The Radiant Mission
The Radiant Mission
96. From Yoga to Yahweh: Madeline's Testimony of Spiritual Warfare
Ever wondered how a journey from career-focused living and yoga could lead to a profound spiritual awakening? Join us on The Radiant Mission podcast as our special guest, Madeline, a devoted wife, mother, and doula, shares her incredible testimony. Raised in a Catholic household with a casual knowledge of Jesus, Madeline's path took a transformative turn as she transitioned from partying and horseback riding to a life deeply rooted in faith and holistic health. Explore her powerful narrative of how yoga and acupuncture initially provided relief from physical pain and anxiety, but ultimately led her in a circular path. The Lord pursued Madeline, and ultimately pulled her off the path she was on.
Her story includes details of her faith journey, where prayer played a pivotal role during the birth of her son. Imagine laboring almost pain-free, all through the power of specific prayers. This miraculous event sparked a desire to trust in God wholeheartedly and share her passionate testimony. We delve into a transformative moment brought on by a video discussing the demonic roots of yoga, which led to an intense spiritual encounter and realization of spiritual warfare. Together with her husband, who had recently begun his own faith journey, they navigated these revelations, feeling a renewed sense of purpose and connection.
This episode doesn't shy away from the tough topics, shedding light on the potential spiritual dangers of practices like yoga and the importance of faith during pregnancy and childbirth. We discuss the significance of trusting God's design and the impact of our words on our experiences. Learn practical insights for protecting children from spiritual darkness and understand the profound role faith plays in navigating the challenges of modern life. Tune in to hear Madeline's personal testimony and gain a deeper understanding of the intersection of faith, health, and spiritual warfare.
Thank You for Joining Us!
For the full show notes, including links to any resources mentioned, please visit The Radiant Mission Blog.
Follow along on social media:
Instagram
Facebook
Enjoying the show? Please refer it to a friend :)
Hello and welcome to the Radiant Mission podcast. My name is Rebecca Twomey and we are on a mission to encourage and inspire you as you're navigating through this life and with your relationship with Christ. We are currently in a series about the goodness of God and if you're tuning in for the first time, welcome. We're so glad that you're here Today. We are welcoming a very special guest to share her story and her testimony with us. Madeline is a wife, she is a mother of two and a doula, and she helps women prepare for childbirth by educating them on God's perfect design for birth so they can have an enjoyable, peace-filled experience, which I so love and love talking about birth. So you can find her at Mama. M-o-m-m-a. Madeline on Instagram, m-m-a. Madeline on Instagram, and you can also find her at www. madeline-marlottmykajabicom. Awesome and Madeline, thank you so much for being here with me today.
Madeline Marlatt:Thank you for having me. I am so excited.
Rebecca Twomey:Yeah, this is awesome. So you and I align on a lot of things, as you know. Definitely go to her Instagram because she got some good stuff on there and wonderful things for moms and about birth and all that good stuff, and we're going to be talking about some of that today. So I'm really looking forward to hearing about your testimony. I would love if you could just take us through your story. What was your upbringing like and you know, how did you kind of progress through life so far?
Madeline Marlatt:Yeah, so where do I even begin? Um, so I would say I was raised to know of Jesus. I you know my parents. My mom was Catholic, but we didn't really like we did not follow Jesus. I went to church every so often when I was younger. We would go on like holidays.
Madeline Marlatt:And then I think by the time I was in middle school, even we stopped going, even on holidays. And then I think by the time I was in middle school, even we stopped going even on holidays. So it was one of those things where it's like I knew Christmas, like we were celebrating like the birth of Jesus, but I didn't really know of him. So I think you get what I'm saying. I would say like throughout my life there would be things where I would like think of God and it's not like I never thought, it's like I still believed, but I lived a very worldly life like I. I pretty much just like focused on things like my career. I rode horses my whole life so I was like very into horseback riding, um, just that kind of stuff.
Madeline Marlatt:I was like a huge, I would say, party girl for sure in college and and then my first job out of college was very much it was like a consulting type role where I traveled a ton for work and the lifestyle was very much just like party. So that is like up until my like late 20s, I guess, basically through my 30s, like till I was 30. That's what I did. I just focused on like career, all that kind of stuff and I've always been very like I cared about my health.
Madeline Marlatt:I got my degree in healthcare administration in college, so like I've always had this like healthcare background, caring about health and I do think that God has like given me a passion for that, obviously for a reason, and I started to kind of go on this like holistic health journey throughout my 20s, which is what a lot of people now are doing. It's like focusing on health. So that's like a huge part of my story and I want to mention that, because I started to go down just like different pathways to find what I now know, what I was looking for with Jesus. But I was doing things to like heal my body, even like physical pain. So one of the things that I started doing was yoga. I did yoga like I would say I did it religiously. I wasn't actually doing it for religious purposes, but I did it every ironic that you use that word, right?
Madeline Marlatt:yes, no, my husband was like you always say that you did it religiously, but like you were, but you weren't. It's like I wasn't intentionally, but I was doing it, I was doing it nonstop.
Madeline Marlatt:Like I even like when I was at my job and I was traveling all over the country, I would look up yoga studios to like make sure that I could like do my yoga like everywhere I went, and it was just a huge part of like me trying to feel better and it did make me feel a lot better. Like I had just like physical pains in my body, like I had knee issues, like all those things like went away, but other things in my life like started popping up and I think just living in that lifestyle of like partying, stress, like only focusing on work, like it just led me to feeling like anxious all the time. And there were actual other like health things that started to pop up. And as me and my husband got married in 2019, and I knew I always wanted to have kids, and this is where, like I feel like the health journey kind of took a turn, where I actually was starting to see some health things pop up and I was looking outside of like my yoga and stuff.
Madeline Marlatt:I was looking to other things to heal myself, like some examples, I mean, like I very much like into acupuncture and you know I won't get into all the different things, like if you should or shouldn't be doing them, but I'm just going to explain, like what I did.
Madeline Marlatt:I did things like that. Um, I worked at Facebook actually for a while and they were very much like focused on trying to be your best self and doing things like manifesting and vision, writing and vision that type of stuff. So like not only was I trying to like find things to like heal my body physically, it was like okay, how can I like mentally get into this better state? Because, like I said, I was like very anxious and all those things and I feel like I didn't even realize I was as anxious as I was until like till, like kind of looking back, but I was obviously looking for answers to feel better know, so I had done a lot of different things, like me and my husband would seek out like these, like sound baths, and I only one time but I did like Reiki and like all this stuff.
Madeline Marlatt:Um, and at that point, after we had kids or before we before we had kids, like when we were starting to want to have kids, these thoughts like really really strong, anxious thoughts started to come into my mind of like you're not going to be able to have kids and it kind of all related to there was something wrong with my body, like I thought that and I did some things popped up Like I said there are nothing like serious, like my thyroid and stuff like that, but I just went like I spiraled and I thought that like I wasn't going to be able to have kids and it was just like a very anxious, rough time and because of that we actually delayed like having kids because I just didn't want to like go through the stress of like not being able to conceive, like we didn't even really try.
Madeline Marlatt:But I had such, there was such a strong, you know, grip on me which I know was the enemy completely stopping me from having kids. And I even went through a period where I was like I'm not going to have kids until I'm like 35. That was like my mindset and I was totally just like you know, suppressing how I really like felt and yeah, so we waited. We got married in 2019, the very, very end of 2019.
Madeline Marlatt:And then, like two years went by or not two years, a year and a half ish went by and we finally decided to like have kids and we tried and we got pregnant and it was like very easy.
Madeline Marlatt:It was amazing and I still dealt with like a lot of anxiety at the beginning of my pregnancy.
Madeline Marlatt:But I also, at the beginning of my pregnancy, this was the time when I mentioned like I knew of Jesus and all that and I knew, like I believe, that Jesus was God and all that. But I started to like feel a draw towards him or like want to know more and be closer and I would see things like I would see things that I thought were signs for him and I do believe were signs. But he was like speaking to me and he put the desire in my heart to have a home birth. So, like I said, I've always been very like into health and all of that, so naturally I wanted to have a home birth and those things and I was able to find like a home birth midwife and all of that and at that point I I really started to like press into God and like so I gave you my favorite Bible verse and I'll kind of just like talk about that a little bit, cause it fits in right here.
Madeline Marlatt:But I remember seeing that verse, again like I had I didn't, I did not even own a Bible, I just think I came across it on like Instagram, honestly, like scrolling, and it said like whatever you ask for in prayer, believe you have received it and it will be yours. And again, remember, like I kind of had that mindset of like I had been taught like how to manifest and things like that. But I was like, hey, this is like what God says, like there has to be, like this has to be something. So I just really started to like believe that and I started to pray during my pregnancy. I started to pray for like very, very specific things that I wanted to happen in my birth and I would pray about like obviously, for like protection and like what time of day my son would be born, and like all these very, very specific things. And honestly, I feel like at the time I I knew I was praying to God, but I still my mind kind of thought I was like manifesting if know what I mean.
Rebecca Twomey:I didn't really understand.
Madeline Marlatt:You know, um, but I did pray to God and I had my son and it was like the most amazing, crazy experience crazy in the best way possible. Um, I always describe it. It was like nearly pain-free. There was a part of my labor, or like when my baby was born, when he was crowning that I call painful, but it was just like the most amazing thing and God answered every single one of my prayers. And then that is really what one lit a fire inside of me to want to tell every single person about this. I was like birth is amazing, like the world thinks of it as a certain way and like it doesn't have to be painful, like mine wasn't, it was just awesome.
Madeline Marlatt:And then, because of like that God answered my prayers, I really started to like I just started to trust him. I was like he must really be, you know, answering prayers out there, like he cared about to listen, listen like what I was saying, and so from that point on, I was very much like I still thought about God a lot, um, I was listening to worship music, like things like that just started to like trickle into my life. That now it's again like looking back, I knew it was God pursuing me at the same time, but I did. I, you know, it's not that I was still very much living in the world at that point, but after having my son, I can see how God started to show up, or like I could see him more clearly. So I would say, when he was, um, when he was about four months old, I connected with this girl who actually did my hair for my wedding and she was a Christian and I knew she was a Christian.
Madeline Marlatt:She was the only Christian I knew. But I asked her about a church. I was like, what church do you go to? Like we're thinking about starting to go to church. And we ended up hanging out and we became best friends. Like the first time I was, I hung out with her. I stayed there for like I probably overstayed my welcome.
Madeline Marlatt:I stayed there all day, we just like talked and she became my one Christian friend and she knew that I didn't really know. You know, I was like a Christian. I didn't really know. You know, I was like a Christian, I didn't know much, but she God used her to to speak to me and she would like teach me things. And she was the one that actually like told me about like manifesting and that if you're not doing it and like praying to God and you're doing it out of like your own will, then like that's essentially witchcraft and like there was just these things it's not essentially witchcraft, it is witchcraft, but there's just these things that she kind of planted seeds in me and I started to. It was just what continued to bring me closer to God was like having this one Christian friend to like speak life into me and speak to me about Jesus. So let's see where are we now? So we're all the way to that point.
Madeline Marlatt:So it wasn't until I, my son, was almost a year old, he was 10 months old. So like a few months go by and I'm still hanging out with this girl like all the time, and I remember this is where my story gets like kind of crazy. I remember being in my basement one night. So we have like a home gym, I work out and I have a sauna, and I was like sitting in my sauna one night. So we have like a home gym, I work out and I have a sauna.
Madeline Marlatt:And I was like sitting in my sauna one night and I was scrolling on Instagram like usual and I came across a video of a reel talking about the demonic roots of yoga and when I was like it stopped me in my tracks because I kind of remembered my mom who, like I said, she also believed in Jesus. She grew up Catholic, was not like living for God or anything, but she had. She had clearly the Holy spirit telling her before that I shouldn't be doing yoga and she had said something years ago and I was like, you know, I completely brushed her off, like this is ridiculous, like you're crazy, kind of thing. But when I saw that video again that was the last like since then, the last time I had heard about it I was just like it stopped me in my tracks and I started reading through the comments on the reel and it was just like I couldn't believe what I was reading.
Madeline Marlatt:I was like there has to be some like truth to what people are saying, cause there was this is a post that had like thousands of like comments on it and stuff. So I ended up messaging it to my husband and I just said like this I want to talk about this. It's like what I said to him. He was upstairs, but I was like I want to talk about this later. So the night goes on and I we end up, we go to bed and we're laying in bed and, um, this is like so crazy.
Madeline Marlatt:um, we're laying in bed and I remembered that video and I said like, um, like what did you think about that? Like what did you think about that yoga video? And he just said, yeah, I think that there might be some like truth to it. And I'm like getting like kind of choked up because it's like so crazy to think about. But I like something like came into our room and it was like, oh my gosh, I'm getting the chills.
Rebecca Twomey:I know.
Madeline Marlatt:So like something came into the room and I could like feel it and sense it and I immediately look.
Madeline Marlatt:I said to my husband which I don't think it was me I was like in a very stern tone, like I remember. I was like I don't want to talk about this anymore and I told him and then I started like panicking and I was like turn the lights on. Turn the lights on, because I felt like my throat was basically like closing, like I felt like I couldn't breathe and I was gonna like throw up. So that, just like I remember, we just like laid there and like tears were like coming down my face and I was like what is this? Like this is the most bizarre thing. Like what the heck just happened? We're talking about yoga, like we're talking about, in my mind, like exercising, and then this happened, happens. So the next day I texted my friend, my one Christian friend, which, thank God, he placed her in my life and I told her what happened. I just casually, like I just explained it. I kind of really know it seems so weird. Like why do you think this happened where we're talking about yoga, and I just started to feel like sick and scared and all these things. And she texted me and she was like can I call you? And at that point my, my husband's family had like just gotten to our house, like they were spending the weekend with us, and but I just like knew in my spirit, I was like I have to talk to her right now, like I need to talk to her. So I went upstairs into our bathroom and she well, actually, no, I didn't go into the bathroom yet I went upstairs, just like into our bedroom and she called me and she just said you know, madeline, like I don't want you to think I'm crazy, but there's something called demonic oppression and I think that you have opened doors to things by doing yoga and I think that you like need to repent from doing that. And it's so crazy because she even said, like I think that you need deliverance. And I did not know anything about this, like I did not know what deliverance was. I honestly did not know anything about spiritual warfare or the spirit realm or anything like that, and but I knew, because God had been working on me all that time, like I knew my heart was like completely open and ready for it and I was just like, yeah, I think you're right. And I, I was like at this point, like crying already and like the listeners if you don't know about spiritual warfare and about deliverance and demonic oppression like I, what I was feeling was the demon that I had let in from all the things yoga being one of them manifesting. They knew it was that they were going to have to leave and that is why I was feeling all these things that I was feeling.
Madeline Marlatt:So she, my friend, said I know somebody, my other friend, who can help you. So she's like I'm going to call her right now. And she called her on the phone and ended up calling me. So I've never met this girl in my entire life and I'm just at this point I go into my bathroom because she was like just go somewhere, like where you can be like quiet, because I was like crying and it was crazy.
Madeline Marlatt:She's like turn worship music on and I went into the bathroom and then this other girl called me and when she called me she started to just like minister to me and say these things to me that she would have no idea anything about me, and one of them was that she knew. She basically said that it's hard to remember every little detail. But she said that she knew that something was affecting my womb. And when she said that, my mind was just like blown because, again, I hadn't mentioned that before I got pregnant with my son, I had all of these anxious thoughts and feelings about like that there was something wrong with me and I wasn't going to be able to conceive. And then I did, and then I did and I was fine, but those same anxious thoughts and feelings about having a second baby, like came back and I was like in this like obsessed state with like trying to figure out what was wrong with me because I didn't think I was going to be able to have another baby.
Madeline Marlatt:And so when she said that me that there was something like impacting my womb and that she said that God has been protecting you, though there's been something impacting your womb, but God has been protecting you this entire time and not allowing what the enemy has been trying to do to you to like come to fruition. And that was the most like. I think that moment out of everything she said was the most like mind blowing thing Because, again, she knew nothing about me, she knew nothing about what I was struggling with, and God, god, knew you know, and he was protecting me and saving me from what the open doors that I had opened without even knowing.
Madeline Marlatt:And that's like the other thing that I so I'll just kind of finish this Like. I went on to receive deliverance in my bathroom, um, and she cast out like all these demons out of me, one being a Kundalini spirit, which was definitely from doing yoga, um, and wow, what did that feel like?
Rebecca Twomey:like, did you feel different, did you feel lighter? What did that feel like?
Madeline Marlatt:it was so crazy. So, um, when it like left me and I don't know because, like there was a lot of different things that left, but definitely like the kundalini one it was causing my throat to like close. It felt like someone was like closing my throat, and that's what I felt the night before. But when it finally left, it felt like something lifting off of me and just like the lightest weight ever, and what's so cool about my story is that? So, like I said, my husband's parents had just come to town and they were downstairs and I was upstairs. This was going on for like at least an hour and a half, and I texted my husband, cause I wasn't just going to, like, you know, have him, I wasn't going to go downstairs and I've been crying and all that stuff, but I texted them to come upstairs, and I can't remember if I mentioned I don't think I did. I think just when he came into the bathroom, I told him what happened. Okay, and he is also not a, he believes in Jesus. That's about the extent.
Madeline Marlatt:He, randomly, had started reading the Bible about six months before that, though, because God knew that this moment was going to happen, and he was already working on him too. My husband was kind of in a similar state where he was trying to trying to be at peace, you know, like on a wellness journey, all these things, trying all these things out, and he finally picked up the Bible like six months before that. So he had a better. He was, you know, his heart was open and ready and when I told him what happened to me I was like so scared because I thought he was going to think I was absolutely like off the wall, crazy. You know, I was like a demon just left me and he was like I understand, like, and he just it was like God downloaded everything that he needed to know in that moment and I don't even like the next, the next day and the next, probably two weeks felt like I was like there was no such thing as time, like god downloaded thing after thing. He showed me and like throughout my entire past, every single time that he was there when I had opened doors to certain things and like the things I needed to close.
Madeline Marlatt:So the girl that had called me on the phone, she does like deliverance ministry. So I went to her house for like a week straight and I got deliverance for like an entire week, so like my body felt like it was just like felt like it ran a marathon, but it was like the best feeling ever, because I just felt like lighter. And when I say that I felt like I could see clearer, I honestly like everything was look different to me, like everything looked different to me and how I saw the world and understood everything, like flipped upside down and like the best way possible. And it was the exact same for my husband. God saved us in that moment, at the exact same time, and we have been on this like spiritual journey together, like since then, and it was like one thing after another that happened that it's just like it's wild to see what he's done in both of our lives. But, um, that was, I basically was saved.
Madeline Marlatt:I was saved in April of 2023 and I conceived my second child in May of 2023, so one month after that.
Madeline Marlatt:So my second pregnancy journey was like I was already on like a spiritual journey and everything, but this was like and just another level of how I prepared to give birth, like, like I said my first, I was praying to God and all of these things and I believed in like a supernatural, pain-free birth and the second time around was just like another whole level of all of that. And, yeah, I I guess like most recently, it's like just to kind of like as far as I'll close this part of my testimony, cause there's so much you know the latest is that I, my entire pregnancy, prayed for a pain free birth and believe that I'd have a pain free birth and that it would be again like all the specific things, and I felt God calling me to live stream my daughter's birth on Instagram and I like wrestled with it so much because it's not that I didn't like trust God and the process, but I was just like, why do I have to?
Madeline Marlatt:do it, and that was one of those things where it's like I knew it wasn't my own, like I didn't want to do it for me. I knew that God wanted me to do it because I was wrestling with it like so much, but but towards the end, like I would say, three weeks before I gave birth, so I had started this Instagram um that you mentioned, mama Madeline. I started that um, like a couple of months after I got pregnant with her and like God was just like nudging me to like share all this stuff. And again one of the things was like you're going to live stream the birth on there. So, anyways, I just start sharing and sharing and the account starts to like grow and I buy, like I want to say I don't know I grew to like 10,000, like super fast, like it was like it was like blowing my mind, like what God was doing with it and using it, so like leading up to my daughter's birth, like I was saying, like three weeks before I started to get these, one of my reels went viral and it was about God. It was about God and his perfect design for childbirth and how it can be. It can be without pain and I.
Madeline Marlatt:It went viral and I had people messaging me, like commenting on my post, basically death threats, like it was the most obvious attack from the enemy, trying to like basically saying that I'm going to be ripped apart in childbirth and like all these just like evil, nasty things.
Madeline Marlatt:And I was like like so grateful that God had opened my eyes to like the spirit, um spiritual warfare that comes with you know, walking with him and having your eyes open, um, because that was just like such a blatant attack from the enemy. But I went on to like live stream my daughter's birth and it's since then it's like God has used it in such a powerful way to show women, like not even just to give them faith, like that was the reason that God told me to do. It was not even like there's a lot of talk in the birth space. You're in that space. You probably see stuff too, just about like I don't know, trying to normalize birth, and that was part of it. But the biggest part was like when you see something like that happening in real time, it makes you have this like faith that you can trust the process and also trust the creator who, you know, created the process.
Rebecca Twomey:And also trust the creator who created the process. So that's kind of where I'm at now. I'm still like on fire for Jesus and he is just the most amazing guy ever. To what you're saying about showing birth to other people, because I felt very much that way after I had my own physiological birth that the Lord was with me through and I had a spiritual attack the night before I had my son and it really is what set me on fire to talk about these things and to even start this podcast to begin with. But what I heard you saying, which is what we very much promote over here, is God's design for our bodies and God's design for birth and sharing that with other people, that he created us and he created us as women to grow and birth babies.
Rebecca Twomey:And we have been so convinced by society and the enemy's influence on society that we're broken, that our bodies are busted, that we need to have someone quote deliver our babies, that we can't do it, when the truth is that we were designed this way, we were designed to give birth and that we're not cursed. You know that actually I had Brittany from the biblical birth school on the podcast Gosh it's been two years or so now ago, because I loved that she unpacked the verse in Genesis that so many people point to to say, oh, women are cursed to have pain in childbirth, when actually that's not true. The translation of that verse is the ground was cursed and the serpent was cursed, and women will have hard work in labor, but we are not cursed to have painful births, and that is something that so many women have been spoken over. You know, people speak that over women when they say things like that, and I just I really want us to take that back, to walk it back and say that's not what the word actually says, and I don't want to speak that over women and I don't think we should be speaking that over ourselves, because the Lord designed us to do this. Is it hard work? Yeah, because you're birthing a human being and it has to move its way out of our bodies, but it doesn't mean that it has to be horrible and painful.
Rebecca Twomey:And the big thing that I hear from women and I'm sure you do too, because you're talking to a lot of women now about this is when we surrender and we give it to the Lord, we surrender and we give it to the Lord and we truly release our control over the situation. Those are the women that I hear stories about that say my birth was awesome, it was nearly pain-free, you know all that, that type of stuff. So it's awesome to hear that you had that experience, but also that that's how you were communicating with God. Leading up to your experiences is to say you know, lord, guide me through this and you know, give me that pain-free birth, Give me something that I can talk about, your testimony and about how you've created me, which I think is just so cool.
Madeline Marlatt:I know, yeah, my whole entire pregnancy, entire pregnancy, I just one of my biggest prayers was, like God, just do it in a way that everyone knows that it's you. And, yeah, that it'll just be like such a strong testimony, because that's something that, like God, put on my heart too, like after being saved and going through like this crazy journey that he's put me on.
Madeline Marlatt:It's like I realized how powerful your testimony is. It's like your testimony about obviously coming to Christ, but then, like all the other things like God does in your life, like it's a testimony can always bless somebody. So I'm just so happy and grateful that he's used my story and I really just want women to to know, like you said, that they're not cursed and that a huge part of it like there's just so birth is so spiritual, like there's so much that we're speaking negatively, even like in pregnancy, speaking these things that are speaking these things, that you're gonna be sick in pregnancy. It's just like a normal thing, like the there is power in what we're speaking over ourselves and that's not what God's will is for us. It's not what he wants, it's not how he designed it to be and it's kind of a whole other thing I could go into.
Madeline Marlatt:But even like the fact that birth is so medicalized like I'm not saying that medicine hits the devil by any means I think that there's, you know, so much great in medicine and God obviously you know he created people to have these talents and stuff to help us with those things. But, spiritually speaking, there's so much that can be done during birth when it comes to interventions and medicine. That, I do believe, is an open door for the enemy to come in. That's just like the honest truth, and I just want women to know that they don't need all those things. They can trust how God created them to do it and how women have been doing it for thousands of years, absolutely.
Rebecca Twomey:I actually would love to point listeners back to episodes 41 through 43, 41, 42, and 43. We actually dove into the word pharmakia in the Bible and its meaning, the word pharmakia in the Bible and its meaning, and we dove into this idea of how medicine has changed, and specifically at the turn of the last century with Rockefeller and the history of medicine. And I really truly do feel, from what I've experienced and what I personally have seen inside the medical system, that it has been infiltrated by the enemy. And, like you said, it's like I don't want to put any blame or negativity on people that work in healthcare. I know there's a lot of good people that are trying to help, but that doesn't mean that there are not negative influences in it. Just like with anything else, right, like social media, for example, we wouldn't have met had it not been for social media. But there's a lot of darkness on Instagram. There's a lot of demonic forces on Instagram too.
Madeline Marlatt:Yeah, the enemy will send people your way on Instagram, but God will also use it too, and it proves that because he's doing it right now.
Rebecca Twomey:Exactly, exactly. I know, and I know that I'm sure that that's a huge thing that you're up against now that you're speaking your testimony, and especially you're speaking against yoga, which is something that I have noticed in Christian communities. It is amazing to me that it can even be controversial in Christian communities, but I have seen so many. I myself have shared things and had people go. It's just yoga. You're just being dramatic. You know there's nothing, it has nothing to do with anything else, it's just exercise. So walk us through why that is not true. I know folks can go to your page and you share a lot of really good stuff on this, but I'd love for you to just share a little bit more about what. What is yoga really and how does it let demonic spirits into us and into our lives?
Madeline Marlatt:So it's one of those things where it was like I had a personal testimony of being oppressed by, you know, from the demons that I let in from doing yoga.
Madeline Marlatt:And so it's like I believed it because of my personal testimony and I had to kind of work backwards then to understand. You know my heart was open, going, but you know my friends would tell me, like you know, after receiving deliverance, like it's bad. I believed it, but I had to go back and like, look and see, like what is this? Like what have I actually been doing? And I will say a lot of times when I would do yoga, I would go to a lot of people probably heard of like core power yoga. It's a huge yoga chain that has been like Americanized, basically with yeah, it's just they, they're workout classes that you wouldn't think that there's anything wrong with it. You know that it's just exercise. But once I started to look into what yoga actually is and what the poses are and all of that, it is essentially you are. So yoga was created to worship hindu gods. There's like I think 300 or something like hindu gods and goddesses and different poses they're called like asanas are were created as a religion, essentially a part of religion, to pay homage to these gods. So that is the one thing that's like I. It took me a minute to understand too, because I'm like, well, okay, well, I'm not doing it intentionally to worship another god, but it doesn't matter, because demons don't care about your intentions. It is getting into those poses and it's more than just so. I'll break it down a little bit. Like, if you have ever done yoga, you know that there's like a sequence of movements We'll talk about like warrior pose. There's like three different warrior poses that you can go through, and when you are doing those warrior poses in that sequence, it doesn't matter what your intention is. If you are putting yourself into that position that is completely unnatural, by the way then you are worshiping a Hindu God. That's just to put it bluntly. That is what it is. And if you are a Christian, what I will say is the first commandment is to put no other gods before God. You know we are not supposed to be worshiping any other gods besides the one living God. And so if you're doing yoga I know it can be, it can feel like, if you're feeling a certain way.
Madeline Marlatt:I have been there too because I didn't want to believe that there was something wrong with it. I didn't want to believe because I had such a. I had such a like it had a hold on me, and that's the thing. So many people are so attached to their yoga. And if that's you and you're listening to this, I just would urge you to ask yourself, like, why that is. If it's just exercise, if it's just stretching, why can't you just do something else? Like, why are you so attached? And the reason is because it is not just a physical practice, it's actually a spiritual practice that you're doing, and the more you do it, the more you're opening yourself to darkness.
Madeline Marlatt:And just one other thing on that because I think that even in speaking with Christians about this too, people think that when you say it's demonic, okay, like yoga is demonic. People think of like the exorcism or like the movies they see, and these are even Christians. But like and I'm not saying this out of like shame or judging people Like I have been there, I did not know any of this, but people don't understand what demonic oppression actually is. And demonic oppression can look different for everyone. If you are opening doors to demons, it does not necessarily mean you're going to become possessed by them. Like, as a Christian with the Holy Spirit, you cannot be possessed by a demon, but when you are demonically oppressed by them, you may have a spirit of heaviness over you you may have, which is depression. You may have anxiety, you may have these perverse thoughts that are like lustful thoughts. What demonic oppression is? So that is why I urge and like think about it how we are in such a time right now, when so many people, especially like young people, are dealing with anxiety, depression, mental illness, things, and those things are it's demonic oppression. Those things are it's demonic oppression. You're opening doors. So I'm like, out of all things, why open yourself up to demons by doing yoga?
Madeline Marlatt:And I also do think that when you're doing yoga, it's kind of like a, it's like a spiritual gateway to other practices, and I am a testimony of that. Like I said, I started to dabble in other things that are not of God, like Reiki and doing these like sound baths and like all these things that are very much new age religion, which you don't know what the new age is. It's basically worshiping yourself and thinking that you are God, and that is what everyone thinks, like everyone. You know I'm speaking broadly right now, but that's just like what so many people in the world think. Like what so many people in the world think, um, it's just such a way that satan has infiltrated us and it's like tried to weasel his way in and it's been very successful, which is why so many people are on this like healing journey, and I just really think that yoga is like I mean, they're, you're doing kids yoga, they're starting them, them young. There's kids yoga and stuff.
Rebecca Twomey:So yeah, absolutely, and I agree with what you say, that I've noticed that one thing leads to the next thing leads to the next thing. When it comes to new age practices, right, it's like, well, the yoga will heal me. Oh well, these, you know, these other moves will heal me. Oh, the crystals will heal me. This will heal me. And what I've learned from hearing from other testimonies too.
Rebecca Twomey:There's a woman named Angela. I think her name is. She's her testimony. What's that? Angela Uchi? I think so. Yes, she. I've come across her quite a bit where I mean, she was full on into all of it. Yeah, and one of the things that she always says is that it just leads to more. You're just always trying to heal, but you're never actually healing. Yeah, because only God can heal us, truly and otherwise, we're just seeking and seeking, and seeking and seeking. And the truth is that these, you know, demonic forces, these dark forces are, the are leading us to stay on this path. Like you know, just stay in here, just stay in this for a little while. You know, just try this, just try this. All of it is just like this veil that's separating us from God, and then, once we have that moment with him. We have that encounter with him where that veil drops Like whoa, whoa, whoa. All of this was such a waste of my time and my energy and my life.
Madeline Marlatt:Yeah, it's like a hamster wheel. That's what I would say, that's how I felt, and my husband felt the same. It's like we were constantly trying to find the next thing to like fulfill. You know, an empty spot in our heart. That's the only God is the only, you know, one that can do that, that can fill that void inside of us. And yeah, I completely agree, it's like, once the veil is removed, it's like everything is so obvious. It's like it's so obvious that what is, you know, the enemy trying to take people, you know separate people from God. It's just yeah.
Rebecca Twomey:It's interesting to me too. You have a very similar story that I can really relate to, in that you were seeking healing, that you didn't have anything seriously wrong, but you had some things and so you were seeking to heal. I very much found God, through the same sort of thing, right Like I was seeking. I had a lot of issues with allergies and I was going through some different health things and just trying to figure out what was wrong with me. But in the process, what I found on the other side was Yahweh. You know, was that, yeah right?
Rebecca Twomey:Was that he is the healer? He is our healer, the ultimate healer, and learning about his design for our human bodies is what really helped me to realize that I didn't need to seek all of this other stuff. I just needed to understand how he created me and treat my body like a temple and respect it and not abuse it like you and I both did in our 20s and all that, and that he does have redemption for us at the end of it, and we can use our stories to share with other people, just like you've done today, and I'm sure that your story is going to touch many hearts and many minds to say you know, I've been feeling this too. I've had my own moments in the past. I was not a yogi person. I attempted to go to yoga class twice, and both times my spirit was so unsettled that I had to leave.
Madeline Marlatt:I never even made it through a full class. You're not the only one to tell me that so many people had messaged me after I spoke out about yoga, saying very similar things, that they would try to go because it's supposedly so good for you all this stuff and they just couldn't do it.
Rebecca Twomey:I just couldn't do it and I thought that it was because I just wasn't a relaxed enough person. I thought it was like, oh well, I just can't relax. But it was like I felt, like I wanted. I felt anxious, I want to get out of there. And it took me many years after that before I started to hear others' testimonies and stories about what yoga really is and the background of yoga, and then I was like, well, that makes sense. Well, I felt that way.
Rebecca Twomey:So if you're listening and you feel some sort of way about it, definitely research the roots of yoga and dive into this and watch more of the information that Madeline shares on her page, because she's got some good stuff on there. And, of course, I'm going to refer folks back to our earliest episodes on this podcast. We actually started the podcast talking about spiritual warfare. So episodes three through about six or seven, we talk about spiritual warfare and we go into the difference between oppression and possession. You shared it very eloquently today.
Rebecca Twomey:But if anybody wants to hear more, definitely listen back to some of those episodes, because it is something that isn't spoken about enough in many Christian communities. I mean, I've talked to a lot of people that have been in church their whole lives, grown up in church, and never talked about Genesis 6 and the Nephilim never talked about spiritual warfare. So now's your time. You know, we're adults now. Now we can dive deeper into the word and really read and learn what God has to share about the spiritual world, because it's very real and it didn't just exist back in the biblical days.
Rebecca Twomey:Right Back in the Bible, what was Jesus doing the most? Casting out demons Right. Casting out demons Right. And when he died, the demons didn't just go away. They're still here and we still have the power to help one another to be delivered from these demons or to protect our own selves from these, this darkness. So I'm so glad that you were just sharing this and bringing this to light, because it is so important, especially as mothers you know you're a mom, I'm a mom, you know I'd love to hear a little bit more on how you feel we could protect our children from the enemy and from this darkness.
Madeline Marlatt:Yeah, well, I think the first thing is you, as a mom, building your relationship with God, because there isn't so many times that.
Madeline Marlatt:So my son is two, so I've been a mother for a little over two years and I think that as moms, it's very stressful at times.
Madeline Marlatt:It's a lot Like there's so much, it is the to want to react a certain way towards your child, and I think that when you really seek God and try to be, you know, like, for me it's like I want to be more like Jesus, I want to continue to be more like him, and I want to treat my kids that way and speak life over them.
Madeline Marlatt:And I think that I think I just saw something too was, you know, obviously, whatever your kids see you doing is going to be what they want to do, and I never realized. This is why I'm just so thankful that God saved me when I when he did, you know, right when I became a mom, because, like, having the word of God is so powerful and if you are able to speak that over your children and use it as you know, I mean, for me it's like my comfort, it's God's voice. So if you're able to, just, you know, like I said, speak that over your children. You are going to be protecting them in such a way and showing them a great example to want to follow Jesus. You know when they're when they're old enough to make that decision too, so yeah, when they're old enough to make that decision too.
Rebecca Twomey:So, yeah, that's a good one, and I would also add to that what they see from us and also what they see in here outside of us, right, what they see on tv. You know, your son is two. As they get older, they want to watch more shows, and I've learned this with my daughter that 99% of the shows that are for kids have some sort of sorcerer, some sort of wizard magic, all kinds of crazy stuff.
Rebecca Twomey:It's actually kind of funny. When I was a kid I remember my mom didn't like Care Bears and wouldn't let us watch Care Bears. And I was a kid I didn't understand. And now that I'm a mom I'm like Care Bears is demonic, or even like my Little Pony, the old school my Little Pony. I put on and watched it for two minutes and was like whoa, whoa, whoa.
Madeline Marlatt:Again, once that spiritual veil is lifted, it's hard to not see the truth in everything, and unfortunately the world is full of darkness you know, yes, it is. I feel like.
Madeline Marlatt:another thing I would say to moms is like it's okay if you don't like fit in with the world anymore, because not fitting in with the world, I feel like, is the best decision I ever made for, like how I'm raising my kids and how I continue to plan to raise my kids Because, like I said, the world, like everyone's anxious, everyone's depressed, like there's just, it's just not. If you do what the world says is good and right, like what fruit does that bear? So that's just what I would. I feel like for me, even as like I still feel like a baby new Christian. It's like I sometimes I do feel like, oh man, people probably think I'm weird, but then I'm reminding myself, like Jesus, you know people don't like him necessarily. You know, like he, it's gonna like that. So it's a good path is narrow. Yes, it's very. It's very, very narrow. The more your eyes are opened, the more narrow it gets.
Rebecca Twomey:Yes, amen. Well, is there anything else that you would like to pass along to our listeners, or anything that we could be praying for?
Madeline Marlatt:I would say just kind of related to the healing stuff, since that is like a huge part of my testimony is that God wants to heal you and anything you're dealing with is not like too small or not important for him. Like, if you are feeling, if you're not feeling right like God wants, there's something that God wants to to to heal in you. He did not make us to be, he didn't make us to be anxious and all of those things. So I would just yeah, I really just want people to know that there's like there's more and you can find it when you really really do seek Jesus.
Rebecca Twomey:Yeah, he says, you'll seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart. Right? I love that. Well, thank you so much, madeline, for being here today and for sharing your testimony. This has been just awesome. You're welcome. I'm so glad to be here A-M-A-D-E-L-I-N-E, so thank you so much. I'm just so thrilled that you came and shared this, and I hope that this touches so many hearts, like I said, and so many minds, and just gets us thinking and praying and asking the Lord for discernment and guidance. So, thank you, madeline, thank you so much for having me and thank you all for tuning in and for being on this journey with us. If you would like to follow along outside the podcast, you can join the mission on Instagram, facebook or YouTube at the Radiant Mission. And today we're going to close with Madeline's favorite Bible verse, which is Mark 11, 24. Therefore, I tell you whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours, and we're wishing you a radiant week. We'll see you next time. Bye, everyone.
