Our Guest Elisabeth Syre

Sid: My guest by way of telephone is Elisabeth Syre she’s from South Africa but I’m interviewing her because she’s in Leesburg, Virginia speaking. We found out some fascinating things about her life. She was raised in Holland during the holocaust, she went into hiding hidden underground because they suspected she was Jewish. She didn’t even know she was Jewish because it was all hidden, but that… you’ll have to get the tape to get that story. The thing that intrigues me Elisabeth is a women that most of us are familiar with but it sounds like your father was in that same category. Corrie Ten Boom became a friend of yours, friend of the family and she literally laid hands on you to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. I’d like to know what things she said to you that had great impact on your life.

Elisabeth: One of the greatest impacts I had from her was that she was talking about a little flashlight. She said “A flashlight has 2 batteries, but you have 1 battery – that’s salvation that’s not enough. You need to be filled with the Ruach haKodesh with the power of the Lord, so you need 2 batteries.” That always stuck into my mind because with 2 batteries you can shine and you can be a witness, you can be free, you have your goals, you have… you can go on in the Lord. She also shared with me the following scripture which I will share with you. It’s in Psalm 105, I spent many many hours with her actually because she passed many times by our place. This particular scripture I’ve never forgotten. It says here in Psalm 105 verse 11 “Say unto you O’ Israel will I give the land of Canaan, the lot is your inheritance.” So the land of Canaan is for Israel and it is confirmed that it is for Isaac in verse 9. So I always knew Israel was a very special place it is not a country that has been called forth by man but as she is called forth by the Lord many many centuries ago. So therefore we have so much fighting about the status of Israel. This whole Psalm 105 became my calling. When Corrie Ten Boom had a conference in Holland I had supernaturally participate to see my mom who was nearly dying. She fought me and said “This is who you come to the conference?” So I came just to help her seeing that crowd helping her you know interpreting for Doctor Fox a medical doctor from India and continuously making sure that she felt happy and that every need was being filled. Doctor Fox was with me most of the time I was helping. On Sunday night after the conference was over I came back to Holland and there was a telephone call that she had landed in the Rotterdam Hospital from malaria, she had malaria attack. She said “Elisabeth I cannot take the meeting on Monday night please cancel it for me.” I was only 22 – 23 and I said “Who can I phone? Who was the pastor?” She didn’t know. “Do you know the church?” “No.” She didn’t know. “The only thing I know that tomorrow night at 7:00, it’s Monday night, there will be a lady standing at the platform of the station at 7:00 to fetch me to take me to a congregation to speak.” That was a very strange message. I said “Father for the first time I’m doing something. I’m opening the Bible I need Your word, I don’t know what to do with it.” Then suddenly I got again Psalm 105, Psalm 105 says “Give thanks to the Lord and call upon His name, and tell all about His miracles. Sing psalms, sing and talk about His miracles, glory in His name.” I knew immediately I had to go because I read it with my name “Elisabeth give thanks and tell about the miracles.” So then I went to this congregation and it was packed with young people, they were very enthusiastic about the Lord. I did not only have Psalm 105, I wasn’t really prepared very well. They introduced me as the doctor from India. Well I took my little guitar and I started singing in the spirit. I had my second battery was given to me by the laying on of hands of Corrie Ten Boom. Then I started to pray and to talk about miracles. The whole audience was blessed and I was blessed myself recalling all the miracles that had happened in my life. Then I said “Well let’s wait on the Lord.” As I closed my eyes and I opened then again I saw the entire audience change into flowers and thorns and thistles, it was like a picture flashed again. I said “Lord what is this?” He said “Well just do an alter call and ask if there is a ministry there it was a free group.” I said “Well I see beautiful flowers but I also see thorns. Will the thorns and thistles come forward please?” I had never done that before and out came a whole lot of people. I would have never come on an alter call like that. In that meeting so many lives were changed because the Holy Spirit really did His work and He just happened to use me; He could have used anyone but He used me. People got healed; there were calls on lives of 3 people that are now full-time in the mission field. A young woman from a traditional church got threw in the Holy Spirit and started to worship the Lord in a new language. She totally changed and her whole family changed and came through for the Lord. That the was the start of my ministry and then suddenly I got invitations all over to Germany, and there I had to speak about forgiveness and then a Nazi man who had actually been involved in the holocaust on the negative side and he asked me to forgive him for the deeds done to the Jewish people. Actually…

Sid: That’s, you know that has got be a very very tough thing…

Elisabeth: Yes.

Sid: …for anyone to forgive because… I mean to picture a Jewish person Mishpocha…

Elisabeth: Yes.

Sid: …forgiving a Nazi for the atrocities and the holocaust, you can’t do that without God’s help.

Elisabeth: No, and my feelings were dead and I felt like “I cannot do it, it’s impossible.” But the moment I listened to the Lord’s voice deep within my heart He said “You don’t have to feel anything.” I remember the time that Corrie was just stretching for her hand and had to do the same thing. So I just spoke a scripture and I said “In Him we are forgiven all.” I said “If you come to the Father He will by no ways cast you out.” Then he actually fell on his knees and I just stretched forth my hands and suddenly in my spirit I felt like a “click.” It was like… you’re not doing it the Lord is doing this through you. I had no feeling for this person at all, but I was just obedient to the scriptures. This person was later on instrumental in his Last Will and Testament that we have a place, a home, in South Africa.

Sid: That’s quite a miracle getting a home especially based on… because you were obedient to pray for that Nazi…

Elisabeth: Yes.

Sid: …but you’ve had many miracles. Miracles having to do with money.

Elisabeth: Yes.

Sid: Miracles to do with food multiplying. Tell me about the food multiplying.

Elisabeth: You know at one stage in South Africa my husband brought a whole lot of people suddenly to our home, but we lived by faith and my cupboards were totally empty and all I had was just coffee and I had a few packages of soup, that was all. They were coming and the Lord said “Just do as if everything is there. Lay the table nicely,” 14 people came for dinner. I started to sing a song of faith “Thank you Lord you are the supplier of all my needs.” I didn’t worry about the 2 packages of soup I started to cook soup. Laid the table beautifully, put some flowers from the garden on the table and I started to thank the Lord for providing. Just before when I was starting to make the soup there was somebody at the door and said “I wanted to come and here’s a whole lot of Kentucky Fried Chicken.” Can you believe it? So what happened is we had so much chicken and then with the salad from the garden we had enough to feed them. There had been other times a lady in our congregation gave all her money to a ministry and she said “I have nothing.” She had no car, she had not even a bicycle it was an African lady and she gave everything and she went home rejoicing saying “I’ve given it all to the Lord.” Well we prayed over we said “Are you sure what you did is right?” Because we knew her poverty she lived in a tiny little huttle. She came back she just had a like a gas range that was working on gas and nothing in her cupboard. She went to sleep in the middle of the night and she was hungry. When she opened her fridge it was filled with food and all her cupboards were filled packages of food. She had enough for a whole month. So this is one of the miracles…

Sid: Elisabeth we’re just about out of time…