Apologist Wesley Huff’s modest YouTube following of around 1,200 surged to 450,000 this month. Hundreds have reached out to say they have picked up a Bible, started going to church, or professed faith because of something he said. His parachurch organization, Apologetics Canada, is fielding record levels of interest.
It’s a spotlight the 33-year-old Canadian PhD student never expected.
But on January 7, Huff became the first biblical scholar to join the ranks of over a thousand celebrities, fitness gurus, philosophers, scientists, authors, activists, conspiracy theorists, and skeptics who have appeared on the most popular podcast in the world, The Joe Rogan Experience.
Huff landed an invite to the show after a viral debate on YouTube with a former Rogan guest got the host’s attention. Rogan, a comedian and fighting commentator, has branded himself a truth seeker, building a massive audience around his winding, off-the-cuff interviews with friends and guests over the past decade.
Huff presented historical evidence for the accuracy of the Scripture and asked the host what he thinks of Jesus. Christian listeners celebrated his episode as a sign that Rogan’s skepticism has been shifting toward openness to faith. Since the show has 33.5 million followers across Spotify and YouTube, some commentators suggest Huff’s interview could represent “the single widest-reaching broadcast of the gospel message in history.”
It’s all a bit overwhelming. Huff said he’s offsetting his imposter syndrome by reminding himself that only God could orchestrate such an unexpected connection.
“I’ve felt more reliant on the Spirit’s leading than I have for a long time,” Huff said.
In his testimony, Huff recounts how he was suddenly paralyzed from the waist down at age 11, then totally healed four weeks later. He remembers it as the craziest month of his life. This month might rank second, he told CT, and become another turning point in his faith story.
The attention began in December, when Huff—who researches early Christian manuscripts, ancient languages, and scribal transmission—posted the full two-hour video of his debate with Billy Carson, an author who claims aliens visited ancient civilizations and denies the Crucifixion.
With restrained patience, a library of scholarship behind him, and a kind, Southern Ontarian lilt in his voice, Huff defended Scripture and dismantled the authority of certain noncanonical and plagiarized texts cited by Carson, such as the Gospel of Barnabas.
The debate went viral, and Carson, who didn’t want it released, threatened Huff with a cease-and-desist letter. Meanwhile, Rogan sent Huff a direct message on Instagram to ask him on his show.
The invitation came on Christmas Eve, right as Huff and his wife were scrambling to find a missing stocking, but the apologist immediately agreed to an in-person interview scheduled less than a week later.
Rogan’s podcast draws a largely young male audience, and around 90 percent of its guests are men. Huff considers himself a “semi-regular” listener. A doctorate student at University of Toronto’s Wycliffe College, he has made several videos in response to Rogan’s inaccurate claims or questions about the Bible over the years, including the theory that New Testament stories came from psychedelic mushroom hallucinations.
Rogan has been widely criticized for spreading misinformation, entertaining conspiracy theories, and platforming false ideas. His fans appreciate his openness and curiosity, his willingness to change his mind, and the way his conversations can really go anywhere.
By the time Rogan asked him on the show, Huff already knew Rogan’s interview style and propensity for tangents; his historical interest in figures like Marcus Aurelius, Genghis Khan, and the pharaohs; and his growing interest in Christianity, with the influence of repeat guest Jordan Peterson.
“I think the purpose of a conversation like this is to make inroads with someone like Rogan,” Huff said in an interview with CT. “When you see Paul, when he’s at Mars Hill, he’s speaking to his audience, and he’s drawing from his audience’s perspectives. And he’s not necessarily giving a go-in-for-the-kill gospel presentation, but he’s relating it to the gospel.”
Huff also likened his approach in the interview to the approach of Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:9–23: “To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.”
During the conversation, they wandered from talk of verifying ancient documents to creation myths like the Babylonian Enuma Elish to ancient Egypt and the pyramids. Huff also pushed back on what he saw as Peterson’s use of Jesus as a moral figure rather than a teacher.
Toward the end, Huff asked Rogan a question directly: “What do you think of Jesus?”
“Well, it certainly seems like there’s a lot of people that believe that there was this very exceptional human being that existed, so the question is ‘What does that mean?’” the host responded. “Does it mean he was the son of God? Does it mean he was just some completely unique human being that had this vision of humanity and this way of educating people and spreading this ideology that would ultimately change the way human beings interact with each other forever?”
Huff said he was impressed by his answer.
“He’s not a Christian; he doesn’t profess to be a Christian. But I could tell he was mulling over things much in the same way that when Jesus talks to his disciples in Mark chapter 8 and asks the question ‘Who do you say that I am?’” Huff said. “I could tell that he was thoughtfully engaging with who the person of Jesus was, especially since we’d spent a good amount of time talking about the fact that there is a historical Jesus, a fact that he’s questioned in the past.”
Evangelicals shared clips from the show on social media, mostly applauding Huff’s research, direct answers about Christian beliefs, his willingness to say “I don’t know” when asked about topics beyond his expertise, and his instinct to offer correction for any instances he misspoke or made mistakes during the unscripted interview.
Some were Rogan fans excited to hear an explicitly Christian voice on the podcast, and some tuned in for the first time out of curiosity.
Denny Burk, pastor and biblical studies professor at Southern Seminary’s Boyce College, called Huff’s interview a “masterclass of careful scholarship and Christian apologetics.”
Australian pastor Stephen McAlpine blogged about Huff’s concise gospel presentation to Rogan’s “sweary, sweaty” audience, who may go unreached by typical apologetics.
“Huff is proof that, although many an apologetic argument in this current anxious age has switched from issues of reliability and historicity to issues of meaning and purpose, you cannot have one without the other,” he wrote. “After all, all sorts of ‘woo-woo’ can offer you meaning and purpose, but if they cannot be backed up by reality or reliability, then they are on shaky ground. There is a good chance they cannot hold the weight they promise to hold.”
Commenters watching the Carson debate remarked on Huff’s demeanor, the way he could offer correction and evidence without gloating or shouting down his opponent. Perhaps that’s partly because of his Canadian roots, he said, but it’s also a deliberate effort to avoid being a “bombastic” debater.
Huff cited the lines before and after the popular apologetics verse “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Pet. 3:15), which instruct Christians to “revere Christ” and speak “with gentleness and respect.”
“I’ve always felt very convicted that it’s about the hope more than it’s about winning an argument,” he said. “People are going to ask questions about the reason of hope you have, not necessarily that you’re going out there defending and tearing down arguments, although I think that there’s a place for that.”
YouTube and social media have emerged as new platforms for gospel proclamation and evangelism; some speakers are informative and winsome, some get views for being combative and reactive. Online apologists are seeing fruit and whispers of a revival, viewership numbers tick up and as follows share testimonies of new belief and changed minds.
In addition to a video series called “Can I Trust the Bible?,” filmed on the ground in Egypt with Apologetics Canada, Huff has a personal YouTube channel to share response videos and explainers with titles like, “Onomastic congruence – how names show the Bible’s accuracy” and “Is God’s name Jehovah or Yahweh?”
With a new level of attention around him and his work, Huff said his focus remains working with Apologetics Canada to equip the church to respond to a new era of apologetics questions from the spiritual but not religious, from people turning to New Age, from anyone hurting and looking for hope.
He quoted Blaise Pascal: “Make religion attractive, make good men wish it were true, and then show that it is.”
“That’s what we at Apologetics Canada want to do,” he said. “We want to make people wish that Christianity was true by the way that we act, and then we want to show them that it is true. It’s been a real gift to be able to have more people be aware of the ways that we are attempting to do that.”
Huff said he remains in touch with Rogan and, during the show, left him a memento.
Huff cut out Egyptian papyrus in the exact shape of an ancient scrap believed to be the oldest record of a New Testament text and copied the bits of Greek script by hand.
“You for real nerded out,” Rogan chided as he held up the facsimile of a fragment known as P52.
The verse on the parchment comes from John 18, where Jesus proclaims, “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me,” and Pilate responds, “What is truth?”
