How should Christians feel about the arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro? There is plenty of room for questions and debate, but one thing is certain: The American government has a God-given mandate to protect its citizens from any evil that threatens to harm them.
Early Saturday morning, U.S. special operations forces executed what may prove to be one of the most consequential counter-narcoterrorism operations in American history. In a carefully planned two-hour mission involving 150 aircraft, American military forces and law enforcement personnel captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and transported him to face justice in a Brooklyn detention center for crimes that have devastated American communities.
The operation wasn’t impulsive political theater. It was the calculated culmination of years of intelligence gathering, legal groundwork, and strategic planning to stop an ongoing attack on American citizens that has claimed more than 250,000 lives since 2021.
The Death Toll Americans Face
While critics focus on the reported (but unverified) 80 deaths of Venezuelan and Cuban security forces (and no Americans) during Saturday’s operation, they ignore the catastrophic American casualties that necessitated this action.
Since 2021, more than 250,000 Americans have died from fentanyl and synthetic opioid overdoses. In 2023 alone, approximately 72,776 Americans died from fentanyl — nearly 900 deaths every single day. These aren’t statistics. They’re Americans poisoned by drugs flooding across our southern border.
The threat isn’t abstract. Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan prison gang, took over apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado, beginning in late 2023. Gang members engaged in armed home invasions, kidnappings, extortion, assault, human trafficking, and child prostitution. Property managers received death threats. And 16 suspected members were arrested after a December kidnapping. Venezuelan criminal aliens are also responsible for killing 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley and 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, among others. At a press conference discussing Maduro’s arrest, Trump stated: “What really played into the decision is the fact that he [Maduro] sent millions of people into our country from prisons and from mental institutions.”
The Biblical Framework: Government’s Duty to Protect
Romans 13:1-4 establishes God’s foundational principle for righteous government: “For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.”
Government doesn’t bear the sword symbolically. It exists precisely to punish evildoers and protect the innocent. When a foreign dictator oversees narco-terrorism operations that poison American streets with fentanyl, when he weaponizes migration by emptying prisons and directing them to invade our border, when his regime enables gang violence in American cities — this is exactly the evil God ordains government to stop.
The President’s primary constitutional duty is to protect American citizens. This isn’t optional. It’s the core function of government under both biblical and constitutional frameworks. When 250,000 Americans lie dead due to narco-terrorism emanating from Venezuela, when gang violence terrorizes American neighborhoods, and when criminal aliens rape and murder innocent Americans, the question isn’t whether government should act, it’s what action best serves justice.
Christians rightly emphasize that we “wrestle not against flesh and blood,” but against “principalities” and “spiritual powers” (Ephesians 6:12), but spiritual warfare doesn’t negate earthly government’s God-given responsibility to wield the sword against evildoers. Both truths operate simultaneously. The Church wages spiritual war through prayer and Gospel proclamation, while government wages temporal war against criminals who murder citizens.
This Wasn’t Random — It Was Strategic
The operation represents calculated planning targeting multiple objectives:
Stop the drug flow. Maduro’s regime oversaw the Cártel de los Soles — Venezuelan military involvement in cocaine and fentanyl trafficking. The 2020 indictment charges Maduro with, among other crimes, narco-terrorism conspiracy. Removing him and establishing leverage over Venezuela’s government aims to dismantle drug trafficking networks at their source.
Cut Iran and China’s funding. Maduro sold sanctioned oil to Iran and China, financing his dictatorship and enabling hostile powers in our hemisphere. In the aftermath of Maduro’s arrest, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a naval blockade on Venezuelan oil tankers, a tactic that will ensure economic strangulation to eliminate this funding.
Establish regional security. Under Maduro’s regime,Venezuela had become a base for Iran, China, Russia, and Cuba, all of whom were building capabilities and exerting power and influence in America’s backyard. Removing Maduro disrupts these alliances.
End humanitarian catastrophe. Oil-rich Venezuela was once South America’s most prosperous nation, but under socialism, its oil industry and economy collapsed, with hyperinflation exceeding one million percent and its citizens forced to endure food and medicine shortages, extreme poverty, and tyranny. More than six million Venezuelans ultimately fled, directly fueling migration chaos at America’s border.
The Legitimacy Question
Critics say the Maduro operation violates Venezuela’s national sovereignty and is illegal, but the legitimacy argument contains crucial nuances.
The United States never recognized Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate president. From 2019 to 2023, the U.S. recognized Juan Guaidó as interim president following Maduro’s fraudulent 2018 reelection. When Guaidó’s interim government dissolved in 2023, the U.S. continued recognizing the opposition-controlled National Assembly while explicitly not recognizing Maduro.
Nearly 60 countries — including most of the European Union, Canada, Australia, Japan, Israel, and 16 Western Hemisphere nations — also rejected Maduro’s legitimacy. The Venezuelan people themselves deemed his 2024 election fraudulent, with international observers supporting opposition candidate Edmundo González, who Nobel Peace Prize winner and Venezuelan dissident María Corina Machado had championed.
When the U.S. refuses to recognize someone as a legitimate head of state, sovereignty claims become considerably more complex. Maduro held power through fraud, violence, and oppression, not democratic legitimacy.
Moreover, Maduro was already under federal indictment. The Trump administration didn’t fabricate charges post-operation — the Justice Department filed narco-terrorism charges against Maduro and his wife in 2020 during Trump’s first term and a federal grand jury indicted them both. This operation executed an existing arrest warrant against an indicted criminal who happened to control a government the U.S. never recognized as legitimate.
The Obama and Bush 1 Precedents
Trumps decision to apprehend a high-ranking accused criminal inside of a foreign country has happened before. In 2011, President Obama ordered Navy SEALs into Pakistan not to apprehend but to kill Osama bin Laden and he did so without notifying the Pakistani government or seeking new congressional authorization. Obama relied on the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) — congressional authorization passed after 9/11 granting the President authority to use force against those who “planned, authorized, committed, or aided” the September 11 attacks.
The Venezuela operation differs in important ways. Trump characterized it as “law enforcement executing an arrest warrant” rather than invoking the AUMF or claiming Article 51 self-defense. This framing avoids War Powers Resolution requirements for congressional authorization of military action.
Some legal scholars question whether calling a military invasion “law enforcement” legitimately bypasses congressional oversight, but the Venezuelan operation closely mirrors the decision by President George H.W. Bush to send in the U.S. military to invade Panama in order to arrest and extract Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega. That operation was also predicated on executing an arrest warrant after a federal grand jury indicted Noriega on drug trafficking charges.
Precedent aside, others note that protecting Americans from ongoing mass casualty attacks falls within the President’s constitutional duty as commander-in-chief.
The capture versus kill distinction also matters. The Obama order to assassinate bin Laden required 24 SEALs and a 40-minute raid. Capturing Maduro alive and extracting him from Venezuela’s capital required overwhelming force — 150 aircraft to suppress air defenses, secure extraction routes, and safely transport the arrestee to U.S. custody. The operation’s scale reflects the mission’s complexity, not imperial overreach.
Christians should consider these questions: Does the President’s duty to protect Americans from narco-terrorism that has killed 250,000 citizens require congressional pre-authorization? Should Congress debate while Americans die daily from Venezuelan-sourced fentanyl, or does emergency action to stop ongoing mass casualties fall within executive authority to defend the nation?
Such life-or-death concerns deserve serious consideration, not reflexive answers driven by political tribalism.
Venezuelan Suffering and Gospel Need
Socialism destroyed Venezuela. The “Bolivarian Revolution,” as it was dubbed, seized property, nationalized industries, and redistributed wealth through corrupt bureaucracies. The result? A prosperous nation supported by the world’s largest oil reserves was reduced to starvation, oppression, and exodus.
Christians must understand that socialism isn’t merely flawed economics — it’s a rival faith that worships the state as its savior. This belief system violates the Eighth Commandment’s protection of property and institutionalizes the Tenth Commandment’s forbidden covetousness.
For those who lived under Maduro’s totalitarian regime, this issue isn’t complicated. They recognize the rightness of removing an illegitimate and murderous thug from the seat of power. It was hardly surprising then to see Venezuelan-Americans in south Florida erupt in celebration on Saturday. “Libertad!” they chanted through tears. As Valeria Morillo, 19, told CBS News: “This means everything. Since the moment I was born, we lived under an abusive dictatorship.”
The Path Forward
Trump says that America is “in charge” temporarily. While former Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, now interim leader, initially denounced the operation, she has since extended an invitation for the U.S. and Venezuela to work together.
This came after Trump threatened: “If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price.”
Opposition leader María Corina Machado has called for recognizing Edmundo González as president, who is seen as the legitimate winner of the 2024 election. But putting him in place is complicated. Secretary of State has stated that new elections will be held at a certain point. However, for the moment, he said, America’s goal “is to see changes in Venezuela that are beneficial to the United States first and foremost, because that’s who we work for, but also we believe beneficial for the people of Venezuela who have suffered tremendously. We want a better future for Venezuela.”
Historically, nation-building hasn’t worked well. Can the U.S. install legitimate governance without years of occupation? What prevents another strongman from seizing power once U.S. forces leave or if its policy towards Venezuela changes with a future administration?
These concerns merit attention, and Christians should demand congressional accountability and proper oversight.
The Christian To Do List
As the debates and actions over Venezuela continue in the coming days and weeks, what should Christians do? Here are five actions:
Pray for Venezuela. Pray for wisdom for leaders. Pray for Venezuela’s interim government. Pray for protection of vulnerable Venezuelans. Pray for churches to be planted and for Gospel light to shine brightly on a country that is 72 percent Catholic and 8 percent Protestant.
Think consistently. Don’t let political tribalism determine your position. Apply biblical principles consistently regardless of which party holds power.
Demand accountability. Even necessary operations require oversight. Christians can support action against evil while demanding constitutional accountability.
Reject false choices. We can oppose socialism while questioning aspects of intervention. We can celebrate a dictator’s removal while mourning deaths. We can acknowledge threats while demanding transparency.
Remember spiritual priorities. Earthly kingdoms rise and fall. Christ’s Kingdom stands forever. No matter who governs Venezuela, Jesus Christ remains King of Kings and belief in Him is what will deliver ultimate freedom.
One truth remains clear: When evil threatens American citizens on this scale — hundreds of thousands dead from narco-terrorism, gang violence in American cities, a dictator funding hostile powers — government bears the God-given responsibility to act. This is precisely what Romans 13 describes.
Christians can debate tactics and timing. But we cannot deny that confronting this evil falls within government’s biblical mandate. The question isn’t whether to act against such wickedness — it’s whether this specific action serves justice rightly, proportionally, and with proper authority.
That’s a question worthy of serious Christian reflection, not reflexive condemnation of leaders attempting to stop an ongoing mass casualty attack on the people they’re sworn to protect.
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