Joel Osteen on consulting for new hit series "The Bible"

Televangelist Joel Osteen is a consultant on the History Channel's series, "The Bible," which has become a runaway success. More than 10 million people watched last week's episode, and nearly 14 million watched the debut. Osteen's friend Mark Burnett produces the show.

Osteen is not surprised by the success.

"There are a lot of people of faith still in our country and when somebody takes a step of faith like Mark and [co-executive producer Roma Downey] did, people want to get behind it and see good quality, you know, production of something that's ... dear to all of our hearts, and that is the scripture and the bible," said Osteen.

Osteen also dismissed the controversy surrounding the actor cast as Satan bearing a resemblance in some people's minds to President Obama.

"I felt like it was nonsense," says Osteen. "People can draw funny conclusions."

There are no kinder people "than Mark Burnett and Roma Downey. I think it was just, you know, the fact that he had played Satan before ... in other series kind of shows you that it wasn't something that they had singled out," adds Osteen.

Watch The Lead with Jake Tapper at 4pm ET on CNN today for our full interview with Joel Osteen.