on larry king now america's favorite pastor joel osteen i know i'm not a traditional pastor in terms of i'm just going down to teach in scripture by scripture because what i would teach would just be more how to live a great life there's a feeling that you're supposed to be poor and humble and to show got that you're humble be to be sort of i call it being defeated i think as out a representative of christ i'm supposed to take sal what he may give a new pope i like his fact that he's you know he's reaching out to the catholic church and he made a statement about you know what we're turning into a little bit a chapel could we're pushing everybody away plus that he's doing better gin or you know it doesn't annoy me from a scriptural point of view i don't think it's you know what my faith would teach but doesn't annoy me it's all next on larry king now.

great pleasure to welcome to larry king now an old friend frequent guest with us on our previous show joel o'steen he's been hailed as the most watched inspirational figure in america he's pastor of lakewood church in houston usually popular televangelist and a new york times best selling author his latest book is break out five keys to go beyond your barriers and live an extraordinary life will ask about the book and a little while for a couple of facts about mr o'steen past or is now the largest church in america a weekly sermon watched by more than ten million viewers on television seen in one hundred countries has a podcast that averages ten they have million downloads a week the church has sixteen thousand seats did you ever think early on you would have all this and if your father was a preacher and my father was a preacher and i worked behind the scenes for him and i didn't want to preach i don't want to get in front of people because it. just i didn't think it was in me

but when my dad died nine hundred ninety nine suddenly i stepped up to pass for the church but never dreamed it would grow i thought i'd just try to maintain with my dad it be always is when your father it had about six thousand people on a sunday when that is still a large church but but never dreamed well how did it go what happened well you know it's interesting larry i can i don't know how to put my finger on it you know i was forty years younger than my dad and i think all the sudden young minister was up in front of a large congregation my dad had a local television program that i was on there and you know it just seems like people to call me maybe it's just coming through younger voice did you have once and started a natural affinity for preaching i think that i was you know even though i was nervous and not you know i didn't really know a lot what i was doing was somehow i had i had a connection with the audience that's all i can say not not bragging on me but it's just something i didn't know i had it but i think i thought you know the church is

growing people are coming so i don't know what it was always you classify that type of a good friend billy graham has been close to for years he preaches you know come down be saved to use over to the lord give you so hopeful that you don't do that well and do it some but he did that for a time like we call it in our circles and angeles we're going to invent oh no i'm more a pastor because i'm talking a lot of times to the same people so when i talk about is how do you live the christian life in other words how do i forgive or how do i have a good attitude or how do i have how to reach my dreams i like to talk about you know how do we live out the christian faith and not just you know do you know do revivals know not necessarily where you a fan base is not just christian right it was then you have muslims even atheists or explain that you know why would an atheist be if well no i think what they like larry is when you know the principles that we teach of from the scripture but they help they can help anybody you know to reach dreams or to forgive and to have a healthy and. good self image so you know i know i'm not

a traditional pastor in terms of i'm just going down to teach in scripture by scripture because you know a lot of my you know what i would teach would just be more how to live a great life or do you play amuse beaches or you call the goal speeches while growing up we call him sermon people sermons people call him speeches and just i have no set you know routine i just say what i feel you write about i write about myself what day of the week well i'll start on wednesday so i'll take wednesday and just study and try to figure out what i want to say you know if i want to talk about what it whatever it may be then thursday and friday i'll ride it out to type it out a lot of people turned off by religion yeah why well i think in the past you know or just in general sometimes religion is about you doing this wrong and you do and you know you can't measure up and you know i get people criticize me because i want people to leave church feeling better than they were before i think people already have enough guilt and condemnation are beaten down by life so you know i think

a lot of people at least the ones i talked to that grew up in a church where they just you just built more guilty you could never measure up adding to larry it's some of it's even it's it's police sometimes it's political they see you know for a while even jello coals which you know technically i guess i am one in a way that was why republican against this against that and people people were for that the religious right yeah takes a bad rep do you consider as so in the religious right i don't i don't i don't get political with it all but i mean our church is filled with democrats republicans whites blacks i meant you know they're all good people they all love god as much as you know each other but they have different political views aust i stay out of it as we know we've done this living i tell you mother outside of agnostic you sure when you talk of god yes. who what is that a person listening to you but my wife she prays every night she would talk to the heavenly father to whom is she talking well there's nobody up there come on there's

nobody up there well you know larry it's all about faith and you know we talked before but yeah you know what i just a lot of his way i was raised but you know what i believe there's a creator of the universe i call him god or by my heavenly father and it's just it's the faith that you believe that believe what is someone there someone listening yes i believe i believe god's always listening and in knowing is even gets more confusing because i believe god can live in you that the holy spirit lives in you a part of him lives in you so now believe that that god is there any hears you know them in the scripture talks about he knows your thoughts he knows your words and so there's billions of people on the planet how does he keep up with all that well that's the that's the you know the magnificence of god and my belief is that god is concerned about each one of us got a plan for our life and you know that's what takes faith because you know it had to make sense always do you mind. when you were given a new pope i like him i was a people of i know well i like i like it's fact that he's you know he's reaching

out for the catholic church and he made a statement about you know what we're turning into a little bit chapel because we're pushing everybody away and that's been a big part of our ministry that's you know again that's what people some people don't like but i like to have a big wide net what are your views on homosexuality you know that at that the same that they've been that i don't i believe the scripture says that it's a season but i always follow that up by saying you know what we're not against anybody they're going to be calling it a sin or going to be a sin if we don't know what causes it we don't know why you don't know why your address sexual now you know that you don't know why you're tossing and there's a lot of things that i don't know i don't understand so you know i don't always preach on i don't preach about it it's only comes out during the interviews i stay on the things that i was doing marriage and or you know it doesn't. noaimi i just i don't you know from a scriptural point of view i don't think it's you know what my faith would teach but it doesn't annoy me i mean when you read the bible is what is what is fact and

what is parable you know if you believe the lies of rose up well if you believe that's well i believe that you know there are some in here i do but i believe you know i believe it is literal but you know there are parables in there is well you know i'm not i would say i'm not a scholar on it all but i try to stick with the things that i do believe you do you interpret the literally though i do i do and they're hard some days some days boy isn't it yeah it's hard because i don't understand it all you know but it's still preaching it and so yes i'm questioning it should you have answers for way well i think i can have answers on the thing to understand so then that's what i try to stay in my lane of here's what i can be you know certain things that i believe that that i'm good at that i do understand i don't know that anybody understands it all but maybe somebody does if your sixth book is or are you writing the same thing over and over again well i think a lot of my mouth a lot of my theme comes out and it's god's good it's have faith it's moved forward

so that some of it is but you know i'm been doing this for fourteen years and you grow you learn more you mature and i think i'm better than i am i believe i'm better than i was you know years ago so i feel like it's my best book who's it for it's for anybody that wants to just move forward it's a call it up a faith building book it's easy to get stuck in iraq and think well you know this is a good it's a good so it's just really something to give a boost in our faith and when i say faith you know have to be a religious person it's principles in there that will help you to think bigger to have the right perspective things like that so someone can use this book without being a church go without being religious i think so many people watch that or like that the book deals was self-imposed limitations you put limitations on yourself i think we all do i mean when my dad died larry i. i thought i could get a pass for the church i've never been to cement her i've never spoken in public before so i had to say you know what i don't feel like i can do it

a lot but i believe that i have what it takes and you know you have to change your thinking or i wouldn't be here today where you think your father was. if you soria now and he saw the church and he saw all that's happening is looking at this program yeah well i think my dad would be very proud i'm sure he'd be smiling down my dad loved watching you one of his favorite things to do and be proud very proud of you think you know with your success and you've heard this before has come considerable money how do you relate that to. let me bruce my old friend bruce told me was any leader i mean religious leader who speaks the word of god who has more than one suit or someone has no clothes is a copout. you know larry i just don't see it that way you know it is that i don't see it that way i just put out the answer how do i answer is that not obl leave first off i say this i believe we are blessed to be

a blessing to help others and that's what the tour and i do and that's what we teach our church but i just don't think that we're supposed to there's that feeling that you're supposed to be poor and humble to show god that you're humble bit to be sort of i call it being defeated being i don't think i think as a representative of christ i'm supposed to excel as only be rich but look good and think right and be a leader in what i do and so you know you go back and we make arguments both ways but god started you know the whole covenant with abraham and it says he was the richest man in the east and i think god why did you choose the poorest man but he didn't i don't think it's about money has never been our goal i never i never knew i was going to write a book that sold millions and millions of copies and so i don't take a salary from the church now but it's about you know money is simply a tool to fulfill your destiny but at teach people you give money away do you hope we give millions of dollars in victorian it not never dreamed that we'd be able to do to be able to bless people like this so it's never been about you know how

wealthy can we become you say that god has already written all of our days god has a plan i mean knows the plan that i have any control of the plan well i believe you do believe god is all knowing but i believe that you know we have to each day be our best honor god be good to other people move forward i think that's how you can i think you can limit yourself you cannot reach your full potential if you have a doubt your faith. never do though i never did now at least some things in the world that i know they say of a free will but how about things that are not free will could dream is not free will now in kids born you know we have you know i'm dealing with kids that are born with diseases and all that you have free will no it's not you know i don't doubt it i go back to this that. you know we're not in the perfect world i believe heaven will be a perfect world but we're not we're in a fallen world as with the scripture teaches and so there are things that we don't

understand and so i just come back to the fact that you know i have to tell count my congregation all the time members that have lost a loved one or a teenager killed in an accident i don't understand it but i believe god can give you the grace and the peace and the strength to get through is that the hardest thing for preaching to do when you deal with the beth yeah it's very hard because you know my heart breaks more than i do because you know you've got you've got parents down there with a little girl this got cancer i'm going through treatment and you know i have no explanation except that you know what god can give you peace and we're going to pray we're going to believe and i don't think anybody has all the answers that you think happens when it would you think you know you can't know you know you can't know but what i believe that again being a you know a person of faith i believe that there's there's a i haven't and then there's that or there's a hell as well there's an afterlife i believe that you know are the real person inside here lives on forever i mean the scripture it really gets confusing i don't understand it says that god knew us before we were formed before we were born in

our mother's womb so i don't know that understand it all but i do believe you know that you're a spirit that you're going to live all and you've had people on to this i've talked to as well that you know had a heart attack and they're looking at themselves outside their body so you know that's i'm a believer in that that i've seen seen by millions each week what's it like when he isn't preaching joel talks about life away from the pope at best. a. very hard to think. that that will make their lives. listen

lead live a a a a a a a a. plus there was a new alert animation scripts scare me a little bit. there is breaking news tonight and they are continuing to follow the breaking news. alexander's family cry tears of joy at a brave thing. that had to be added red dark at a court of war found alive is a story made for

a movie is playing out in real life. we're back with joel o'steen the new book is break out i want to ask you about what you make of call outs this different type of pastor you know i like carl he's a friend of mine of known him for years and you know he'll reach people that i will reach him and he's not in yeah he's not in a suit and tie he's got a mohawk and tattoos but you know what i'm for everybody you know do you ever break away from being jolo steam what does jolo steam do when he's not doing doing jol you know i'm still i don't feel much different than i did fourteen years ago i still like to play basketball hang out with my family ride bikes i don't i don't live a very pressured life i'm just more it's been you know i love sports what do you do for fun well for fun i like to i think with my family my son and i we lift weights

and play basketball together to an adult yeah both you don't discuss your politics though now i never do i never do but i don't always vote and encourage people to vote how do you handle people you don't like you can't like everyone no but you know what. i was going to say an odd perhaps i had but i don't know how to act and to see the best in people and there are people i don't care for but you know what i feel like my philosophy is life is too short to live. it negative and depressed or discouraged or let somebody else take you joyce i don't i don't really give that much time but do you those who souk usual being soft on theology you been accused of getting the gospel wrong you didn't go to seminary a fellow pastor attenders in the south mountain community church in draper utah was it one of the critics of the respond. well again i don't think much about it i just believe that you know god it was god's plan for my life for me to do be doing what i'm doing are soft on theology i feel like i stick with things that are really no

make in the making god good and relevant in the scriptures because the best if you go to seminary well you can become a pastor i mean i trained under my father for many years so you can be ordained from a church of more de in from like wood so there's not you can be like you know you have a feeling to miss something but not go into some of it well after i have friends that go to seminary and i encourage people that want to get in the ministry to go but i feel i for my for my life it was the right thing you know i just sometimes you can i don't come at it from a theological point of view and i think that's part of my success and it i'm not trying to just explain scriptures or you know sometimes you can know things that would would taint how how i would minister and so i like the fact that i believe it was god's plan for me to to not go to seminary so you believe there are plans for people over one plans go astray well they do on a child dies yeah you know it's hard we don't understand it all but i do you know i believe the scripture says what's meant for harm god can use to your advantage you

can come out of that you can you can you know god can use what you've been through to help others you know i was even you know reading you know mothers against drunk drivers that was born out of a lady that lost lost a loved one and so you know i'm a big believer in that god can take what you know what came against you and use it to advantage the big big thing what we teach is you know you can't get better and that's what i see people doing they get better negative joy came to church i love god i did the right things but i didn't get the job or i got cancer or my to my mother was healed from cancer thirty years ago and you know some people you know obviously they die of cancer now i have to look at people and say well i don't know but don't get better keep moving forward don't you ask why him and him why did your mother live about mother. didn't you know what i don't have i would drive me nuts and well you know i guess it's because there are just things you don't there's things we're not going to understand in the scripture david said you know these matters are too great for me to understand basically i'm paraphrasing but you know

there's just there's too many things we don't understand in you get bogged down in that you you will have faith you have a think maybe there is no god and the reason you don't understand it is there is no understanding you're born you live it that's it you don't have it it's the breaks of the game sure as though it will have the sixty six that a kid died at five you don't make sense that way now i just i don't i don't reason it like that off the lack of experience god i feel like he's in my heart i feel like i've seen too many too many things that just couldn't be a coincidence in my own life and in other people's lives how you know just how god is connected dots here in there and so it is to me the in a person of faith i just i feel like god is real in my heart you're good looking guy you're wealthy you dress superbly how do you deal with temptation and don't say it doesn't come well comes to every person but you know just what i teach you get

up every day and you say god help me to honor you in my thoughts and in my life and you just you know it's i think it's a part of discipline i think it's a part of staying grounded and you know one thing i'm being good at because there's been a lot of ministers like me and you you know i'm called that haven't made it long term but i'm good about getting up every day and searching my own heart and saying am on the right track and i too i think about temptation i realise you know you've come down a lot faster and you went up and we've seen all that so i just think it it comes from keeping your own heart pure where does your money come from it comes from books else nanny or you have the people don't pay to go to church they don't you don't ask for contributions well no well there are contribution for church but that goes to run the ministry so it costs you know you make pitches for money on the t.v. show no i don't we never have my dad didn't. either and we did that on purpose larry because you know there's there's so much that televangelists or ministers on television has to overcome i mean and i realized you know most people are skeptical and they gaze after my money so even start with an idea is go the bloom of yes

people do it people have different ways i'm not i'm not to judge them but mine is to keep it clean i'm not asking for your money people send money that i think they see that sincerity of our of our heart of what we're doing but i just chose to stay away from that that because it you know it lessens your influence and i would rather be able to get into people's homes fifty percent of people watch don't go to church they weren't raised in church like me that's why we get an atheist and buddhist and just just good people that say hey i don't want to be religious but i love god can you be spiritual and not be religious i think you can i think that's why a lot of people that you know have been turned off by the religion but like i said they want to relationship with god they feel that connection but they think you know what i don't get involved in a certain church we discuss salvation on my own show you still believe it's up to god to decide who goes to heaven is their decision point you think on a global you don't well i believe that yeah i believe that's true ultimately but of

course it has something to do with us too but you know god is the ultimate judge you fear death. i don't fear death you got to be kidding well i don't really don't have i don't i don't fear it i don't i don't want to die now but i don't i don't know that i fear it you know i'm just i don't i don't feel like i fear i don't wonder about it. now i don't i don't wonder about it i don't really believe in but you do believe you go somewhere i do believe i believe yeah we have some social media questions for you a p how tweets do you consider yourself a leader and how do you define leadership well i would consider myself a leader just because there's a lot of people watching and following me i think a leader is somebody that you know that leads others that people look up to and it carries a high standard you know defining leadership i guess would be that have to do with success but it's how you carry yourself your character and you know how other people see. c.j. miller was you know what you think about obamacare up till obamacare we were the

only industrialized nation in the world without health care plan yeah you know i don't know that i understand it all i like the fact that you know obviously as a as a person of compassion we want to see people have health care i don't know if i understand it all but try not to get very involved in the certainly covering preexisting conditions is a pretty good idea i like the fact that you know people being helped. so b.g. fifty via twitter wants to know how in the world you managed to say so positive in a world filled with hate violence and negativity you know it's a good question for all of us but i think you have to you know focus on the good things i have i think you can't let that overwhelm you or else you become part of the problem then you're negative and bitter and hateful to saw at think you have to get up every day and found some reason to be grateful i believe how you start the day helps determine how the day's going to go do you wonder when you see things like syria do you wonder why people kill people when about the violence yeah i do it's in amazes me in the day that we're living in and that you know we can be over

here just living life and they're over there killing each other so it does it you know it bothers you and it thinks you know i often think i think like a lot of people you know what can we be doing you know personally and sometimes it's overwhelming but you can pray in in any way you can help i think but it does bother me when you think prayer does. i think prayer is what helps you know move the hands of god you know when when you ask god i believe things can happen it's it's your faith being released saying you know god i believe you're up there and i'm asking you to help me in this situation or help our friends in syria but i believe it helps move the hands of god when you say up there up up is where we all are considered to heaven be an up you know in in that have been somewhere so i don't believe you go up into the sky the do you believe heaven is a is a physical place somewhere and you just assume it's up yes we'd like to finish the show or do something silly if you only knew ok sure over the first girl you have

a kissed i do it was in a well it was victoria. and joel other than my family but it was the traditions of her school every day that whole year i was in my early twenty's i was playing baseball every night flamed up to me until i was playing baseball every night will it be my late teens and it was my son's play baseball they're fourteen at the time but they kissed a girl. who i was probably way too stiff but i was too shy to under date it anybody and there but really i really didn't so you sure remember the name of the first girl you kiss him or moon as a what's a guilty pleasure you have or you deal like chocolate so yeah i had a piece of chocolate cake almost every night yeah yeah favre saw a favorite song i think psalm twenty three you know talks about the lord is my shepherd and he surely goodness and mercy will follow me things that keep you up at night i think what we're talking about the injustice the kids in africa the syria

the you know hear hear on happy and healthy and got a great family and you wonder about that why they yeah did i do and we could have you know it's just you know i say if the goodness of god that we were born here now how can we help somebody else. t.v. shows your fans would be surprised to know you watch or you know i like that misty i love the dinosaur yesterday i like the voice i watch the boys with my kids you're on a desert island what three things would you take well this probably cheating bad take victorian my two children favorite band. favorite band is probably you know my my band it like will i like best my church been there as well yeah do you have a role model who's not christian. i have not thought about it i'm sure i'm sure there are people that inspire me. but nobody's coming to mind now i'm sure there are as one of the first thoughts of christianity is forgiveness right this

right are you good at that i'm good at forgiveness you are feel like i'm good at forgive this on the other cheek turn the other cheek and not caring things from yesterday in the day even you know even forgiven yourself because there's all the things we think i should have done better yesterday i should have said that i don't hold a grudge don't hold it let it go you have a hidden talent. now don't now i don't think i don't think that if your a pastor or minister what would you be i would be if i would work in television production i would bet on that tell me something no one knows about you. droll would either be something that no one knows about me. i don't know larry i don't know anything specific i learned something tonight was that your wife was the first this idea you were too busy playing baseball. thank you so much and thanks larry it's great me with you thanks to my guests joel osteen break out five keys to go beyond your barriers and live an extraordinary life is in bookstores now

did find me on twitter at kings things i'll see him next time. i'm at that. site i'm a big corporation mind you. can do and i think. about money and family fit for college this is right along with me. right. here just to plug. today's dying. out. we'll.

be in vegas like a bit on the ellis set so i figure you martine earlier this month a serious health crisis unfolded in west virginia that left three hundred residents seeking medical attention and over three hundred thousand on able to drink their tap water so it all went down after the company freedom industries admitted that a storage tank of the chemical for metho hexane methanol leaked into the water supply of charleston first of all great job putting in corrosive chemicals and a seventy plus year old storage tank just a mere mile and a half upstream from the city's main water supply guys but that's not it now we're finding out after all was said and done but there was a second chemical that was mixing of a toxic compound that no one knew about until just.