Joe Rogan interviews Wesley Huff, a Christian apologist

Wesley Huff, a Christian apologist and researcher, appeared on Tuesday’s episode of the Joe Rogan Experience. Over the course of three hours and fifteen minutes, the two talked extensively about the authenticity of the Bible and the importance of the historical person of Jesus, his death, and his resurrection.

According to data from October 2024, The Joe Rogan Experience is the most listened-to podcast in the world. While the exact number of listeners per episode is difficult to track, the show, which launched in 2009, has 14.5 million Spotify followers and 19 million YouTube subscribers. It is possible that this will serve as the single-widest reaching broadcast of the gospel message in history.

Joe Rogan has built his podcast platform around having long-form conversations with comedians, celebrities, and experts in unique fields. Rogan does not profess to be part of a particular religion, though he does not shy away from the topic. At times, Rogan has openly mocked Christianity, but in recent years there has been a slow progression of openness to the tenets of the Christian faith. Very few of Rogan’s guests are practicing Christians, and none of them have made an appearance for the sake of a topic so blunt as the Bible itself–until now. Though I would encourage listening to his episode with Christian scientist, Dr. Stephen Meyer and our own interview with Dr. Meyer on the Denison Forum Podcast where he presents a compelling case for the compatibility of faith and science..

What did they discuss?

Wesley Huff is the Central Canada Director for Apologetics Canada and a New Testament PhD candidate at Wycliffe College in Toronto. Among a career of writing, speaking, and debating, Huff maintains an online presence through social media and his website through which he produces helpful content related to the Bible.

Rogan discovered Huff and invited him on the show after he listened to Huff articulate the evidence for why the Bible can be trusted in a debate with notable skeptic Billy Carson. While the Bible was repeatedly referenced at the beginning of the conversation between Rogan and Huff, much of the interview initially centered around the Carson debate, Huff’s background, and Rogan’s interest in ancient languages and religions.

About halfway through the episode, the conversation shifted to a more intentional discussion of the Bible and the authenticity of its manuscripts. Huff provided extensive evidence for why the Bible is trustworthy and how it compares to other ancient documents.

Later, Rogan and Huff really honed in on the topic of Jesus, his ministry, and his resurrection. 

Rogan, skeptical of the resurrection account, asked Huff if Jesus could have possibly survived the crucifixion, nullifying the significance of the empty tomb. Huff responded with strong evidence to support the physical resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The 15-minute resurrection discussion was clipped and can be found here.

In the final 40 minutes of the episode, the conversation covered early church history, the creation of a biblical canon, and the methods by which scholars discern which gospel accounts are true. To give an example of the criteria that historians look for, Huff shared a video (watch below) from his social media account that explained how the frequency and patterns of names within a book help verify the time period and geolocation in which the book was written. Of all the “gospels” that claim to tell the story of Jesus, only four pass this simple name test: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. At the conclusion of the video, Joe expressed his amazement: “Wow, that is interesting! That is so interesting…and it totally makes sense, too!”

Onomastic congruence is a criteria of investigation done on ancient works that analyzes the frequency and patterns of names. When this is done with the biblical Gospels and Acts we find something very interesting. pic.twitter.com/KPDbCIHA6d

— WesleyHuff (@WesleyLHuff) December 17, 2024

A clear presentation of the gospel

After over three hours of conversation deriving from Rogan’s questions to Huff, Huff finally asked a question of his own: “What do you think of the historical person of Jesus?” Rogan responded by sharing his understanding that the “concept of this person that died for our sins, that’s the Son of God, but you have to believe in a bunch of stuff to go that way” fascinates him and seems to provide hope for a lot of people. He argued that truly following Christianity can have a lot of moral value. However, Rogan did not express his own intent or desire to follow Jesus.

Huff followed up on Rogan’s response by sharing core aspects of the gospel in a unique and intentional way that he knew would appeal to Rogan and much of his audience. He criticized the perspective that Jesus is simply a great moral example and replaced it with the perspective that he is a Savior for an inherently immoral people. The video below includes a portion of Huff’s gospel presentation.

"Jesus condemns moralism. If Jesus is nothing but a moral example, then you can save yourself, and you don't actually need a Savior."
– Wesley Huff on The Joe Rogan Podcast 🔥 👏

pic.twitter.com/bOj99XlXqy

— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) January 7, 2025

While Huff did not use a traditional evangelism tactic in his efforts to shepherd Rogan and the audience closer to Jesus, he clearly presented the truth of the crucifixion and resurrection, as well as humanity’s need for a savior, throughout the episode. 

The podcast represents a pinnacle moment in the relationship between the culture and the church. As Christians, we must petition God diligently, asking that he would transform lives through this content. Here are three prayer points:

• Pray for the audience. The listenership is guaranteed to be diverse, so we must pray that unbelievers will listen with open hearts and minds. Consider who in your life might benefit from listening to this critical conversation. And pray that the audience will listen to the end, where Huff’s presentation of the gospel message is stated most directly.

• Pray for Wesley Huff. His name recognition just shot through the roof, which means he will be intently analyzed by those seeking to discredit him. He will also have the added pressure of living above reproach as a prominent Christian figure. Pray that his faith would remain pure and his platform would grow so that more will come to Jesus.

• Pray for Joe Rogan. Pray specifically that he would surrender himself to Jesus. He has heard the gospel and he has received a strong case for why he should trust the Bible, but he must decide to step out in faith. Pray that God would use Rogan’s influence to make waves in our culture, drawing lost and dying people to the giver of salvation.

Lastly, there is a lot that Christians can glean from Wesley Huff’s work. Being proficient in apologetics not only strengthens the faith of the individual believer but brings confidence in sharing that faith with others. In an age where everyone is seeking their own version of truth, we must grow firm in our understanding of the only truth that matters for eternity–the truth of Jesus Christ.