Jeremy Jeremiah, Cloud of Witnesses, reacts to and answers the call from: bayliebelieves, Baylie Clarke, (https://www.tiktok.com/@bayliebelieves) viral video. Jeremy quotes directly from 19th Century documents, original source, discourses by Joseph Smith and Brigham Young to demonstrate that the LDS faith is anything but Christian (by any stretch of the imagination). Joseph Smith and Brigham Young taught that God the Father was once finite, and was once "a man" just like you or me. &nb...

A short viral video can carry a heavy lesson. In this conversation, we react to a clip of a man cheerfully taking a dab before heading into worship, then trace why that mindset feels so normal in a culture where access, approval, and algorithmic affirmation are everywhere. Josiah, now over three years sober, speaks from the inside: how weed became a crutch, how he convinced himself it was harmless, and how a vague, individualized faith left him without friction. The quiet part is said out lou...

A quiet shift begins when a lifelong member of the Churches of Christ realizes that his faith life, rich in study and careful exegesis, struggles to move from mind to heart. Brandon Marlow's story traces the Restoration Movement’s ideals—erase denominational lines, do Bible things in Bible ways, and speak where Scripture speaks. Those guiding slogans shaped a culture suspicious of creeds, titles, instruments, and anything not “authorized.” The result formed disciplined habits, robust Bible st...

Conversion stories often get reduced to neat headlines, but the road from New Age spirituality to historic Christianity is usually messy, humbling, and deeply human. In this conversation, Michaela Nikolaenko @MichaelaNikolaenko lays out a candid record of life inside tarot, yoga, psychedelics, and an adulterous relationship that spiraled into a series of demonic encounters. The scenes are visceral—faces morphing, oppressive presences, and a stark battle of wills that ended with a...

From Megachurch Disillusionment To Hope. Josiah the inquirer sits down with Cloud of Witnesses, Mario Andrew and Jeremy Jeremiah. A skull on a thumbnail, bells in the background, and a monk’s voice quoting Saint Isaac changed everything. Josiah didn’t set out to find ancient Christianity; he just needed something more honest than a forced smile and a quick fix. What he discovered was not an edgy aesthetic for its own sake, but a fearless way of naming reality: remember death, confront the p...

From Restless to Rooted: Joshua Williams on Calling, Repentance, and a Faith That Endures. What happens when the map you drew for your life no longer fits the road God is actually giving you? In this continuation of our conversation with Joshua Williams, we trace a candid journey through disappointment, redirection, and the quiet practices that turn belief into a way of life. This isn’t highlight-reel faith; it’s the daily, hidden work of following Jesus when the feelings fade and the next s...

Can you be “just Christian” and still wear a team jersey? In this episode, Cloud of Witnesses team members Jeremy Jeremiah, Mario Andrew, and James St Simon sit down to react to a Reformed Protestant defense of labels, movements, and sola scriptura, and then press into the deeper questions underneath it all: unity, authority, and what it really means to be catholic in the sense of a complete, historic faith. We explore how “no labels” talk can hide real discomfort with fragmentation, and ask...

Unity sounds simple until you try to build it without a shared center. We take listeners inside the lived tension of modern Protestant life: a movement born from reform that still reforms itself into new churches, new brands, and new streams whenever conviction collides with leadership and local control. From the Reformers’ early disagreements to today’s non-denominational megachurches, hosts Jeremy Jeremiah, Mario Andrew, and Michael trace how authority, interpretation, and personality shape...

Step past the beige sparse walls and into a Sunday that sparks big questions about worship, history, and truth. Jeremy Jeremiah reacts to the video that walks you through an LDS sacrament meeting—from the first hymn to the closing prayer—and hold its practices up against the standards of historic Christianity. Along the way, we unpack why a service that looks like a college lecture can feel familiar, why borrowed hymns matter more than they seem, and how bread and water signal a deeper break ...

What is a human—dust and breath, body and spirit—without tearing ourselves in two? Deacon Anthony (St. Anthony the Great Orthodox Church, San Diego) joins Cloud of Witnesses with hosts Mario Andrew, Jeremy Jeremiah, and John for a rich, practical conversation on an Orthodox vision of the whole person and the mind (phronema) of the Church. We trace a path away from the twin traps of indulgence (living by our appetites) and denial (pretending we’re already angelic), toward a fearless embrace o...

What if reverence isn’t a feeling you chase, but a reality you enter? This episode follows a grateful former Protestant named Michael from his upbringing all the way to a first Divine Liturgy in a small Orthodox chapel on a military base in Okinawa—and the quiet discoveries that happened along the way. Join Cloud of Witnesses hosts Jeremy Jeremiah and Mario Andrew as we move through warm family memories, the culture shock of military life, and the slow drift that happens when belief outruns ...

Is the Non-Denominational Church Even A Church? What do you think? If you love Jesus and hunger for something older, deeper, and steadier than the non-denominational scene, this conversation is for you. Cloud of Witnesses hosts Jeremy Jeremiah, Mario Andrew, and first time, special guest host Michael, weigh the spectacle of modern worship against the historic shape of the church and ask a hard question with charity: are non-denominational congregations churches, and are they the churc...

A man climbs a ladder to hang drapes and slips into a lifetime’s truth: he’s been decorating emptiness. We sat with Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich and asked hard questions about status, ritual, and the kind of love that only shows up when it costs. Quick story snapshot (Tolstoy): Ivan Ilyich, a successful judge with a “proper” life, suffers a fatal illness after a trivial accident. As pain strips away his self-deception, society’s politeness rings hollow—only the servant Gerasim meets him...

Jeremy Jeremiah, Orthodox Christian, and host of today's Cloud of Witnesses episode, reacts and responds to Dillon Baker of The Protestant Gentleman podcast (https://www.youtube.com/@theprotestantgentleman) testimony that he, Dillon, is leaving the Non-Denominational church, and why. What if the Sunday you know has drifted far from the church you need? We follow a thoughtful journey out of a non-denominational megachurch toward a rooted, reverent, and sacramental vision of Christian life. Th...

What if the church you’ve been searching for all along is the one you didn’t know existed? Kyle David shares how a lifetime of sincere belief still left him split between Sunday performance and weekday drift—until a medical collapse forced brutal honesty about faith, pride, and the limits of self-reliance. The story begins with restless church-hopping across megachurch stages and traditional pews, and moves through a pandemic-era return to the sanctuary that felt more like rebellion than rout...

Truth That Burns, Love That Heals (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) What if the most loving thing you can do is tell the ugliest truth? We gather the crew: Jeremy Jeremiah, Bri, James St. Simon, and Mario Andrew, to sit with Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and pull apart the mendacity that keeps a family polished on the outside and starved on the inside. With literature professor James St. Simon and the team, we unpack Maggie’s raw persistence, Brick’s calculated indifference, and Big Daddy’s denial, tracing how...

Icons, Conversion, And A Life Reframed We trace Sdn Michael Roeder’s path from ministry and publishing to iconographer and the deaconate, exploring how a single purchase grew into a collection, a craft, and a new spiritual home. Along the way we unpack technique, tradition, and why icons feel like windows that also watch. Join us for this Cloud of Witnesses exclusive, a presentation on an iconographer’s journey from faith, to art, to transcendence, to Orthodoxy, given only once at Point Loma...

A man on a shaky ladder, a fall that leaves a bruise, and a life that suddenly tastes bitter—Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich gives us one of literature’s clearest X-rays of modern emptiness. We gather with friends to unpack why a story written in 1886 speaks uncomfortably well to status-chasing, curated lives, and the quiet neglect of the people closest to us. Along the way, we ask hard questions about sacrifice, spiritual participation, and what it really takes to make a home feel like a ...

Christian community is the antidote to self-deception. • orthodoxy as structure that resists delusion • self-justification versus truth-telling in love • humility in fraternal correction without judgment • gratitude and compassion when others fall • response to “just me and Jesus” objections • unity, sacraments, and commandments as lifelines • returning after failure and rising “from glory to glory” • church as hospital and mission to make earth heavenly What if anger is less about others an...

Stop Waiting to Be “Ready”—Build a Holy Marriage Now. The Patristic Nectar Marriage Conference 2025 was not a moment too soon - see real reactions! What if marriage isn’t just a contract, but a calling from God that shapes who we become? In this story-driven recap from a vibrant Christian marriage conference, we follow the journey from culture’s delay tactics—“wait until you’re perfect, richer, or have seen the world”—to a Christ-centered vision that treats marriage as the works...