After ridding his country of violent gangs, one world leader is crediting God with his administration’s success. In an interview with Tucker Carlson on Wednesday, El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele discussed the satanic practices of the MS-13 gang, the “spiritual war” facing the Western world, and how his administration took El Salvador from being the murder capital of the world to the second-safest nation in the Western hemisphere.
Referring to the successful anti-gang crackdown as a “miracle,” Bukele attributed the endeavor’s success to prayer. “I can tell you the official formula and the real formula,” Bukele said. “So the official formula is that we did a plan … that was comprised of phases. So we rolled out the first phase and then the next one, then the next one. And then gangs started attacking back, so we had to roll out everything at once.” This official formula necessitated increasing the size of El Salvador’s military and ensuring soldiers were armed and trained properly to fight the gangs. Bukele also told his cabinet and government officials, “We are looking into an impossible mission here, so we pray.” He recalled that he would pray daily for wisdom, victory, and the protection of his people. “It’s a miracle,” Bukele said. “Because [we] didn’t have competition. I mean, they were satanic. I think that made it easier.
Bukele has had a rocky road to leadership. In 2017, he was forced out of the left-wing establishment party Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) after criticizing the party’s corrupt leadership. He founded his own party, Nuevas Ideas, but the Supreme Electoral Court refused to register the party before the presidential elections in 2019. Bukele instead joined the conservative-leaning Grand Alliance for National Unity party, winning the presidential election with 53% of the vote.
“In 2019 — the system was totally rigged, I mean they canceled our party,” Bukele related. “We were running with a party and they canceled it, they annulled our party. So I stayed party-less, so we went to a small party and said, ‘You don’t have any candidates, you are very small, do you want to win the election?’”
“Even when I was president, even being already in the presidency, they tried to impeach me,” Bukele said of the opposition-controlled legislature during his first term. “They said — there’s an article in the constitution that says Congress can fire the president if he is not fit to lead — so they said I wasn’t fit to lead and they tried to impeach me because of that.”
On Saturday, Bukele was inaugurated for his second term as president after having won reelection with a staggering 85% of the vote. The Salvadoran constitution does not allow a sitting president to run for reelection, but the nation’s highest court approved Bukele’s reelection bid provided that he resigned from office six months prior to the election, which he did.
Taken from an article in The Washington Stand by Ben Johnson February 14, 2024
Hundreds of millions of Christians suffered religious persecution in 2023, according to a religious liberty watchdog organization, but one European nation is going out of its way to assist “the most persecuted religion in the world.”
One out of every seven Christians worldwide experienced some form of persecution last year, according to the 2024 World Watch List produced by Open Doors — an increase from one in eight in 2021. A whopping 365 million Christians underwent “high levels of persecution and discrimination,” up from 340 million just two years ago. The worst anti-Christian sentiment exploded into violence: 14,766 Christian churches or properties were destroyed, and 4,988 Christians were killed in 2023, the report found.
“We have to just say the facts: Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world,” said Tristan Azbej, Hungary’s secretary of state for programs to help persecuted Christians at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. “In the world, there are more than 360 million people who suffer discrimination, oppression, threats by terrorist organizations or genocidal attacks because of their faith in Jesus Christ.”
That spurred the government of Hungary to form a government agency to assist the persecuted globally. “There are many charities who are working for them. However, the Hungarian government realized that this should not be left only to charities. The international community has to step up, governments have to step up,” Azbej recently told “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins.” “And us, being a thousand-year-old, proud Christian nation who is still courageous enough to say that.”
Over the last year, levels of anti-Christian persecution spiked in Africa, where 20% of Christians experienced some form of hostility or oppression based on their faith. The number rises to 40% of Christians in Asia. The world’s most anti-Christian government is North Korea, according to the Open Doors report.
Nearly 90% of all Christians killed worldwide lived in Nigeria. Azbej has noted that “jihadist, Islamist tribes” attacked 20 Christian settlements, killing 200 Christians last Christmas. Despite continued violence and murder in the nation of 230 million people, the Biden administration removed Nigeria from its list of the worst offenders of religious liberty — a policy Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) has called “anti-Christian.”
Fiona Bruce, a Conservative Party member of the U.K.’s Parliament, introduced the International Freedom of Religion or Belief Bill 2022-23 (Bill 373) last October. The bill would require British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to appoint a Special Envoy for International Freedom of Religion or Belief. That government office would document religious persecution of all faiths globally, work with U.K. civil society groups, and prod British and foreign government officials to promote freedom of religion and conscience rights worldwide. As of this writing, the Private Members bill had its first reading but is now stalled in Parliament.
Four of the worst nations persecuting Christians are in Latin America: Mexico (37), Cuba (22), Nicaragua (30), and Colombia (34). Yet the issue receives little attention from U.S. lawmakers.
Tristan Azbej said that due to the dearth of global leadership, “We decided that we will lead by example. Therefore, the Hungarian government established my department, which was the first ever dedicated governmental department for the aid of persecuted Christians in 2016. Right away, we started the Hungary Program, which delivers humanitarian aid to those Christians who have been just attacked by terrorist organizations, which delivers aid and financial assistance to rebuild places like the Nineveh Plains in Iraq, where Daesh/ISIS has committed atrocities against Christians,” Azbej told Perkins. His agency also “offers Hungarian scholarships at Hungarian universities for those Christians in Africa and Asia, who are unable or have no chance to go into the higher education system.”
The Hungary Helps humanitarian aid program expanded, thanks to an amendment that took effect at the first of the year.
In the last six years, “I can report to you that we have reached about two million persecuted Christians by extending the solidarity of the Hungarian people towards them,” Azbej told Perkins. “We have run 330 projects for persecuted Christians in more than 50 countries.”
Yet far from receiving the West’s gratitude for filling the need, “When we rebuild the church in the Middle East or in Africa, then I go to a professional diplomatic event in the West, they ask me the cynical question, ‘Why don’t we support something more useful, like hospitals and schools?’” Azbej revealed. “Now, we also support Christian hospitals and schools all around the world. But I can see the ignorance or the cynicism of the question” from Western diplomats, Azbej told Perkins. “The answer to that is that we always ask what is needed. In many cases, our Christian brothers and sisters would choose their church to be rebuilt first before their homes are rebuilt. This is how important their churches are for them,” he said, “and their faith.”
We should not be surprised at the increasing persecution of Christians. Jesus told us this would happen before His return to restore righteousness and set up His Millennial Kingdom.
“As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?… Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:3, 9-13
“Let me first thank the Body of Christ, (which I believe, consists of all Christian Churches), and the Department of Community Development and Religion for organizing and facilitating this platform on which I stand today to make this statement, in my capacity as the 8th Prime Minister of our Nation. People of Papua New Guinea, today, I stand here before God and His people with an overarching thought which permeates my spirit “That a nation who fears the Lord God of the Universe, shall be blessed”. In my heart, I know that this day marks, not just a National Occasion in our National Calendar but a grand occasion. I emphasize – a grand occasion because today marks a day on which our Nation invokes the Creator of all things, to intervene in our national affairs.
Our National Day of Prayer and Dependence speaks of us acknowledging the God of Israel as our strength against enemies, source of sustenance, and origin of our very existence. Therefore, the value of this occasion is far greater than every other occasion on our National Calendar. My brothers and sisters, this day is different in that it is not a National Public Holiday, rather it is a solemn day of our people coming together in unison, to bow before God in humility and prayer, seeking His forgiveness, love, and direction in a turbulent time of confusion, fear and panic. As leaders in the public domain, occasions and events are our norms, but I do not take such an event of this value and greatness today, lightly.
Today, the Nation of Papua New Guinea rises in one voice, reaffirming our deepest convictions regarding fundamental issues that matter most to us as a Nation. As you all know, we have declared our intention to “Take Back our Nation and make it the richest Christian Nation on Earth”. The occasion today is grand because I stand here with this vision, seeking God’s wisdom, His strength, and direction so that He may establish His eternal will and purpose for us as a Nation just as He prayed, “thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, or in Papua New Guinea, as it is in heaven.” Brothers and Sisters, this day must not be confused with our traditional days of worship. This is the National Day of Prayer and Repentance, declared and gazetted by the Government of Papua New Guinea.
Therefore, I, as the Prime Minister of our Nation, stand here today, not as an invited Guest to a Church meeting. Rather, I stand here today as the Chief Executing Officer of the Government of Papua New Guinea, paying homage and tribute to the King of the Universe, the Lord Jesus Christ, invoking His unmerited favour and grace upon my Government for the sake of His Name and for the sake of His own people of this blessed nation. So, I stand to Offer to our King, the Highest Order of Protocol by leading and officiating on this Prayer Occasion with a higher purpose to cause the People of our Land to come with me to stand before our God in Solemn Prayer and declaration of our collective faith without fear, intimidation, and shame.
I stand today before our God, to call on our mothers, our fathers, our sisters and our brothers, our girls and our boys including our substances and our possessions, our visitors and friends from other Nations, to pause for a moment with me, to acknowledge the most high God of the Universe, the God of Israel, who is now our God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Distinguished worshippers, brothers and sisters, I take this occasion as a Servant of the Most High God, appointed and mandated by grace, in His season and timing, to be His mouthpiece and His instrument, to unleash a message that is unquenchably burning and fiercely yearning in the heart of every genuine Citizen of our Land. I must state from the outset, that I have one business that I must complete, for which I had made it vehemently clear on the day I took Office as the Prime Minister.
For this reason, I was born and raised, and for which I am prepared to sacrifice and forego everything that the World could offer, and it is the message of our unshakable, unerasable heritage, crafted by the hand of God, meticulously and miraculously, giving us our national sovereignty, our very identity, and our priceless gift of national unity. The National Day of Prayer is the most important event of our National Calendar, which symbolizes this special blend of National Sovereignty, under which 864 known language groups of our land are gloriously woven into one united people, one Nation. We truly are the United Nation on earth, the United Tribes of Paradisia. Ladies and Gentlemen, listen to my words attentively and carefully. I came today to discuss without any apology, the very spirit of our Sovereign State, the very being of our Nationhood.
We are not just another collection of people aggregated into a particular geographical location, demarcated by a political boundary. We are put here by design, not by fluke or by evolutionary chance. This is what I have come to announce and discuss with you on this solemn occasion. The message is very simple and clear, yet so deeply profound, that it is impossible to be resisted, stopped, or destroyed. The World would desire so much to know “how such a difficult and diverse people, trapped in rugged terrains and scattered atolls, could be brought together as one people. How could any leader possibly carve a Nation out of an extremely fragmented tribal people? What really was the undercurrent power that worked day and night to aggregate a greatly diverse people into one Nation? What power indeed colonized our people and created a modern PNG?
Today, I came to discuss these questions and reaffirm the answer. The answer that I came to deliver today is coded wonderfully in these few words that I have thoughtfully selected: It was our colonial masters that gave us independence, (and we thank God for them) but listen to me, it was the word of God that made us, it was the Bible that made Papua New Guinea, it was God who gave us our identity and established our national sovereignty and our modern history. Therefore, today we came together to reaffirm our faith and declare in unison, that our nationhood hangs entirely and safely on our faith in God as our Creator, Jesus Christ as God’s only begotten Son and our Saviour, and the Bible as the infallible Word of God, which are the fundamentals of our common Christian Faith, that made us who we are.
We came today to trumpet this message throughout our Land and “shout again for the whole World to hear” who we are. We are here with this intent and purpose. I am overly delighted today to know that the preamble to our Constitution acknowledges the “guiding hand of God” who led this Nation of a thousand tribes, 864 known different languages and cultures to be stitched into one independent sovereign State. Lest we forget, this solemn occasion today tells the story of how a greatly fragmented nation on Earth with 1000 tribes, was meticulously woven into one single nation! Our Nation is one of the last “Wonders of the World”, so greatly divided geographically, culturally, and linguistically, yet so miraculously stitched into one people. This is our timeless gift from the Lord through the work of the early missionaries.
Therefore, lest we forget, this occasion today also marks a solemn moment to reflect on the selfless sacrifices that the earlier missionaries and our pioneering converts made, to give us our National Identity and our Unity that is solidly founded on the Word of God. It was the work of the early missionaries and the early converts with the Word of God in their hands, who made the biggest and most profound difference in our modern history. The missionaries and our local pioneering church leaders with the message of salvation, love, and forgiveness, were the frontiers and undercurrent power that worked tirelessly day and night making untold sacrifices. It was the work of the early Christian Churches that laid the foundation for our unification well before we were given Independence in 1975.
Today, we came together to remind ourselves, that this is an unerasable part of our national history that transcends our diversity and inspires our shared history as one people. The early political parties such as Pangu Pati undoubtedly rode on the waves that were created by the power of the Gospel, to unite our Nation. It is therefore fitting also that the Pangu Pati, which led the fragmented Nation into independence, riding on that wave, will yet again, after 40 years, under my leadership, consolidate the true and timeless foundation of our national sovereignty, our identity, and our unity. Today, we came together to reflect on the power that made us. Many of us are products of the early Missionaries. If not all, a vast majority of learned Papua New Guineans today were impacted by the Church and the Church-run schools in one way or another.
All our founding leaders were trained, coached, and mentored by early Missionaries. Many current leaders are sons of either missionaries, or Pastors, or church workers. One of them is standing before you today to speak to you. We are here today, also to remind ourselves of the work of our founding fathers who, under the guiding hand of God thoughtfully constructed our Constitution, and directed the citizens of this Nation to “guard and pass on to those who come after us our “noble traditions” and the “Christian principles” that are ours”. Drawing from, and giving effect to, the moral foundation laid in the preamble of our Constitution, the founding father of our Nation, Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, officially dedicated our Nation to God on this day, in 2007, and declared it a “National Day of Prayer.
On this occasion, as the 8th Prime Minister of PNG, I want to pay special tribute to our founding fathers for laying the Foundation correct, for the succeeding generations to build on. On this note, I must also acknowledge the significant event that took place on the 31st of July 2015. On that day, our leaders on the Floor of Parliament unanimously passed a motion to place the antique 400-year-old King James Bible in the chamber of our National Parliament. My predecessor, Hon. Peter O’Neil declared the Bible the “national treasure” of Papua New Guinea. Honourable Peter O’Neill, willingly accepted the antique Bible before a sea of people at Jackson Airport on 27th April 2015 and further directed the Bible to be placed in Parliament by a motion, introduced by the Governor of Southern Highlands, Honourable William Powi, representing the Prime Minster, for which, I pay tribute, on behalf of the people of Papua New Guinea.
This action is of historical significance, reaffirming our collective and undeniable resolve as a fully pledged Christian Nation on Earth. It is a symbolic act that recognizes PNG as a Bible-believing nation. It is a symbolic act that acknowledges the great work of missionaries in uniting the country into one Nation through the preaching of the Bible. It is a significant symbolic act that will go down in history and long remembered for many generations to come because the Bible stand above all development models and belief systems as the source of our national identity and our national unity. It signifies our resolve that the principles of the Bible must influence policies for long-term development of our Nation as reflected in Strategic Pillar 6 of our Vision 2050.
If there is one task yet to be executed on our National Journey: that is to formalize our resolve by an Act of Parliament to declare PNG a Christian nation and protect the Bible as a symbol of our Christian faith and our National Treasure. It is my commitment today to work with the Church and our people to ensure that we achieve this goal. To this end, today, I announce to the Nation that my Cabinet has approved a law to go before Parliament to officially declare “PNG a Christian nation”. God’s people of Papua New Guinea, I request you today to join me in acknowledging God’s grace and his faithfulness upon our Nation, by ensuring that this law is passed on the floor of Parliament. Drawing from the strength of the Christian Church and the declarations of the former Prime Ministers, I stand today, to commit myself to this one cause, to introduce this Law on the Floor of Parliament to capture and protect the historical heritage of our faith, and to declare that we shall always seek God’s guidance for our development and direction.
I represent our collective view that Papua New Guinea is made up of a thousand nations within a nation. We are culturally and linguistically diverse. The natural divisions are obvious. The risk of disintegration is real. Unless we, as a nation, can quickly identify and embrace a common ideology as the basis of our National Unity for our common good, we are threatened by dangerous external forces and competing ideas that are detrimental to our Christian heritage which is the source of our democratic strength. PNG as a member of the global community, is open to competing ideas that have the potential to destroy our unity, our identity, our Christian values and Constitutional democracy. How can we craft a thousand tribes into a single nation? What will be the basis to unite this nation, the common ideal?
I have a moral duty to protect that which is near and dear to the very fabric of our people’s survival as a Nation. You and I are presented with a moral responsibility to build this nation on the sure principles of the Word of God as the historical roots of our National Unity as it provides the only common ideals. Therefore, let us all as a united and peaceful Papua New Guinea, as one people, take heed to God’s Word and act accordingly as leaders and citizens to keep proclaiming our well-founded motto: “One Nation and One People” founded solidly on the sure Word of God. This is the undeniable truth about us and our proud and lasting legacy to pass on to the next generation.
In Conclusion: Today, I am privileged to also announce that, after this program, we will proceed to the Boulevard in front of the National Parliament to launch a monument called National Identity and Unity Pillar, which symbolically captures the history of our journey to sovereignty and nationhood, which I have just explained. The fundament truth that I have echoed today, must be inscribed on every monument and tablet, lest we forget. It must be written in every book and institutionalized in every school curriculum. This truth, our heritage, must be preached, taught, and passed on from one generation to another. It must be heralded from the mountain to the sea….it must be trumpeted again and again for the whole to hear, lest we forget the power that made our modern Papua New Guinea.
Therefore, the Unity Pillar, for which I will officiate the launching ceremony shortly after this program, is a physical embodiment of our sacred and precious national history, which must be practically represented and declared, for ourselves and for the whole world to know that we are a Christian Nation. I am compelled by our short but yet profound history, to begin the process of rebuilding and restoring our nation founded on Christ the solid rock. The Foundation Stone of the Unity Pillar has been cut out of a precious gemstone known as Jasper, which is described in the Book of Revelation Chapter 21 and Verse 19, as the first Foundation Stone of the walls of the City of New Jerusalem. Ladies and Gentlemen, on this precious gemstone, symbolizing our National Foundation, shall be written the timeless Words from the first Book of Corinthians Chapter 3 Verse 11 which shall read: “for other foundations can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus”.
This is the sum total, the consummation of our short historical journey and the direction that we must take into the future. Brothers and sisters, as we leave this place, with this message of our National Identity and Unity, which provides the justification for declaring PNG a Christian nation, may the Lord bless and keep us. May His face shine on us and give us His Peace. May the Lord of the Bible, who united us and gave us our National Identity as a Christian Nation, strengthen our faith against all forces of darkness. May our hearts continue to glow and radiate the spirit of unity through the love of God, His life, His vision, and His direction for PNG, and that the world may know that God has given no other Name under heaven, by whom humanity shall be saved except Christ and him alone. To this end, I vow to commit myself. Amen.
In Hungary preserving Christian values is a government priority, and helping persecuted Christians a moral obligation. “Hungary is a Christian nation,” Tristan Azbej told CBN News. He serves as State Secretary for the Aid of Persecuted Christians and to hear him talk about Hungary’s national dedication to Biblical principles, is a jaw-dropping experience. “We are trying to implement the social teachings of the Christian faith and the Bible in our policies and part of that is the protection of human dignity, human freedom, and the protection of the sanctity of family and marriage,” he said during an interview in Washington. “Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world,” Azbej explains. “There are 340 million people who are discriminated or threatened or suffering genocidal attacks because of their faith in Christ,” he continues.
State Secretary for the Aid of Persecuted Christians and the Hungary Helps Program, Prime Minister’s Office Vice President of the KDNP – Christian Democratic People’s Party
In 4 years Hungary has supported a quarter-million persecuted Christians, helped reconstruct 67 churches in Lebanon, and completely rebuilt the Christian town of Telskuf in Iraq after it was decimated by ISIS. “900 buildings were damaged. The church was used for target practice by the jihadis,” he explains. Of the 1300 Christian families who fled, 1,000 have returned. Hungary’s approach is simple. Azbej and his team travel to where Christians are hurting and ask to help. Their reception is universal. “They are truly shocked in the good sense that there is someone in the world who is actually caring about their faith.” In the last few months, he’s visited seven countries on four continents. “The fact that someone from the western world is actually asking this question, is important and empowering,” he says.
We caught up with Azbej at the International Religious Freedom Summit held in Washington, where in the future, Azbej hopes more governments follow Hungary’s lead to help the persecuted. Increasingly Hungary faces scrutiny over its traditional values from the European Union and LGBT activists. Tensions flared this summer when Hungary’s parliament passed a law to protect children from exposure to inappropriate sexual, including homosexual content, and to preserve the rights of Hungarian parents to retain sole control over their children’s sexual education. The executive branch of the European Union launched legal action over the law, saying it discriminates against LGBT people. The European Union has given Hungary two months to respond.
“We are seeing a very strong lobby in the European Union to push gender ideology through the European Union directives and the legislation and that’s such a strong initiative that eventually it will be mandatory to be implemented in the member states of the European Union so we have made this measure to protect our whole legal system from that lobby that is completely, completely alien and foreign from the values of the Hungarian people,” Azbej says. His nation’s constitution, adopted in 2011, is consistent with Christian teachings. “We have confirmed in our constitution that the marriage is between one man and one woman, that life has to be protected from conception.” And recently Hungary amended it to confirm a mother is a woman and a father is a man. “This seems to be a strange thing that this is needed to be put in a constitution,” he says.
Beyond the politics, Azbej says through his job, he’s received so much more than he’s given. “I have been meeting with true heroes of the faith in the persecuted Christian communities and I have gained such a strength from their testimonies, even despite all the threats and humiliation they are facing” he says. “So maybe it’s not us western Christians supporting the persecuted brothers and sisters in the Middle East and Africa, they are supporting us. They have a message to keep our faith, to keep our identity in Christ,” he continues. It’s a message Hungary is taking to heart. As Azbej shows the love of Jesus to his nation’s Christian brothers and sisters suffering around the world. “In our department, we never had any motivational problems because all my colleagues are fully understanding the importance of this mission,” he says.
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 