Religion/ Spirituality

The insane over-the-top Ohio mansion where Mike Tyson lived and partied in the '80s and '90s is getting a complete makeover ... in Jesus' name.

The mansion is insane -- featuring marble EVERYWHERE, a hot tub with mirrored ceiling, indoor pool, tiger cages, a basketball court and more.

Tyson sold the place in 1999 ... and it's had multiple owners since then ... but now, according to the Daily Mail, it's been bought by a developer who plans to turn the property into a church.

The place isn't in terrible shape ... but it does need some work ... especially since vandals tagged the joint, leaving several "anarchy" symbols around the house.

Destiny's Child was back in business Saturday night in Vegas for the Gospel Music Awards ... and we're talkin' Beyonce.

Actually the star was Michelle Williams, who picked up the award for Music Video of the Year for her song, "Say Yes." The song features Beyonce and Kelly Rowland, but they don't go by D.C.

The girls performed the song, and it's really great. The crowd loved it.

French Montana serenaded a bunch of 13-year-olds with a song celebrating cocaine ... at a very fancy schmancy Bar Mitzvah!

It was all in good fun, as the youngest son of Minnesota Vikings owner Mark Wilf transitioned into manhood Saturday at the ridiculously expensive Cipriani restaurant in NYC.

French got the kids turnt up with 'I'm in Love with the CoCo.' Andrew the Bar Mitzvah boy made his entrance in a hamster ball with exploding confetti.

And famed electric violinist Irene Fong did her thing in front of the crowd.

We have no idea how much Wilf dropped on the shindig, but we know French's going rate is $100k for private functions.

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are not at war over the Church of Scientology ... they don't communicate because they have an intense dislike for one another.

When we broke the story -- that Katie and Tom are so estranged they don't even talk about raising their 8-year-old daughter Suri -- we started getting tips that Tom has shut her out because she's an SP ... a Suppressive Person.

An SP stands for several things, including people who disavow the Church. The Church has a procedure for declaring people SPs. Once they're declared an SP, people in the Church are told not to associate with them.

Well-placed sources close to the Church tell TMZ, Katie was NOT declared a Suppressive Person. What's interesting, we're told Katie actually thinks she's been declared one ... but she hasn't.

Sources connected with Tom and Katie tell us there are hard feelings on both sides, which is why they don't communicate. For Tom's part, he feels betrayed because he claims Katie never gave him any warning she was leaving him. For Katie's part, we're told she felt Tom sucked the life out of her.

In the end, Suri is living with her mom and sees her dad from time to time, but the family unit is completely shattered.

Kabbalah has led Madonna to the Holy Land ... the Material Girl is designing a massive two-story mega-retreat perched atop a soaring Tel Aviv skyscraper.

Sources close to the deal say Madge's nearly 2-year wait is over and she is finalizing the details on a completely customized 12,000 sq. ft. condo towering high above the White City -- all for a cool $20 mil.

If the 360 degree view of the Mediterranean from her rooftop pool isn't vogue enough ... we're told she's outfitting her 2-floor crib with a first-class gym, and a sprawling living room. The crib is prime real estate ... sitting atop a 42-story tower designed by renowned Getty architect Richard Meier.

She'll have some famous neighbors ... Scott Disick recently scored a Tel Aviv condo and Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis are also rumored to be hunting for a hideaway there.

We reached out to mega-realtor Tomer Friedman who reps the building ... so far no word back.

Mazel tov, Madge!

3:00 PM PT -- Sources close to Madonna tell TMZ it is absolutely false, she is not buying anything in Israel.

Lolo Jones -- U.S. Olympian and self-proclaimed virgin -- says "Fifty Shades of Grey" is an abomination ... and people should boycott the movie because it glamorizes unholy sex.

Jones -- who's also a devout Evangelical Christian -- went to Twitter and wrote, "Funny how some people think there's nothing wrong with 50 shades of Grey. God didn't create sex for that purpose."

She added, "Watch another movie."

Jones then explained her stance ... saying the movie's hypersexual plot makes people feel that sex for pleasure is the answer to emotional pain.

"Some ppl medicate pain by being more and more physical to where if they are ever alone they can't feel any peace," Jones wrote.

The tweet is in direct contrast to Russell Wilson, another devout Christian who says it's not only OK to see the movie ... but admits he took in a screening last week and said he thought it was "great."

Bobby Brown is adamant ... he doesn't want to take his daughter Bobbi Kristina off life support because he believes in God-driven miracles.

Bobby's feelings are not shared by doctors, who have advised him she will not improve and pulling life support is an appropriate action. But Brown and his family -- who are deeply religious -- believe doctors cannot account for miracles ... miracles the family has seen before.

We're told Bobbi Kristina's condition has remained the same since Monday morning ... her brain functions are minimal and there has been no improvement.

Family sources say this has been an ongoing discussion and they believe Brown could come around to the doctor's point of view as time goes on ... but as of late Thursday he's not budging.

When his daughter was transferred to Emory University Hospital Tuesday Brown was hopeful the renowned staff could do something, but the fact that there's been no change is what doctors believe is the handwriting on the wall.

You'd expect all eyes to be on Nick Jonas while he's performing for a bunch of 13-year-olds -- yet an adorable preteen fan stole his thunder during a Bat Mitzvah.

Nick made $100,000 to be the surprise singer at Jillian Gaslow's Paris-themed event in NYC last weekend. If you're wondering who coughed up the dough ... Jillian's pop is a furniture industry big wig.

The JoBro was hired to belt out 3 tunes, including "Jealous," during a 30 minute performance -- and while the crowd LOVED him ... Jillian seemed a little nervous and starstruck onstage.

Best part of the vid ... the little girl who stormed the stage and shocked Nick with a bear hug. #SpotlightStolen.

Mazel Tov!

Val Kilmer's family believes the actor is killing himself by not dealing with a serious tumor ... because of his religious beliefs.

TMZ broke the story ... Val was rushed to the hospital Monday night after he started bleeding from the throat. Doctors at UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica operated immediately and found a tumor. We're told the surgery was invasive ... they needed to enlarge a path to facilitate breathing.

Family members tell TMZ ... Val has known about the tumor since Summer. He had trouble speaking and his neck swelled to the point he covered it up with scarves and other clothing items.

The family members say they urged Val to seek treatment but he would have none of it because of his Christian Science beliefs. They say he shunned medical treatment and anyone who persisted got cut out of his life.

Christian Science followers generally believe prayer heals, not medical treatment.

The family says Val would never confess to pain because it was an admission that prayer didn't work, but when he started coughing up blood Monday his options ran out.

The family is hopeful because Val seems somewhat more receptive to treatment.

We reached out to the Christian Science Church ... so far no word back.

DMX makes the fieriest of pastors look like boring insurance salesmen ... this is one for the ages.

It all went down in Las Vegas before a concert ... when 44-year-old DMX asked the man upstairs to prevent stabbings, shootings and fighting from ruining his gig.

You gotta watch the faces of his makeshift congregation. They are either deep in prayer or doing everything humanly possible not to bust up.

A rep from Scientology tells TMZ ... the man featured in the movie who claims Church officials illegally wiretapped Nicole Kidman cannot be believed because he has admitted under oath in a court case he's lied about the Church before.

The rep says in December Marty Rathbun -- a former Scientology exec featured in the documentary -- was under oath

late last year and admitted he lied about Scientology practices. He also admitted to obstruction of justice.

We've confirmed Rathbun did indeed lie, but his position -- which he discussed in the deposition -- is that he lied to protect the Church and cover up its misdeeds. Rathbun says he was an executive in the Church at the time and did not want to squeal on alleged misdeeds of Church leaders.

Rathbun claims in the documentary that he was tasked with facilitating the breakup of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, because her dad was a psychologist and the Church felt he was influencing the actor into distancing himself from Scientology.

The Scientology rep expressed frustration at the flick, saying, "These people personify the famous quote by Winston Churchill, 'A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put its pants on.'"

Chelsea Handler believes the God to whom you pray doesn't matter ... one thing's universal ... men of all faiths can appreciate a nice rack.

Handler has two things that can bring Jews and Muslims together and they're both on her chest ... she posted the topless Instagram pic -- with Star of David pasties -- while vacationing Wednesday in Israel.

This isn't her girl's first rodeo -- she swapped the camel for a horse and out-chested Vladimir Putin -- and pants also seem optional.

Justin Bieber is not shtupping the young women everyone thinks he's shtupping.

Hailey Baldwin and Kendall Jenner have been hanging with Biebs for a while now, and on the surface it looked like the chumminess was more than friendship. Turns out that's all it is.

As we reported, Bieber has been changing things up ... he hasn't been in trouble for months, he's not hanging with his old crowd and he's spending a lot of time on self-improvement.

Our Bieber sources say J.B. likes hanging with Hailey and Kendall because they're relatively drama free and positive. They go to church, restaurants, concerts and clubs, but it's not romantic.

The trio went to the Clippers game Thursday night, along with 3 Vine stars -- King Bach, Curtis Lepore and Nash Grier.

The trio went to see Bieber's pastor Judah Smith speak on Wednesday night and they hit up a comedy club afterward.

We're told Bieber's not with Selena either -- they see each other, but they're not a couple. Fact is ... he's single, and pretty happy.

Look closely at the photo above ... one of these guys is a professional NBA player.

The other 4 dudes are rabbis ... who have a stellar reputation for blessing athletes before big games.

Which could be why Dwyane Wade made a kosher pit stop before the Miami Heat took on the Lakers in L.A. on Tuesday.

TMZ Sports has learned ... the Heat used the facilities at the JEM Community Center in Beverly Hills to warm up hours before their game. And before they left, Wade met up with Rabbi Hertzel Illulian ... who offered up a "quadruple rabbi blessing" before the game.

Turns out ... the Jews came through -- with the Heat beating the Lakers 78-75.

The win brings the rabbis to 2-0 when it comes to blessing NBA players -- after bestowing a "triple rabbi blessing" on Kevin Durant last year before he went on to beat the Clippers in the playoffs.

Mazel.

A magic talisman isn't going to bring Hershel Greene or Merle Dixon back to "The Walking Dead," but that didn't stop them from shopping for some black magic in New Orleans.

Former cast members Scott Wilson and Michael Rooker were at the Comic Con event down in NOLA last weekend ... and both happened to hit up the famous Reverend Zombie’s House of Voodoo in the French Quarter.

According to our sources, Wilson eyed some of the softcore voodoo dolls -- none of the hardcore evil spell stuff -- and Rooker checked out two dolls used for protection and good luck. In the end, they both chickened out ... and Wilson only bought a cigar.

Now a spell to erase the 'WD' season with the Governor? We're guessing that woulda sucked 'em in.

Jews are from everywhere ... which is why the man suing Nicholas Sparks for allegedly being anti-Semitic has no case ... argues the famous author.

As TMZ first reported ... Saul Hillel Benjamin -- the man hired to run Sparks' Epiphany School of Global Studies -- sued "The Notebook" scribe for discriminating against his Jewish "nationality" ... he also claims Sparks was biased against black and gay students.

But Sparks and his lawyers fired back ... the core of the case hinges on Benjamin's Judaism -- and Sparks' team claims being Jewish is "not a National Origin" so it's not illegal discrimination.

Simply put, he claims Jews, Catholics, and Protestants come from many different countries and don't have a single national origin -- thus ripping a hole in Benjamin's case.