AUSTRALIA – An intercessor and worship songwriter shares her journey of how she was called at an early age to serve God. She experienced God’s divine presence through worship, dreams, and visions; but along the way traumatic events in her life caused fear to grip her. She was assaulted and abused by those she trusted and even those she did not know. As a result of the pain, she would drift away repetitively from God due to triggering factors. The Lord stepped in and repaired what was broken by allowing her to experience the alerting scenery of lost souls falling into hell, which also included her falling at one point.

This scene of forewarning provoked her to have holy fear for God, and an unquenchable compassion to see the lost and hurting saved before His return. Now she is obeying God’s call to pray for people by name through a categorized prayer list. She is urgently interceding for healing and revival in Australia. Although Christianity is declining in her land, she is holding fast to the prophetic word spoken years ago over her nation being the “Great Southland of the Holy Spirit.”

Cherylyn Turnbull, 54-year-old, lover of Jesus of Melbourne, Australia, shares her spiritual journey, from her Christian upbringing to her calling as an intercessor, and her experiences with visions and spiritual warfare. She recounts personal traumas, her involvement in ministry, and a period of spiritual struggle followed by redemption. Cherylyn expresses her passion for praying for others, sharing her faith, and her desire for spiritual revival in Australia.

“I’ve been a Christian, passionately in love with Jesus for a lot of my life,” shares Turnbull. “But I’ve had ups and downs along the way.”

By God’s saving grace, she has overcome obstacles in life which empowered her to make a change. She is spreading the gospel and interceding for the harvest. Additionally, God has guided her to gather names and write prayer lists in her phone by categorizing those she meets, such as her clients, neighbors, family members, those she has come across at the gym, her church, and through evangelism. In submission to God’s will, she is doing what God has required of her.

“Every time I’d see someone in the car, I’d say, ‘Hi, what’s your name again? I’d love to pray for you,’ and put them on my list,” shared Turnbull. “I’d get excited every time I got a new name!”

She is praying scriptures strategically over the list of names, such as Ephesians 3:20 and more, in accordance with what is applicable for that category of names. When praying for those who aren’t saved, she gathers salvation scriptures and prays it over them around 3:00 am in the morning. She is making sure to utilize any free time she gets to pray in obedience to God’s call.

The Lord told her to give Him one day out of the week similar to a Sabbath to fast and pray for people. This is also how her deep calling to intercede and pray began to manifest more than ever before. God’s call ignited within her when He warned her about the little time left before His return. These are the words God spoke to her:

“There’s not much time, Cherylyn, there’s not much time…I’m coming back. You need to pray. You need to gather other people to pray. So that when I come back, there will be more people that know Me. I don’t want anyone to go to hell.”

After hearing these words, she couldn’t help but to do more. Her heart intensely cried out which connected with the heart of God, and His desire for the people of the earth to come unto Him.

“There’s this constant desire in my heart that I can’t get away from,” says Turnbull. “The fact of God’s heart, of how much He longs for all of His children…all the people that don’t know Him to come into the Kingdom.”

Her Journey to Prayer as a Child

Cherylyn was born in Melbourne, Australia, April 1970. She was always a spiritual child. She is the oldest of three siblings, her sister is 20 months younger, and her brother is four years younger. From the age of four she asked Jesus into her heart.

As a young child she remembers being hungry for God. She would sit in the garden, playing with lizards, while thinking about parables of Jesus. During the holidays as a teenager, she would always read the bible because of her fascination of the people and stories within it. She remembers how the other kids wanted to play, including her brother and sister.

She also remembers how she used to have nightmares as a child that would scare her. She told her mom and dad about what was happening. They would respond by praying for her. They also taught her what to do and how to pray if the nightmares happened again. They told her to say, “In the Name of Jesus, Spirit of fear leave.” She did as they said.

“I learned from an early age to do that, and that often happened to me in the night, so I would always pray and sing songs in the Name of Jesus,” said Turnbull. “The darkness would leave, and the fear would go, and I knew that Jesus was looking after me.”

Her parents would always have night devotions. She recalls how her dad would have a bible on the table. Her parents had a beautiful relationship. They were very loving and never fought. They would always bring Jesus into everything. They were both intercessors and led a prayer ministry in church for many years. At age 11, she was baptized in water. By 13, she was baptized by the Holy Spirit.

The Pain of Her Childhood that Caused Fear

As an infant, when her sister was being born, she was placed in a family’s home to be looked after. She was abused sexually there. She did not remember this growing up. However, at the age of eight, she remembered sitting in her bedroom. She thought about a particular person…that something was not right. She would feel darkness every time she would have to go to that house.

Another occurrence happened when she was coming from kindergarten one day. She had to walk home through a field on her own because her young sister was at home. An old homeless man assaulted her during that time. She used to remember getting so angry as a child and cry herself to sleep at night. This event in her life caused her to take things personal. If someone cracked a joke, she would get upset.

“I think people (when they’ve had suffered abuse) they tend to [take things personal] because of the brokenness of their self-esteem and their identity. That people in life that would normally say a joke… you would take it to heart and take it really personal.”

Through her pain and torment that happened during her childhood and teenage adult years, a passion was birthed within her.

“Because I went through a lot of difficult things in my childhood, not from my parents, but from outside sources; the Lord gave me such a burden for those who have been kind of broken and went through difficult circumstances in life,” said Turnbull. “Even bullying, I was bullied at school, so things like that. It’s like His compassion came upon me for others that also have gone through a lot of pain in their lives.”

When she was 16 years of age she was assaulted by her first boyfriend. When that happened, her life spun out of control. She didn’t tell her parents or get help because she thought everyone would find out and she would get bullied more. She walked away from God and had a near death experience. She took alcohol and soft drugs like marijuana to the point where there was so much in her system. As a result, she blacked out and experienced hell.

“I literally saw myself falling. And there were these black creatures with long nails, and they looked really evil, and they were kind of all around me, trying to grab a hold of me. As I was falling, I could see this pool of lava below me like in the distance, and I was terrified, and everything was like spinning around. And then I came up. I woke up out of it, and I was like, ‘Where am I?’ I was so afraid.”

At the time, she thought it was a hallucination. In her recent years, she understood that it was the Lord allowing her to see these things. Because at that point in her teenage life, she fell away from God. She knows He was calling her back by showing the realities of what could happen with her soul if she did not live for God.

Young Adulthood, Marriage, The Inkling to Worship & Pray

In her early 20’s she lived with her parents. She was on a worship team, and the Lord would give her worship songs to write, and she would play her keyboard during worship in the Lounge Room. The Lord would tell her to pray for specific things…like the West Bank or Gaza Strip. She would see pictures of people being tortured in jail. At the time she didn’t understand what she was seeing. She wondered why the Lord was showing this to her.

She also loved being in God’s presence. She attended Bible College at her church. Her pastor taught lessons obtained from Harvest Bible College in Melbourne. She got involved in youth ministry and worship five years before meeting her husband. In 1996 she got married at the age of 26. She and her husband became youth pastors and would remain married for 23 years.

Recurring Nightmares & Panic Attacks

During adulthood she would get afraid and have Panic attacks passing homeless men, open fields, and open spaces. She would also get particular nightmares connected to her fear of homeless men, which began as a teen and young adulthood about a grotesque animal-like creature, similar to a man, roaming around outside a dark house trying to attack her. She would always run away and hide under furniture. This same dream happened over and over.

Ministry, Family, & Her Journey to Healing

In her 30’s, she and her husband felt led to move from Melbourne to Adelaide by way of her husband’s youth pastor, to attend a big church. She and her husband pastored a home group there. They went to Niger in a scouting trip for three weeks to see if they were to be missionaries there. Rodney Howard Brown laid hands on them. The Lord told them not to stay but to remain connected.

Afterwards, they went back to Melbourne. At 32, they began to start a family, that is when her healing began from the traumas, which started with Christian Counseling. At 37, in 2007, she got in depth prayer for healing. When her son was 9 months old, she received healing from a prayer ministry for the abuse she experienced as an infant. That same year she was healed through prayer for the assault that took place from the homeless man.

After getting the help she needed from the prayer ministry, those nightmares that used to taunt her never came back. She did not get afraid or the shakes when passing old men or open fields/spaces by. She was healed in Jesus’ Name!

Catching the Fire in North America

One year later, she and her husband watched the revival outpouring in Lakeland, Florida that was broadcasted on God TV. She and her husband were drawn, seeing the signs, miracles, wonders, and the joy of the Lord. They hadn’t seen anything like it in Australia anymore since the times of Rodney Howard. The Toronto Blessing came through the churches in the 90’s, but did not stick around. They thought this type of move of God was finished. They searched in churches, but did not find it. They didn’t know it was happening in other churches. So, when they saw the revival meetings on God TV, they wanted to go there and bring it back to Australia.

They sold everything to pay for the tickets and gave all their furniture away. The person that was handling these meetings had a 6-month course in Canada. They felt called to enroll, but they wanted to participate in the meetings in Florida for a consolidated period of time…at least three months. These meetings went to about 1:00 am in the morning. Their children were four and six at the time. Both of their children were touched in these meetings as well.

There came a point when the leading evangelist fell, which caused Bethel and other ministries to step in. They wondered what they would do. They enrolled in Bethel in California after being in Vancouver, Canada, which was a nine-month school. Bethel, the school of supernatural ministry, led by Bill Johnson, in Redding, California, according to Turnbull, starts from September and completes in May.

“People from all over the world go there,” shared Turnbull. “It is a school that equips you to do the will of Jesus. It provides the Father’s love, books of revivalists, and now has schools all over the world.”

However, at this point, a dilemma arose since they were in the U.S. for three months already. The Embassy did not approve of their stay to attend the nine-month school and told them they had to go back to Australia.

Connecting with the Bethel Movement & Spreading It

Amazingly, God made a way for them to purchase the Bethel course on DVD. This was a big investment due to it being an increasingly comprehensive course; therefore, required the provisions of the Lord. By faith, they bought the course over time, so they could have access to it in Australia. As they headed back to Australia, the Lord wanted them to go via Queensland.

They met a man in Brisbane, the largest city and capital of the state of Queensland, which is the third most populated city in Australia, who took them to a charismatic Spirit-filled church. The senior pastor of this church, known as Burpengary Baptist Church, and his congregation were praying for two years for the Bethel school ministry. They wanted it to come through their church, but did not know how. Bethel required that whoever taught and facilitated the course in a church needed to be planted at that church.

By the power of God and His favor, the pastor kindly offered to have them stay free of charge in the church house on the church property, which lasted for two years. They went to the church and ran the course for one year. Another church asked for the same teaching. After this, many other doors began to open to them.

Another Assault, Backslidden, & Marriage on the Rocks

In 2008, she and her family were in America attending the revivals. Her husband went to Sudan. From 2009-2013 Cherylyn would create worship music with her keyboard. These are the times she would be so immersed in His Presence. At the closing of 2013, they moved back to Melbourne from Brisbane. In 2014, in the Western Suburbs, the churches were very dry because of the false gods and religions. The churches were struggling, and a strong oppression was on the church in that area. They felt the need to plant a church there. They put out 5,000 flyers. Turnbull believes there was not enough prayer coverage because the people were unresponsive.

“We realized we were ill-prepared and should have had a team of intercessors praying for us before taking on something of this magnitude due to the spiritual climate in the area,” shared Turnbull. “This was an important lesson learned.”

As time went on, she and her husband started to experience difficulties in their marriage. By 2018, she began going to the gym as directed by her physio. A man from the gym assaulted her after she went to his house to collect some information regarding her gym program. This information was only intended to be collected at the front door. When this happened, she did not want to tell anyone other than her mother.

She believed that what controlled him spiritually, went into her, and she became tormented. Her past trauma began to taunt her again. She ended up hanging with certain friends from the gym, going on night outs to have a drink. She became very worldly, her heart became hardened, and her kids and husband were wondering what was happening. The enemy was telling her that she had an affair, even though she was assaulted.

“I would just cry at night and think something was wrong with me,” Turnbull recalled. “I don’t deserve to be married.”

Because of these tormenting thoughts, she did not want to go back to her husband, she thought she ruined everything. She told her husband she did not want to go back or make her marriage work.

“I broke his heart. He was in complete shock. I look back and think that was not me, it was the enemy controlling my life because of the assault.”

Lost Souls Falling into Hell & The Need for Revival in Australia

Recently, she had an experience, where Jesus and she were looking at hell. There was a big chasm that had all these people coming from death into hell. Many people began falling in one after the other. She began to cry as she was praying. She then asked, “Lord, what can we do about this?”

And the LORD replied, “I’ve called you to pray. I’ve called you to tell the lost about Me, and I’ve called you to get other people together to pray as well, because we need many, many people to get saved before I return.”

She began to fast and pray. The Holy Spirit guided her to ask Him to pray through her. He began to show her pictures of people falling into hell…and He would tell her to begin to cry out for mercy for them.

Christianity in Australia has Alarmingly Decreased Yearly

According to the Worldometer, Australia has a growing population of close to 26.9 million people, which is “equivalent to 33%” of the world’s population. Of the Australian population, Christianity ranked number one as the top religion, but there has been a vast decline throughout the years. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported the following information:

“The 2021 Census has revealed increasing diversity in the religions Australians identified, reflecting continuing changes in our social attitudes and belief systems.

Christianity is the most common religion in Australia, with over 40 percent (43.9%) identifying as Christian. This has reduced from over 50 percent (52.1%) in 2016 and from over 60 percent (61.1%) in 2011. As in earlier Censuses, the largest Christian denominations are Catholic (20.0% of the population) and Anglican (9.8%).

While fewer people are reporting their religion as Christian, more are reporting ‘no religion’. Almost 40 percent (38.9%) of Australia’s population reported having no religion in the 2021 Census, an increase from 30 percent (30.1%) in 2016 and 22 percent (22.3%) in 2011.”

On a positive note, although the Christian faith is declining, it has been reported that efforts are being made by church networks to make a positive change. According to the Christian Daily, Derek Hanna, an advocate for church planting, shared a solution during a national conference in May 2024, with a network of over 260 churches. This vision is called “State of the Nation in Church Planting” which is a “vision for planting 300 churches in Australia by 2030. The network has planted 145 to date, leaving a need to start 155 churches within the next six years, requiring 800 new gospel work leaders” (Eyte, 2024).  It is believed this solution of church planting should tackle the dilemma.

Remembering the Slaughtered Aboriginals in Australia, but Standing on the Prophetic Promise for the Land

Australia has a rich history of victories, but as with any other nation, it has its adversities as well. The history has a lot to do with the spiritual climate within the land. Turnbull recalled the devastating slaughtering of the Aboriginals, that took place on Australian soil.

According to reports, “Australia has a dark history of Aboriginal Massacres which refers to the mass killings of Indigenous Australians by European settlers and colonial authorities. These massacres were part of a broader pattern of dispossession, violence, and discrimination against the Aboriginal people…that occurred throughout Australia’s colonial history” particularly in the 1800’s & 1900’s. Such massacres include: The Convincing Ground (1833); Myall Creek Massacre (1838); Flying Foam Massacre (1868); Coniston Massacre (1928).

Although the sin of shedding innocent blood from these massacres weighs heavily upon the land, Turnbull stands firm on what some consider to be the prophetic promise for Australia. That prophecy speaks of Australia being the “Great Southland of the Holy Spirit.” This prophetic word was spoken May 6, 1606, by Portuguese explorer Pedro Fernandez de Queiroz (de Quiros). According to studies, “De Quiros knelt, kissed the soil and proclaimed with these words the possession of “all the lands which I sighted and am going to sight, and of all this region of the south as far as the Pole, which from this time forth shall be called Austrialia Del Espiritu Santo, with all its dependencies and belongings” (McArthur 1999).

“Even though…the Aboriginals…were slaughtered on our land, the Lord wants to heal our land. So, there’s that prophetic word. They said the Great Southland of the Holy Spirit, that even though in the past years we’ve had the aboriginals that were slaughtered on our land many, many years ago, the Lord wants to heal the land. The land is crying out to Him for healing.”

Cherylyn Turnbull

Her Belief that Unity & Prayer will Bring Revival

Turnbull went on to share that she believes 2 Chronicles 7:14 is what God is saying for this time in Australia. She also believes that there is something bigger the Lord has in store, which is revival and the awakening of the church. She shares this will happen as the churches unite and pray.

“I feel like the call is to gather people from other churches together and pray so that we can see Jesus have His way to heal the land to bring revival. The Lord’s been showing me that many of the churches have fallen asleep because of the territorial spirits that have come onto the land because of the slaughter of the aboriginals,” shares Turnbull.

“But the Lord is saying that He has the Supreme Power over this, and it’s up to us to rally together as people of God to come together and take authority over those principalities, and to allow Jesus to fight on our behalf, to bring the Great Southland of the Holy Spirit awakening to bring revival. To bring many, many souls back into His Kingdom, and for the churches to wake up…there’s not much time left. We need to pray together. This is urgent.”

Turnbull continues to fast, pray, and intercede for the lost souls, the church, and the need for revival in Australia, with her prayer list assignment. She is constantly meeting new people and sharing the love of Christ with those she comes across. It is her goal to see Australia, the church, and a world that is on fire for Jesus Christ. Her two beautiful children have grown into young adults, Caleb, 22 and Shaela, 20, and she enjoys every minute of time spent with them.

Here is an inspiring worship song about the Great Southland of the Holy Spirit. This is an anthem & prayer for Australia.

To view the words of this amazing anthem, the Great Southland of the Holy Spirit, click on the link: Great-South-Land.pdf

This is Sharlene, reporting from Horns of Heaven Global News, letting the power of Jesus be known, by Sounding the Trumpet of News from God’s People to God’s People. It’s all about the Kingdom of God and connecting the believers of Christ through clear communication and real-life stories told around the world! ADONAI ECHAD! ANACHNU AM ECHAD! Hebrew for THE LORD IS ONE. WE ARE ONE PEOPLE! Nation to Nation…We Are One! 👑

Were you blessed by this story? Take some time to read powerful testimonies from other nations by clicking on our home page at hornsofheaven.com! Thank you in advance for joining this Global Kingdom Mandate! May the Lord bless & keep you always!

References:

Eyte, C. (2024, Oct 16). Christian Daily. Christianity declining in Australia but motivates evangelism – Christian Daily International

[History & Mythologies]. (2023, June 7). Aboriginal massacre in Australia (explanation in 2 minutes) [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/IGPaK_M0WY8?si=IXE5rf03S2O9xVbe

Hughes, P. (2021, June 30). Religion in the Census [Image]. Retrieved January 30, 2025, from Religion in the Census 2021 – Christian Research Association

McArthur, P. (1999, Nov.) The Great Southland of the Holy Spirit. Australian National Library. The Great Southland of the Holy Spirit