Every time I’m in L.A. (which I now think must be my tenth or eleventh visit!) I make a point of having salami and eggs with a poppy seed bagel inside Beverly Hills’ famous delicatessen Nate ’n Al, opened in 1945.

When I talked to a friend from New York yesterday and told him of my breakfast plans, he joked, “Make sure you say hello to Larry King.”

On my last visit to the diner four years ago, CNN’s King came in with his young wife and baby. He actually left them sitting at a booth with no food for a good 45 minutes while he kibitzed with other regulars. Upon returning, he reached across the table to koochy-coo his daughter and accidentally dumped a full glass of water into his lap.

*****

This time, King—who only ate a bowl full of fresh blueberries and was wearing teenager-style jeans with embroidered, buttoned back pockets and Converse-like canvas basketball shoes decorated in black-and-white graffiti-adorned fabric—sat down at a booth with three other men that was directly across from my booth! My shoulder was only two feet from his!

Obviously, I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation, which included feedback on his Larry King Live guest from the night before, and thoughts on Hillary vs. Obama. From what I gathered, one of his dining companions, with the first name Sydney, was a popular local newspaper columnist.

I thought, “Boy, he must really enjoy his life. Constant interaction with his peers, fans, etc. Always discussing the finer points of his beloved craft and business. No lack of attention, affection, adulation . . . never a lonely, vacuum-filled moment.”

*****

Of course, King, like so many in L.A.’s television-movie industry, claims not to believe in a God.

According to the website www.celebrityatheists.com, King, in a 2006 TV interview with PBS talk show host Charlie Rose, declared, “I am an agnostic.”

Earlier, in a 2000 interview with a German TV-magazine, King responded to the question of, "After 35,000 interviews, do you learn something new in them?" with a truly empty-headed assessment for a so-called media-giant journalist:

"Nearly every time,” King answered. “With one exception—if it comes to religious topics everything is already said. I am an agnostic, so I don't learn anything from them. But most of the time it's exciting."

I guess King, in general, better find all the excitement he can from his seemingly great life. He’s a got one hell of a future awaiting him.

*****

While King indicates there’s nothing for him to learn in spiritual matters, it’s awfully interesting that he considers Billy Graham a close personal friend and frequently invites him back onto his show. In an appearance from a few years ago, Graham said to King:

“I had an experience where I thought I was dying. I was at the Mayo Clinic about four years ago and having—I have had three brain operations, and my biggest problem now is hydrocephalus, and they were trying to get stents into my brain, and one night I thought, this was it, and during the night I prayed and told the Lord that, ‘Please receive me into his presence.’

“And all of a sudden, all of my sins came before me. Everything I had ever done wrong that I had forgotten about years ago came into my mind. And I prayed, Lord, forgive me, may the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse me from all of my sins.

“And I had the greatest peace come over me, and that peace has not left me since. And I am very certain that the Lord was ready to receive me at that time—not because of my good works or because of all the things I have tried to do, but because the Lord had forgiven me.”

*****

If King knew a thing about the Bible—and used even just a hint of impartial objectivity or journalistic skill—he could have responded to Graham’s outrageous remarks with, “WHAT! You mean, you, of all people, don’t understand that, as a Believer, all your sins were paid for on the Cross?!!!! I thought that was the core message of Christianity?!!!”

*****

Here’s another heretical comment from “America’s Pastor” Graham, about how God “must love” Satan, that went unheeded by journalist King:

GRAHAM: Well, he created him as Lucifer. In the 22nd of Ezekiel, it tells us about it, and he must love him, but the end of Satan is hell. Hell was created for the devil and his angels, or his demons, not for men.

KING: Don't you ever, ever doubt it?

GRAHAM: No. No. I used to. But not since that experience I had that I just told you about. I have no doubts.

*****

For those who’ve never read this classic outtake from an interview a couple of years ago with mega-TV preacher and NYT bestseller Joel Osteen, read on and be astounded how little King knows about how to interrogate a painfully obvious apostate minister of Satan:

KING: Do you share Billy's beliefs of life after death in a sense of going somewhere?

OSTEEN: I do. I do. We probably agree on 99 percent. I do. I believe there's a heaven you know. Afterwards, there's, you know, a place called hell. And I believe it's when we have a relationship with God and his son Jesus and that's what the Bible teaches us. I believe it.

KING: Because we've had ministers on who said, your record don't count. You either believe in Christ or you don't. If you believe in Christ, you are, you are going to heaven. And if you don't no matter what you've done in your life, you ain't.

OSTEEN: Yeah, I don't know. There's probably a balance between. I believe you have to know Christ. But I think that if you know Christ, if you're a believer in God, you're going to have some good works. I think it's a cop-out to say I'm a Christian but I don't ever do anything ...

KING: What if you're Jewish or Muslim, you don't accept Christ at all?

OSTEEN: You know, I'm very careful about saying who would and wouldn't go to heaven. I don't know ...

KING: If you believe you have to believe in Christ? They're wrong, aren't they?

OSTEEN: Well, I don't know if I believe they're wrong. I believe here's what the Bible teaches and from the Christian faith this is what I believe. But I just think that only God will judge a person's heart. I spent a lot of time in India with my father. I don't know all about their religion. But I know they love God. And I don't know. I've seen their sincerity. So I don't know. I know for me, and what the Bible teaches, I want to have a relationship with Jesus.

CALLER: Good evening. Joel, I had the privilege a year ago February of attending Lakewood and got a chance to meet you, and it was really a wonderful experience. My question is, I was just in a conversation with a friend recently, and he said he believed that Lucifer was going to be the last one to enter heaven after the rapture because he believed that god is a forgiving god, and even Lucifer will be forgiven. And that just blew me away. And I wondered what your thought would be on that.

OSTEEN: That sounds odd to me. I've never heard that. And it sounds very off-the-wall to me. So...

KING: I asked Reverend Graham if god loves the devil. Didn't -- couldn't -- he'd never been asked it before.

OSTEEN: I never thought of it either. I don't know.

KING: He loves everything. Does he love...

OSTEEN: I don't know. I'll leave that for Dr. Graham

CALLER: Hello, Larry. You're the best, and thank you, Joe -- Joel -- for your positive messages and your book. I'm wondering, though, why you side-stepped Larry's earlier question about how we get to heaven? The bible clearly tells us that Jesus is the way, the truth and the light and the only way to the father is through him. That's not really a message of condemnation but of truth.

OSTEEN: Yes, I would agree with her. I believe that...

KING: So then a Jew is not going to heaven?

OSTEEN: No. Here's my thing, Larry, is I can't judge somebody's heart. You know? Only god can look at somebody's heart, and so -- I don't know. To me, it's not my business to say, you know, this one is or this one isn't. I just say, here's what the bible teaches and I'm going to put my faith in Christ. And I just I think it's wrong when you go around saying, you're saying you're not going, you're not going, you're not going, because it's not exactly my way. I'm just...

KING: But you believe your way.

OSTEEN: I believe my way. I believe my way with all my heart.

KING: But for someone who doesn't share it is wrong, isn't he?

OSTEEN: Well, yes. Well, I don't know if I look at it like that. I would present my way, but I'm just going to let god be the judge of that. I don't know. I don't know.

KING: So you make no judgment on anyone?

OSTEEN: No. But I...

KING: What about atheists?

OSTEEN: You know what, I'm going to let someone -- I'm going to let god be the judge of who goes to heaven and hell. I just -- again, I present the truth, and I say it every week. You know, I believe it's a relationship with Jesus. But you know what? I'm not going to go around telling everybody else if they don't want to believe that that's going to be their choice. God's got to look at your own heart. God's got to look at your heart, and only god knows that.

KING: You believe there's a place called heaven?

OSTEEN: I believe there is. Yes. You know, you've had a lot of the near-death experiences and things like that. Some of that is very, to me, not that you need that as proof, but it shows you these little kids seeing the angels and things like that.

(Editor’s Note: I’m working on an overall journal-type entry about my visit here. I should have it completed by tomorrow.)