This is the what-the-flock moment a bible-bashing US preacher takes an axe to a statue of the Virgin Mary at a service in devoutly Catholic Mexico.

Missionary Kevin Wynne amazed worshippers when he demolished the near-life-sized statue during a service at his Mount Zion Baptist Church in Tamaulipas.

Video footage from the service, which has since gone viral, shows Wynne with an axe in one hand as he gives a full-blooded swing and decapitates the Virgin Mary with one blow.

He smashes the rest of the ceramic statue again and again until there is nothing left of it but tiny shards, and the statue’s feet.

Then he takes the axe to a statue of Santa Muerte, or Lady Death.

The iconic figure is said to be a fusion of Mexican folk beliefs and catholicism and followers believe she guides spirits to the afterlife.

But within seconds it too is in pieces as Wynne’s congregation gasps in shock.

He then throws down his axe and the footage ends as a crowd cheers in the background.

Devotees Claim Miracle As Virgin Mary Statue Weeps

Wynne moved to Mexico with his family as a missionary and reportedly draws a regular flock of more than 40,000 people for his Sunday sermons.

The first statue was a representation of Our Lady of Guadalupe, an incarnation of the Virgin Mary said to have appeared to a Mexican farmer five times in 1531.

Baptists do not pray to Mary and Wynne has slammed the statues as “idolatry”.

The Santa Muerte movement is growing in Mexico, with local media saying it is one of the fastest-growing religions in the world.

Many critics, especially Catholics, but also members of other faiths, have slammed it as ‘satanic’.

But Wynne’s brutal destruction outraged social media users.

One ‘Agapito Lopes Caste’ said on X: “Respect the beliefs of others. You don’t have to do these stupid things to get attention.”

And ‘Paralelo21’ added: “Fanaticism is not good!”