An organization that exists “to bandage the wounds of persecuted Christians and to build the Church in the toughest parts of the world” is pleased to see the Trump administration getting tough on nations that persecute citizens based on their religious beliefs.

OneNewsNow has continuously reported on the rampant persecution against people of faith in countries like North Korea, Pakistan, and China. America has been able to do very little about this in the past, but now, President Trump has issued an executive order on advancing international religious freedom — an order that has some teeth.

Matias Perttula of International Christian Concern says his organization is elated.

“We’re going to get a lot more training for our diplomatic corps with this executive order,” he asserts. “It’s going to include a lot of heavier tools for religious freedom violators and persecutors. That includes visa restrictions and potential economic sanctions on either countries or individuals who perpetrate these actions.”

These violators will not be allowed in the United States, and their assets could be frozen if they do not comply. Also, countries that violate religious freedom could pay a further price.

“I believe that the word that they used was to redirect funding that’s going into these countries into more appropriate programs or venues,” Perttula relays. “We’ve been encouraging and informing that this is a great way to hold these countries accountable, and I firmly believe that unless we start tying the countries’ pocketbooks to these issues, we’re not going to see any substantive change.”

In the past, America could only talk tough, but with this executive order, she can be tough with countries that have ignored her pleas for religious freedom in the past.