Rogan Episode Likely to be Furthest Reaching Gospel Broadcast in History

“It marks the greatest cultural and spiritual shift of our lifetimes, and likely, humankind. Pull up those stats, Jaimie.”

Joe Rogan did the broadcasting, but Wesley Huff did the preaching. Or perhaps, explaining. Or, conveying.

Whatever it was, Huff’s message went out to Joe Rogan’s 14 million regular listeners. Even moderately popular episodes enjoy over 11 million downloads, and some far more. In a month’s time, Rogan’s downloads exceed 190 million in the course of a month (which is more than the number of Americans who watched the moon landing).

BIGGER THAN THE BEATLES

It’s more than those who watched the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. It’s more than those who watched Nixon’s resignation speech. It’s more than those who watched the Chiefs beat the Eagles at ‘23 Super Bowl. It’s more than those watched the O.J. Simpson verdict. It’s more than those who watched JFK’s funeral, or the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Granted, those stats are for a month of podcast listens, and not a singular event. But these numbers reflect a 3 hour-long podcast discussing the brute strength of chimpanzees, moon landing hoaxes, and a gaggle of comedians talking about topics ranging from Sasquatch to UFOs, with constant interjections by Rogan of, “Jamie, pull that up” (referencing his producer, who is quick on his keyboard to pull up obscure facts and clips of dumb things the ladies say on The View).

But far from mindless entertainment, Rogan’s podcast was christened by many as “the ultimate political kingmaker,” crediting him with pulling a sea of young men into Trump’s electoral camp. And that was before he hosted the upcoming president, because it was pretty clear for a while that Rogan had moved away from the typical leftist perspectives of Hollywood, only augmented by his actual move from Hollywood to Austin in 2020. Austin has since become a hub of American comedy, with a pile of prominent comedians moving with him.

But Trump isn’t the only world-changer who has pined for a seat in Rogan’s studio. Elon Musk has visited his studios three times. Robert F. Kennedy, Bernie Sanders, and Tulsi Gabbard all enjoyed sizable spikes in their popularity after spending a few hours on air with him. It’s also where people go to tell their stories when nobody else will listen, from Edward Snowden to Rod Blagojevich.

It’s not an overstatement to say that Joe Rogan is not only one of the central figures in media in the last ten years but perhaps ever. At the least, he is emblematic of a seismic shift in how world citizens – not just Americans – consume their media. They no longer endure soundbites or news in 3-minute increments between commercial breaks but in hours-long, long-form discussions that are more conversations than interviews. The old media gate-keepers have been killed off by direct streaming, the way monopolistic publishing houses were killed off by the Internet. But unlike how video never quite killed off the radio star, network news anchors have been left in the dust by Rogan, who dwarfs them by comparison.

NOTICING ROGAN

I’ve been listening to Rogan extensively for about ten years now. Largely, that had nothing to do with Rogan, but his guests. I would pass up the podcasts with UFC fighters and comedians, opting for intellectual fare with hosts ranging from Jordan Peterson to Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Over time, I figured out that UFC fighters and comedians have thoughts often as enlightening (if not more so) than Tyson and Peterson). In fact, I’ve heard more profundity from Sean Strickland lately than Peterson.

But at first, it was hard to listen for a pastor only slightly less rightwing than…ok, I can’t think of anyone more rightwing than me…to listen to Rogan on the topic of religion or politics. I enjoyed his discussions with characters like Ted Nugent, talking about why vegans are dumb, but often “changed the channel” (boomer-speak) rather than hear Rogan condescend people of faith or regularly blaspheme Christ. He gave no more respect to orthodox Christianity than he gave the Mormons or the Scientologists, which was none at all. He was belittling of us, and frankly, hateful to Jesus. And between that and his incessant advocacy for legalizing drugs, he had to grow on me.

But, over time, I noticed something changing in Rogan. At some point, he stopped mocking proponents of faith, and started listening to them. He also stopped attacking rightwing politics, and started hearing it out. The latter, I can trace to Covid. Rogan noticed some things, the very things that prompted him to leave California, and red-pilled himself like so many did during that tumultuous scam of a pandemic. The transgender issue was probably another turning point. I watch Rogan go from berating people for not using preferred pronouns to now mocking the transgender delusion; it seemed that men in women’s sports changed all that for Rogan, who as an athlete and sports commentator, understood the stark physical differences between the sexes. Suddenly, for Rogan, it was no laughing matter.

I’ve said for about three years now that Joe Rogan embodies the transformation that’s possible in a person when they have conversations, particularly deeply meaningful and lengthy conversations. Liberals shut people down; they don’t allow conversations to go on for long, in the same way that the emperor only wore his new clothes in a parade. They have to keep moving. But conversing with other humans, when the goal is determination of truth, usually leads to an embrace of it.

RILEY GAINES AND SHIFTING WORLDVIEWS

What I’ve described at Insight to Incite, from my earliest articles, is what I call the Populist Social Revival. It is something that the Holy Ghost is doing, that is changing the world around us. The Architect of the Ages has designed something quite beautiful. Americans have wanted a world without him, and God gave us a taste.

Of course, God only rested once and that on the seventh day of creation. He’s always in charge. But America, and indeed the whole world, has gone through a very dark period of time the last four years. And what started that period of immense darkness was not Covid, but the closing of the world’s churches for fear of the Rider on the Black Horse, who name is pestilence and death. To the shame of many, churches closed their doors, and darkness set in on the world. And after it, came riots and mobs, wicked kings, famine, natural disasters, great confusions, and mass hysteria.

But God in his magnificent greatness used that to wake up many people, who just like Joe Rogan, are awakening to discover that the worldview of realism and hard facts, objective truth and supernaturality, happen to align almost perfectly with a peculiar group of people known as Christians. And as Joe’s worldview began to slowly merge with ours, his interest in conversing with Christians grew, and with it, his interest in Christ.

Not that many months ago, I listened to Rogan’s conversation with Riley Gaines, the collegiate swimmer who lost her place to a man who pretended to be a woman. She did a good job of trying to steer the conversation toward Christ (and in coming days, when you see Wesley Huff commended, as he should be, remember that Gaines attempted it first). But even then, while Rogan was eager to hear her perspective on biology and fairness in competition, he was less eager to hear Riley’s professions of faith. In several moments, Rogan – although polite – changed the subject.

However, I teared-up when listening to Gaines on Rogan, and had to step out of my workplace office lest any see it. For the first time, in my many years of listening to Rogan, he wasn’t skeptical or argumentative when a guest brought up Jesus Christ. He was respectful. He was listening. He was, on some level, open. The Joe Rogan I knew from 2015 would not have been hostile, but certainly would have been dismissive. I knew – listening then – that God the Holy Ghost was doing something amazing in our culture, with Rogan as an exemplar. His holy wind was blowing.

THE SHIFT SINCE RILEY GAINES

Since Gaines was on Rogan’s program in March of 2024, it seems as though Rogan’s podcast guests have repeatedly brought up Jesus, and Rogan not only listened, but began to respect their sincerity and his curiosity seemed to grow. And then, Rogan began to ask questions about their faith, and he was trying to get to the bottom of it.

Sometimes, it’s painful to watch. I indeed wanted to swerve my pickup into a tree, listening to Kid Rock profess Christ a few moments after dropping a string of F-bombs like it was Hiroshima. Or, when Rogan asked him how he knew for sure God was real, Rock told him that God had allowed him forgive Bud Light for being so gay.

Soon though, on Rogan’s program, discussions of religion and Christ, in particular, became common even in his conversations even with UFC fighters and crass comedians. Rogan was indeed getting closer, and closer, and closer to a full-out confrontation with a legitimate Christian in the octagon of his podcast ring, but despite knowing it was coming, had no idea who it would be.

Will God save Joe Rogan? I’ve no idea. When I say that God has moved in him, I’m not implying special revelation to determine the purposes of God’s election. Rather, I’m say that God has moved in Joe Rogan to manufacture an opportunity for the Gospel to go out in broadcast media like it has never gone out before.

WESLEY HUFF

Huff was born in Pakistan, and spent significant time as a child in the Middle East. From his Canadian accent and lily-white skin, it’s pretty clear he’s not natively from there. But as a child, it seems as though God saw fit to bestow him with paralysis. And then, God saw fit to remove it.

Now an impressive physical specimen, Huff is married and lives in Toronto with his wife and family. He’s earning a doctorate degree in the New Testament from the University of Toronto’s Wycliffe College. He earned his B.A. in Sociology from New York University and Masters of Theological Studies at Tyndale University.

Huff has gained some small popularity as an exceptionally bright mind, and bright enough that – unlike many theologians – he is extremely relatable to normal human beings. He’s got some affiliation with The Gospel Coalition Canada and CRU in Canada, which after his performance on the Joe Rogan Experience, I’m willing to forgive.

Huff has done some podcasts that share an over-lap with our audience at Protestia, and some of my own readers, and so we are vaguely familiar with his work.

And all of that…every last bit of it, is from this point forward absolutely and totally irrelevant compared to his place in history to watch what God did through him on Joe Rogan’s program. I’m sure that Huff, as a human, is splendid. But the Gospel that he proclaimed at such length and with such elegant simplicity, far surpasses his flesh and bones, or his previous accomplishments, or anything else associated with the wares of mortality. God did something through him, with legitimately eternal significance.

You can watch his three hour and fifteen minute conversation with Rogan (long by even Rogan standards) about Jesus below. But you might want to wait until later, and skip to my brief commentary just underneath it.

I dare not add a word to the unction-spoken explanations of Huff. He did well. The gospel was articulated, and it was juxtaposed against the moralism of Jordan Peterson in a way that few have been given the mic to say. Let me be clear; until Peterson is brought to the saving faith of Jesus Christ, his contributions to global Biblical discussions are tragically misdirecting.

Huff articulated very well the difference between Jesus as Savior, and Jesus as Example. He did well at articulating the difference between Christianity and Moralism. He was superb in his explanations of Jesus as a literal God-Man who died a physical death, who was buried in a literal tomb, and who factually rose again from the dead.

Peterson’s Jesus is little more than an object lesson, a grandiose and religiousy version of Aesop and his fables. Peterson’s Jesus is little more than an exemplar, as much myth as fact, who came to Earth as a tourist, passing through to give us object lessons. But Huff’s Jesus, who’s the Nazarene, came to offer payment for our sins and be our propitiation to appease the wrath of a Holy God, and redeem our souls and bodies from death.

Every preacher of low estate, the men who toil away in their studies on their second-hand commentary sets – the ones who have to apologize at the pulpit to visitors because the congregants all seem to be traveling this Sunday – they all dream of this opportunity. To have the world’s attention, to be given a podcast mic bigger than the even the Golden EIB Microphone, and to have three full hours to expand upon the excellent mercies of His kindness that they spend their lives trying to accurately convey…mercy, what a blessing.

God did that.

God did that. God did that. God did that. God did that. God…did…that.

GOD DID THAT

We live in amazing times. Every generation of Christians thought they we’re living in the Last Days. But I don’t know, man. It seems like it all adds up. Surely these are the days of amazing things that God is doing.

What we witnessed in that podcast is very likely, the most widely-reaching (legitimate) gospel presentation in human history. That’s not an exaggeration. I think that’s a defensible position from the data, as I previously laid out.

It’s a given that more people will have watched the Christian(ish) ads during the Super Bowl, if we presume that they aren’t phasing out for nachos. But can you compare the “He Gets Us” ads to what was presented by Huff? It’s not really a comparison, in that one was a 30 second ad for Liberation Jesus and the other was a three-hour explanation of God’s plan of redemption.

Or, it might be, if the Pope kissed to the crowd from his tower in the Palais des Papes, and fell out of it, 11 million people might watch. But not even Billy Graham could have hoped for the numbers that will watch this episode.

And in the most humbling way possible, let me point out, neither could have Whitefield, or Edwards, or Zwingly, or Knox, or Calvin, or Paul Washer or Charles Spurgeon.

God is doing something. He just is.

I’ll leave you with two comments left, just this second – one of many – on my X account thread where I posted an excerpt of this episode from Protestia. I think they both speak, more succinctly than me, about what this accomplishes. But after you read the brief comments, I want you to then magnify those sentiments by the millions.

This was originally published at Insight to Incite, which you can subscribe to here.

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