Religion/ Spirituality

The Holy Spirit came a knocking for President Trump Thursday night ... in the form of royal wedding preacher Bishop Michael Curry.

The standout star of Prince Harry and Meghan's big day was part of a candlelight vigil in the Capitol that included prayer and song outside the White House. The Bishop told us their goal was spreading a message of "love of God and love of neighbor."

We asked him the $64 million question -- was POTUS paying attention? Bishop Curry assured us a high power was definitely listening to their prayers.

The Bishop's become a bit of an international rockstar since the royal wedding, and he's clearly striking while the iron's hot ... taking his message straight to the leader of the free world. Still, he made it clear the vigil was NOT about politics.

Offset is back on his feet and looking healthy after getting into a nasty crash last week -- one he says he got into due to a "crackhead" he almost hit on the road.

We got the Migos rapper Thursday in Bev Hills, where he thanked God his injuries from his nasty car crash last week weren't worse -- though they were kinda bad. He even says the big man upstairs was the good Samaritan who allegedly took him to the hospital.

Yeah, we're not sure what he means either. One thing we are sure of ... Offset won't face more questions about the crash, not from cops, anyway.

Bishop Curry is getting major love in New York City after preaching about it at Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's wedding.

We got the bishop in NYC Tuesday, where he was making the media rounds after his powerful sermon, hypothesizing on a world where "love is the way." He was getting swarmed by fans on the street ... people asking questions, and wanting selfies.

Our photog asks if he thought he'd get this much attention prior to his Royal Wedding appearance -- he says no, but doesn't mind making folks a little happy because of it. That jibes with what he told us Monday ... that his message of love wasn't sappy BS.

GOP House Whip Steve Scalise says maybe if there was more faith, religion and God in schools across America the mass shooting at a Texas high school last week could've been prevented.

The congressman was at Reagan National Airport on Monday and we wanted to get his thoughts on how kids, teachers and parents can cope with last week's horrific act that resulted in 8 students and 2 teachers killed at Santa Fe High School. Scalise, of course, fought for his life last year after getting shot when a gunman opened fire at a congressional baseball team practice ... so who better to ask?

Not often you see a Jewish athlete selected in the 1st round of the NFL Draft ... so, when we saw Josh Rosen at LAX, we asked if he had a message for his Hebrew brethren.

"Keep grinding," the Arizona Cardinals QB said at LAX.

Unclear if Rosen is a practicing Jew, but his father is Jewish and Rosen had a bar mitzvah back in the day. For many Jewish people, including Larry David, he's Jewish enough.

Remember, when David was asked who he wanted the Jets to draft, he said ... "I gotta go with the Jew!"

Rosen also spoke at length about being the target of anti-semitic taunts while he was playing at UCLA ... and how it actually fueled him on the field.

Bishop Michael Curry's got proof his powerful words at Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Royal Wedding were more than just trite sayings ... and, in fact, his "love is the way" sermon is kinda what Kanye West was talking about when he visited our offices.

We spoke with Bishop Curry -- who delivered a rousing sermon at the Duke and Duchess' nuptials Saturday -- and he tells us he wasn't BSing with his repeated message of ... well, things are generally better "when love is the way." Far from it ... dude truly believes that.

Holy lord ... Beyonce now has her very own church!

Queen Bey's the new owner of a stone structured, 7,500 sq. ft house of God in The Big Easy. The New Orleans church -- which is more than 100 years old -- was listed at $850,000 ... but it's unclear if she got a divine discount.

We're told Beyonce's church was built in the early 1900s, but has been out of commission as a place of worship for some time due to its church members passing away.

Looks like it could be revival time though ... and Beyonce shouldn't have any issues finding folks willing to get in formation and join her congregation. Her sister, Solange, lives nearby, too.

Speaking of ... a San Francisco church held the first ever "Beyonce Mass" a few weeks ago and had more than 900 people show up for it.

Marvel says it's bringing its first Muslim superhero to the big screen, and a couple of the universe's smaller screen actors say it's about time ... 'cause we need a new normal.

We ran into Coby Bell and Emma Dumont at LAX -- who both star in FOX's "The Gifted," which is a spin-off of the X-Men series -- and they give their bosses at Marvel major props for discussing how to bring their Pakistani-American character, Ms. Marvel, to life.

The president of Marvel, Kevin Feige, told the BBC this week that the studio plan on introducing Kamala Khan once they got Brie Larson's movie, "Captain Marvel," out of the way in 2019. Coby and Emma are looking forward to it for a few different reasons.

Coby says he wants his kid growing up to see heroes of color as the standard, not the exception ... even shouting out Obama in comparison. Emma's take is ... more broad strokes.

The 2018 Met Gala has quite the theme this year, and it'll be interesting to see if the Hollywood elite stick to its holy overtones. Let us pray?

Celebs started trickling into the Metropolitan Museum of Art Monday evening in NYC for this year's Gala -- hosted by Anna Wintour with a "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination." Yeah, we didn't know what to expect either ... until Rihanna showed up rocking the traditional Papal headgear.

Other early arrivals include George and Amal Clooney, Donatella Versace, Diddy, Jennifer Lopez, and Blake Lively -- and of course many more are expected.

Traditional Vatican garb is on display throughout the museum, but it's unclear how many celebs will follow in RiRi's footsteps with the theme. One thing's for sure, though ... A LOT of them definitely got the heavenly memo, especially Katy Perry.

Kanye West just told the TMZ newsroom why he believes slavery is a choice and why he decided to sport his Make America Great Again hat ... and it all went down Tuesday morning on "TMZ Live."

Kanye appeared on the show with Candace Owens where they explained "free thought" and how it can make the world a better place ... from a place of love.

During the conversation Kanye said, "When you hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years?! That sounds like a choice."

Van from our newsroom took great offense and fired back. Things got intense and ultimately led to a face-to-face at Van's desk.

There's A LOT more that went down -- and it's all on today on "TMZ Live"

With the 76ers up 3 games to 1 ... Joel Embiid is calling in the big guns for help -- making a surprise appearance at a Philly-area church Sunday night in his team warm-up pants.

We spoke with officials from St. Kevin Parish in Springfield, Pennsylvania who tell us Embiid arrived around 5:30 PM for the evening mass and stayed about an hour after the service for some personal prayer time.

But the churchgoers were STOKED to see their hero in the building and several people went up to Joel and asked if it would be cool to take some pics.

We're told Embiid was VERY cool about it -- chatting up and posing for everyone who came up to him.

One church rep tells us, "He was super nice."

Embiid and the 76ers get back on the court to face the Miami Heat on Tuesday. We'll see if Joel's prayers get answered.

#TrustJCsProcess

Challenge: Forget how you feel about Curt Schilling and judge this post purely on art. Good?

The ex-MLB star-turned-political firebrand got a brand new tattoo -- Jesus on the cross -- and he's essentially sharing an arm with JC.

The tat is inspired by Mark 15:33 -- "At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon."

But, the artist designed the tattoo to make it look like Jesus' left arm becomes one with Curt's arm -- and the illusion is actually pretty cool.

Justin Bieber might be back in touch with the Lord, but he apparently has no patience for would-be swindlers trying to make fake a quick buck.

Biebs was leaving L.A.'s El Rey Theatre Tuesday night -- after "An Evening With Adam Sandler" -- and a strange man was standing at his SUV waiting to hand him something -- a $100 bill, or so it seemed.

JB exchanges words with the guy, and seems to be irritated by the offer ... and then tries squeezing by him to get in his SUV. The dude holds his ground, and Bieber tells him to get the hell out of the way. The guy scrams after that ... leaving Justin with the bill.

If there was any doubt Justin Bieber is a true believer in Christ ... he just put all that to rest with a huge plug to his Lord and savior on the holiest of days.

Bieber posted an Easter message Sunday that confirms pretty much everything we knew about his renewed Christian faith. In the post he starts with ... "JESUS HAS CHANGED MY LIFE," going on to mention the true meaning of the holiday -- and it ain't about a bunny or eggs.

It's pretty clear JB gets down with JC -- he's at church quite a lot these days, and hell, even canceled the rest of his world tour last year over him. But this appears to be one of the few explicit endorsements of his religious views coming straight from the horse's mouth.

Miley Cyrus appears to be having a good Friday ... even if she's getting spanked by the Easter Bunny.

Miley just released a sultry set of pastel-colored Easter pics to celebrate the religious holiday in her own way in a shoot with Vogue ... featuring the singer wearing bunny ears, standing in an Easter basket, petting a fluffy cat, flaunting a see-through top and cleavage, and yes ... getting spanked.

Justin Bieber is showing compassion for folks who are down on their luck ... and this could have religious overtones.

Bieber was spotted Wednesday plopping himself down onto an L.A. sidewalk after a SoulCycle sesh to chat up a homeless man and woman who were sleeping on the pavement.

We're not sure what he was talking to them about, but he was clearly interested in what they had to say ... and was in no rush to wrap up the convo.