The DANGERS of WORLDLY Enlightenment & Unknown Sin as Christians

Friends,

In the fifth and final episode of the TRUTH SEEKER SERIES, we dive into how QUICKLY the enemy can work to destroy our lives from the INSIDE out. How he uses our ignorance to do his dirty work, we can fight against his plans by putting on the armor of God, and unknown sin is everywhere. But we are empowered and equipped to overcome it as Christians!

In this interview with my long-time trusted friend Ashley DeAnda, we learn how dangerous practices like pagan yoga, mindless or mind-clearing meditation, and ‘universal enlightenment’ can really be…

How she was searching for healing and spiritual guidance in all the wrong places. How the enemy was poised and ready to offer her his bag of tricks. We go into how she navigated the scariest experience of her life to recognize her unknown sin, repent, and replace her beliefs from WORLDLY to GODLY. How her only salvation came from Christ.

In this story, you will see how God uses our ignorance and brokenness to not only bring us back into His light but also to bring others with us. Through Ashley’s courage, we are able to see more clearly than ever so we can take the journey from ignorance to Godly bliss.

Stay until the end to learn how you can use all of these lessons for your growth and for the good of God’s kingdom. We are here together, now, on purpose. I believe that God has brought you to this podcast and specifically, this episode divinely. 

While it scares me to bring forward the truth of this magnitude, I must be obedient. I know that God has a BIG PLAN for why He is preparing His daughters for battle.

I pray this blesses you.

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:

(00:00:00):
Hey friends. Welcome to today’s episode. Literally, I’m recording this intro for you today on the day that this episode is due. Such as life, right? Distance learning, kids, all the things. But here we are today in the fourth episode of the truth seeker series.

(00:00:18):
I am bringing to you, my friend, literally for decades, decade long, friend, Ashley DeAnda, who is a follower of Jesus Christ. She’s a wife, a mother of two littles, and is homeschooling. Ashley is just incredible.

(00:00:35):
She has experienced something that I think is so important and critical for you guys to hear through just tapping into personal development and then getting a little bit deeper into some new age philosophy. She slid down a very steep slope, very quickly that left her searching. It left her in a very dangerous place with actual darkness of the world, which I’m going to let her share with you.

(00:01:07):
She had to go through that experience in order for God to use that for good. God is so good and he’s used what she went through and the truths that God revealed through her experiences to bring here to all of you today. This is going to wrap up our series.

(00:01:27):
So while this is a long episode, I want you guys to buckle down, dig in pause it in the middle and come back tomorrow if you need to, okay. But hang out until the very end where I recap for you. Exactly what to do with all of this information from the truth seeker series, let’s go get it.

(00:02:39):
You know, your girl is not a lawyer. Thank goodness because you guys would be in big trouble if I was a lawyer. While I can slay on some business and we can talk about some Jesus up in here, the legal stuff has me just blacking out. I hear you guys. You’ve been asking me all questions about legal trademark contracts. I knew I had to find you guys someone that I personally trusted to help you.

(00:03:08):
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(00:03:41):
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(00:03:55):
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(00:04:17):
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(00:04:53):
Hi, Ashley. Welcome to the show.

(00:04:55):
Thank you for having me.

(00:04:57):
You’re welcome. I’m so excited too.

(00:05:01):
So full circle moment. You guys, Ashley’s the friend that reached out to me about the Enneagram and I don’t know dates. So forgive me. Months ago. You guys know I was totally triggered by that because my ego and self was telling me that I was okay to use this tool. That this tool was okay for me to use for my clients. I kind of went off on a rant and poor Ashley. Y’all know me. Sometimes I don’t like anyone we’re humans, right? I didn’t filter this through God. I didn’t pray over it.

(00:05:37):
I just reacted. Why? We are humans. That whole thing went down, right? Then months went by before Ashley, she was bringing something to me that God had asked her to bring to me, but God is so good. When we are faithful and obedient, what happened Ashley?

(00:05:55):
It came full circle.

(00:05:58):
It came full circle. I messaged her and I’m like, girl, I am so sorry. God has revealed some things to me about myself. A, I shouldn’t have reacted that way. B, the Enneagram has since been revealed to me as maybe not something that is dangerous for everyone, if they want to use it and discern and have that conversation with God. But who am I to lead them down that path? Because it is something that can be dangerous. We talked about that in the last true seeker series.

(00:06:28):
We’re not going to get into the Enneagram today, but the point of what I’m saying is God is so good and how he works. So I messaged Ashley. We had this big conversation and then a couple more months went by, I think. I reached out to Ashley for some godly sisterly advice, over something happening in my family. We just had this beautiful conversation and God planted in my heart to do the true seeker series. In the moment with Ashley via text, we were voicing, right Ashley?

(00:07:00):
Then I heard Holy Spirit say, do the truth seeker series. Ashley was the first person that God told me to invite onto the show. I’ve saved her for last on purpose because Ashley’s story is something supernatural. Ashley’s story is something that we don’t want to hear.

(00:07:23):
We don’t want to think that we’re living in a fallen and broken world. We want to close our eyes. Just like I wanted to close my eyes to the dangers of the Enneagram, but God has called us up. Right sisters?

(00:07:40):
Yes, definitely.

(00:07:42):
We are here. Fourth episode in and God is calling us to open our eyes, to speak out, to be his voices here on earth to be his warriors. Ashley’s story might freak you out a little bit, but it’s freaking you out for the good of Christ so that we will have discernment and truth as moms, as wives, as friends. So I’m kind of disclaiming this right now because her story is not easy to hear, but I know that God asked me to share it with you guys.

(00:08:17):
He asked Ashley to reach out to me six to eight months ago, because she was always meant to share. She was always meant to be on this show. She was always meant to come here and have this platform because her message needs to be heard. I’m just going to cry because I did you a disservice eight months ago when God brought you to me. Again, I repent for that. We are all learning. We’re all growing, but I love you. You’re here now, and God is so good.

(00:08:48):
And so anyway, I’m gonna shut up. Ashley, I love you. I want you to start us off by sharing who you are and then sharing your story with us. This is gritty. I hope you guys are paying attention.

(00:09:03):
Well, my name is Ashley and I know Stef had done the intro. I’m just gonna kind of jump into what happened. Basically I’ve known Stef for a long time and I have learned so much from her outside of spiritual stuff. Like as she said in her truth secret series. She’s just been an overachiever. A very motivating person. She is spot on.

(00:09:33):
She was so helpful in the first years of meeting her and helping me with so many things. It drove me, to also, I guess, look for truth in many things, but in a way I had already had this self-help mentality. I wasn’t looking to God for self-help. I was looking to a lot of books, which I think I hear all the time. I’ve heard on this series. So I was reading so many books just put out to the public by very well known people. That was a huge deception from the world right off the bat.

(00:10:15):
Question, when was that Ashley that you started down the self help realm?

(00:10:22):
I think that could have even gone back to high school as a young teenager.

(00:10:29):
You were raised Catholic, right?

(00:10:31):
Correct. I knew about God. I knew about Jesus and the Holy Spirit. However, you know, I was kind of taught do your sacraments and you’re kind of covered. You do those and you’re good. We believe, and I did. So I did not think I could stray. A lot of people know there’s more supernatural to the world and you don’t always see that or hear about it in the church. I wasn’t always caring about spiritual warfare.

(00:10:59):
Yeah. So you grew up Catholic. Do you ever feel like you had true relationship with Christ? Even though that we had the religion. Because I think there’s a difference between I’m religious and I have true complete Holy Spirit relationship. Did you ever have that moment before this happened?

(00:11:22):
No, I thought I knew him and I thought I had that. I a hundred percent believed that I was good. I went to church, I talked to him and I prayed, but it was not throughout the day about many things. It was a repetitive type prayer. Our father, an occasional thank you. It helped me when I need it, but it was not a relationship. Not what I have now. It was surface level.

(00:11:51):
Okay. So you get into all self-help and when did it really get intense? So talk to me about that January. Take me through that January timeframe. What was that? 2019?

(00:12:05):
Yeah. So that’s been in my life. I had already read so many self help books, went to school for mental health, and joined the military for mental health. I had already had a lot of background in how to help yourself mentally. There was always a spiritual aspect that I felt a need for.

(00:12:29):
In 2018, being a clinical therapist, I was feeling overwhelmed. There is a lot of burnout and hearing a lot of depressing things and helping people through, divorce, trauma, child abuse, and addiction. There is so much negativity and it can be very overwhelming. I had always had very easy go to self-help type of modalities to go to. They were just basic stuff. Go for a run, exercise, eat healthy, do puzzles do, something I enjoy swim, and play with the kids and stuff.

(00:13:12):
But in 2019 I had a unique feeling about something new and I just knew something was gonna happen this year. I said, I’m gonna do diets. Everyone’s like new year, new me. Let’s stick with another diet. I was like I’m just going to eat healthier. It’s a new year. I’m going to also try yoga and meditation because I’ve learned to recommend this to my clients in.

(00:13:43):
From the military school, from social work school, from counseling, I have recommended this to so many clients, which I have also repented for. I said, I’m going to try it. I’m feeling stressed. I’m feeling overwhelmed. So I did. Stef is what I’ve learned is you go all in, you put in everything. You push yourself.

(00:14:08):
When I commit to stuff now that’s what I do, so I was fully committed and I just jumped all in. I said, you know, even if I do poses and all, you know, clear my mind for five to 10 minutes. It wasn’t meditating on God’s word, which I know is good. It was clearing my mind or doing a meditation where I listened to someone to get me through a forest and feel calm. Where I’m not in control of my mind, but someone else has told me what to do with my mind. So that’s what I began to do in January 2019. I did that.

(00:14:42):
You did that till May. Did you ever for a moment before you got into the yoga and the meditation think that that could possibly be dangerous?

(00:14:52):
No, because I have had migraines my whole life, and I also was diagnosed with a kidney disease. I thought I have some health issues, maybe everything that I’m learning, just from online. But what people are saying in society, what’s on magazine covers. You know, meditate, do yoga. What’s put on the news, what’s put on our apps, and in between commercials for our kid’s games, and pictures. I just thought everyone is doing this.

(00:15:25):
This is the way that I can help cure myself. I cure my kidney disease by focusing on this, putting positive energy, and not seeking God. I was thinking, this is a good thing. This is how I can share myself as like a mini god. I thought it was possible. I thought that was the way.

(00:15:47):
So you never thought it was dangerous. I think it’s because the world is normalizing the way that the enemy controls our mind.

(00:15:58):
Yes.

(00:16:00):
We have been groomed humans since birth. Literally and not to get into rabbit hole stuff. I get it. But if you look at any Disney movie, if you watch the news at all, the things that we are learning since birth are preparing us to just mindlessly not. Okay. Yes, this is normal. This is fine.

(00:16:24):
You hit it with that Disney thing, because I didn’t think that impacted me psychologically when I was going to let my children watch it. There was a part that triggered me because it said, the father line was telling the child, look up to the stars. You’ll always find me. You’ll always see me. I’ll speak to you. Then throughout the movie, he’s looking to speak with his dead father.

(00:16:50):
I also talk about in my testimony videos, that I also was grieving a loved one. My grandmother who passed. That made me think, well, we could still talk to our dead loved ones. We don’t understand what’s being planted at those times. When my children did start watching, I had to say, this is actually not real. You cannot do that. This is not okay.

(00:17:18):
Oh, I saw a meme yesterday, Ashley, that had two pictures. It said how you were introduced to death as a child. It showed the land before time and the baby is kissing the mama who has died. And what are we? Four? Five? They’re traumatizing us.

(00:17:34):
Then the one above it said how your kids were introduced to traumatic death. It’s the dad, Simba, from the lion King, with the dad. He’s kissing the dad. I’m like, what is wrong with this picture? Why is it been why we blindly accepted that traumatizing our children from a young age is okay. Then teaching truly dangerous modalities, such as talking to the dead and all the other crazy things. You guys we’re not getting into that right now.

(00:18:04):
But the point of what I’m saying is that Ashley never for a moment said, this could be dangerous because the world told her otherwise. Which is why it’s incredibly important before you do anything in your life that you bring it to God, because I truly believe he would have revealed to Ashley this is dangerous.

(00:18:22):
It’s nuts. It’s actually a crazy story that I want to hear your full on experience going from January to May. I was reading the book probably six months ago, The Power of Now. I just ordered a bunch of books off of thriftbooks.com. I’m like, well, this one looks good. I’m holding it in my hands. I begin to read.

(00:18:41):
The first chapter is talking about how he has an outer body experience meditating. He goes to the window and all of a sudden he’s brushed with this new energy and all these things. I shut the book. I felt really weird.

(00:18:56):
I’m sitting by myself on the couch in the living room. I looked at the time. I said, Lord God, I just put my hand on the book. Lord God, if you don’t want me to read this book, please tell me. Reveal it to me. I opened my eyes, Ashley, and the word “no” from now popped off the page in bright white. Right there, I threw the book in the trash. I was like, I hear you.

(00:19:17):
So God will always reveal, and it may not be that divine, but you’ll get the feeling. You’ll know. So that’s what we should do. But we don’t know what we don’t know because we’re humans.

(00:19:27):
So talk to me about what happens. You go down this rabbit hole, I guess, of new age experience. Talk to me about what happens. You get into meditation and yoga. How fast does it evolve? What were you doing in those times? And then what happened?

(00:19:41):
It evolved so fast. I have mentioned this lasted about four and a half to five months, like of just fast paced spiraling. So what happened is I just would just look on Pinterest and I would start seeing things, you know, because our phones are very much made to advertise to us what we talk about.

(00:20:06):
So I was talking about hearing and meditating. I would get these ads for like chakra stuff, like these beautiful colors and what can you do with these chakras? I wasn’t studying what is this. Where’d it come from? I was just thinking, oh cool. This chakra aligns with this. So over those four months, I just increased the time that I was spending meditating. I would write down things that I wanted to learn about.

(00:20:36):
So I didn’t do all of these things, but I have a very negative correlation with them. That is I became interested in a lot of crystal healing. So I did buy crystals and I didn’t know how to use them for healing, but I’m sure I would have went that route as well. I thought they were positive and they would bring good energy.

(00:20:57):
I had bought some astrology books because I wanted to learn more about that and didn’t bring these things to God. A family member who has a friend who is a psychic. I met with her. I think opened a massive door because you don’t know what you’re messing with.

(00:21:23):
Over the period of four months, I started off with a couple of minutes of clearing my mind and doing a few yoga poses for exercise, for also physical health, to where by the four month mark, I was already at about 50 to 55 minutes of sitting quietly every morning. Clearing my mind. I had begun hearing music. It was obviously demonic, but it was very beautiful music tones. I was hearing names and having these types of visions and very supernatural knowing things that were going to happen. It progressed so fast.

(00:22:06):
You never thought that that was dangerous either. You thought that was from God, right? I’m having these almost premonitions.

(00:22:12):
Right? See you mentioned earlier, we should pray and seek God. I wasn’t asking God about, am I doing something wrong? I was praying a new age type of prayer in every video I would watch. A YouTuber would talk about their enlightenment. They would say, just ask for white light to protect you, because you know, there can be some negative entities. They won’t do anything, but you need protection.

(00:22:40):
So I would pray. I even prayed to God. I’d say our Father and I would sit and meditate, but I wasn’t asking him for permission. I wasn’t asking him for his guidance and his will. I was just saying like that, I’m going to do this, protect me. Here I go. Not is this bad, not trying to do this, but I’m going to do this. I want to do this.

(00:23:04):
It was taking my will into control and not his will for me. At a point he was like, that’s what you’re going to do. I’m giving you to that. He still had his hand on me, but he was very much saying you’ve turned away from me. I didn’t even know.

(00:23:22):
Satan is from the light, he’s a fallen angel. So it gets very twisted when people put in the word god, in their YouTube channels, in their enlightenment coaching, in their crystals, in their chakra work. They’re saying, god, Christians and even non-Christians are getting very confused.

(00:23:44):
Yes. That Satan comes as an angel’s lights. My first and I would say only out of body experience was around the four month mark. I had a moment of vulnerability. I went that morning to go meditate in a dark room in the pretzel position. For a moment before I had started meditating, I had missed my grandmother. She had passed away.

(00:24:22):
I started to meditate and there just came this feeling over me that I missed her. I couldn’t wait to be with her and see her again. In that moment of being vulnerable, I shot completely out of my body. It was not, I don’t know how else to explain it. I don’t know the difference fully of spirit and soul. Like I flew out my body was below me and I was just in lights.

(00:24:54):
I think that’s part of the deception of I thought that was God, a hundred percent. I thought, wow, like God is here. In the moment that that happened, I felt I was being told to be psychic. I found my calling. This is what I was going to do for the rest of my life. I was already having premonitions and knowing things.

(00:25:17):
In that moment, I said, I’m ready in my mind. Wherever I was, I said, I’m ready. It was like a contract I had met with Satan and didn’t even know it. When I came back into my body, I was just so super blissed out, I felt so high and I was crying and I was happy. I had to explained this to my husband that I thought I met God. I went to like this heavenly place, even though there was nothing there, it was just light. There was this knowing that it was heaven. That’s what I was telling him. But it was a complete deception.

(00:26:02):
What did your husband say? What did Chris say? Was he like she lost her mind?

(00:26:07):
He was so confused. He didn’t say that, but I don’t know what he was feeling. I had done research online and this is the really creepy part I think for me. I typed in what happened, what I experienced, what it felt like. It felt like a shooting up and I came out. Everything that I came up with said, I had something called a Kundalini awakening. This was some type of religious thing. It happens to a lot of people in India and it comes from culture of Hinduism and Buddhism.

(00:26:43):
I was like, wow, this is real. This works. This is how you meet God. This is what people want to do. All these monks are trying to do this. I didn’t even try, like, I just did this for four months or for nine months. Here I am having enlightenment. In a way it did feel special because I thought I’m experiencing something that a lot people want to experience. I’m not even really trying, but I wasn’t trying hard. I was showing up, but I wasn’t even aiming to have that experience. I was just doing it because I thought everything else happened that way. So that was the worst experience of it.

(00:27:22):
So y’all heard that. First experience was like a supernatural shooting out. You felt like this was of God from God. Then everything you find online is supporting this. It’s supporting this. Ashley, keep going, dig in.

(00:27:41):
I was clairvoyance and clear audience and this is normal.

(00:27:48):
Did you ever have any warning from your family? I know your family is pretty religious. Did anyone ever say Ashley you’re dabbling in something dangerous at this point? Were you ever made aware that this could be dangerous?

(00:28:00):
I don’t think they knew how much I was into it because I had mentioned a few time, yeah, I meditate for mental health. I didn’t tell them, I’m doing this every morning. I’m setting aside this amount of time, reading about it, and watching these videos while I do my laundry. They didn’t have any idea of how much time I was spending on that.

(00:28:21):
That’s the danger. The slippery slope, because once the world gets a hold of you and gets you intrigued in something dark. Which is also something I have to say about all this stuff, it’s easy to go into that dark space and just research like a crazy person and be like, and what did God say? I do not dwell in the darkness. Get out of that darkness. Don’t go there. It’s a slippery slope. And that’s the danger.

(00:28:49):
In our Bible, we’re warned about this. However, we’re not really taught to read our Bibles in the Catholic church that I went to. You know, they would read us if you verses and talk about that. There was a lot of ceremonial stuff, but I did not open my Bible. A lot of my family, they weren’t opening their Bibles before.

(00:29:15):
But after that experience, everyone was just confused and we still didn’t know what to do. It was a week and a half later when I had meditated during that week and a half and nothing, came about different. This is where my story takes a very spiritual warfare tum. That is when I sat down for a meditation one morning. I began clearing my mind and something began to come into my body and I didn’t feel it initially.

(00:29:50):
I didn’t know when it was coming in. Honestly I have a feeling that stuff may have came in when I shot out and came back in. I think I potentially brought stuff back in. Maybe evil spirits. I think that could have happened as well. But what happened is I sat down to meditate. I closed my eyes sitting again in a yoga pose, pretzel type position, hands palm up. I cleared my mind and I began to feel something twitch in my throat.

(00:30:20):
So I thought it was a twitch. I thought I was relaxed. I then began to feel my jaw lower and open and my head tilted backward. It didn’t feel forced. So I just thought I’m very relaxed. This never happens. But my jaw is now opening and I just continued to sit. At that moment, my body began to kind of breathe on its own where my stomach would sucked in really, really deep.

(00:30:49):
I’m hearing this new craze also about like breathing techniques and stuff. I think this could have a connection.

(00:30:58):
Breath work?

(00:30:58):
Yes. I don’t know much about it, but my body was breathing deep. You could see. If someone were to witnessed this, they’d see my rib cage sucked in and my ribs would be showing. It was so deep that I cannot physically do it on my own. I felt it. In that moment of the meditation, I began to worry and get afraid.

(00:31:20):
The fear was creeping in and it was happening pretty fast. When that saw happened, I felt my mind step back. My mind became foggy and I thought, I’m not doing this, but I also didn’t have control of my body. I didn’t feel fully in control of my thoughts.

(00:31:41):
Then my body began to move like a snake. So, it was from the hips up like a snake type motion where my body would move forward and then backward on its own. It was not me moving it but it was a evil spirit. It was a demon or a devil. That terminology in the King James Version Bible. And so these devils or this devil that was in my body was moving it and I had no control. What kind of sent me into a panic is when it bowed my head to the ground.

(00:32:17):
So still sitting in the same position, this unclean evil spirit bowed my head to the ground. In that moment, it was saying, you can have whatever you want. You can have money. You can travel the world. You’re going to be psychic. You can talk to your grandma. Your dead loved ones. You can be whatever, but you just need to bow to me.

(00:32:41):
So in my videos, the first video I put out, I did not feel led to share that part. So I spoke about how it felt telepathic. In my most recent video, I shared the physical demonic possession because it still would telepathic. It was inside of me. What happened from that moment is my body came upward. Then this demon bowed my head back down again. The second time it was like confirming a worship to Satan.

(00:33:14):
I panicked and my alarm went off and I couldn’t move. At this point. I was stuck. This devil demon was holding me down. A lot of people say they have sleep paralysis and I’ve had that. It felt very similar. Except for usually I’m on my back and it’s pressing down on my chest. This time it was forward and it was in my body and it would not let me get up.

(00:33:38):
So my alarm is beeping and I’m freaking out and I’m saying, get out. My kids need to wake up for school. They’re gonna find me here. They’re going to think I’m dead. Am I dying? Like, are you taking my soul? I’m so confused. What happened? I didn’t invite you in my body, except for I did by doing this practice. So after a few seconds, but it felt like eternity, I feel the demon leave the back of my body. Just comes out of my back of my body. I get up and I’m just shocked. Completely shocked at that point.

(00:34:19):
So much of your story, Ashley, I like get chills and my fingers are like freezing cold because it’s like I’m in a horror movie. Like, is this truly the world we live in? If this wasn’t Ashley, my friend that I have known for decades that was in my wedding that like, I literally know who you are, I would have a hard time believing that. But like a couple of years ago, I’d be like, shoot she imagined that.

(00:34:51):
I couldn’t believe it either. I don’t know if I would believe that this could happen. But see, I explained this to my husband. I had a fear as a child of this. This was a massive fear. I don’t know if that’s why that’s what it took for me to come to by the way I have. But this is the worst fear that I had in my whole entire life. That Satan has used against me. God has used for his glory and saved me from. What he had for me to fail and to be destroyed with is what God has used me to come closer to him.

(00:35:33):
That week is when the spiritual warfare began for my soul. I was questioning what happened. I was never taught Jesus would move my body, and I opened doors by doing yoga meditation. By being interested in, Reiki and acupuncture. This energy healing positivity. The universe. I did not realize that I was opening all of these doors, talking to my cousin’s friend who is a psychic having her talk to me about all of this stuff.

(00:36:05):
I literally myself unintentionally opened the doors. Once I began praying to Jesus, all of those things that I was hearing that were beautiful music that were still very evil and demonic. Satan coming as an angel of light, it began to turn weird.

(00:36:26):
I started to hear chanting. Things that I’ve never chanted before. I had never heard before. A lot of like “om”. I was hearing “om,” and I never said that. People would meditate and say that, but I had never used that while meditating. I heard weird stuff. They want me to go back to doing that. However, I didn’t want my body to move. I want control of my body. I want to have the say in what I do.

(00:37:03):
At that point I had given it over already. So when I would pray to Jesus, these evil spirits, these demons devils began to turn to their real selves. They began harassing me and yelling and screaming. So I would go to sleep and I would just hear screaming in my ear. Nothing was there and I would turn over and go to sleep. I would hear his hissing and growling and very, very demonic sounds.

(00:37:35):
It would just range from like a high pitched whistle scream to a very deep, low devil voice. I began to hear my name called and like horrible things that made me go into a very anxious state. A very depressed state. A very worried, you know, my family was concerned. What is happening now? We’re confused. This is within a week and a half of I met God, supposedly through my first out of body experience to a week and a half later, a devil, a demon is controlling my body. I’m being harassed because I’m praying to Jesus. So it progressed so fast that week and a half.

(00:38:22):
At this point, like you’re like trying to get this evil spirit out of your body. You’re realizing that you have messed with the darkness, and you’re looking for answers. All the while this demon this literal physical possession is fighting against you.

(00:38:38):
Yes.

(00:38:40):
Like you can’t escape me.

(00:38:41):
Yes. I was terrified. I thought, at what point is it going to do it again?

(00:38:47):
Yeah.

(00:38:47):
Like what point is this thing going to move my body? I thought, well, it’s come out of me. So maybe this is all external. Now these devils and demons they’re just harassing me. All this evil darkness is harassing me.

(00:39:03):
So I then begin to pray to God. I start to call church priest and I speak with one. He says, I’ll schedule you for an appointment in two weeks. I’m like, no, I’ll be dead by then. You don’t understand how fast this is progressing. I might not be alive. I didn’t want to commit suicide.

(00:39:24):
But the thought that was, I cannot live with this crossed my mind. That has never happened. I called another priest and he says, I could see you in a week. I said, fine. So I took that appointment. During that next week of complete torture, torment, not being able to eat, losing almost, I would say a lot of weight a lot. I was down to like, I don’t even know, 110.

(00:39:54):
You’re already tiny. I’ve heard that before, like they going vegan. All of those things are also subsets of like new age philosophy, so dangerous. Okay. Keep going. So you meet with the priest.

(00:40:07):
So I meet with the priest and it feels very unpersonable. The week prior I go to the hospital, I get my head checked. I get scans. I’m fine. They say maybe it’s mental health. I meet with the priest on Friday and it’s very quick, 10 or 15 minutes. He says a prayer for me. He mostly heard me talking for 10 minutes and then says, I’ll pray for you. Let’s say a prayer.

(00:40:32):
I was happy that he prayed, but I didn’t feel it was personal. He said he would come bless my home if I paid on the way out at the front desk. I did that because, you know, I needed help. Coming home from the priest, I began to pull over and weep and cry and pray. Tell God I’m so sorry. Nobody can help me. I went to the church. This is the person I’m supposed to turn to.

(00:40:59):
They did not give me a Bible verse. They didn’t spend more than 15 minutes with me. What do I do? I know what I’ve done wrong. I put all my trust in God and that he’s going to save me. When I home, I was still hearing things. The next morning I wake up and my friends who is a born again Christian texted me a message saying she had prayed. She heard my name in her mind just kept coming to her mind. I told her what had happened.

(00:41:32):
She came over with her Bible and she literally cast this demon out of me. It wasn’t like an exorcism that you’d see in a movie. But we read the Bible. She showed me verses of how this can happen. Us having the authority in Jesus’s name. I began to feel physically that I still had a devil in me. A demon. After moving around and burning inside of me, I began to have more trauma, be scared, but continued through prayer and it left.

(00:42:10):
I felt it leave my body and I was freaking out, but I still had something in there and had no idea that it was still in me. I thought it was all external. But from there, my friend said, you have to stay close to God. You must pray and cover yourself in the blood of Jesus. You must put on the armor of God, know his word, need to get close to him, and have to have that relationship.

(00:42:35):
Yeah.

(00:42:36):
I have only felt the Holy Spirit since then.

(00:42:41):
Yeah. What a beautiful story. I know that’s a hard story, but it’s also a beautiful story because what you experienced is something that I’m afraid a huge majority of the world is opening up to. They have no idea because ignorance is bliss. What you’ve gone through, God has allowed your hardship to become your testimony.

(00:43:10):
You’re literally sharing what happened from something that you didn’t realize was dangerous that could have killed you quite frankly. Then you go everywhere looking for help. But the problem with that is help can’t be found in the world. Help can’t be found here. And yes, there are some great preachers and priests and people that we trust and all of that. Help can only be found through God.

(00:43:36):
Here’s the secret. God’s word, right? Because it clearly states I was looking up some verses, as you were speaking about repenting. It said, first John verse one through nine, if you guys want to go read that.

(00:43:49):
But basically if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Another, Acts 3:19, repent then, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out. That times of refreshing may come from the Lord.

(00:44:09):
Ashley said, she’s not feeling the warfare. Yes, we feel warfare. Okay. We’re again, humans. How many times do I have to say that here? But the refreshing of the Holy Spirit, now. It’s a peace and it’s a good, and we are in control of our body and our mind. We have sound minds, bodies, hearts, and decision making. We are at peace.

(00:44:31):
Yeah. I felt spiritually attacked. I felt it this morning. Especially I feel when I’m going to share, there are some odd stuff that happens. Even with my last video I recorded, the sound happened to not work. Where things happen and people can just say whatever, but there’s also spiritual things that I feel. Because I’m sharing this and it’s a lot of people may not believe it, but I have no reason to lie.

(00:45:02):
There’s no way that I enjoy discussing the horrible place that I was in. The horrible things I was doing. The wicked person. I was the covetousness that I had in my heart thinking I can help people through speaking with a dead loved one. God is our healer. He’s our doctor. He’s our counselor. He is who I should have turned to for my kidney disease. He is who I should have turned to for all my life will. I should have asked him his will. I didn’t. But now I do.

(00:45:43):
I wanted Ashley to share that with you guys, not to scare you because I understand that that is scary. It’s also very scary if you have been dabbling, right? Because I used to say, yoga is fine. You guys just go to yoga and pray over God’s word while you do it. The Enneagram is fine because it helps you understand your clients and whatever.

(00:46:04):
But I don’t feel that way anymore. I don’t feel that way anymore because I see how slippery that slope can be. Especially if you are not spiritually mature in your walk with Christ, that is even more dangerous for you. We actually were going to go do a yoga thing, Ashley, this next weekend. So my mother-in-law’s like I bought a private yoga lesson. I reached out to some of my spiritual sisters and I was like, guys, I feel really weird about that. I don’t know how to get out of it.

(00:46:32):
I was like, I’m just going to pretend to have diarrhea. Then I don’t have to go. Tracy, you know, from the other series, said thou shall not lie, Stefanie. I was like, okay. So I wrote my mother-in-law and I was like, hey. I sent her Ashley’s testimony video and was like, I don’t really think yoga is a great idea. It’s just too slippery of a slope. She was like, I’m with you. She cancelled it. Glory be to God.

(00:47:05):
Bring it to God because he’ll find a way. We cannot be ignorant. He will convict us. I have a very close relationship with God right now, and I hear answers quickly. It didn’t used to be that way. I would seek and seek and ask and ask. But the closer you get, the clearer, the channels become. I’m sure, Ashley, you can attest to that.

(00:47:33):
I asked a question this morning about something that my husband and I were arguing over last night. Two times I heard the same verse that answered the question directly. The next morning. But it came through a year of really growing into relationship. So what do you want to say? What about your story do the girls need to hear about being aware, staying positive when all of these truths are being revealed? They feel like the weight is crushing. When they feel like, what do I do with this information? Ladies, help me help myself here. Cause this is a lot. What do you want to say to them?

(00:48:13):
Well, I want to say that Matthew 6:24 and 1 Corinthians 10:21 speak volumes. We cannot serve two masters. We cannot sit at the table of Jesus and the table of demons. You are with one or with the other. You do need to make a choice. It is a very rough place to start when people question who Jesus is. But I can say that he gives us many ways to seek him.

(00:48:44):
The first being the word of God. That is, you know, where we can find the armor of God and put on his armor and use his sword, the word of God. You can read about that in Ephesians. We’re covered by the blood of Jesus. You know, Buddha didn’t die for me. Nobody else died for me, but Jesus. His blood is so holy and precious. I pray that it protects me and my family all the time.

(00:49:10):
Also us as believers, we have the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit who dwells and lives in us gives us that authority and that protection. Of course, prayer, like we can talk to God all the time. Anytime, anywhere about anything. We need to take advantage of that. Like you said, grow your connection with God.

(00:49:32):
Because when I was doing what I was doing, I was told by a spiritual teacher that when I clear my mind, I’m clearing a path. What you said earlier was a channel and people channel these spirits. I cleared a path for Satan by not using God’s word. Now I fill my mind with God’s word and I speak to him. If I meditate on his word, I just think of his word. I’m focused on what he is telling me. There’s a huge difference in that.

(00:50:07):
I feel like that is what people can take from this video is that we can’t serve both the world and the Lord. We do have to choose and the Holy Spirit will help you. He’ll reveal things to you if you keep asking, and there are things that I’ve prayed for for months. Then received an answer and it’s worth the wait.

(00:50:30):
So sometimes it doesn’t come overnight. Sometimes even to where I’m at spiritually connected to God, with my relationship with God, my answers don’t always come so quick. Even though I think most of the time I get that no from him right away. The yes or no right away. But we have to have patience and it’s worth waiting for him.

(00:50:52):
Amen, friend. I’m so with all of that. Pray. Take it to God. If you have any kind of strangeness, it’s like a gut feeling. At least for me, it’s like this Holy Spirit intuition, that something isn’t right, that you are doing, saying, someone you’re working with, someone you’re following, or something you’re saying. A business that you’re promoting. A product you’re promoting. Anything and everything. Take it to God pray.

(00:51:20):
If you don’t know how to pray, you just open your mouth. Sister, Holy Spirit will guide you and you do it every day, all day. I’m the crazy lady all day long in the car, hand up at homeless people. People think I’m nuts and I don’t care. I don’t care because if I can be the channel for people, a godly channel, in a world full of Satan’s channels, I’m going to be it. Because God has called us to be that. Right?

(00:51:44):
We are called to be the salt and the light. We have the blood of Christ on us protecting us. So you guys step up, step into it. It starts in taking control of yourself. What are you doing that’s me, myself and I, and worldly? That needs to go. Let it go so that you can become who Christ is asking you to be. It begins with letting go of these worldly things that we have validated.

(00:52:10):
We have validated that they are okay. But I think that you truly know, and God will show you and convict you that maybe something you’re doing is not okay. Just like he has me recently. We are all in this together. We are all learning and growing, but you are listening to this episode on purpose.

(00:52:28):
So maybe there’s something you needed to hear. I’m going to bet that there was something you needed to take away from this if you’ve been led here. To hear Ashley and I. Whether this be on her YouTube channel or on my podcast, know that we are here with you.

(00:52:40):
If you guys need a prayer, please pop into my inbox. Please message. Get in touch with Ashley. She’s going to share that with you in a moment. We would love to pray with you. If there’s any of you that need guidance or just to chat, we’re here for you. Both of us, we are here for you. God gave us this platform.

(00:52:58):
Not so we can talk to you and belittle or judge, but so that we can lift you up. Wrap you in his glory and then direct you to maybe some scripture that can help you through it. So we’re here to support you.

(00:53:09):
Ashley, thank you. This has been so fun. I’m so grateful that you were brave enough to come share such an incredible story of God’s redemption, his forgiveness, and his glory. Know that you’re doing work, that he’s asked you to do. Even when it’s hard and scary.

(00:53:29):
All praise to God. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. The first verse I learned ever. You know, I seek God’s will, and I encourage people to do the same. If you are confused, if you don’t know what to believe, if you are struggling, if you’re in the middle of new age or other belief systems, seek God’s will for your life. Don’t stop until you have a hundred percent his answer, because he will tell you.

(00:53:59):
He will. All right, sister friend, where can everybody find you and hang out with you and get in touch with you?

(00:54:06):
Well, my YouTube channel. It’s Ashley DeAnda. I’m not like running a business or anything. I’m the regular person, a mama and a wife, and I just have a YouTube channel. If you want to watch my videos and get some more details, if you want to email me, it’s ashfabdeanda@gmail.com, which is also listed in the description of my emails. I’d be happy to pray for people as Stef said and speak with one another and discuss what you’re going through and help as much as I can.

(00:54:39):
And you guys, all of that info is in the show notes. If you want the links, they’ll be here for you. Alright love, God bless you. Thank you for blessing us with your time this morning and love you.

(00:54:49):
Thank you. Love you so much.

(00:54:52):
I hope that you guys took away so much from that episode and that your mind is probably blown. Just like mine was the first time I heard Ashley’s story. But God has done a work through her and he did not bring her here on accident. So in this next five minutes, stick with me. I just want to wrap this up full circle for you guys. I know this episode was long, but it was so necessary.

(00:55:13):
I was really just praying over what and how I could bring this to a close for you. Four episodes of truth, just full on, poured out from my story to Heather’s story then to Tracy’s story. Then finally, to Ashley’s story. What do you do with all that?

(00:55:35):
I think God really did a work here to have us just open our eyes. If I were to tell you, what do you do with this? My takeaway from all of this is that you gotta be aware. You’ve got to be awake. You’ve got to be partnered with what Jesus wants for your life. Yes, this is a business podcast, but this is also a life podcast. Everything that we have and everything that we do is from Christ, sisters. Yes.

(00:56:05):
So let’s get back to that and make sure that we are doing it all Christ’s way. That we are awake and aware of what the world is deceiving us by. What the world is telling us to be true. Instead of just blindly following, blindly accepting, that we first bring it to God, pray, and ask for discernment and awareness over what is not Godly. Then that we are brave enough, sisters, brave enough to take a stand against the things in ourselves and in our lives with our kids, with our spouses, with our businesses, whatever it may be that we’re willing to lay it down. Because we are here not to please, man, no sisters, but to please God.

(00:56:54):
That all begins here. It all begins. Now it begins with what you took away from this series. It begins with you. This morning I was led to the second book of Timothy. There are many screenshots that I took. But one of the verses that really stood out to me is 2 Timothy 19.

(00:57:18):
But God’s truth stands from like a foundation stone with this inscription. The Lord knows those who are his and all who belong to the Lord must turn away from evil. I mean, for God to just bring that straight to me this morning, when I was praying over what to share with you guys. But God’s truth stands from like a foundation stone with this inscription.

(00:57:46):
Basically what I took from this is that the direction is clear, right? The specificity of that verse, if that’s a word, of do this is extraordinarily clear. From like a foundation of stone, with eight inscription on it. The Lord knows those who are his? Are you his? If you’re his, all but who belonged to the Lord must turn away from evil.

(00:58:14):
So for us, we have to know what is evil and that begins with asking him. Ask God, get in your Bibles. Sisters, begin to pray.

(00:58:24):
Then once you have kind of worked through that on your own becomes the next call that I think we as kingdom soldiers have, which is again from 2 Timothy 25. Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts and they will learn the truth. Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants. That’s 2 Timothy 25, and then verse 26. They have been held captive.

(00:59:04):
So to me, that second thing that I’m taking away from this series is that sure I can be changed, but I want to be changed so that I can change others. How do we change others? We gently instruct, gently instruct. Then he says, perhaps God will change their heart. Not you, not me. We don’t have that power, but God may change their heart so they can escape.

(00:59:32):
Did you hear that? Escape from the devil’s trap. They’ve been held captive. We’ve got to pray over those that are captive. We’ve got to pray over those who don’t know yet about God’s truth. I.

(00:59:44):
think we heard a similar story through all of the stories here in the truth seeker series. That was, we didn’t know. We didn’t know, but not knowing is not an excuse for not waking up to it. For not seeing.

(00:59:58):
Sisters, once you see, you will never unsee. You’ve heard me say that. You will never unsee. You will never want to look away from the true light ever again. Because the light of the world turns dark turns dim. It burns out, but the light of Christ and the light of the right way, it shines brighter and brighter. It shines for eternity. That’s the kind of light that I’m chasing. What kind of light are you chasing?

(01:00:28):
Let’s pray. Lord, I lift up everyone listening to this episode right now. Thank you for bringing us this truth seeker series. God, thank you for bringing me the women who inspired us through this series, who shared, who were brave. For everyone that has gotten something from this that they so desperately needed in their mind, in their heart, in their spirit. They found that connection with you that maybe they had been missing.

(01:00:55):
I pray for those that haven’t that you continue to do a work in them, God, to reveal your truth, your good, honest, and forever truth. Into their lives, businesses, relationships, marriages, everywhere. Because you are everything and you are everywhere. We know that you are here with us and for us today, tomorrow, and every single day forever. We choose you, are thankful, and we love and trust you. In Jesus’s name, amen.