Reading the newspaper today about Hollywood’s response to Mel Gibson’s drunken anti-Semitic remarks to cops during a DWI arrest, I found it fitting to learn that Gibson’s personal movie company responsible for the financial backing of “The Passion of the Christ,” is named Icon Productions.

Icons, or graven images forbidden in the Ten Commandments, are one of the hallmarks of the Roman Catholic Church.

In this past Sunday’s Washington Post was a story about a 400-year-old wooden statue of the Virgin Mary in Cuba that “has evolved into one of the island’s most important symbols,” confounding both the Church and the communist government for the shrine’s enormous appeal among “her most fervent devotees” who aren’t even Catholic.

The article said countless miracles have been ascribed to the icon “which was declared the patron saint of Cuba and crowned by Pope John Paul II during a historic visit to the communist-run island in 1998.”

“Pilgrims lay wreaths of bright flowers at her altar and gaze adoringly at the 16-inch figure, dressed in an elaborate golden gown and wearing dangling earrings,” reported the Post. “In a room downstairs, devotees leave behind chunks of hair and letters to ask the Virgin for good health, love and success. They also deliver objects to thank her for wishes already fulfilled. Wheelchairs and IV tubes intermingle with concert posters, medals and baseball jerseys.”

A 24-year-old who wrote his thesis paper for his economics degree on the Virgin was quoted saying, "She's answered the wishes of humble, regular people as well as political leaders, athletes and artists. . .A lot of people trust more in her than in anything else. . .I was baptized when I was little, but I don't follow the Catholic religion. I follow her, because of her history, her idiosyncrasy, her miracles."

A grandmother was also quoted in the article, saying in a visit to the statue’s shrine, “I am not Catholic. I just believe in the Virgin. I came here to ask the health of my grandson.”

In an old sermon from my pastor (Richard Jordan, Shorewood Bible Church, Rolling Meadows, Ill., www.graceimpact.org) on the issue of religious icons, he warns, “It’s very important that you understand that idolatry is more than just a man taking something and bowing down to it—there’s a (satanic) spirit in this world that leads men to worship idols.

“As we know from Ephesians 2:1, there is a satanic demonic spirit that works in unsaved people and leads them around and it led the Corinthians to worship idols. It has to do with Satan and his combined host of subordinate demonic cohorts and their activities in the world. Satan’s object is to blind men’s minds to the gospel, keep them lost and divert their worship from God Almighty to himself and his cohorts who inspire the making of idols, whether they are phallic symbols, or little Buddhas or big church cathedrals with Baal poles on top.”

The Apostle Paul, in I Cor. 12:2, writes to the Corinthians, “Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.”

The word “dumb” is not used in the sense of meaning “stupid,” but in the sense idols are speechless because they are simply human-carved blocks of wood and stone, etc., turned into statues.

“They’re fancy to look at, but they’re dumb—they’ve got mouths and can’t talk,” explains Jordan. “They’re lifeless. There’s no activity; there’s no life in these gods. What they are is just a block of wood that somebody carved out and made a statue out of for every one to fall down and worship the thing.”

A great summation of this is found in Psalm 135, where the psalmist states, “The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths. They that make them are like unto them: so is every one that trusteth in them.”

Jordan explains, “You bow down and worship the thing—‘Hail Mary full of grace, blessed art thou,’ and all that kind of business—and the psalmist says, ‘You know what you are; you’re a blockhead just like it is.’ An idol is a thing that can’t help you; it’s just something that’s there; an inanimate object that’s ‘dumb’ and yet these Gentiles were ‘carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.’ ”

The Book of Isaiah offers more cutting passages detailing God’s ridicule of idols. Through Isaiah, God says, “They that make a graven image are all of them vanity.”

On the abominable and ridiculous practice of making idols, Isaiah writes, in part, “He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.
[15] Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.
[16] He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:
[17] And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.
[18] They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
[19] And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?
[20] He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

Jordan explains, “What Isaiah is saying is, ‘You take that thing, and you cut the tree down, and you take all the chips and all the extra part that you don’t need, and you put it in your stove and you cook your breakfast with that. You do all that stuff off the parts you don’t use, and then you take this other part and you carve it out and make an idol. You go over there and the silly thing can’t even move itself across the room. I mean, when you want to vacuum, you got to pick it up and move it! It’s totally helpless but what do you do?! You fall down and worship the thing!’ ”

As an aside, I was recently reading the book, “The Apostasy of the Christian Church,” written by R. Dawson Barlow, a missionary in China who was raised Catholic, when I came across this incredible eye-opener:

“For centuries many sincere, good God-fearing people sincerely prayed to ‘St. Christopher,’ (best known as the ‘Saint of Travelers’) for protection and safety during their journey, even though ‘his’ historicity had long been seriously questioned. Finally, in the face of irresistible proof that this particular ‘saint’ was a complete fabrication who never lived, Pope Paul issued a statement (circa the 1970s) that ‘St. Christopher’ was a fabrication and had no more basis in history than the Easter Bunny (my analogy, not his) while at the same time dismissed two hundred other such like mythical ‘saints.’ Yet, in spite of that, hordes of people still continue to buy St. Christopher medallions in fantastic numbers, and ‘he’ is still supplicated by many sincere people when they embark on a journey. Old habits die hard.”

In fact, I remember reading during the last presidential election that John Kerry always carried his “St. Christopher” medal with him on the campaign trail.