Joel Osteen opened up recently about how he assures his protection from sexual misconduct allegations by following the “Billy Graham Rule.”
According to CBN News, the “Billy Graham Rule,” which Vice President Mike Pence famously adheres too as well, encourages men not to put themselves in positions where they are alone with women they are not married to.
“I do and I always have, and my father did too,” Osteen told The Christian Post in an interview about his new book.
“I think the key for me on that is to start every day – I take the first half hour of every day to search my own heart to ask God, ‘Am I on track and doing this for the right reasons? Am I following what you want me to do?’ To me, you can have a lot of accountability and that is important. But I think you can hide things too.”
Osteen says at the end of the day, it’s a matter of the condition of your heart.
“I think it’s important to be honest before God every day and check the reasons why you are doing what you are doing. To me, when I stand before God having a pure heart, I can go out and be my best,” he said.
While talking about his new book, Next Level Thinking: 10 Powerful Thoughts for a Successful and Abundant Life, with the Christian Post, Osteen also touched on the importance of mental health among pastors. The topic of mental health among pastors has no doubt been brought to the forefront of conversation since the suicide of a young Megachurch pastor in California in August.
Osteen said, “I know it can be very lonely because as a pastor, you are busy and there is always something to do.”
He continued, “I would just encourage other pastors to take care of themselves, not just physically or spiritually, but emotionally, and find some other friends and take time to connect. I knew God put it in my heart but the battle takes place in our thoughts and our mind.” Osteen added, “So the book is about taking the limits off of yourself and to know that when God breathed life into you, He gave you everything you need to fulfill your destiny and really live from a fully-loaded perspective, not from a lacking perspective.”
Photo courtesy: Sammie Vasquez/Unsplash
Comments are closed.