Religion/ Spirituality

How's this for ironic -- rapper-turned-pastor Mase -- who built a lucrative church and related business partly on his secrets to a successful marriage -- secretly filed for divorce from his pastor wife.

TMZ has obtained Mase's divorce filing in Georgia dated January 2nd, citing irreconcilable differences with Twyla Betha. And it sounded nasty ... Mase asked for full custody of their two kids and even wanted HER to pay HIM child support.

He claims they separated August 2013 -- after 12 years of marriage.

But just over a month later -- the day before Valentine's Day -- Mase inexplicably had a change of heart, filing to dismiss his divorce petition.

The fiasco is priceless -- if you look at the website for Mase's El Elyon International Church in Atlanta ... the entire thing is built around his successful relationship with his wife. The two even hawk their "successful marriage" book series called "What Do You Do After I Do?"

And the book description is perfect: "In this series, Mason and Twyla Betha share keys to build a marriage that will last a lifetime."

Define "lifetime."

We reached out to the Mase and his church ... radio silence.

Joanna Krupa says the only reason the Dalai Lama didn't change her life is because -- despite anything you've seen her do and say -- she's "All about Jesus."

JK was leaving Sur restaurant last night when she tried to explain why she dissed Dalai last month ... by professing her love for JC, but made a major slip up in the process.

Joanna attempts to say she can't wait to see the new movie, "Son of God" -- but you gotta hear how it comes out of her mouth.

The actor who stars as Jesus in the movie "Son of God" is going to hell for his next role ... he was just cast as THE DEVIL in a new TV show ... and his faithful Christian fans may not be forgiving.

Diogo Morgado -- aka "hot Jesus" -- has been cast as the ultimate bad guy in a new CW show, "The Messengers" ... although the network's mum on the new hire.

Production sources tell us Morgado will be playing a Devil-like character ... but the exact nature of the role is being kept on the DL because "Son of God" filmmakers fear the Christian faithfuls who are also prospective moviegoers may rise in protest. But, TMZ knows he's Satan-adjacent.

Lil Boosie was released early by prison officials because of his good behavior behind bars ... but Boosie's friend Webbie thinks the rapper was really sprung by a much higher power than the warden.

Webbie hails from Louisiana, just like Boosie, and tells TMZ it was the hand of God that opened the prison doors -- "I told Boo that God has a plan. He got my brother free."

Part of God's plan ... according to Webbie includes laying down tracks -- he says now that LB is sprung ... they're going straight into the studio to start making music together again.

Webbie says he plans to surprise Boosie at home in Baton Rouge ... and then the whole town's gonna celebrate Boosie's freedom.

Question: What do Phil Jackson and the Dalai Lama talk about when they get together?
Answer: "Tibetan stuff."

That's what Phil told TMZ Sports yesterday when we asked him about the quality time he spent with his holiness in Los Angeles last week.

"I didn't give him any Zen advice ... he gave me all that Tibetan stuff. It was wonderful."

Jim Carrey was also in the room when Phil met with Mr. Lama at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. There's also a photo of Lama appearing to bless Eva Longoria that night.

Smooth, Dalai ... smooth.

There's a reason the Dalai Lama preaches against people seeking riches ... he doesn't have to because he gets lots of freebies ... and not without a dose of guilt.

Dalai's camp tried to squeeze a private jet company into giving him a free jet ride or at the very least a STEEP discount.

Here's what we know. The Dalai Lama was in L.A. last Friday and needed to fly to Minneapolis. His people contacted ZephyrJets to book a flight.

Dalai's people sent an email to ZephyrJets, saying another jet company flew their leader from San Francisco to L.A. gratis, and they wanted to see what Zephyr could do for them on the next leg.

The email says they were asking "a few friends" if they could get a jet for free, but they wanted a backup plan in case the friends didn't come through. They made it clear they didn't want to pay the $44K price tag.

In another email -- sent before their freebie pitch -- Dalai's people greased the wheels with Zephyr by playing the Lama card: "Yes the Dalai Lama will be very grateful."

We don't know how the Dalai Lama got to Minneapolis or what, if anything he shelled out. But it sounds like it was a divine flight.

Joanna Krupa gets the tingles around hunky guys -- the Dalai Lama ... not so much.

The "Real Housewives of Miami" star somehow got an invite to the lunch in L.A. where the Dalai Lama spoke about compassion for humans and animals.

But while the message of enlightenment and inner peace may have moved some in the crowd of celebs -- which included Jim Carrey, Sharon Stone, Eva Longoria and a bunch of others -- Joanna wasn't struck by any spiritual epiphany.

She tells TMZ, "Overall was an amazing once in a lifetime experience. It didn't change me but motivated and made me even more anxious to build my animal rescue to become a huge success and be a leader."

So suck it, housewife bitches.

There was AT LEAST one gay player on every single NFL team Deion Sanders played on during his career ... so says Prime Time himself.

Deion was on the "Arsenio Hall" show last night when the topic turned to Michael Sam -- the first openly gay NFL prospect.

"He's not the first gay guy in the NFL," Sanders said ... "He's the first one to come out."

"Every team I played on ... I think I played on 5 different teams ... there was someone gay in the locker room."

Deion says he and his teammates always knew who the gay players were and only judged that person based on football ability.

James Jacks -- who produced "The Mummy" and dozens of other movies -- believed he could buy immortality ... because he gave a bloody fortune to his church "to pray for [his] immortal soul."

Jacks' handwritten will is bizarre. In addition to giving $500K to The St. Charles Borromeo Church of Toluca Lake, he directed that his good friend give party favors to people who attended his wake.

The party favors are movies ... and lots of them. Under the will Jacks left his entire collection to his mom, who gets to pick her favorite 300. The rest of the movies were to be given away to friends and family at the wake. But wait, there's more. Anyone who took a movie on laser disc also got one of his laser disc players! ... because no one has laser disc players anymore.

And there's this. Jacks gave his gun collection to his brother and nephew, with one string attached. They had to take a gun safety course.

And the nicest part ... Jacks gave his longtime housekeeper $15,000.

The rattlesnake that killed "Snake Salvation" Pastor Jamie Coots a week ago made an encore appearance Saturday night at the same church with Jamie's son at the helm ... and this time no animals or people were hurt.

Cody Coots prayed over a bevy of snakes -- one of which was the rattler that killed Jamie. The video is insane ... it looks like a revival service with a live band and snakes and worshipers all flailing in the air.

As we told you ... Cody made it clear to us ... if the rattler bit him he would refuse treatment ... just like his dad.

But snakes weren't the only trick up Cody's sleeve. He also played with fire ... literally.

Bite me once shame on you ... the new pastor in the "Snake Salvation" church will NOT accept medical treatment today if he's bitten by the rattlesnake that killed his father exactly one week ago.

Cody Coots tells TMZ ... he will indeed handle the deadly snake during the afternoon Kentucky service. What's more, he says there will be NO anti-venom meds on hand in case the snake attacks again.

And ... if he's bitten and paramedics rush to the church, he'll send them away ... just like his dad Jamie Coots did.

It's not often someone asks such an enlightened question that it absolutely STUMPS the Dalai Lama ... but it happened yesterday -- when he was asked if he would bless TMZ!!

His Holiness -- or "Mr. Lama" as our photog put it -- was doing his thing at Georgetown University on Thursday when our guy politely asked if he would bless our office.

What ensues is 7 very awkward seconds in which one of two things happened -- either Mr. Lama didn't quite understand the question (a lost in translation sort of thing) ... OR, he couldn't figure out how to say "No."

Confessed serial killer Miranda Barbour is giving Satan a bad name -- so says the high priest for the Church of Satan who says she's just too wicked.

TMZ broke the story ... Barbour confessed to committing between 22 and 100 murders ... saying she was compelled to kill by the devil after joining a cult in Alaska.

High Priest Peter H. Gilmore tells TMZ ... the official Church of Satan has never had any involvement with Barbour ... and would NEVER accept her as a member.

Gilmore tells TMZ ... true Satanists don't believe in murder (not even sacrifices) ... and if Barbour is truly a killer she should get the death penalty.

Gilmore says his church is not a cult but a legally recognized atheist organization ... adding Barbour is simply using Satan as justification for her crimes.

Terrell Suggs doesn't JUST have a Jewish star tattoo inked on his arm ... he also SPEAKS a little Hebrew -- and yesterday, the former NFL Defensive MVP proved it on camera.

Fun Fact -- Terrell kinda sorta considers himself to be Jewish ... hence the tattoo and the Jewish star chain he rocks around town.

So, when the former Super Bowl champ and 6-time Pro Bowler arrived at LAX yesterday, we had to ask if he considered himself the greatest Jewish football player of all time.

Think about it ... sure, there are some great Jewish NFLers (Sid Luckman, Harris Barton, Lyle Alzado) ... but Sizzle's resume has to put him toward the top, right?

The rattler that took a deadly bite out of "Snake Salvation" pastor Jamie Coots will not be killed ... in fact, the family will deploy the snake during next Saturday's service ... TMZ has learned.

Coots was bitten Saturday while he was preaching to his congregation and died after refusing medical help ... believing he was protected from the venom by God's power.

Jamie's son Cody tells us, the family still believes in God's protective power against snake venom -- despite his father's death -- telling us his dad felt it was much better to die from a snakebite than a stroke or car accident ... in fact, for him a snakebite was "God's way."

Cody -- who will take over as pastor -- says, "It was God saying, this is how you wanted it, and it's your time to go ... If he didn't plan [to die this way] he would have stayed alive."

As we reported ... even though using snakes during religious services is illegal in Kentucky, the police chief told us he would NOT enforce the law.

"Snake Salvation" pastor Jamie Coots was breaking the law when he was bit by a deadly rattlesnake during church services ... but the police chief tells TMZ ... he's doing the Christian thing by turning the other cheek.

Middlesboro Police Chief Jeffrey Sharpe concedes a Kentucky law makes it illegal to handle or display reptiles in religious services. But Sharpe says he doesn't care what the law says ... as far as he's concerned the government doesn't have any business meddling in religious affairs.

Sharpe says he will NOT enforce the law ... period.