Last month’s arrest and indictment of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on narco-terrorism and cocaine importation conspiracy charges continues to be celebrated around the world by millions who have been victimized by the country’s evil dictatorship.
President Donald Trump is trying to fix this tragedy and keep America from becoming like these countries that have been ruined by socialism, communism, corruption, crime and drugs. What’s probably unknown to many is that the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) and Samaritan’s Purse have worked for years with many churches in Venezuela.
Since 2018, BGEA has led nearly 20 evangelistic outreach events in Venezuela that have been attended by more than 500,000 people. We praise God for the 145,000-plus who have experienced spiritual freedom by professing Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.
In recent years, local pastors have been equipped at more than a dozen training conferences. And more than 65,000 Venezuelans have been trained in evangelism through our Christian Life and Witness Course. Please pray for these congregations and ministers of the Gospel as they continue to share the hope of Jesus Christ.
The political, economic and societal demise of what was once the wealthiest country in South America should serve as a stark warning for those in our country who champion the so-called virtues of socialism—an atheistic worldview that says government, not God, has the answers for all our problems.
Two days before Maduro and his wife were captured by U.S. military commandos during a Jan. 3 night operation, New York City Democratic Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani was officially sworn into office by New York Attorney General Letitia James at a midnight ceremony.
Accompanied by family members, Mamdani solemnly placed his hand on a Quran—not the Holy Bible—during the swearing-in ceremony. The 34-year-old becomes the first Muslim mayor of The Big Apple, and as such, the first NYC mayor to be sworn in using the Quran.
This unprecedented occasion for our nation’s cultural and economic hub marks a crossroads for a country whose pledge is “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
For example, Mamdani’s religion, Islam, teaches that martyrdom for Allah can guarantee a special place in Paradise. The God of the Bible, however, came to Earth Himself to die for sinners like you and me—so that through faith alone in His sacrificial death and victorious resurrection, we could know our eternity is sealed with Him.
Islam and Christianity could not be more at odds with each other. Islam demands a pride-filled and self-serving quest to earn or prove one’s worthiness to Allah. Christianity is marked by a call to humility, repentance and surrender to the One who shed His blood and sacrificed His life to give new life for us who were already condemned by our sins against the one true, holy and righteous God.
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Ephesians 2:4-5).
With all the man-centered religions and philosophies of the world, thank God we have the Holy Bible—universal truth for all people, for all time, regardless of culture, ethnicity, politics or socio-economic status.
Because God’s Word is inerrant and infallible, Scripture is completely authoritative for all of humanity. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
We live in a day where right is wrong, and wrong is right; feelings overrule facts; delusion distorts reality; debauchery is celebrated; and truth is relative.
As political and spiritual fault lines widen across our nation, we must continue standing on the unshakeable truths of God’s Word. Jesussaid in Matthew 7:24-25: “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.”
Nineteenth-century evangelist Dwight L. Moody aptly said: “The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.” Don’t be deceived. The only truth is God’s truth. And the psalmist rightly declares that those who believe, trust and obey the “law of the Lord” will be “like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper” (Psalm 1:2-3).
