The songwriter however failed to reach 40 per cent of the votes so will now have to compete in the runoff on 1st April against ex-government minister Carlos Alvarado Quesada, who was also once a singer in a rock band.

The 43-year-old from the evangelical National Restoration Party, became widely popular candidate after denouncing a court ruling calling on the Central American country to give civil marriage rights to same-sex couples.

He has threatened to pull Costa Rica out of the court, which is based in the capital, San Jose.

“People said, ‘This is the person that I want to defend us in the face of international impositions’,” he told a Costa Rican radio station after he took the lead in opinion polls.

While the country is deeply Catholic, evangelical Christianity has emerged as a religious and political force in recent years.

In all, 13 candidates ran to replace President Luis Guillermo Solis of the centre-left Citizen’s Action Party (PAC).

Final first-round results will be published later on Monday.

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Esther, whose name has been changed for safety reasons, was sentenced to a few months detention in a small North Korean labour camp after she was arrested for escaping to China.

She told religious freedom charity Open Doors that she and the other inmates were “treated like animals” as there were 40 inmates packed in a two-by-two cell.

However, her journey to Christianity began when she met a Christian woman in the cell who seemed to have peace “in a hellish situation”.

Esther said: “At one point, I gave her a little push and asked her ‘Hey, what’s going on with you? Why are you so calm?’

“She answered ‘When I was in China, God treated me like a princess’.

“I looked at her. She was a fragile, old lady. Why would anyone treat her like a princess? I mocked her, ‘Okay, I want to be a princess too’.

‘Alright,’ she said. ‘Just pray like me’. I played along. So she went ‘Thank you, God, for everything. Do what you wish. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen’.”

Esther said thanking God for being in prison seemed a bizarre thing to do but she did it anyway and asked God to release her.

Following the prayer, the woman nicknamed God’s Princess shared the gospel with everyone in the prison cell and said she had faith that they would all be released. Soon God’s Princess was allowed to leave.

Three days after Esther prayed, the detention centre also allowed her to leave with the promise…

Paul Song says he was falsely accused of calling one inmate a “terrorist”, claiming the true motivation behind his removal was to clampdown on Christian ministry.

The pastor, who started volunteering at the south London jail in 1998 after moving to the UK from South Korea, said: “For 19 years, I served with an exemplary record.

“I worked alongside the prisoners and other staff members in harmony, recognising our differences and praying that they would come to faith, but equally respecting their decisions and background.”

Mr Song said the prison’s senior chaplain since 2015, Imam Mohamed Yusef Ahmed, pursued a “discriminatory agenda” which “drastically” changed the culture of HMP Brixton.

The final decision to dismiss Mr Song was taken by the prison’s management, not Imam Mohamed.

He claimed he was contacted by the Prison Group Director at the London and Thames Valley Prisoners on 11th January noting that “the exclusion [from HMP Brixton] is permanent”, confirming an email in August 2017 from Imam Mohamed to the same affect.

Mr Song claimed he also reluctantly cancelled evangelistic programmes such as the Alpha course following pressure from by Iman Mohamed – a claim refuted by Alpha, which said the course stopped running at HMP Brixton prior to the imam’s arrival.

Mr Song alleged that Imam Mohamed wanted the programmes…

The quarterback led the Philadelphia Eagles to victory over the New England Patriots, being named Most Valuable Player in the process.

With his career struggling a few years back, Foles says it was his faith that sustained him.

Speaking after picking up football’s greatest prize, he said: “I wouldn’t be out here without Jesus in my life.

“I don’t have the strength to come out here and play this game like that.

“We have struggles as people but that’s been my rock.”

His journey to the top is all the more remarkable, given he started the season as back-up. He was only given an opportunity following an injury suffered by first choice quarterback Carson Wentz.

While success on the pitch is welcome, Foles says his career after football is most important.

Speaking earlier this week, he said: “I want to be a pastor in a high school. I took a leap of faith last year and signed up to take classes at seminary.

“When I speak to [students], that’s such a time of young men and young women’s lives that there’s a lot of things that are thrown at them.

“So much temptation in this world, so much going on with social media and the internet that you want to talk to them and address it, and share all the weaknesses I have because I’ve fallen many times.

“It’s something I want to do. I can’t play…

The US-based Bible translation organisation said the pastor had ten days to apeal the term, which was purportedly a punishment for evangelism.

In a message to supporters seen by the Christian news agency BosNewsLife, prayer co-ordinator Mae Greenleaf said: “The humble imprisoned pastor has been physically removed from the presence of the people he loves – from the people who love him.

“Do we have the courage to ask God to move in the hearts of those Muslim authorities, who have sentenced this pastor to a two-year prison term, to change that conviction and release him?”

Iran is one of several Islamic countries where apostasy – the renunciation of Islam – can be met with a severe punishment. Iran was recently ranked tenth in an Open Doors list of nations where persecution against Christians is worst.

The pastor’s name and country of origin have not been disclosed, apparently for security concerns. Nor, has the name of the court which sentenced him.

Ms Greenleaf asked Wycliffe Associates supporters to “Pray… that the Holy Spirit will fill the prison with His presence and that Christ will continue to be preached in this land.”

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