Christmas Eve Strike in Venezuela

Thann BennettNews
Written By Thann Bennett

The U.S. operations against alleged Venezuelan drug traffickers ramped up on Christmas Eve, according to U.S. President Donald Trump, who indicated that for the first time the U.S. strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug traffickers moved from offshore targeting of boats to an onshore facility believed to be an “implementation area.” Additional details about the strike were not immediately available to the public, but later reports suggest the CIA may have conducted the strike. Either way, the strike, if confirmed, represents a significant escalation of an operation that had previously been confined to offshore waterways.

Analysis and eternal perspective: Every escalation of war or military force carries with it reason for prayer. The biblical mandates to seek both peace (Ps. 34:14) and justice for the oppressed (Is. 1:17) often feel impossible to carry out together. When considered alongside and applied to a story like this one, it results in a wide array of viewpoints among Jesus followers.

But even amid a wide range of opinions about the appropriate responsive tactics, we can be unified in the following according to the scriptural edicts above: 

1) There is a drug trafficking scourge aimed at precious Image bearers who are worthy of our defense (Is. 1:17).

2) We should be persistent in our pursuit of peace (Ps. 34:14).

3) We should be in prayer for the authorities tasked with balancing these priorities (1 Tim. 2:1-2; Rom. 13:1-7).

Thann Bennett

Thann Bennett is the Founder and President of Every Good Work, which exists to equip Jesus followers for a life of impact. His weekly newsletter, The Equipped, helps Jesus followers engage current events through a lens of the True and the beautiful. Thann and his wife, Brooke, are co-Founders of A Fearless Life, which works to find and fund a family for every adoption-eligible foster child in America. Thann has more than two decades of high-level public policy experience, with a particular focus on the U.S. Congress and the United Nations. He is the author of In Search of the King and My Fame His Fame. Thann and Brooke live in southern Maryland with their three children: Jude, Gambrell, and Hope, as well as a host of farm animals. The Bennetts are longtime members of the National Community Church family in Washington, D.C.

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