The most impressive monument I have seen in all of my missionary adventures around the world is Heroes Square in Budapest, Hungary. It features a tall central column topped by a statue of the archangel Gabriel, holding the “Holy Crown of St. Stephen,” first king of Hungary (crowned about 1001AD), a great hero of Christian history. Ringing the column’s base at a height of about eight feet are fiercely lifelike and life size statues of the seven mounted Magyar chieftains that first led the Hungarian people into the Carpathian basin from the east (roughly from 800 to 500 BC). Another set of statues rest on a semi-circular base behind and framing the central column, the first depicting King Stephen himself. “Rest” is not the appropriate term, however, because the monument in every aspect depicts heroic action — like a collection of three-dimensional vignettes from a battle scene frozen in time.
Like King David of Jerusalem, King Stephen of Hungary was a man of war, and of flaws, but greatly used by God to advance His kingdom, beginning with a military defense of the throne –and the faith — from darkly pagan forces. Through Stephen’s reign, the region was Christianized and largely remains so even to this day.
I want to applaud two modern heroes of the faith in Hungary. The first is Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the second is a Romanian missionary to Hungary, the Mayor of the tiny Village of Szarazd, coincidentally named Attila Orban (no relation).
Very recently Prime Minister Orban was publicly attacked by disgraced former US President Bill Clinton (speaking on behalf of his wife Hillary) for “Putin-like leadership,” saying “Poland and Hungary, two countries that would not have been free but for the United States and the long Cold War, have now decided this democracy is too much trouble.”
First of all, it must be pointed out that Bill Clinton has absolutely no right to speak for the generation of Americans that liberated Europe because that generation, including its leaders, was Christian. The “democratic” values it fought to preserve and promote included quite prominently the right to life, the sanctity of marriage and the natural family, and the concept of national sovereignty. The “democratic values” of Bill and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are abortion, homosexuality, and global socialism.
If by “democracy” Clinton means the will of the people versus government tyranny he is doubly discredited. The people of Hungary (and Poland and Russia) overwhelmingly support family values and oppose open borders, while the Clinton/Obama cabal are blatantly, tyrannically and lawlessly ignoring the will of the American public by ramming “gay marriage” and the LGBT agenda down our throats and inviting third world invaders to illegally flood across our southern border by the millions.
Under the Christian leadership of Prime Minister Orban, the Hungarian constitution was revised in 2011 to state that human life begins at conception and marriage is between one man and one women. More recently, Mr. Orban had shown great courage in defying the European Union’s suicidal “open borders” policies, especially regarding the threat represented by Islamic “immigrants.”
If these Biblically consistent positions that the leaders of Hungary and Poland have taken on behalf of the majority of their citizens make them “Putin-like,” then perhaps the rest of the world should give Putin more respect in comparison to Clinton and Obama. If that’s what it means to be “Putin-like,” the intended condemnation is actually a compliment.
I would like to encourage you to send a note of support and thanks to Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Here is his contact information: 1357 Budapest, Pf. 6. E-mail: miniszterelnok@mk.gov.hu Website: www.orbanviktor.hu
If Prime Minister Orban is at the top of the political ladder in Hungary, my other Hungarian hero, Attila Orban, is at the bottom of the ladder as Mayor of the Village of Szarazd, population 250.
Attila is a former Lutheran pastor and missionary to the Zulu tribe of South Africa. I met him at a pro-life conference in Budapest where he led morning devotions on the first day, in English even though it is not his first language. We became instant friends as we learned how closely his missionary work aligned with our inner–city mission in Springfield, MA.
In South Africa, Attila was deeply impressed by the work of the KwaSizabantu mission, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_hHYruC4-Q Returning to Eastern Europe, he determined start a mission in Hungary to follow that example of creating a holistic non-denominational Christian mission in which Jesus Christ is Lord over every sphere of society.
The Village of Szarazd, a place of very poor people, is in the heart of a region of Hungary with deep pagan roots going back more than a thousand years — a region with some of the worst Nazi atrocities in World War II, and where Christianity is still strongly opposed by various factions, including those who were faithful Communists under Soviet rule.
Opening a mission station and church with only his young family as members for the first year, the spiritual ground was very hard to till. Like Anne and I had done in Springfield, (www.redemptiongate.org) they bought a house in terrible disrepair and set about to show the redemptive power of Christ by personal example. That was seven years ago. I preached at his mission church yesterday to a group of about 50 people, and received a tour of the village where Attila was elected Mayor two years ago (running against an old-school Communist who promised to shut down the mission if he was elected).
Mayor Orban started some farming projects and basic cottage industries such as broom-making, completely eliminating unemployment in the village and giving work to people in the surrounding area. He raised enough money to repair the tiny Town Hall, where rainwater used to flood the main room in every storm.
Establishing a somewhat communal, “back to the land” lifestyle, almost like a 1960s Jewish Kibbutz, but Christ-centered, people have begun to relocate to the village, including two women who have recovered from cancer there without radiation or chemotherapy. There are many children and everyone seems very happy and healthy.
But there is very much work to do to redeem and restore the village. The church has acquired 21 buildings in various stages of ruin and are working slowly to restore them. They have cleared land on the hillside above the Town Hall and begin planting fruit orchards, primarily apricots.
Anne and I have decided to adopt this mission as one of our own and the Lord put on my heart to first donate some of our own money to buy almond trees for them (which are very compatible with apricots — and also an intensely life-oriented and spiritually significant Biblical food, Numbers 17:7). We are also intending to return at some future date to live and work at the mission for a couple of weeks (me doing handyman stuff and Anne teaching English).
The mission has the opportunity to buy another of the abandoned buildings in the village (in this case a house in pretty good shape) with a very large plot of ground (something like 9000 square yards) for about $8,000. I would like to help the mission acquire this property and invite you to share in the blessing by giving toward this by making a donation to ATM designated for this purchase (or to buy almond trees, which run about $7 each). Just make a donation here http://www.defendthefamily.com/help/donate.php
and send me an email at sdllaw@gmail.com letting me know that’s what it’s for.
Blessings,
Dr. Scott Lively
