TESTIMONY 15: I WAS ANOINTED AND MY DOG WAS POSSIBLY POSSESSED

I have a lot to share since my last post and I'm not sure where to begin lol! I suppose I should start from the first experience since this all actually really started since the anointing service at Hillsong Church, so here goes!

On 14 December 2014, our Pastor at Hillsong church (Pastor Phil) announced: "Today we are having our anointing service. Our church members are going to come around to everyone and anoint you with oil on your foreheads for the new year." I became really excited when I heard this lol because the word "anointing" had been standing out to me a lot before that service so in my head I was like Oh yeeeaah". As the church members went around to every single person in church I got a feeling that something good was about to happen. I then prayed to God "God, one true eternal God, if this is of you, and this is what you want for me, then please place my struggles in someone's mind and lead them to me. I want the right person to come to me." My struggle was thoughts that the enemy of God would place in my mind, negative thoughts about myself and about my life. Out of nowhere these thoughts of inadequacy would enter my mind "You are inferior. You are nothing. Everyone else is better than you. Your friends do not like you. You should be alone, distance yourself from them. Nobody likes you. You're ugly." etc and these thoughts stop me from doing so many big things in this world, that I know I am very capable of doing. After saying this prayer I waited until approached by one of the main leaders, "Have you been anointed?" she asked my mother who was next to me. "No, both of us haven't." "Okay I'll get to you soon." She proceeded in anointing and praying for the person sitting next to us. I thought to myself "Well, she must be the perfect person to anoint me, because she's a leader here and she must be the one that God placed my problem with, makes sense?" And just as I started getting excited lol another young lady on the other side of the pathway approached us and asked us if we had been anointed, and she made her way directly to me. "What is your name?" she asked "Sydney" I said as tears filled my eyes. She then anointed my forehead with oil and began to pray for me. Her prayer went something like this: "Father God, I ask that you remove any evil words spoken over Sydney and her life. I ask that you remove the strongholds the devil has placed in her mind." I began to cry even more at this point. "Protect her from the enemy, let her see the changes clearly. Remove these false beliefs so that they leave her for the new year and she can fulfil her purpose without them stopping her." At this point I was sniffing like a baby lol "Please bring people into her life, let her meet some good people for her life for this new year. In Jesus name. Amen." When she was done we smiled at each other and I grabbed her and hugged her, because she has no idea what a huge impact that made in my life. I felt free from partial captivity.

On this same night two "supernatural" incidents took place. The first was beautiful, the second was something out of a horror movie lol on my way home from Hillsong at about 8pm I got a call from my two best friends "Syd, we overslept and when we woke up it was too late for church! So upset we missed church!" "Ah, you guys missed an incredible service, you really were supposed to be here tonight." "Can we come over? Let us know when you're home. You can tell us about it." They came over and I explained everything. When it was time to leave, as they were pulling out of the driveway I looked up at the sky at a bright white star, the brightest in the sky. I looked back down at their car and waved goodbye and as I was waving, out of nowhere, this really bright orange/red light shot from the sky fast toward a tree and it was gone. My first thought was "That was definitely an alien ship, no doubt." lol I only saw a shooting star once in my entire life, in my backyard when I was really young. So to see this really felt like it meant something, and I felt like I was being watched in anticipation. I thought maybe I should walk to this tree, but doubt and fear sunk in and stopped me from walking alone in the dark. As I stood there starring at the tree I heard a voice "Sydney?" I turned around and it was my brother lol looking very confused. "Come here quickly! Come with me to this tree!" I asked him." Sebastian must have been scared out of his mind, because he didn't even reply lol he just went back to bed. I went to his room "Seby! Come with me quickly, I just saw a shooting star and I feel like I have to go to the tree it flew into." "Nope. Not going. No way." and so I ended up not going either. I can only imagine how weird that must have looked though hahahaha seeing your sister stand outside by the garage starring at the sky in the dark lol I wouldn't go with either. I then returned to my bedroom to write and read a little before sleeping.

When I was sitting in bed on my laptop my dog (who never leaves my side) had his head down with his eyes facing me. His eyes were closed, but they were flickering fast, which I've never seen his eyes do before, and I've had him for a while now lol. I thought that maybe he was just having his first doggy nightmare lol but then he opened his eyes for a while and starred at me with white eyeballs then he closed them again. His eyes then started flickering again, moving really fast up and down. I touched his body to wake him, but he didn't move it just kept flickering. I shook him harder and he finally woke up, so I figured it was just a nightmare. I closed my eyes and started dozing off into a nightmare. I started feeling attacked, my mind was flooded with negative thoughts and the hugest headache came over me. I opened my eyes and on the left side of my face, standing on all fours was my dog Chaplin, starring down at me for the first time. This fully got me up lol So, not being sure if we can pray for animals, I said a prayer saying "Father God if this dog is possessed, please rebuke this demon." and I added "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus, leave my dogs body now" and I slept in peace. What is weird is that it happened again twice after this moment (on other days) and I managed to take a video of his eyes the third time it happened with my phone, but guess what, my phone will not play it. It plays all the other videos, but when I click play on that video it's just black. So since there are no witnesses (as there normally are) all I have is my words and experience, and I'm sharing it. Below is a picture of my dog that I'm talking about, Chaplin.

So as you can see for yourself, this is a cute dog lol we must never hate people or animals, only the evil spirits who influence them as Jesus Christ once cast demons out of a human and allowed then to go into animals (pigs) which then drowned immediately. So we, while remaining realistic, need to also remain vigilant. There is a saying that goes - rather safe than sorry. 

TESTIMONY 14: MY SECOND SIGN FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT

(Re-written from my journal)

20 November 2014: I just saw my second animal spirit symbol in my room. I decided that it is important for me to start keeping record of these things to help others become aware of what is happening in the spiritual realm and also to keep as a part of my collection of testimonies (to restore the faith of unbelievers). I don't think anyone would believe these things if they haven't witnessed my full journey/story, I feel that I would perhaps be labelled as insane to anyone who is not open to spiritual truth, especially those unfamiliar with the Holy Spirit - because that's what we tend to do. "If I don't understand it, if it didn't happen to me, then I'm going to label it as weird and insane." So the only people I have spoken to about this is my father, mother, brother and best-friends who have witnessed my entire journey since I was saved by Jesus. (If you would like to virtually witness my journey then simply read from Testimony 1 upward)

So I've already briefly shared a post on the previous animal spirit symbol I was shown (Testimony 13) it was the symbol of a crab, and was shown to me in a bright pale-yellow light. (If you didn't read that testimony I will add it into this with even more detail) What makes the first animal spirit symbol so mind-blowing is that 2/3 days before the night of seeing it (shaped like a crab) there was a dead crab laying right outside my sliding door. I was sitting at my bedroom desk when suddenly my domestic-worker-bestie walked into my room saying: "Sydney, there's a crab outside your sliding door hey. I saw it yesterday. It's dead. Did you see it?" "A crab? Don't lie Lien." I laughed, because: "there is no chance that a crab would be in our backyard." "Just open your blinds, it's still there." she said "I don't believe you." I said, while walking over to my sliding door lol but as I opened my blinds I had to believe, because there it was before my eyes - a random dead crab. If Lien had picked the crab up and disposed of it the day before, I would not have believed her, because I haven't seen a crab in years? And I always saw it near the ocean. What would one be doing in my area? What would one be doing in my backyard? I stood starring at the dead crab thinking how strange it was that "Not only is this crab in my backyard, but it crawled up to my gate when it could have crawled anywhere else? And the strangest fact of all, is that it crawled right here and died." Picture below of the dead crab laying on it's back:

After starring at it for a while I then closed my blinds and decided not to over-think this or try and link it to anything spiritual. "It's just a dead crab, there's no meaning." I told myself. Fast-forward 2/3 days later I'm sitting in my bed after a very long prayer on my knees. All of a sudden the atmosphere changed in my room. It became more "real", is the best word I can use to describe it, and I had the feeling that something supernatural was about to happen. It was like if an angel had to appear in front of me I would not be shocked or scared, kind of feeling. I looked around my room for a while waiting for something to happen, and it did. Up against my closet door appeared a yellow light in the clear shape of a crab. It didn't hit me immediately that there was still a dead crab placed outside my sliding door. It took me a few minutes to make that connection and it was quite the trip when I did lol my immediate thought was: "I need to find out what this means, I need to research it right now" and so that is what I did. I went onto the internet and searched on google: "Crab spirit Bible" to see what I could find that was biblical related and not "new age". I found an article on animal spirit symbols. Above the website read "EQUIPPING THE SAINTS FOR MINISTRY" It's subtitle was "THE HOLY SPIRIT IS NOT FOOLED". A part of the introduction read:

"Over years of ministering Isaiah 61, or the deliverance ministry, we have come to recognize individual spirits by pictures or visions that are repeatedly given by the Holy Spirit to pinpoint a certain entity. For instance, if the [Holy] Spirit shows us a mushroom cloud, as in the after wake of the atom bomb, we know we are dealing with a spirit of insanity" etc... and true or not I did not know but on this Website it listed all the types of evil spirit symbols and what they meant. There were so many! But I was in search for anything to do with a crab which is what I feel the Holy Spirit revealed to me, and I found it! On that massive list was (number 5): "Control spirit - Spider, Octopus, CRAB. It controls through it's arms leading to many hurts and wounds in a person. Just as the person seems to be almost free, it will pull one of it's tentacles to cause the person to pull back. The spirit conveys, and will slowly cause bitterness, hatred, unforgiveness and suicide to surface." 

And I started thinking about this one horrible day and night I had where I felt sad for no reason and I wondered why? I cried and started feeling sorry for myself. Thoughts like "I've been a victim all of my life is this ever going to end?" It was a random load of depression on me, who is normally happy 24/7 even when not smiling I'm happy inside, dancing everyday, singing everyday, but not that day. I immediately rebuked the spirit of control saying "You, spirit of control, I rebuke you right now in Jesus name, my body belongs to God. Satan has no power over my body in Jesus name!" and felt something lift off of me! I felt a gentle warmness in my stomach and an instant calmness. I am so glad God is showing me all of these things because now I know the reason we find so many unhappy, depressed, suicidal people in our world. They reach that point because they are being influenced and controlled by the unseen evil spirits. The world is unaware and has stopped believing in miracles and the supernatural/spiritual realm, so we all play the role of very easy victims.

So TODAY (20 September 2014) I was searching for videos on Jesus and the end times, because for some reason I had been doubting Jesus lately, even after what He did for me. I came across a very interesting end times video and after watching that Sid Roth Youtube Video (Paul McGuire Interview) at the end of the video he prayed for the viewer to have something supernatural happen to them, for the Holy Spirit to enter the room in which that person was, and for God to fill that person with what they needed to prepare them for the end times, I was that person lol I have to admit I became a slightly scared person when he looked into the camera and said that - because I thought "Oh boy what's gonna happen now..." lol but then he added that we are the ones who need to accept it though. So when the video ended I prayed "God you have not given me a spirit of fear, you have given me a spirit of power, love and of a sound mind. I accept anything you want to give me or show me. I am open to receive. In Jesus name. Amen." Again the room became "different" and I looked around the room and asked: "God could I see an angel?" (I had been asking for this a few days before that as well, but maybe I'm just not ready to see that yet, maybe it would scare me at this stage, or maybe it's not necessary). Suddenly, behind my door against my white wall, another light appeared. I thought it would be an angel, but it wasn't lol it was the very clear shape of a bird. I could see how the wings instead of going out though, were positioned going down on each side. The shoulders of the bird were quite squarely shaped as well. A little disappointed I thought "That's not an angel God" lol but I got back onto my laptop and searched for bird symbols. I wondered if there wasn't maybe something on that previous article on birds as I just focused on the crab spirit and lust spirit the last time (Testimony 13) and I found that there were two bird spirit symbols on that list. The one was a black bird, which didn't look like the one I saw, the other was a "Thunderbird" and I had no idea what a thunderbird looked like, so I googled it lol (Thank God for Google) and I found the EXACT shape the light was! Incredible! View the shape below (Of course it had no patterns, it was just a light yellowish white light in the following shape):

And on the same website it read: "Antichrist related spirit - thunderbird, morning bird of American Indian lore, swine or pig."  I thought all my doubts about Jesus must be coming from this spirit. I rebuked it immediately :) so yes, there is far more to the physical - that much I am certain of. And if you would like to walk this spiritual journey then say this prayer: "Father God, I love you. I am a sinner, but I do not want to sin anymore. I believe that you sent your son Jesus into the world as a human sacrifice for our sins. I believe that Jesus was crucified, and that You rose him from the dead again. I believe that he is seated at the right hand side of you in Heaven. I believe He will come again. Let your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven God. Satan no longer has power over me. In Jesus name. Amen."

"Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved,

but whoever does not believe will be condemned."

(Mark 16:16)

God bless you, guide you and protect you... Amen. 

TESTIMONY 13: I SAW A CRAB SPIRIT IN MY ROOM

Tonight after a long prayer for others and then myself I saw something floating about in my room, it was shaped as a crab, precisely shaped as a crab. I found this really strange, because for 2/3 days now there has been a dead crab situated right outside my sliding door. Now, I have not seen a crab in the physical for years so seeing that was quite astounding. Being a child of God who is now more aware of the spiritual I wondered as I looked at this big crab what it meant, but I thought maybe I was just over-thinking things so I just left it there figuratively and literally lol tonight though, after seeing this crab shaped vision, I immediately researched it. I searched "Crab spirit Bible" to see if there was anything on it? This is what I found (thank you God):

"Control spirit - spider, octopus, crab. It controls through it's arms leading many hurts and wounds in a person. Just as the person seems to be almost free it will pull one of it's tentacles to cause the person to pull back. The spirit conveys and will slowly cause bitterness, hatred, unforgiveness and suicide to surface." 

This same article,which lists many symbols of evil spirits, also mentioned that the "Lust spirit is almost always a frog". A video I had watched quite some time back, at the very beginning of my journey as a true Christian, immediately came to mind. In this video a man by the name of Howard Pittman explains his NDE journey where he was shown how possession takes place in the spiritual realm. He mentioned that demons came in shapes of people and animals that we can recognize from earth and spoke about how he witnessed a woman and man in the same hospital his earthly body was resting in, speaking to each other. He said "it was obvious that they could see not me, nor the angels or demons. Yet I was so close to them I could almost reach out and touch them.I could hear and understand everything they were saying. They thought they were alone and as they laughed and talked they were unaware of the horrible creature standing in between them." So they couldn't see him in the spiritual realm, but he could see them in the physical world as well as what was happening in the spiritual realm, where he was at the time. He watched what he explains as "a horrible looking slimy green frog" enter the face of the man. The angel that was escorting Howard Pittman then explained that "the demon was able to enter the man because he made himself desirable and attractive to the human."

While watching this video back then the majority of me believed it to be possible even though it sounded far-fetched. I believe that to be because of the gift of discernment (the ability to judge well) that comes with the Holy Spirit. I would never have believed in these things before being saved and I didn't even know there was a spiritual realm to begin with. Now looking back at that video, I can watch it with new eyes that have learned even more through God with a mind that is even more wise. I am going to attach the video below this post. It is an hour long but you absolutely have to watch this video, even if you don't believe it now, God will confirm everything later on your journey.

That all being said, remember that the enemy of God only has a foothold/ door into your life if you choose to sin, because sin is rebellion from God (Who tells us not to sin). If you do anything that you feel God would not be proud of ask for forgiveness immediately, repent. All children of God are targets of the enemy of God, because they are saved and helping God save others, so always be on guard. always be awake and ready. God will always warn you and prepare you for what is coming you just need to recognize the signs and rebuke, rebuke, rebuke in Jesus powerful name!

If you would like to read about the types of spirits you get you can visit these two articles: Symbols of evil spirits and Types of evil spirits to remove these spirits from your life all you have to so is say "I rebuke you spirit of _ in Jesus name!" and you will actually feel something being lifted off you.

If you would like to virtually witness these spirits being rebuked you can watch this video of Derek Prince rebuking spirits in Jesus name. Below is one of the most insightful videos you will ever watch in your life. Before watching it ask God to help you to always understand what is the truth, to give you the gift of discernment. I pray that God protects you, guides you and fills you with peace, love, joy, understanding and wisdom, in Jesus name! God bless :)

TESTIMONY 12: MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIRITUAL ATTACKS

Today I write about my experience with spiritual attacks. It's quite lengthy, so make yourself some tea, maybe a snack as well and get comfortable, because you are about to read an online book lol the best thing about it though, is that it is the truth... and it's free! I share these attacks to remind you of the battle taking place in the spiritual realm everyday, so that you can become more aware of it and no longer be a victim to it, because you have the authority! You see, whether you are aware of it or not the enemy of God tries to stop you from worshipping the one eternal God everyday of your life, because he wants you to worship him, he wants you to listen to him.You become fully aware of it when you have the Holy Spirit inside you and then of course you also become a target of the enemy of God, let me explain why though.

In my last post I mentioned that if you sin, you are like Adam and Eve, who listened to the devil by eating the fruit that God told them not to eat. This means that when you sin, you are not listening to God. When you sin you are listening to the devil, therefore you are following his way of teaching. And so when you sin you are giving the devil power over you and your life. The devil specially targets born again Christians (who forget to pray and put on their armour) because He knows that he has lost control of them and his job (and the job of his workers) is to keep trying to tempt us so that we fall back into sin. You see one more person who is saved by Christ is one more person that will be entering the Kingdom of God when they die! So all he wants is to drag you back into drinking and sinning. He uses people who still follow him (to tempt you or discourage you) and his target is your mind. The devil and his workers try their best to speak lies into your mind, so that they can get you to doubt what God has said in His Word - just like in the beginning. The devil made Eve doubt what God had said and then she gave in and sinned. (We have a choice to give in or resist). The enemy of God uses your mind, because he knows that thoughts bring about emotions and emotions bring about actions and you need to know it too!

I have been getting a few attacks since the day I was saved. The first one was the worst, because I didn't know what was happening lol It took place in Sun City. I had travelled to Sun City to take part in Idols South Africa's theatre week stage, from the beginning to the end of that trip I had really negative thoughts in my mind, not your average negative thoughts, they were basically make-believe thoughts about myself and the people around me. Before the trip I was feeling confident, I thought to myself "I can actually win Idols you know, it's easy, and I can use it to bring people close to God, I feel like they will listen to me if I have this title" but as soon as I landed there and we entered the stage area something came over me. My mind just flooded to a point where I couldn't figure out what was real and what wasn't. It's really hard to explain, but my mind was telling me to believe things that were not true, very delusional thoughts and I felt like I couldn't trust anyone around me. At that time I wasn't strong as a Christian. Throughout this whole Idols experience, the one I was so excited about, I was giving the devil power over me to manipulate my mind - because I was believing all his lies. On the first day I allowed fear into my mind and countless insecurities about myself, like if someone spoke to me I would try and find a hidden meaning to what they were saying like they were secretly insulting me. I even found it hard to sit around the dinner table and engage with people I just wanted to be silent and pay these negative thoughts all of my attention. It's such a hard thing to explain, but basically I had lost touch with reality and couldn't take Idols or people seriously and I just wanted to go home to Cape Town, immediately. I wanted my mommy lol

My Idols audition

On the second day, the day I got knocked off of Idols, I made the decision that I wasn't going to let fear control me and I tried my best to do better on stage while still thinking all these distracting thoughts. You have no idea how hard this was for me, and all I kept thinking was that if I just went home and saw my family again everything would be fine (but what I really needed to be doing all along was praying for protection, and reading the Word of God - which I was not doing). When the judges made their decision and sent myself and Trevor (the other person in my group) home, all of the people voted out went into the same room where we all waited hours until everybody else voted out on the day arrived. In the meantime someone had started a discussion about witchcraft, talking about what they had witnessed in their churches of people shaking, demons being rebuked etc. This was the first time I was really hearing about how real all of this is in our world. I curiously listened, but didn't pay too much attention to it, mostly because I kept disbelieving, I only wanted to believe in the good, not the bad because ain't nobody got time for that lol

Later I started feeling an intense FEAR of getting back onto a plane and so I asked the organizers if there was any way I could perhaps instead take a bus from Johannesburg to Bloemfontein, and they said they would arrange it, but they didn't. They gave me my flight details the next day. After a 2 hour bus trip to the airport and a couple hours of waiting I made my way to my plane and was shocked at the size of it. Already having a sudden fear of flight I then still had to get on my first SMALL plane lol when I was seated inside I asked the man next to me "Have you travelled on these small planes before?" lol "Yes I have, are you scared?" "I just haven't been on a plane this small before. Don't you feel turbulence more on these small planes?" "It's not that bad, it's better than a big plane." I found some closure in those echoing words, but they soon echoed away. As soon as the plane took off the biggest fear came over me. I had to close my window cover, because I couldn't bare to watch how high we were. (I had traveled to Johannesburg, Durban, New York, London and Paris before this flight and was fine) I sat back deep in my seat, my hands started shaking, my heart was beating hard and my chest was tense. I just kept telling myself  "This is it" lol "this is how I am dying, this plane is going down and I am about to die." I then added "Father God, please don't let this plane go down, I'm not ready to die I have so much to do, please. In Jesus name. Amen." When we landed safely in Bloemfontein I celebrated with the person next to me lol I thought I was in the clear for a few minutes, but turned out that I had just arrived at the destination of the peak of this evil experience.

When I arrived inside my brothers soccer house I realized that I had literally not eaten anything throughout the entire day (I wasn't hungry at all, I had just completely lost my appetite) and it was dark outside already but we decided to walk. We walked to a steers nearby and I noticed that as my brother was talking to me I struggled to put my sentences together. I could hardly speak I just kept saying "I feel weird hey. I don't know what's wrong but I feel weird." I thought maybe I just need to eat something (again not praying for protection or reading the Word). When our food arrived I had this split second of hope "everything's going to be fine now" until I put the food in my mouth and couldn't taste anything. It don't know what paper tastes like, but it tasted like paper. The thought of swallowing something that didn't taste like anything made me feel sick and I couldn't eat it. "I need water Seby, I can't taste this food I'm not going to be able to eat it." "Sydney, force it, because I don't know what to do if you pass out, mom and dad are only coming tomorrow, what would I do?" I ate about 3 chips, took one bite of the burger and forced it down and that's all I could get in me without throwing up. The walk back was the worst, I started seeing purple light everywhere in the darkness. My mind was a place of torment and I couldn't walk anymore because I felt as though I were about to faint. Again I thought: "This is it" lol Sebastian then lifted me up and carried me on his back. I then started feeling just, unsafe and began worrying that someone would jump out of the bush with a knife and attack us, at that point I started praying for protection. "Father God, what is happening to me? Am I dying? I can't die here in Bloemfontein in the street! I'm not ready to die God please!! Protect me against evil, please I need you God!!" When we got back to the house I finished two bottles of water and decided to sleep, but as soon as I closed my eyes I saw a familiar face and it looked really evil and I'm not sure if it had anything to do with overhearing those witchcraft stories or if they were a warning sign, but something inside me told me to say a prayer against witchcraft immediately. I didn't know what to say though? So I pulled out my cellphone and searched for a prayer on Google (lol) and I found the longest most effective prayer ever: Prayer against evil I went to the bathroom to be alone and said this prayer and immediately felt 1000 times better. I could sleep, and woke up alive the next day, so great. When my parents arrived I told them what had happened. I celebrate now though, looking at the growth I received out of this experience. You can either Give Glory to the devil by constantly complaining about how he has ruined your life, or you can give Glory to God for all He has brought you through, for how He has strengthened you, rescued you, corrected you and taught you. Below is a picture taken in Bloemfontein with my brother the next day after the attack.

I had a few attacks after this one, but now you can see how God uses it. So yesterday I got Kelly (the girl who told me she had a vision about me) at a casting and she was talking about how she had witnessed a woman being possessed and mentioned that she had too been getting attacks. "When last have you been attacked?" she asked "Well it happened once recently while having dinner with my family, I had to leave the table to pray. Other than that it hasn't happened in a while." "When it happens you are to pray and read the word of God. Just know that we have nothing to worry about. The devil wants us to fear." she said and I agreed. After the casting my brother and I headed to Mcdonalds in Kloof street. While we were eating I noticed a man walk into Mcdonalds to use the bathroom. Something told me there was something evil about him. I watched him as he walked all the way to the bathroom. He was a dark-skinned man dressed as if he could live on the street in a worn out grey sweat pants and a black top. He looked troubled and in a daze, like he was on autopilot. A while later he left and I started feeling strange. I felt weak and fear filled my mind again. I started praying in my head directing my prayer to any evil spirits I cannot see. "You have no power over me. I am a child of the Most Powerful. I am protected by the blood of Jesus Christ and no weapon formed against me will prosper in Jesus name." I was feeling better, but not 100% better, so I told my brother "let's go to the car I feel like sleeping." We got into the car and as we were pulling out I saw that man again standing in the parking lot only he was saying things to himself while looking at my brother's car. I starred at him while he did it and he suddenly looked up directly into my eyes through the front window and stopped saying things, with a slight evil grin on his face. He looked so familiar to me at that point, but I don't think it was his face I think it was the way he smiled that seemed familiar to me. I said a prayer against him and for my brother's car and messaged another person who always prays for me to pray against this attack I was having. The person I messaged said that they had just been thinking about me and wanted to message me and that God places thoughts in our minds to help others, because we are all connected through Christ. And yes, there are evil people in this world - but God is faithful. I would like to that my Father God for these experiences and thank Him for protecting me and giving me these testimonies that I can share with the world. I know this is just the beginning. The message: Do NOT stop praying!!!! When you wake up in the morning get on your knees and pray for protection, put on your armour and you will be fine. Until my next post, here is a video on Spiritual Warfare (if you too are experiencing spiritual attacks) you can do more research by searching the net, its everywhere if you just look, but rather focus on the Word of God - it's sufficient. This video below was very helpful when it comes to witchcraft attacks though, so it will definitely help you too, enjoy! May God bless you, guide you and protect you, in Jesus name! Amen

TESTIMONY 11: I WAS BAPTIZED

On 21 September 2014, I was baptized again (I was baptized as a baby, but I obviously had no idea what was happening then lol). My heart had been longing to get baptized "again" for quite some time since I said the salvation prayer and I had been coming across a Bible verse saying you must be born again, a lot, I had also been hearing of people getting baptized, and then my church (both Hillsong and The Bay) announced that they would be doing baptisms services. I took it as a clear sign, that perhaps I should get baptized lol I am so happy I made this decision. There's just something beautiful about leaving your old life, old self and old ways in the past and becoming a new person, with new ways. On 21 September 2014 the old Sydney died, and I was born again! I now leave behind all of my sins, and choose (now that my eyes are opened) to try my best to live a godly life like Christ, and through Christ. You see, thousands of years ago when Adam and Eve sinned the first time the devil took authority over them and all who do the same, because when they ate the fruit of the forbidden tree they were not listening to God Who said "Do not eat it" they were listening to the devil who said "Eat it" And so if you sin you are not listening to God who says "You must not sin" you are listening to the devil who says "You must sin" and since God's Kingdom is a Kingdom for people who obey God, those who listen to the devil will not enter it. But the good news is that:

"God so loved the world, that He gave His only

begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

(John 3:16)

God had a plan to save people and He sent His angel Gabriel to a virgin woman named Mary, who was highly favoured by God for being so pure, to tell her that she would be having a child and that He will be named Jesus and he will save his people from their sins. When Jesus came into the world and died on the cross, His was made to be a sacrifice for all of our sins, so that we can come back to God. And Jesus Christ is our example, and he was baptized (Matthew 3:13-17) and so as he taught, we must also be baptized (John 3:1-21). And below is a picture taken by Hillsong Church Cape Town of my baptism:

I remember quite some time back I had tears in my eyes as I read the story of Noah in the Bible, how God chose to save him and his family only, because he was righteous. I had tears in my eyes, because I kept thinking negative thoughts like "Now because of all the things I did in my life, all those drunk nights, I will never be righteous, because of these actions I chose. If I had just avoided drinking and nightclubs I would never have walked that path. It's too late for me, because I already did it.  If the world were to end tonight, I would not be saved from the flood" I went to sleep feeling down that night and the next morning, still feeling low I started thinking about it again in the car on the way home. "Why did I do all those things. Now I will never be righteous. God can't I just take it all away so why am I even trying" Immediately I looked out the widow to my left and there stood a sign in the distance against a wall "You do not have to be great to start. You just have to start to be great." I felt immediate motivation that I had been lacking all along and felt it was a sign from God telling me "Yes Sydney, there is a way." I smiled. Later I was lead to finding out about Hillsong's baptisms and I'm happy I have this second chance and I learned that God can wipe our sins away.

"I will be merciful toward their iniquities, 

and I will remember their sins no more."

(Hebrews 8:12)

Thank God for His Mercy, that He forgives our sins and wipes them away - that is true forgiveness. As it is written, God's will is not for people to perish, but for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9) Praise be to God!

TESTIMONY 10: ATTACKED AFTER TRYING TO SPEAK IN TONGUES

So in the last post I shared a story about a new church I tried where everyone was speaking in tongues, and how I tried, but I failed. Well, I tried again lol on the way to my casting! It was just me and my earthly father in the car and he had left me alone for a short while when picking up something at the vet for our dogs. During this short while I remembered Kelly telling me that I should practice speaking in tongues. I had decided to attempt it right there at that moment while I had some alone time. I thought, well if this really is a secret way of talking to God, a language the devil cannot interpret, then I want to be apart of this. After all it is mentioned in the Bible?

"In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."

(Mark 16: 17-18)

So I closed my eyes, raised my hand in the air and started. So I tried speaking in tongues just saying whatever flowed out of my mouth and I started feeling different, it's so hard to explain, but I felt something inside me happen and a presence. The same light-headed feeling I got at the church was back, and for a split second I was on my way to a smile and maybe even a giggle, just because it was such a different feeling, but then I started feeling light-headed in a bad way. At this moment my father got back into the car and I kept silent, but I was panicking inside. I thought "Oh no, did I just do something I thought was right but is actually wrong in God's eyes?"

There was a bit of a battle taking place in my mind. "What if speaking in tongues is actually evil and I was deceived? Oh dear God, please forgive me if what I did was evil." "No wait I could just be getting attacked because I'm now seen as a threat being able to speak in tongues?" this went on the whole trip towards town. I felt like I was being attacked, spiritually. I mean, how do you fight against something you can't see? Answer? You pray! Prayer is said in the material/physical world, but it works in the spiritual realm. At this point my heart was pounding, My chest was tight, my mind was consumed with paranoid thoughts, I felt like I was going to die on the spot. I pulled my seat back to lay down. I started searching for a prayer against evil on my phone and came across a brilliantly long one. While I was trying to read it and feel it, my dad starts asking me questions lol and in my mind I'm just like, dad this is just really not the time lol but I was responding bluntly, all in all I was trying to remain as calm as possible so that he didn't worry. "Penny for your thoughts?" he asked again. I completely ignored that question. "Are you okay?" "Are you tired?" "Yes, I'm just tired." (easiest way to hide any emotional struggle - say you're tired) matter resolved. I didn't get to finish the prayer in the car, but I started feeling better when I said that I am protected by the blood of Jesus Christ and that no weapon formed against me will prosper, but when I arrived inside the building of my casting I felt it again. I thought "Great, model dies at casting..."

When I reached the floor of Glamour Magazine I kept calm tried to smile while saying hi to Michelle and Kelly (Testimony 9) who were also casting and went straight to the bathroom to pray. I finished that whole prayer and felt a million times better after, like something had just been lifted off of me. I also messaged someone I really trust to pray for me and just like that, it was gone, I was back to my happy self, but one thing was on my mind. "I am done modelling, this is it, I can't live a double life, wanting to live my entire life for God and then I have to go to these castings and shoots in between. I just want a clean life." Now, I had been wanting to quit for a long time, and finally did it with my previous agency. Then I was approached by another and I took it as a sign that there was a reason I had to continue. I thought more people would listen to me if I were a model, and maybe I'm right, but at that point I said this is enough, I'm done forever now. The few minutes it lasted felt liberating lol I was feeling so confident about my choice that I told the client with a smile on my face "This is my last casting," she asked me "Oh really, why?" I thought for a second and responded "I guess you could say, because of God." then I left like a boss lol after the casting was done of course.

When I got back into the car I told my father the same thing "this was my last casting, I'm done modelling." "What happened did they say something?" he asked. I explained what had happened to me in the car while he was gone and he gave me some really good advice. "You know what, I knew something was wrong I know my daughter. This is what I was worried about, you getting attacked by evil, because you wanna do such good things and you so extreme. But Sydney, regarding your career you are meant to be a model God wouldn't have made you beautiful if you weren't, there's a reason God made you the way you are, God gave you gifts and you must use your gifts." I interrupted him saying I don't enjoy it anymore like I used to, and that it went against everything I believed in, beauty is not a face it's a soul. When you look at it in the larger picture, the modelling industry is spreading to the whole world that your image is everything. We models advertise make-up, hair products, skin products, fashion, jewellery, and we create this image that every other girl in the world thinks they can be - when really the models don't even look like the images in the magazine.

In the Bible it says we should not make ourselves beautiful with outer aids, God favours a beautiful soul: "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewellery or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauy of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." - (1 Peter 3:3-4)

"I want to sing gospel music and be a writer" "Okay well there, then be a singer and a writer you have many gifts, but I don't want to tell you the wrong thing, I suggest that you rather ask God what the best choice career would be for you. Then you make your decision." My dad had then reminded me about the most important thing, what about letting God's will be done? I need to flow with God's plan for me, not my own plan. I might be thinking that quitting modelling is what He wants, but what if it;s apart of His plan? I agreed to ask God.The whole way back home I was just thanking God for getting me out of that dark place, saving me, protecting me, caring about me. My eyes were tearing slightly as I was overwhelmed with thanksgiving! What a wonderful, powerful almighty God!!!!

When I got home I held the Bible in my hands and said "Father God, I know this book has all the answers. Show me a sign that I should either stop modelling or continue. I don't want to model anymore, I don't enjoy it. But if you want me to continue for some reason, I will do it for you. Let your will be done." The Bible separated at two places. I put my hand between the first section it separated and opened the other first, just to be safe. It was about something that didn't relate to career, so I paged back to the first section and read (Psalms 105)

 

"tell the nations what he has done.

Sing praise to the Lord,

Tell of the wonderful things he has done." 

I took this as a sign that I should be singing about God and writing about God, I opened at another random section and it read "Leave your family and country and go where I will show you." let's see where this journey is heading :) I'd just like to once again, thank God for what He did for me today. God is my life and words can't do enough here.... I am so glad that THE ALMIGHTY GOD, who has authority over everything loves and protects me! He really loves us a lot!

Glory be to God

TESTIMONY 9: MY FIRST HOLY SPIRIT HIGH

I'm not really sure what to call what I experienced, so I've named it the Holy Spirit High lol because that's how it made me feel and that's where it comes from, up high. Before Sunday I had no idea that the Holy Spirit could be felt in such a real way. I always used to think it was just that little voice telling us to do good and be good, but it can be felt as a sensation too? It was warm and very, very relaxing. I hope this post helps encourage you to seek more on your journey with Christ, because not only will it increase your faith, but there is also far more gifts that come with the Holy Spirit that you yourself could obtain if willed. It might be different for everybody, but this is my story.

So, this all really started manifesting on Thursday afternoon when I arrived at a fashion show presentation for Spree. I walked into the area where all the models were sitting, gave a polite teeth-less smile as everyone stared at me and took a seat near the table so I could write on my laptop. I planned to do some reading first though and as I'm taking my book (To Heaven And Back) out of my bag, guess who I see on the chair to my right, Kelly - the girl who had a vision about me (Testimony 4). She noticed me a bit later and greeted while taking her Bible out of her bag. Not long after we were joined by another model that I had met before "Are you also a Christian?" she asked as she walked our way looking at Kelly's Bible. Now strangely enough the girl walking towards us at this moment, Michelle, had met me the exact same way. I was reading my Bible at Cape Town fashion week and the first thing she ever said to me was "I'm glad I'm not the only one that takes my Bible with me everywhere I go, mines in my bag." The three of us sat in a circle, or rather a triangle, and started chatting up a storm about God. 

The whole situation was a bit much for me at first and put me on a bit of a trip to be honest. What are the chances of us all being at the same show and the Bible once again bringing us together? The conversation just started getting even more weird from then on. Perth Australia had been standing out to me everywhere for quite some time now, I kept feeling like maybe I was supposed to go there and when Michelle was asked by Kelly where she would like to travel next she says "I would like to travel to Australia now." I had also been really urging to spend time with little children lately and Kelly says "You should spend time with children. Do you spend time with children?" the weirdest part of it all would probably be the fact that I had prayed to God to meet more Christian friends whom I could speak to about my journey without offending someone or making them feel uncomfortable, and there were Michelle and Kelly, people I could talk to openly about God. We each shared our story about how we were saved and chatted throughout the free time we had before the show. 

"You should come try out The Bay church this Sunday." Kelly said. "You can really feel the Holy Spirit strongly there!" I agreed to come "Sure, that would be great." I then shared with her a really bad spiritual experience I had quite recently which I'm not sharing out of respect for the person it involved, but basically I literally nearly died lol. She said she was worried and wanted to pray for me after the show. When the show was over I offered Kelly a lift home so she wouldn't have to take public transport and when we arrived at her place she said "Could you get out of the car, I would love to pray for you." "Oh yes, please do." We both got out of the car together. We were on the sidewalk of a street in Gardens, at night. The streetlights made everything feel even more surreal, like something out of a Harry Potter movie intro lol. Surrounded by complete darkness she said "Place your hands out in front of you with palms up ready to receive and close your eyes" She then placed her one hand on my head and the other on my shoulder. I can't really remember the exact words of her prayer but it went something like this; in her awesome American accent she said "Father God, I rebuke any curses on Sydney in the name of Jesus Christ, fill her with the Holy Spirit, let her mind be renewed.. "etc. I felt at peace while she was praying for me. Luckily the street was empty because an outsiders perspective would have marked us as complete weirdos lol

When she was done praying we hugged goodbye and the next time I saw her was on Sunday morning, at the Bay Community church in Muizenberg, where "it" happened. Just like at the event I met Kelly at (in Testimony 4) again, I went alone. It was just me, her, her boyfriend and his mother, whom I met for the first time that day. At first everything seemed very normal inside the church. It was a small hall area, with chairs and a small stage with a band, until the pastor announced that we should all just praise God and let the Holy Spirit do it's thing. As everyone was praising and praying, I said a prayer that I for some reason was just drawn to saying at that moment, I said "Father God, fill me with the Holy Spirit. I want to be filled with your Holy Spirit God, I want peace and love and joy. This is what I want right now right here Father God." After saying Amen I just stood there quietly with my tingling hands up in the air. All of a sudden I got this weird feeling, it was warm but it wasn't coming from the outside, it was coming from the inside.

The warmth was in my stomach. It seemed to be spreading throughout my body. I started feeling a bit dizzy and I felt just, a different, sensation in my head area. I started panicking very slightly and thought 'should I tap Kelly on the arm and tell her? What if I'm about to faint or something?' but immediately another thought in my head said 'just relax and trust in God. God is with you, just be calm, this is you and God Sydney.' I then looked straight to the front and there was a little boy with a dummy in his mouth being held by his mother or grandmother. Her back was facing me, but the boy was looking at me above her shoulder. He made me feel calm. He stared for a while, long enough for me to start thinking 'why is he looking at me for so long, does he see something?' I felt so relaxed as he stared though, he had such beautiful piercing blue eyes and little threads of blonde hair on his head. I started feeling really happy lol I felt like laughing, but didn't want to seem weird so I allowed my stomach to shake with laughter but nothing came out of my mouth. I couldn't keep my smile in though lol and I just stood there swaying from side to side with my hands still in the air, smiling lol in a way I felt like I was drunk, but we didn't have any communion? Not that the little bit of wine would have made me drunk lol I just mean, this was all very natural - supernatural. 

The sensation then slowly started fading away, but I still felt happy after. I think it was mostly just excitement, because this was such a new feeling I had never felt before. 'What the heck was that?' I asked myself  'the Holy Spirit? It feels so good?' People then all started praying, some in English, others praying in tongues. Part of me was always skeptical about praying in tongues, I always wondered whether it was good or evil, but the other part of me really wanted to at that very moment, because I couldn't find the right words to pray in English. The pastor then asked that we pray for the person next to us and Kelly started praying for me as we held eachother, again I didn't really know what to say for her. The only thing I could get out of my mouth was "thank you father God that Kelly and I met" like a 5 year old prayer lol.... Kelly then said "I feel like God wants you to speak to Him, could you try and speak in tongues?" "What, right now?" I asked. "Yes, just try, right now, it will come from your stomach." "Okay..." I said with no confidence, but nothing. I just couldn't do it, I felt like I wanted to but my mind kept feeling that if I had to speak it would be something I was making up, so I kept quiet. 

When the service was over, still seated, I told Kelly what had happened to me and she became excited. She told me that she saw a white light around my mouth and that she felt it meant that I was trying to speak to God and that God wanted me to speak in spirit, but I stopped myself. I then told her that I had in fact been wanting to speak in tongues before she asked me to while we were praying. I immediately decided I would be coming back to that Church and that I would be getting baptized again there. "I'm going to bring my parents with next time." I said. And while we were still sitting having this conversation there were three people in front of me casually doing some sort of healing/rebuke? They were three elderly people, two women and a man. As I looked at the man who was shouting "I rebuke any power satan has over you, the son of God is more powerful than you satan!" with his and the other woman's hands over the woman in the middle, who was half falling to the ground, I thought to myself, now this is my kinda church lol I'm not sure where God will lead me to next, and which church will end up being my home, but for now I think I'll be attending both this church and Hillsong, because I love praising and dancing at Hillsong, it's like a praise party... but I definitely want to feel what I felt there again. That being said, I'm sure it can be felt anywhere if I really opened myself up to it. I guess we'll have to wait and see. 

Thanks be to God for not giving up on me, a sinner, and I can't wait to officially be Born Again :)