Is Joe Rogan Converting to Christianity? Ex-Mobster Weighs In

➡ The text is a monologue by Michael Franzese discussing Joe Rogan’s views on Christianity and Jesus Christ. Franzese appreciates Rogan’s open-mindedness and curiosity about Jesus and Christianity, and he also mentions his own wine brand. He emphasizes the importance of Jesus’ sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins and the significance of accepting Jesus as the Savior for entry into heaven.
➡ The text discusses the profound impact of visiting religious sites like the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus was arrested, and the importance of faith in providing a moral compass. It emphasizes the power of simple gestures like shaking hands in church, symbolizing peace and brotherhood. The text also highlights the importance of being accountable to a higher power, in this case, God, and how this accountability can help overcome life’s challenges. Lastly, it suggests that popular figure Joe Rogan is beginning to understand and appreciate these religious concepts.
➡ The speaker admires Joe Rogan and Bill Maher for their influence and accomplishments, and hopes they will embrace Christianity. He believes in traditional values, such as the concept of two genders, and opposes gender-affirming surgery for minors without parental consent. He also praises Donald Trump for his stance on these issues, and encourages everyone to apply common sense to societal debates.

Please. Do not forget the punctuations! Please. Do not forget the punctuations! What was that? Like, what happened? Who was Jesus Christ if it was a human being? What was that? That’s wild. Wow. Did you hear what he said? You get those people that are unable to answer the question of whether or not you should protect an unborn fetus, whether or not they have human rights. No. Wow. No, they don’t. They just, oh, and they just like, that’s what you get. That’s what you get when you have no religion. Yeah. If you have religion, you go, wow, that’s a good question.

Wow. So right about that. People say, wow, Joe Rogan is coming to this conclusion. I know Joe. I follow him. Sensible guy. Got everything. Got all the money he needs. Why is he talking about this? Think about it. Hey, everyone. Welcome to another Sit Down with Michael Franzese. Hope everybody is doing well. All is very good, very blessed on this end. As always, my friends, I give all the praise, honor, glory, and thanksgiving to our God for that. Joe Rogan, one of the biggest podcasters, if not the biggest podcaster around. I happen to like Joe.

Haven’t been on his show yet, but he knows who I am. But I like to listen to him. He makes sense. Good guy. Not afraid to say what he has in his head and in his heart. He comes right out with it and got a lot of credibility as far as I’m concerned. You know, another guy, you know, that I’ve really gotten respect for lately, and I know some people are going to throw darts at me for this, is Bill Maher. You know, I never liked him at one time. I thought he was, he was too liberal.

He didn’t like Christians and all of this, but he makes sense. You know, he hasn’t come all the way over yet, but he makes sense. The reason I’m bringing him up now is because of what I want to say about Joe Rogan, who had a very intense conversation, I think, with somebody I know, Constantine. I’ve had him on my show and I’ve been on his show in the United Kingdom. Smart guys. He had this conversation about Jesus, and even Joe is coming around to the truth, to the reality of who Jesus is, who he was and who he is today.

I want to comment on the clip, and I want to give you my perspective on it, and this is Joe Rogan. That’s a big deal. It’s a big deal because he has a lot of followers, anybody that has a lot of followers that has influences. Remember, he is an influencer that has influences over people. It’s a big deal when he says something because people listen. Not everybody subscribes to what he says, but many people listen, and this is important. Joe Rogan is saying some things that make sense, saying some things that are true about Jesus, and I want to play it for you, and I want to comment on it.

We’re going to stop, you know, at certain parts of it, but this is very important, very insightful. People listen up. What you don’t understand is that people that do not come aboard are really taking a risk, a big risk, and I really mean that, and again, I have no horse in this race. Other than as a Christian, I’m obligated to share my belief in Jesus Christ. Let’s listen to Joe, and let me comment on this, and it’s going to be very interesting. My friends, you may not have heard, but I now have a wine branded in my name, Francie’s Wine.

I’m very proud of it. It comes from the world’s first vineyards. We have alcoholic wine and non-alcoholic wine, several varieties, fruit varieties. You’re going to love it, different than anywhere you’ve ever tasted before. So enjoy this with your friends. Go to FrancieSwine.com, and offer you shouldn’t refuse with a taste you’re going to love. And remember, this is Joe Rogan. He sits down with presidents. He’s got a lot of influence over people, which is important, really important. When he says something, people listen. Let’s play it. I hope somebody finds this someday, and then thousands of years later, someone does.

They find these ancient scrolls, and they pull them out, and they’re versions of stories from the Bible. So these people have been telling these same stories for thousands of years. Like, well, okay, what were they trying to say? That’s what’s interesting to me. I don’t think it’s nothing. No. No. I think there’s something to it, and there’s a reason why it resonates with people. And Christianity, in particular, is the most fascinating to me, because there’s this one person that everybody agrees existed that somehow or another had the best plan for how a human being should interact with each other and behave, and was the best example of it, and even died in a nonviolent way.

It didn’t even protest, died on the cross, supposedly for our sins. It’s a fascinating story. What does it represent, though? That’s the real thing. What was that? What happened? Who was Jesus Christ if it was a human being? What was that? That’s wild. Wow. Did you hear what he said? It talks about Jesus Christ being a fascinating person. What does he represent? He says it’s wild. He’s talking about probably the Dead Sea Scrolls and other evidences of the Bible that have been restored and found over the years that tell the same story, all leading up to the birth, the life of Jesus Christ.

He said it’s fascinating. It’s wild. What does he represent? He’s asking that question. This is Joe Rogan. Well, Joe, let me answer you. He represents redemption. He is the Savior of the world. He was the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world by sacrificing himself, and Joe said it. He’s saying it with authority. They found these scrolls that lead up to this one man. Christianity is all about Jesus Christ. Without Jesus Christ, there is no Christianity. It’s all about Jesus, the Savior of the world. And Joe’s saying, this is fascinating.

This is wild. This is what Christianity is really all about. And he’s saying the documentation is there to show it and to prove it and to corroborate what people are so fascinated with, are so in love with the idea, the reality of Jesus being the Savior. It’s fascinating what he’s saying. It really is. And again, this is Joe Rogan. This is a big deal. He’s not to talk about this, but it means something to him. He’s saying it. He’s saying it with conviction. He’s talking about Jesus Christ with conviction, saying, wow, everything in Christianity leads up to this man who willingly died, sacrificed himself.

He went down in a violent way. He didn’t protest. But he had a job to do. His job was to save the world by sacrificing himself, an innocent man. Joe Rogan is seeing this. And it’s true, people. I’m fascinated with the fact that Joe Rogan is talking about this with conviction. He can tell he believes it. He can tell. Let’s continue. This idea, as I understand it, is that the point of the story, if you like, is it’s about voluntary self-sacrifice. It’s about the fact that to have a good society, people have to be willing to sacrifice something of themselves for others.

And that’s what Jesus is and that story is supposed to inspire in all of us. But it’s a historical human being, too, though. It’s a historically documented human being. That’s where it gets weird, because there’s a universal depiction of what this human being was like that doesn’t seem to vary that much between all the people that knew him. That gets weird. Now, Constantine, who I happen to like, he’s a guy with integrity, a very smart guy. He’s getting it wrong in a way. What he’s saying is that Jesus, the story of Jesus, is supposed to inspire in all of us to sacrifice for others.

Okay. But what he’s missing is Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus came into this world to sacrifice for the forgiveness of all sins so that we can enter heaven. That’s what Jesus is. That’s why he was born. That’s why he lived. That’s why he died. And that’s why he rose again, because he defeated death. And when he defeated death, he defeated it for all of us. That’s what it signifies. Yes, we sacrifice ourselves at times, but we don’t sacrifice ourselves for the forgiveness of sins of all the world. We’re not the lambs of God in that regard.

Jesus, who is one with God, second person of the Trinity, he has sacrificed himself for the forgiveness of all sins. He is the Savior of the entire world, for all those that will confess our sins and accept him as the Savior. That’s all we need to do. Accept him, acknowledge his sacrifice, and accept him in the gates of heaven open to us. And of course, we have to be real about it. I always say, can’t pull a scam on God. This is reality. This is what you really have to live, really have to believe.

No question. You have to live your life in that belief, and it’ll show. And then Joe comes back and says, yeah, but this is one person, and everything leads up. Everybody is consistently talking about him, leading up to this one person. Joe seems to be fascinated with that, and he very well should be. Garden of the Gethsemane. And for those people who don’t know, that’s where Jesus was arrested by the Roman soldiers. It still exists. You can go there 2,000 years later, and you just literally walk around this place. You’re just like, my God, like the connection to those stories.

It’s just, it’s right there. And also, I think the lessons that you learn from going to church are incredibly profound. Something as simple as I was raised Catholic is, you know, they’d say, peace be upon you towards the end. Let’s sew each other a sign of peace. And you literally shake hands with the person next to you. You don’t know this person. You may have never met them, but you shake hands with the person behind, in front, and whatever else. What an incredibly profound gesture that is. Just to shake hands with someone, and all your anger, and all your resentment, and everything you feel, which is natural, and jealousy, and you go, but you make a literal physical connection with another human being.

That is so powerful. Yeah. Wow. I mean, Francis, who is the other guest here, he said it right. You know, I visited Israel. I was in Jerusalem. I went to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was arrested. As a matter of fact, I filmed a fascinating place. What a feeling you get from being in that garden where thousands of years ago, Jesus was arrested, an innocent man arrested. And you can relive that whole scene in your mind and your heart. And then the tomb where Jesus was buried, they have two places. They’re not 100% positive, but it looks like the Garden Tomb for me.

I was in the Garden Tomb, and I looked at the place where Jesus was laid to rest, and it was, I can’t even begin to tell you the feeling that I got. I really mean it. It was like surreal. This is where my Lord and Savior was laid to rest. This was the place where he was arrested. And I want to step further. You know, outside of Pontius Palate, the courtyard where Jesus was put on trial, right next to it was the jail where him and Barabbas were jailed. And I was in that jail, and me at one time being a prisoner visiting jails all my life, it was like, oh my God, Jesus was actually in this jail.

I’m walking on the same ground that Jesus walked on. Nobody in the history of the world has ever had an impact on all of civilization like Jesus has. No one. And Francis says it. It’s so profound in church. This is a sign of peace. We do it in our church. Turn around and shake hands with the person next to you. You don’t know who they are, but you give them a smile. You give them a handshake. It’s brotherhood. It’s love. It’s the feeling that Jesus wants to have, or wants us to have with him and with one another.

It’s beautiful. What an uplifting experience church is to go in there and listen to this worship music and give praise and honor and glory to our God and sing in thanksgiving and praise and wonder. It’s wonderful to hear a message from the pastor to prepare us for all the junk that we have to deal with during the week, to see this togetherness in there. This is where civilization was meant to be. But obviously we have evil. We know the story. It’s a fallen world, but Jesus represents everything opposite to that. He represents hope.

He represents salvation. He represents love, mercy, forgiveness, all of that. And Francis said it so wonderfully. And now let’s hear what Joe. Joe responds to this. There’s not a thing that you follow that you believe is making you be a better version of yourself, be a better person. If you’re just relying on your whims and your whatever you think is the moral thing to do, then you know what you get? You get those people that are unable to answer the question of whether or not you should protect an unborn fetus, whether or not they have human rights.

No, no, they don’t. They just, that’s what you get. That’s what you get when you have no religion. If you have religion, you go, wow, that’s a good question. Wow. So right about that. Listen to what he just said. He said, if you just go around believing in nothing and yet you don’t have any moral compass basically in an unborn fetus, you don’t really care about that. You don’t care about aborting a baby. But if you have a moral compass that’s founded or grounded in religion, I don’t like the word faith. Faith, because that’s what it really is.

It’s not about religion. Religion kind of, you got rules and regulations. No, and even though, don’t get me wrong. I mean, religion is a good thing, but it’s taken in a negative context so much and people, I don’t like religious people, they’re judgmental, blah, blah, blah, and all that kind of stuff. But a person of faith, faith in God, gives you a moral compass. That’s when you start to think about aborting a baby, a fetus, because that becomes a human being. That’s when you think about, I’m sorry, gender affirming surgery in minors, changing the gender that God created, male or female, into something else.

You have a moral compass, you start to think about that. And this all stems from Jesus. You know, I tell these young men that I speak to, two things you got to get right in life to have a good shot at life. Number one, you are who you hang out with. The people that you hang out with are going to have the influence on you. Why do you think I go to church? Why do you think I try to stay around people that I know are good people? Because it’s a better influence on me.

It doesn’t give me negative thoughts. You know, sometimes you could take the boy out of Brooklyn, can’t always take Brooklyn out of the boys. So I don’t want those negative people around me to put these thoughts, you know, a little past that now at 74. But on my journey, let me stay with the right people. I don’t need to be influenced. Secondly, the path that you’re going to be directed to in life is going to be according to who you are accountable to. Accountability is everything. Everything comes from who you are accountable to.

So I’m accountable to God first, because everything good comes from God. Everything. Integrity comes from God. Honesty comes from God. Tolerance comes from God. Forgiveness comes from God. Respect comes from God. It all comes from God. So if you’re accountable to somebody, so if you’re accountable to Jesus, the greatest man that ever walked the face of the earth, perfect in every way, the only true man’s man that ever walked the face of the earth, I’m writing a book about that, then you’re accountable to the best, the one and only, and all the good flows from being accountable to Jesus.

Sure, you’re going to mess up, but when you do mess up, it’s going to bother you. And you’re going to try to get it better. You’re going to ask to be forgiven and get it better the next time. And I guarantee the pattern of bad things that you once lived in, they’re going to get better and better. And you’re not going to live in that pattern anymore. That’s how you defeat drugs. That’s how you defeat alcohol. That’s how you defeat all the vices that are out there. I’ve seen it throughout my life.

People that have beaten these bad vices because they turn their life to Jesus, the greatest man that ever walked the face of the earth and the savior of the world. I think Joe’s coming around. I really do. He’s starting to recognize it. Why are all these people are talking about Jesus? Why are all these writings leading up to Jesus? You know, John MacArthur said this the best. He said, you know, my belief in Christianity, I wouldn’t be a Christian if it weren’t for the Old Testament, the Old Testament, the historical record of the Jews and of the world of civilization.

Why? Because he said it’s in the Old Testament that the prophecy of the Savior, Jesus, comes about. That’s where you learn of Jesus. That’s where the prophecies of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection come about. It’s prophetic, and it comes from the Old Testament. God was preparing people through his prophets talking about when Jesus would arrive on this earth. It’s amazing. Jesus is a figure that should blow everybody’s mind in a good way, and Joe Rogan is coming around. I can see it. I’m happy for him. Why? Not only for him, but for all the people that he has positive influence on.

People say, wow, Joe Rogan is coming to this conclusion. I know Joe. I follow him. Sensible guy, got everything, got all the money he needs. Why is he talking about this? Think about it. Very, very significant. Very significant. And Constantine and Francis, the same thing, you know. These are two intelligent guys, and they’re corroborating, in a way, what Joe is saying. So I’m excited. This was brought to my attention. I’m really excited about it. I really mean it. I hope Joe continues. I hope he brings other guests that could talk to me, because Joe is a sensible guy.

He listens. I would really love for him to have a conversation, and let’s get back to Bill Maher. I like Bill. I sat down with him with Club Random. He grilled me a little bit. We had a good time. I like him, and he’s sensible. He has common sense. He hasn’t come all the way yet. I mean, he’s still, you know, he’s still a Democrat. I wouldn’t really call him a liberal, but he’s a Democrat. But God, he makes a lot of sense, and he says it, but he’s still, I don’t want to say anti-Christian.

He still hasn’t bought into Christianity, and I want him to. I really do. Bill, I’d like to see you. You know what? You’d be a sensible guy. You’d be, you’d be very amusing in heaven. I really mean that. You and Joe Rogan, that would be a, I’d sit down and talk to you guys all day long. Now, Michael, you sure you’re going to get there? I’m sure. I trust in my God, and he knows my heart. I love Jesus. He’s the only man’s man. I want to emulate Jesus. He’s a, read about Jesus of Nazareth.

And Bill, it’s no fairy tale. It’s not. Come on. You should be way beyond that. The writings are corroborated. The evidence supports it, both archeological and every other way. It’s consistent. This is real. It’s written by men, the Bible, but inspired by God. It’s the Holy Word of God. It’s the blueprint for our life for God’s sakes. Come on, Bill, get with it. You’re coming a long way. Let’s go all the way. You and Joe, two guys that I happen to look up to and have respect for. I really mean it because of what you accomplished in your life and because of the fact that you have influence.

People follow you. And you know, look, Donald Trump, he’s not the perfect Christian, nor am I, nor is anybody. There’s a lot of people out there better than the two of us. But you know what? He’s come around, too. He’s come around to the realization in Haiti. You know, look, there’s a lot of Trump here. We understand that. But I, for one, Bill, you may, you may, you may have an issue with this, but I think, I believe that God gave us another shot by putting Trump in there as president, forgetting his economic policies or anything like that.

What he has done by bringing the choice of abortion back to the States, important, important by saying there are only two genders, which is the truth. Two genders by being adamantly against gender affirming surgery in minors, especially without parental consent. It makes sense by saying, hey, no, we can’t have transsexual men get involved and compete against women. It’s not right. It’s common sense. We are in a battle in this country, good versus evil. We’re in a spiritual warfare here with all this crazy stuff that’s going on. And it’s common sense values that we’re looking for.

Most of America believes in them. These crazies that are out there that adopted this. I don’t know what I don’t even know what to call it. This ridiculous point of view that they have that men can be women, women can be men. When somebody’s at birth, you don’t know what they are. They can choose what they are later. This is crazy stuff. It’s insanity. It really is. And it’s evil because it’s all designed to break up the family marriages. No good. What do you need to get married for? Oh, Perry, kids don’t need a father.

Anybody can have a baby, get pregnant to 17, but you don’t have a father. All we’re looking for is common sense. And I applaud you, Joe Rogan. I really do. And I think you’re coming around. You’re an influencer. Keep searching. That’s all I can tell you. Bill, you too. That’s it for today, my friends. How do I always leave the same way? Never going to change. Be safe. Be healthy. God bless each and every one of you. God bless Joe Rogan. God bless Bill Maher. And God bless all your families, communities, neighborhoods.

God bless America. See you next time. Take care. Thank you. [tr:trw].