, where the toddlers grew up. There he later married Alice Maud Smith (Auntie Maud, as the Barrydalers call her).
From the marriage, one child was born -- Francis Nigel Lee, who later became the first Dutch Reformed Minister at Winterton in Natal (South Africa). Uncle Syd's sister Doris married Norman Levey, who is today here at the graveside. Norman, through a faithful team of dear fellow-believers in Barrydale, did many (and very appreciated) works of love -- to enhance the lives of Uncle Syd and Auntie Maud in their later years.
Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War, Uncle Syd -- then in his thirties -- was sent back by the British Navy to South Africa as the land of his birth. Based in Simonstown, as Chief Radar Officer he was responsible for the security of the South African coast, and sometimes even as far as Trinidad in the West and Sri Lanka in the East. During that War, his son seldom saw Uncle Syd. But every time he came home, the whole family used to clamber all over Table Mountain. Always fond of mountains, it is also no wonder that the couple later retired in the mountainous Barrydale.
After the World War, Uncle Syd settled in the beloved land of his birth, South Africa -- and never wanted to leave it. Meantime, his son grew up; by the grace of God became a Christian; had the great privilege of leading both of his parents to the Lord; and became a Dutch Reformed Minister. Uncle Syd and Auntie Maud themselves later joined the Dutch Reformed Church (Barrydale Congregation), of which they thereafter remained lifelong Communicant Members -- even after their only child moved first to America and then to Australia in order to train Ministers of the Gospel, overseas, as a Seminary Professor.
On account of sickness and other heavy obligations, the son could unfortunately not attend his father's funeral. But he but hopes to go to Barrydale 12th-19th September, in order to thank the community most cordially for their long-lasting and loving care of his parents -- and also to visit his weakened mother (now in Swellendam). He had been looking forward eagerly to seeing his dear father once again here on earth in September, on his way to preach in Atlanta U.S.A. But the Lord had more glorious plans than than for Uncle Syd -- in spite of the murderous nature of his death.
For Uncle Syd is now with Jesus! Not because he could ever deserve it
-- even though he helped many people, and especially the Coloured Community, for many years. But because my father over the years more and more trusted in the blood of Christ as the only ground of his redemption. Listen to these excerpts from his last letters to me, about the grace of God:
Nov. 27th 1993: "Dear Nigel and family.... Your mother is...still the girl I love, who bore me a beloved son for whom I thank the Lord.... Pray for her, that the Lord will give her peace of mind, and that she waits on His blessing.... God's richest blessings to you all! Do not worry about us. We are in the Lord's hands." Jan. 4th 1994: "Glad to note your trip to Tasmania was so successful. Praise the Lord!" Feb. 15th 1994: "God bless you richly!"
Feb. 18th 1994: "We do hope Miekie [my daughter Annamarie] gets a suit-able position soon. Tell her that I am sure the Lord is on her side, and that she believes this and awaits His pleasure. The Lord does indeed work in mysterious ways.... I prayed to the Lord to help.... Praise the Lord!"
April 24th 1994: "God's richest blessings.... God bless you all!" His last letter to me, May 14th 1994, said: "Just received missionary letter, which makes very interesting reading.... We can only live from day to day in His grace." Grace! Amazing "grace" -- my father's last word to me!
And now, on July 17th 1994, he has been torn away from us. He is not here at his grave, for his soul has been resurrected already -- into Heaven! Why should we then seek our living brother in his empty grave? For later also his wife and their child shall go to him -- and then always ever be with our Saviour! I can best express my feelings in the following words of a great South African hymn (which I here translate from Afrikaans into English):
"O God, your goodness is never praised enough! Who is not
deeply impressed by it? How miserably thankless is that person
who does not lift up his heart to You! To You alone be gratitude
and honour -- may that here be my desire and my song! Never then
forget the Lord, o my soul! For the Lord never forgets me!
"Remember, o man, the next life -- the inheritance reserved for you!
There, surrounded with glory, you will see God everlastingly as He is!
Rejoice then, my soul, expectantly! It cost the dearest price --
the Lamb of God, led and slaughtered, has saved us from sin and guilt!
"May then Your faithful protection, O God, always remain before my eyes!
That strengthens my steps toward the good, to devote all my life to You.
That leads me forth in happy days; that comforts me in the worst need
and teaches me, without fear, to put up with the ugly picture of death."
The Lord hath given; the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord!
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints!
Prof. Dr. Francis Nigel Lee, Presbyterian Theological Hall, Brisbane AUSTRALIA
THE SALVATION OF MY FATHER'S SLAYER
by Rev. Prof. Dr. Francis Nigel Lee
In April 1994, I was invited to fly round the world and expound the Lord's Prayer in the U.S.A. during September. Having acquired the plane ticket, as an only child I was much looking forward to visiting my parents in Barrydale (near Swellendam in South Africa) -- on my way from Australia to America.
However, in July 1994, my father (almost 86) was robbed -- and left for dead in his home. My mother (having lost her mind and the use of some of her body functions) was permanently hospitalized. One week after being assaulted, my father died in hospital -- and went to be with the Lord.
Upon my arrival in South Africa in September, I headed for Swellendam -- where my mother was still in hospital [until December 1994]. There, I was amazed to hear that the police had apprehended a young man in connection with the death of my father -- and that the youth had signed a statement alleging he alone had attacked him. I also learned that my father, before dying, had given a description to the police of the young man . That description was altogether in harmony with the appearance of the accused. The latter was being held in jail precisely in Swellendam -- while then awaiting his preliminary trial just one week after my own arrival there.
I immediately contacted the jail, requesting permission to come and speak to the accused (of whom it was alleged he had killed also someone else even before attacking my father). The police warmly supported my request, but informed me the accused had the right to refuse to see me. He, however -- upon being told who I was -- agreed and even requested to meet with me.
On the 15th of September [1994] I went to the jail. There I was told to surrender my camera and tape-recorder and any firearms I may have been carrying. I was escorted to a room where three armed policeman and their officer were doing clerical work. One minute later, the accused was brought through the door into the room -- and stood there in front of me.
He was a strongly-built medium-sized man, answering exactly to the description given by my father to the police. He stood there, just looking down at the ground. I silently prayed to God for guidance about what to do next. Then I got up from my chair; addressed him politely by his full name; greeted him sincerely for granting me the interview; and requested him to sit down before I again did so.
I then said: "Mr. Witbooi, are you getting enough to eat here?" He re-plied: "Yes, thank you." I said: "Have you peace of mind here?" He replied: "Sir, I am very unhappy. I have been praying to God in my cell for the last three nights, but it's as if my prayers bounce back off the ceiling and don't get through."
I then said: "Mr. Witbooi, I am the only child of the old man who was left for dead behind the front door of his home in Barrydale on the 10th of July -- whom you are accused of having assaulted. I had been looking forward to spending a week with him in September, but as you can see this is now impossible." The young man nodded; looked down; and said nothing.
I then continued: "Mr. Witbooi, my father was not a Christian many years ago. But there came a time in his life when he turned from his sins and received Jesus as his Lord and Saviour. That is why he is now in Heaven, and
waiting for me to join him.
"Let me assure you, Mr. Witbooi, that if you make your peace with God -- whether you die right now of a heart attack; or are put to death for murder; or die naturally later on -- you too will go to Heaven. I also assure you that my father, whom you are accused of having murdered, will then be the first to welcome you there. However, Mr. Witbooi, if you do not repent and if you die in your sins -- I assure you that you will spend eternity in hell-fire and damnation, for ever!
"Mr. Witbooi, three men died on a little hill called Calvary. Two were guilty robbers; but the One in the middle, the Lord Jesus, was innocent. Robbers, as you know, include those who go around beating up old people and leaving them for dead after stealing from them. Both of those robbers jeered at the innocent Jesus crucified between them.
"But then one of the robbers repented, turned to the other, and said: 'We are being condemned justly. For we are receiving the punishment due for our deeds. But this man [Jesus] has done nothing amiss!' Then the penitent robber said to Jesus: 'Lord, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom!' So Jesus said to him: 'Truly I tell you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise!'
"Mr. Witbooi, do you not see yourself as one of those two robbers next to Jesus on Calvary? Will you die in your sins and go to Hell like the impenitent robber? Or will you, like the other robber: repent of your sins; receive Jesus as Lord; and be assured by Him that you will go to Heaven when you die?"
"Mr. Witbooi, if you wish, I will leave this jail right now. But if you prefer, I would be privileged to show you right now how you too can become a Christian. Which is it to be?"
Mr. Witbooi then tried to look me in the eye. He said: "Sir, would you
please show me how to become a Christian?" I then realized that the four policemen in the room had all put down their pens; had stopped working; and were straining their ears listening to us. So I said: "Officer, could you kindly get us a Bible?"
The officer went galloping out of the room, and immediately returned with a Bible -- and put it onto my lap with great respect. I opened it at John 3:16, and asked Mr. Witbooi whether he could read. When he so indicated, I handed him the Bible and asked him to read it. Loudly and clearly, he read it out, and then said: "I am too big a sinner!" But I replied: "Mr. Witbooi, it says here 'whosoever' -- and that includes you too, if and when you put your trust in Jesus."
The atmosphere was electric. All in that room felt the awesome presence of God the Holy Ghost. The silence was terrifying. Then I said: "Mr. Witbooi, will you come to Jesus?" He replied: "I will!"
So, two wicked Hell-deserving sinners -- Rev. Prof. Dr. Nigel Lee and his father's accused slayer Cornelius Witbooi -- then went down on their knees in that jail together. I put my arm around his shoulder, and prayed first. I thanked God for our meeting; (re)confessed all my own fresh sins to the Lord; and then asked Him to have mercy on Mr. Witbooi, for Christ's sake.
Mr. Witbooi then prayed. He said: "Lord, I'm a miserable sinner! Don't let Satan destroy me! I am sorry for all my sins. Forgive me, for the sake of Jesus Who died for people like me!"
We then got up off our knees. I assured him: "Mr. Witbooi, if you really meant that, you are now my brother. In that case, here is my right hand of fellowship. I will help you in any way I can. Here is my address in Australia. If you write to me, I promise to reply to every letter you may write, for the rest of my life. When is your trial?
He replied: "Thursday the 22nd of September." I promised to pray for him on that day (when I would be overseas), that justice would be done and that he would continue to receive God's grace whatever the outcome. I then again shook his hand and left the jail -- to the astonishment of both the grateful police and the bewildered convicts there who just kept on staring at me in amazement.
Driving back to Barrydale, I praised God and sang His Psalms the whole time -- realizing anew that God is not dead but very much alive on this great planet Earth. For God had revived my soul -- and, I trust, those of all in that room in the jail at Swellendam.
Four days later, I visited the jail again. This time Mr. Witbooi was waiting for me with a smile. He had been reading the Bible since I last saw him, and claimed to have peace. I urged him to speak to the other prisoners about what had happened to him; to tell the whole truth at the trial; and to work and witness for the Lord for the rest of his earthly life (be it short or long). He then prayed for both of us; thanked God for my visits; and boldly asked God to bless me wherever I went (that same day to England and thereafter to America).
The Lord heard his prayer. In London, God spoke powerfully -- through my relating there the above events. In America, the effect was electrifying and the tape-recording of my account is spreading like wildfire and producing awesome inquiries and results. I used it there, as an illustration, while preaching on the fifth petition in the Lord's Prayer ("And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us!")
O that God would melt the Heavens and come down, and touch and revive His hard-nosed children here on Earth! Dear reader, do you have the certainty that all your sins have been forgiven, for Christ's sake? Settle this now!
1995 LETTERS FROM AND TO A JAIL
Mr. Witbooi was kept in jail at Swellendam for almost fourteen months, while he awaited his trial. After around ten months, on 24th April 1995 he wrote the following letter [translation]:
"Commander,
Correctional Services 3198,
Private Bag X6,
Swellendam 6740.
Dear Prof. Lee,
It is going well with me, in the Name of the Lord Who created us. Sir, I am thankful and rejoice in the Lord that we can write to one another, and that He has carried us thus far.
Professor, I just wish to tell you that I have now been waiting here innocently for ten months for my hearing. So I ask you how one can be innocent of a deed, and wait for judgment. However, I shall prove my innocence fully. But pray together with me that the Father will vindicate.
I am sorry for everything, and wish to ask a favour of you. Would you please help me with R100, so that I can buy a few necessary things for myself? I would honestly appreciate this. Sir, I am now going to close [this letter]
with great love.... Stay with the Lord!
From Kerneels [Cornelius] Witbooi. God's blessing."
_____________________________________________________________________
Thereupon Professor Lee answered as follows [translation]:
"Kerneels Witbooi -- 9471995,
C/0 Commander Correctional Services,
Private Bag X6, Swellendam 6740, Republic of South Africa,
29th September 1996.
Dear Kerneels,
I was very grateful to our Lord finally to receive your letter to me dated
24th April. It seems to have been sent to me by sea mail, and thus took
more than five months to reach me. I am answering immediately, and indeed by air mail, which of course should be delivered to you much more quickly.
I have already sent three letters to you, since we met one another there in the jail. I have often wondered whether you ever received my letters; or, if you indeed answered them, whether your letters were sent to me. Thus, I could do nothing other than pray for you. That I indeed did many times -- that the Lord should keep you standing, come what may.
In the meantime I learned from my friends in Barrydale that your trial has constantly been postponed. I then realized how hard it must be for you, so I often prayed here: 'O Lord! May Kerneels's trial soon begin; find him either innocent and acquit him; or find him guilty and give him the punishment he deserves; but may his trial soon begin, and speedily finish!'
Only last week I woke up in the middle of the night and once again prayed for you thus. And today your letter arrived. Many thanks for it.
I rejoice to hear from you that things are going well with you in the Name of the Lord, and that He has carried you thus far. You say in your letter that you are now innocently awaiting judgment. Well, the Lord and hopefully you too know to what extent you may be guilty or innocent of the number of different crimes committed in my father's home, with which you are being charged.
As now requested by you, I shall certainly pray together with you that God the Father stand by you. But as I also told you a while back in the jail: if you are found guilty by the Court, I would like you to get the maximum punishment. I am enclosing for you, in English, my report of our conversation in the jail, to refresh our memories.
In the meantime I too have now been waiting for more than a year for justice to prevail, and that the thug or thugs who broke into my eighty-five-year-old father's home at night and mortally attacked him and just left him there, will righteously be punished. As his only child, I have now been waiting for more than a year that also a gravestone will get erected for my late father, and that the Lord will be merciful to my old mother first in the hospital and now elsewhere -- where she constantly inquires why her husband does not come and visit her.
So you see, Kerneels, I too have to be patient with the disposition of this long-lasting matter. Thus, both of us still need to learn how to keep on waiting upon the Lord. Please read Psalm 130 in your Bible.
I note in your letter your request that I send you R100, so that you can buy a few things you need. This request reminds me of the story of Peter, when a man asked him for money. You will remember that Peter then told the man: 'I do not have silver and gold. But what I do have, that I give to you in the Name of Jesus Christ.' Acts 3.
Kerneels, I am giving you this following Bible text of the same Peter: 'You know that you have not been purchased by transitory things, silver or gold, from your idle walk of life handed down by the fathers, but by the precious blood of Christ.' Read about this in First Peter 1:18-19 in your Bible. Thus, I do not believe it would be right for me to send you money. For I only wish to help you along on the right road ahead, and not to cause you any further hardship.
Many thanks, Kerneels, also for your loving wishes to me and my family. By the grace of God, we will indeed remain with the Lord. We pray the same for you and your dear ones. Once again, I promise to answer every letter which you send me.
Prayerfully in the service of our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ,
Dr. Nik Lee."
____________________________________________________________________
Almost a year of silence passed after the above was sent to Kerneels.
But on 17th September 1996 he wrote the following letter, which reached Dr. Lee on 3rd October 1996 (the day before his mother died in South Africa):
"I AM GUILTY OF THE CRIME!"
"Rev. Prof. Dr. F.N. Lee,
3 Kenya St., Wavell Heights,
Qld. 4012, AUSTRALIA, 17/9/96
Mr. Cornelius Witbooi -- 9471995,
Buffeljags Prison Private Bag X1,
Buffeljags River 6742, SOUTH AFRICA
Dear Sir,
As regards biological activities, my body system is still functioning positively, and I hope to hear the same from you.
Well, sir, I got the maximum sentence which the judge and our heavenly Father rightly decided to give me. I am not dissatisfied, for the Lord is with me. He protects me, and hopefully will one day lead me in the right path. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. And therefore, Mr. Lee, I do not lack both courage and guilt to write to you tonight -- in order to confess my guilt and to acknowledge to you that I am guilty of the crime for which I am now serving out a sentence of ten years of which two years were suspended, so that I must now serve out eight (8) years in prison.
Sir, when you visited me in Swellendam, I told you I was not guilty -- you remember, the time when I looked down at the ground. And why? Because I too indeed grew up in a home with the Lord and with love, and I was guilty and did not have the courage to tell you that I had committed the deed. That is why I turned my eyes away, as I knew within me that I lied to you and to God.
Mr. Lee, I then told the judge the truth, and he gave me the punishment.... Sir, I so much want to give my heart to the Lord, but my faith is too small. Therefore I am asking you to pray for me. I shall also pray for you, as I have done many times in my prayers, and then ask forgiveness for my sins. Yet it feels to me as if my prayers are not being heard....
I am still in the world, where I cannot escape without a healing hand. Sir, I am tonight again praying for you, and I shall ask that He must not leave you. Mr. Lee, stay with the Lord, for His ways are good. Read Matthew 4, from verses 1 to 11, especially verse 10. God bless you and your family.
EPHESIANS 3 VERSES 14 TO 16.
For this reason, I bend my knees before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
From Whom every generation in the Heavens
and on Earth receives its name.
That He may give you according to the riches
of His glory to be strengthened with power
by His Spirit in the inner man.
Where shall my help come from? My help comes from the Lord Who made Heaven and Earth. O Lord, be with us always. Protect and guard us. O Lord, lead me according to your ways, and forgive us our sins, where I have sinned in thoughts, words and deeds. This I ask not because I am worthy, but because of grace. Save my soul and open my eyes to be able to distinguish between good and evil. Amen!"
[TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY DR. N. LEE]
"MAY I COME VISIT YOU IN JAIL AGAIN?"
"QUEENSLAND PRESBYTERIAN THEOLOGICAL HALL
(within Emmanuel College, Sir William MacGregor Drive, St. Lucia 4067)
Faculty Secretary: Rev. Professor Dr. F.N. Lee
(Th.D., Ph.D., D.Min., S.T.D., D.R.E., D.Ed., D.Hum., D.Jur., D.C.L., D.Litt.)
3 Kenya Street, Wavell Heights, Qld. 4012,
AUSTRALIA. Ph. (07) 3266-1688
___________________________________
Mr. Cornelius Witbooi,
Reg. No. 94714995, Buffeljag's Prison,
Private Bag X1, Buffeljag's River,
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA 6742, 7th October 1996.
Dear Cornelius,
Many thanks for your wonderful letter 17th September 1996, which reached me at 4:30 p.m. on 3rd October. As you can see from the paper attached, my dear mother died the next day (88 years old). She was the old "Mrs. Lee" of 25 Van Riebeeck Street in Barrydale, whom you probably saw and possibly even knew before my dear father (old Mr. Syd Lee) was assailed in July 1994 and thereafter so tragically died.
Your letter moved me to tears. I then translated it into English, and read it out to my Theological Students the next day. I help teach them how to become Ministers of the Gospel. When I began to read out your letter to them, more than one of them softly started weeping. Ninety minutes later, I got a phone call from Swellendam saying that my mother there in the hospital had just passed away. Now she is in Heaven, with my father, where they both wait for you and me to see them again, in God's good time.
Cornelius, although I have typed out this letter in Australia, I am going to post it to you only after I reach South Africa. You see, I hope to arrive in Swellendam on 12th October, in order to bury my mother from the Dutch Reformed Church in Barrydale the following Monday at 2 p.m. There in the Church I am going to read out the burial letter, which I am attaching for you, before we go to the Cemetery.
Cornelius, I would very much like to visit not only your parents and family in Barrydale, but also you yourself in the Buffeljag's Prison, before I return to Australia. May I, please? I shall phone the Prison in a few days, and ask them whether you are again willing to receive me, and also whether the Head of the Prison will give his friendly permission.
In the meantime, I am hereby enclosing a further two things for you. Firstly, the old 1994 burial letter which was read out two years ago at my father's funeral in the Church at Barrydale -- together with my account of our meeting, after that, in the Swellendam Prison. Secondly, a selection of poems which I myself wrote. From them, you can see how I too struggled to come to the Lord -- but also how He enabled me to find Him, and how I thereafter attempted and still try to serve Him. That is my prayer, also for you!
With my very best brotherly greetings, till we meet again,
Nigel Lee (Rev. Prof. Dr. F.N. Lee)" [TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH]
PROF. LEE AGAIN VISITS HIS BROTHER
The above letter was not mailed to Cornelius, but handed to him in jail by Prof. Lee on 13th October 1996, the day before he buried his mother.
On October 13th, Dr. Lee together with the Swellendam Gideons visited the Buffeljags Prison. Addressing hundreds of prisoners, Dr. Lee preached on Matthew 25:36 -- "I was in prison, and you came to Me." Among all those prisoners, the murderer of Professor Lee's father was there too.
Prof. Lee was then allowed to spend five minutes with Cornelius (together with an Officer) and to hand over the above letter to the prisoner.
Professor Lee greeted Cornelius; told him that their story had already gone around the world; and said he planned to write a book about it. The prisoner was very agreeable for Prof. Lee to take his photograph, and then to use it in any book he may write about their contacts. But the Officer could not allow Dr. Lee to take any photographs.
So Cornelius then asked Prof. Lee to visit his own parents, Mr. and Mrs. Kerneels and Katrina Claassen (labourers for Mr. Jacques Theron on his farm Helderkroon near Barrydale), and to request them to provide Prof. Lee with a photograph of Cornelius for that purpose. This Prof. Lee would do, shortly after he had gone and buried his own mother in Barrydale the very next day (Monday 14th October 1996).
Professor Lee then put his arm round Cornelius, and prayed. He thanked God for their reunion; asked the Lord to sustain Cornelius in the jail; and to give him the grace to profess and live out his Christian convictions.
Professor Lee then said goodbye to Cornelius; thanked the Officer; and left the jail.
PROF. LEE'S BURIAL MESSAGE FOR HIS MOTHER
It has pleased the Holy Triune God of life and death to take my dear mother, Alice Maud Lee, to Heaven. This occurred around three o'clock Friday morning the 4th of October, 1996; in the ripe old age of eighty-eight years, six months, and four days.
Auntie Maud, as her dear friends in Barrydale called her, was born on March 31st 1908 in England -- and married there. She and her elder sister Rita were raised very strictly in the Roman Catholic Faith. Similarly, both sisters educated their children in and for the Roman Catholic Church. When Auntie Maud was expecting her only child Nigel, she gave him to the Lord -- with the sincere prayer that he would later become a priest in the Church of Rome. She raised him with this in mind.
It was when Nigel was six years old that he last saw his Auntie Rita's three sons. All of them, together with Nigel, then promised one another to serve the Lord in His Church. Rita's children Peter and John and Tony all studied for the Roman Catholic priesthood. Their cousin Nigel, however, when seven years old, went with his mother Auntie Maud to South Africa, the land of his father's birth. There Nigel grew up; became a Christian by the grace of God; had the great privilege of leading both of his parents to the Lord Jesus; and then became a Reformed Church Minister.
After her conversion to the Protestant Faith at Muizenberg near Cape Town during 1958, Auntie Maud started a Sunday School in her garage for children of the Coloured Community -- and also taught them many Christian Songs. She of-ten also gave some of her son's religious tracts to interested persons.
After their retirement, Auntie Maud and her husband Uncle Syd settled down in Barrydale. There, in their sixties, they both decided to become Members of the Dutch Reformed Church. Auntie Maud's Catechist, the Dutch Reformed Minister of Barrydale, told her son at the time that she was able to recite every answer of the Short Compendium (or Catechism) by heart. There-after both Auntie Maud and Uncle Syd remained Communicant Members of the Dutch Reformed Church in Barrydale, even after their only child moved first to America and then to Australia as a Seminary Professor in Systematic Theology, to train theological students overseas for the Gospel Ministry.
On October 3rd, just a few hours after he learned from her doctor in Swellendam that Auntie Maud was terminally ill, her son received a letter from his deceased father's assailant from the Buffeljags River Prison. That letter came from the person accused in 1994 of having assailed and killed the deceased Uncle Syd Lee -- the person whom Auntie Maud's son Dr. Lee had in 1994 visited in the Swellendam Prison and then led to the Lord.
In the above letter, that criminal asked both Auntie Maud's son and God for forgiveness for the murder he committed against her deceased husband. After her son had translated that letter from Afrikaans into English and read it out to his theological students in faraway Australia on October 4th, more than one of them was visibly moved to tears. Ninety minutes later, the son received the news that his mother had just died, and had left Swellendam for her Father's Heavenly Home above.
"And I heard a voice from Heaven saying to me: 'Write -- Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now onward!' 'Yes,' said the Spirit, 'so that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them!'" Revelation 14:13.
VISITING THE HELDERKROON FARM
A few days after Dr. Lee buried his mother on 14th October 1996, he kept the promise he made to Cornelius to go and visit his parents. They work on Mr. Jacques Theron's farm Helderkroon, just outside of Barrydale.
Mr. Theron was very helpful. He gave Cornelius's parents the afternoon off, and put his own office at our disposal. I then went and introduced myself to Cornelius's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Kerneels and Katrina Claassen.
Dr. Lee then explained he is the only child of old Mr. Syd Lee, whom their son Cornelius murdered in July 1994. I then mentioned that I was with Cornelius in the jail on the previous Sunday; that I then spoke to him; that I then also preached to all of the convicts; and that I had now come to visit them precisely at the request of their son.
I then explained to them how even King David, a man after God's own heart, murdered someone in a moment of weakness -- but later sincerely repented of this. Second Samuel 11 and 12, with Psalm 51.
I then told them that their son Cornelius, on the basis of faith in Christ which he now professes, had been made just -- in the eyes of the Lord. Then I asked them whether things are right also in their heart -- and, if not, whether they did not wish to settle the matter with the Lord immediately.
Thereupon all three of us got down upon our knees. Katrina then prayed a passionate prayer, in which she thanked the Lord that He had now after all the years sent His messenger to her -- in order to show her too the way to Heaven. Kerneels then recited first Psalm 23 and then the Our Father and, after a great battle, confessed faith in the Lord. After that I myself thanked God for the wonderful privilege of kneeling with Cornelius's parents at the foot of the cross of Jesus.
All three of us then went to the little farm cottage of the Claassens, where they gave me a photograph of Cornelius which I could use in my new book, as Cornelius himself had told me to do. I then took a photograph of the couple, together with their daughter (Cornelius's sister) -- and encouraged the family to read the Bible every day.
After I then said goodbye to all three of them, we parted from one another with great joy. Shortly thereafter, I wrote to Cornelius once again, and returned to my wife (and family) in Australia.
TELLING CORNELIUS ABOUT HIS PARENTS
"Mr. C. Witbooi,
Reg. No. 94714995,
Buffeljags Prison,
Private Bag X1,
Buffeljags River 6742,
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA,
21st October, 1996.
Dear Cornelius,
It was good to see you on Sunday 13th October, and to pray together with you once again.
I buried my late mother the following day. After that I went and visited your parents, Mr. and Mrs. Kerneels and Katrina Claassen, on Mr. Theron's farm Helderkroon near Barrydale.
Mr. Theron gave your parents time off from work in the afternoon, so that they could speak to me [in his office]. I spent almost two hours with them, talking about you [and telling them of my visit to you in jail again on Sunday 12th October, and explaining to them that you are still standing for the Lord in jail, by the grace of God].
All three of us then prayed, and I explained to them how to become a child of God -- just like I explained to you in 1994 in the jail in Swellendam. After that, I went to your parents' little cottage. There I met your sister, and photographed [her together with] your parents. Your mother was very happy, and she gave me a photograph of you which I shall take back to Australia.
Yesterday, Sunday 20th October, I preached in your congregation -- the Dutch Reformed Mission Church in Barrydale. I asked the brothers and sisters to read at home Second Samuel chapters 11 and 12. I then preached for them from Psalm 51. I explained that there was grace even for a murderer like King David. After that, I gave your Aunt Maria a copy of your most recent letter to me, and of mine to you.
Cornelius, read Second Samuel [chapters] 11 and 12, and Psalm 51. Also read Acts chapter 10. I would very much like to hear from you again. Pray for me, for yourself, and especially for your parents.
With every blessing in the Lord,
Dr. Lee" [TRANSLATION]
CHRISTMAS MESSAGES FROM AND TO THE PRISON
In the middle of November 1996, Dr. Lee from Australia sent a number of documents to his father's converted murderer Cornelius Witbooi in South Africa. Those documents comprised inter alia: a report about Dr. Lee's October 1996 visit to Cornelius and others in the Buffeljags Prison; the burial letter for the October funeral of Dr. Lee's mother in Barrydale; snapshots of Cornelius, and of members of the latter's family whom Dr. Lee photographed in Oct. at Barrydale; Dr. Lee's report on his Oct. visit to Cornelius's parents; Dr. Lee's 21st Oct. letter to Cornelius, about the above visits; and a photo of Dr. Lee and his wife, taken by their daughter, when he on 3rd November 1996 again arrived back home in Australia.
To the above, Cornelius reacted at once. On 9th Dec. he wrote the following letter, which Dr. Lee received just before Christmas 1996:
[TRANSLATED BY DR. LEE FROM
AFRIKAANS INTO ENGLISH] C. Witbooi [Reg. No. 94714995],
Correctional Services,
Private Bag X1,
Buffeljags River 6742 [SOUTH AFRICA]
Dear Dr. F.N. Lee,
I greet you in the beautiful name of Jesus. I am pleased you encouraged me so strongly to make contact with Jesus. Sir, I received the letter which you sent me. Consequently, I am again feeling like a new man -- full of hope, and trusting in our Father.
My brother, I believe that you will pray for us here in Buffeljags Prison. Remember, Mr. Lee, I am upholding you in prayer to God. And I believe the heavenly gate has been opened for us all, my dear brother in Jesus.
Doctor, I am sure no man on Earth but only the Lord knows my conscience. Yet I am happy for the sentence laid upon me. Therefore I do not wish to talk about that again. For God has taken all my burdens upon Himself.
Consequently, I praise the Lord for all His good deeds which He as our Saviour keeps on dedicating to us. So, rejoice together with me! For when He comes -- I shall go to heaven together with Him. Praise the Lord!
Dr. Lee, I have a friend here who would like to correspond with you and the Church. His name and number is Hendrik Jansen, number 95714670. He says that the message you brought us here, touched him as if he were here for the same crime [as I am] -- although he committed a different crime [than murder]. But the words were too true. Praise the Lord!
Dr. F.N. Lee, thank you for visiting my humble family. The Lord shall praise all your work, even though we cannot do so. For nothing is impossible for God. Praise the Lord! Doesn't man have a struggle, here on Earth? Thus I have inherited months of disappointment. Isaiah 59:1-3!
My life is in God, and God's is in mine, my brother. So I understand how you can now feel. You shall hear more from me and my friend. We are praying God's blessing upon you and the rest of the Church. Stay with the Lord, no matter what happens. God shall provide. And greet your family there in Australia. This letter comes from Mr. Cornelius Witbooi, brother in Jesus. Till we meet again!
This Dr. Lee answered as follows [translated from Afrikaans into English]:
Cornelius Witbooi -- 9471995,
C/O Commandant of Corrective Services,
Private Bag X1, Buffeljags River 6742,
Republic of South Africa,
19th December, 1996.
THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS INSIDE AND OUTSIDE OF JAIL
Dear Cornelius,
I was very grateful toward our Lord yesterday, to get a letter from you dated 9th Dec. 1996. It arrived here right before Christmas. It reminded me that we must once again soon thank God for His great Christmas Present. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son -- so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life!" John 3:16.
Cornelius, I am very pleased that my prison sermon on 13th October touched Hendrik Jansen too -- and that you and Hendrik are now praying in the jail also for me. I much value that. All of us need encouragement.
I will, of course, pray also for Hendrik. Because I now have no plans to re-turn to South Africa, but am soon again going to America -- I do not quite know how I can help Hendrik too. But I am making a copy of your letter to me, and I am sending it together with a copy of this letter from me to you, to the Gideons of Swellendam. They are the Christians who brought me to the Buffeljags Prison on 13th October, and there distributed Bibles. Hopefully they can further help both you and Hendrik.
I was deeply touched by your words: "I am happy for the sentence laid upon me.... For God has taken all my burdens upon Himself. Consequently, I praise the Lord for all His good deeds which He as our Saviour keeps on dedicating to us.... My life is in God, and God's is in mine...."
Cornelius, the Lord has placed you there in jail with a wonderful purpose.
You should not only witness for the Lord in word and deed to Hendrik and the other prisoners, but also to the jailers. That is what Paul did when he was in jail. Read his letter to the Philippians.
Also read: Genesis 39 to 41, about Joseph in jail; Daniel 6, about his experiences in the lion's den; and Acts 12, about Peter in jail. They all -- Paul, Joseph, Daniel, and Peter -- did wonderful work for the Lord also in jail. You should do the same, by the power of God!
Please give my very best wishes also to Officer Snyman -- and especially to your parents, when you see them again. Kindly remind your parents about their fine decisions, which they took together with me on 18th Oct., to serve the Lord. Your Aunt Maria too was so happy! Please give my greetings to her too.
I close by wishing you and your dear ones the most blessed Christmas. Thank God He came to save us, just when we were hopelessly lost. Thanks be to God for the unspeakable gift of His Son! Second Corinthians 9:15!
Your co-servant in our Lord Jesus Christ, Dr. Nigel Lee.
27/04/98 Prisoner No. 94714995
Mr. Cornelius Witbooi,
Brandvlei Med. A., Private Bag X3064,
Worcester 6850, SOUTH AFRICA.
Dear friend,
By the grace of our Lord Jesus, I hope and pray that the Lord's grace will always stay with you. My friend, I got your letter on 22nd April, and I pray the Lord will bless you and your family and His grace will remain with you in all circumstances. I note your daughter was admitted to hospital, and pray and ask the Lord she will again be restored in health to her family. My friend, from my days here, I cannot complain. The Members [of the Prison Staff] are alright, together with my Fellow-Prisoners....
Ask my brothers and sisters there if I can write them in order to strengthen my faith, and that they pray for our land of crime and ask for help from the Father.... I will write to you as frequently as possible, and I ask for what I have been asking you for as from 1995 [namely money], with the hope you will help me. My friend, the chapter I recommend you, is Isa. 41:10, as too Matt. 5:42 & Lk. 16:13..... I trust you will more and more get rest in your soul, and that from now on you will trust in the All Highest for the rest of you life, and place your life in His hands. Lk. 23:35-43. My friend, that is my message from the depth of my heart. Give my greetings to Rev. Knapp and his congregation. May God be with you. Strength for the road ahead.
From your friend. Cornelius Witbooi.
______________________________________________________________________________
Dear Cornelius,
Many thanks for your letter 27 April 1998, which reached me here 27 July. I read it out loud last night at our family worship, and we learned with the greatest gratitude that you are praying for my daughter. She is now out of hospital, but has to take strong medication daily. Her sickness has not been diagnosed exactly, but seems to be one of two possible kidney problems with long names and which few people ever get.
Last night I said to her: "You know, Anna, you are the younger grandchild of your late grandfather who died after Cornelius attacked and robbed him. He loved you, and all the money on earth can never bring him back to us. But now, our dear Lord is using precisely Cornelius to pray for you, so that you can get quite well again. How wonderful are the ways of the Lord!" She then said: "Yes, it's very humbling!"
You request me to ask our Christian brothers and sisters here if you can write to them to strengthen your faith, and to pray for your land of crime, and ask for help from the Father. I shall translate your recent letter and my answer to it and pass both on to our own Minister, our Presbyters, and also to our Theological Lecturers and Students; and too, with your greeting, to Rev. Knapp and his congregation. I note too your other request, Mt. 5:42. I answer with Ex. 21:12-19 and Acts 3:4-6. Please never mention this request to me again.
Pray for me, as I retire from work in the next few years. As I will then have no income from work, my wife and I will then need to live carefully, from what we have been saving over the years for our old age. But you are still young! You have prospects within a few years of being able again to work for money, of helping to care for your parents as I did for mine, and of also saving for your own old age. We are happy you cannot complain about the Prison Staff and your Fellow Prisoners there. Please read Psalms 90 to 92!
With my very best wishes. (Dr.) N. Lee 28/7/1998
TO: Rev. Prof. Dr. F.N. Lee,
3 Kenya Street, Wavell Heights,
Q. 4012, AUSTRALIA.
FROM: Mr. Cornelius Witbooi,
Reg. No. 94714995, Brandvlei Med. A.,
Private Bag X3064, Worcester 6850,
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA,
(TRANSLATION)
21st January, 1999
Dear friend,
I greet you in the Name of the Almighty. By the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, I am thankful to be able to write to you again. My friend in Jesus, I am grateful for a friend like you. My friend, I am sorry and ask your forgiveness for ignoring you for so long.
It is according to the will of God that I can indeed still write to you and say that things are going well with me, only that my health is no longer so good. I got a sickness in the jail, from which I am still suffering. Help me to ask for healing, for I wonder whether my prayers have enough power, and whether my faith is too weak. So, my friend, pray to Jesus for me -- and I too will get down on my knees and ask for help for my soul.
Acknowledge Him in all your ways, then He will straighten out your paths. So, my friend, I am happy you have the privilege of being able to praise Jesus with heart and soul and without falsehood. Stay with the Lord, and you shall receive what you ask.
I trust your daughter has been healed, and I wish you a happy and blessed New Year, also for your friends and your family.
Till next time, I thank God for you and wish His blessings on all of you.
___________________________________________________________________________
TO THE ABOVE LETTER, I RESPONDED (TRANSLATION):
16th April, 1999
Dear Cornelius,
Many thanks for your seamail letter 21st January, which reached me only today (16th April 1999). I am sorry to hear that you got sick in jail, and I will certainly pray for your complete recovery according to the will of the Lord (II Corinthians 12).
I thank you for your prayers for my daughter. Her kidneys have become much better, but she must still and shall perhaps have to keep on taking special pills for the rest of her life. I too am recovering, from the flu, and have to fly on 21st April to America and Germany. Please pray for my health and for my messages overseas, according to the enclosed photo and itinerary. From the latter you will note that in America I am going to speak six times about our jail meeting (see the tract), en that I am also going to hold two prison services there.
Regards to your parents and aunt Maria, and blessings in the Lord,
(Rev. Prof. Dr. Francis Nigel Lee)
FROM: Mr. Cornelius Witbooi,
Reg. No. 94714995, Brandvlei Med. A.,
Private Bag X3064, Worcester 6850,
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA,
TO: Rev. Prof. Dr. F.N. Lee,
3 Kenya Street, Wavell Heights,
Q. 4012, AUSTRALIA.
(TRANSLATION) REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA,
3rd March, 1999
Dear friend,
Once again it is a privilege for me through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the All-Highest One, to address this letter to you. I hope it will find you and your family well, through the will of Jesus Christ.
Brother, the Bible says that God sent His only Son to the Earth in order to die for our sins, so that we need not perish but have everlasting life -- and that this is to be received only by way of conversion.
Brother, I am now writing this my second letter this year to you in the hope that it will reach you. My family and I are okay. Although it is now almost three years since I heard from my mother, father, brother and two sisters -- I believe that they too are all right. I contracted tuberculosis in jail, but am praying that it will heal and that I will one day again be able to see my family -- if God spares us.
I am sorry for the loss I caused you [by killing your father]. When I today think back about it -- which deprived me of my freedom -- my heart is heavy. I repent of what I did, and ask God for forgiveness, to fill up the gap caused by my transgression. Therefore, friend, I ask also you to forgive me.... What I have done will always be held against me, for not everyone can forgive and forget. It is not that I want it forgotten about, but I only wish to think about it less bitterly. That is my heart's desire.
Brother, I close this letter with my greeting to your family and friends. The Lord is the Shepherd of all of us, and He leads us to still waters. He also leads us in the ways of righteousness for the sake of His Name. Read Psalm 23 -- "The Lord is my Shepherd!"
___________________________________________________________________________
TO THE ABOVE LETTER, I RESPONDED (TRANSLATION):
23rd June, 1999
Dear Cornelius,
Many thanks for your second letter to me of this year, dated 3rd March. It arrived while I was travelling round the World again. I have only now returned and read your most recent words. But by now you will probably have received my previous letter to you, airmailed on 21st April in answer to your previous letter to me of 16th January 1999.
I am sorry to learn that you have contracted tuberculosis in jail. I will certainly pray for your complete recovery, according to the will of the Lord (II Corinthians 12). I already forgave you for murdering my father, years ago -- even though of course you must still serve out your sentence.
I retold our story in a jail in America. The prisoners (3/4s Black and 1/4 White) were deeply moved. They then sang me "Amazing Grace" -- under a Choir Director now serving a life sentence. Amazing grace indeed!
-- (Rev. Prof. Dr.) Francis Nigel Lee
____________________________________________________________________________
TO: Rev. Prof. Dr. F.N. Lee,
3 Kenya Street, Wavell Heights,
Q. 4012, AUSTRALIA.
FROM: Mr. Cornelius Witbooi,
Reg. No. 94714995, Brandvlei Med. A.,
Private Bag X3064, Worcester 6850,
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA,
9th Aug., 1999
Respected Mr. Lee,
It is a privilege for me through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to answer your letter [23rd June 1999], which reached me on the 12th of July 1999. Mr. Lee, through the will and grace of God things are still going well with my family and I. So I hope to be able to hear the same again from you.
Mr. Lee, things are going reasonably well with my father. He has lost only his speech. But that is the will of God Our Father. Therefore we cannot question His actions. Ephesians 2 verse 4 to 10.
Many thanks for your encouragement. I much appreciate it. I close by wishing you and your loved ones the nicest Christmas. Thank God He came to save us, just when we were hopelessly lost. God be praised for the inexpressible gift of His Son! John 16 verses 7 to 10.
From your friend, Cornelius.
___________________________________________________________________________
TO THE ABOVE LETTER, I RESPONDED (TRANSLATION):
8th Nov., 1999
Dear Cornelius,
Many thanks for your letter to me of 9th Aug. 1999. It arrived today, and my wife and I were very grateful for your fine letter.
We are pleased to say that we are all well. Our daughter Anna has made a complete recovery from her kidney and liver disease, and doesn't even need to take any more medicines. We deeply appreciate your prayers for her in the past. As you can see, God has heard and been pleased to heal her.
We trust your father can accept the loss of his speech, and are pleased that apart from that the Lord has healed him. We trust that you too have now recovered from your T.B., there in jail.
You will remember I told you how I in June preached twice in America to convicts in jail. One of them, a Christian, was then doing a Bible Correspondence Course. My wife asked me to suggest this to you too. Why not then ask the chief jailer or the chaplain there about what might be avail-able for you? Tell them, if you can read English, that I too could send you material.
With my best wishes for a blessed Christmas. Your brother in Christ,
Rev. Prof. Dr. Francis Nigel Lee
P.S. My greetings to your Aunt Maria.
______________________________________________________________________________
TO: Rev. Prof. Dr. F.N. Lee,
3 Kenya Street, Wavell Heights,
Q. 4012, AUSTRALIA.
FROM: Mr. Cornelius Witbooi,
Reg. No. 94714995, Brandvlei Med. A.,
Private Bag X3064, Worcester 6850,
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA,
29th Nov., 1999
Dear Mr. Lee,
Thanks very much for your letter to me of 8 November. It reached me on the 26th, and I am very grateful for your nice and encouraging words.
I am please to hear that you and your family are still well, for which I say thanks to our Heavenly Father.
I read that you mention a Bible Correspondence Course and I would appreciate it if you could in that way bring me still closer to Christ.
I received a letter from a friend who is also encouraging me and sending me tracts which I am right now busy reading. Yet they are in English, in words which I do not understand.... Yet possibly that will also polish up my English a little bit....
Mr. Lee, do convey my greeting to Rev. Knapp oor and also to your wife and daughter; and also to yourself. On a hill far away stands an old rugged cross, on which Jesus died for our sins.
With my best wishes to you,
From your friend/brother in Christ,
Cornelius.
___________________________________________________________________________
TO THE ABOVE LETTER, I RESPONDED (TRANSLATION):
8th Feb., 2000
Dear Cornelius,
Many thanks for your letter to me of 29th November. It arrived yesterday, and my family is very grateful for your nice words.
I am going to make copies of your letter and this answer to it, and send them to friends in Suth Africa with the request that they please get in touch with you and try to get you enrolled for a Bible Correspondence Course. It seems to me it would best be in Afrikaans, for after all that is closest to your heart.
Your photo is in our sitting room, and I pray for you every time I see it. Please give my greeting to your Aunt Maria, and write again soon.
With my very best wishes in the service of our Master King Jesus, Nigel Lee
_________________________________________________________________
READER, WHERE DO YOU STAND?
Dear reader, in the above pages you have been reading something about the ancestors and the descendants of this writer. His great-grandfather was a fiery preacher, whose daughter became a Christian only in her late-fifties. Her son became an atheist. But the latter's son led his parents back to Christ, and then became a preacher like his great-grandfather. By the grace of God, he raised two godly children (the daughters of Dr. Francis Nigel Lee).
Truly, God's ways are wonderful! For He, through His servants, did "turn the heart of the fathers back to the children -- and the heart of the children back to their fathers." Malachi 4:6. May He do the same for you too!
You have also been reading something about the life of my father's murderer, and his family. What a marvellous God we worship -- Who gave me the grace to lead not only my own parents back to the Lord, but also my father's murderer and later even the latter's parents!
These two families -- one White, and the other Coloured -- would never have met at all, but for the death of my father Mr. Syd Lee. More importantly, but for the death of Jesus, these two families and all of their members -- Mr. and Mrs. Syd Lee, their son Dr. Nigel Lee, his wife Mrs. Nellie Lee, their daughters Misses Johanna and Anna Lee; and Mr. & Mrs. Kerneels Claassen and their child Cornelius Witbooi -- would still be going to Hell. They are now brothers and sisters of one another and all on their way to Heaven through bloodshed: through the shed blood of our great Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ!
"But now, in Christ Jesus, you who were previously far off, have been made nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace..., to make in Himself, from two, one new man, thus making peace -- so that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross." Ephesians 2:13-16.
"It pleased the Father that in Him [the Lord Jesus Christ] all fullness should dwell. And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in Earth, or things in Heaven. And you who were in past times alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works -- you He has now reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight." Colossians 1:19-22.
Dear reader, where do you stand today? May you too join the brotherhood -- because of His bloodshed!
FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES!
"Forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors....
For if you forgive men their trespasses,
your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
But if you do not forgive men their trespasses,
neither will your Father forgive your trespasses!"
-- Matthew 6:12-15
Jesus Lives,
3 Kenya St.,
Wavell Heights, QUEENSLAND 4012,
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA.
Phone: Australia (0)7-3266-1688
E-mail: francisnigellee@crosswinds.net
This material may be reproduced and circulated, providing written credit is given to its author, Rev. Prof. Dr. Francis Nigel Lee, of the Queensland Presbyterian Theological Hall in Australia. (within Emmanuel College, Upland Road, St Lucia, QLD, Australia 4067). Phone: Intl. +61 7 3266 1688.
The right of (re)publication by the author in any different way is hereby reserved.
Converted by R. J. Long , of Dominion Data.