Venezuelan dictator captured in daring U.S. raid; Arkansas Governor in hot water for celebrating Christmas; Muslims in Congo, Africa kill 15

It’s Monday, January 5th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)

By Adam McManus

Muslims in Congo, Africa kill 15

The New Year began in chaos and mourning for residents of Katanga village in North Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, reports International Christian Concern.

As families gathered to welcome 2026, armed Muslim fighters from the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, carried out a deadly nighttime incursion, killing at least 15 people on Thursday, January 1. Working with the global Islamic State movement, the ADF is among the most dangerous terrorist groups in Congo.

Venezuelan dictator captured in daring U.S. raid

Venezuelans are celebrating in the streets.

(Audio of celebration)

Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro was seized by the United States Army’s secretive Delta Force unit in a daring raid on his heavily-secured compound, reports the Daily Mail.

CBS News reported that the ultra-elite Delta Force unit was behind the capture of Maduro, and his wife Cilia, in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The couple was seized from their bedroom in the dead of night by U.S. forces as they slept, according to CNN. The raid did not lead to any U.S. casualties.

The pair was snatched by helicopter from Caracas after they had been monitored by CIA spies, with President Donald Trump giving the order to take them two days ago.

President Trump says Maduro and his government have conspired to flood the United States with illegal drugs, and will now face trial in the U.S. on drugs and weapons trafficking charges.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke at a Saturday press conference.

RUBIO: “Nicolas Maduro had multiple opportunities to avoid this. He was provided multiple very, very, very generous offers, and chose instead to act like a wild man, chose instead to play around.

“The 47th president of the United States is not a game player. When he tells you that he’s going to do something, when he tells you he’s going to address a problem, he means it.

“The President doesn’t go out looking for people to pick fights with. Generally, he wants to get along with everybody. We’ll talk and meet with anybody. But don’t play games. Don’t play games while this President’s in office, because it’s not going to turn out well. I guess that lesson was learned last night, and we hope it will be instructive moving forward.”

Biden’s DOJ pressured FBI to raid Mar-a-Lago

Newly-declassified documents show that President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice pressured the FBI to conduct the infamous 2022 raid of then-former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home – even though the FBI repeatedly warned that such a raid was unwarranted, reports NewsBusters.org.

In an X.com post last Tuesday, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, wrote, “FBI did not believe it had probable cause to raid Pres. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, but Biden DOJ pushed for it anyway. Based on the records, Mar-a-Lago raid was a miscarriage of justice.”

Grassley linked to the documents posted online, which detail communications between the DOJ and the FBI.

Brent Bozell confirmed as U.S. Ambassador to South Africa

Last Thursday, the U.S. Senate confirmed Media Research Center founder Brent Bozell as U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, despite obstructionist tactics by Democrats, reports CNSNews.com.

By a 53-43 vote, the Senate approved Bozell to fill the post vacated by former ambassador Reuben Brigety, who resigned in January.

BOZELL: “I will communicate our objections to South Africa’s geo-strategic drift from non-alignment toward our competitors including Russia, China and Iran.

“I’ll press South Africa to end proceedings against Israel before the International Court of Justice.

“Second, I will advance the President’s invitation to Afrikaners who wish to flee unjust racial discrimination.

“I will support the President’s call for the South African government to rescind its support for the expropriation of private property without compensation.”

Bozell served as president of the Media Research Center from its founding in 1987 until May of this year when he stepped down to be ambassador. His son, David Bozell, now leads the Media Research Center.

Mom upset school secretly socially transitioned her daughter

A mother in Maine, named Amber Lavigne, had her parental rights usurped by school officials when a guidance counselor secretly gave her gender-confused 13-year-old daughter a chest binder and referred to her by using a male name and pronouns.

A chest binder is used to flatten the breasts of a trans-identified girl to help her pretend to be a boy.

With the help of the Goldwater Institute, Lavigne is taking the school to the Supreme Court, reports The Christian Post.

LAVIGNE: “I don’t want to lose my daughter to the state, even as she grows into an adult, I’ll always be her mom.”

When she confronted her daughter about the chest binder in her bedroom, she learned that the school guidance counselor had provided it. 

LAVIGNE: “This situation really is about my parental rights being violated, about a social worker who had never even had a conversation with me, encouraging my child to keep secrets from me, to tell her, ‘Look, I’m not going to tell your mom, and you don’t have to either.’ So, she’s bringing these breast binders home and hiding them in her room on me. That’s distressing!”

Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them;  male and female He created them.”

(Watch Amber Lavigne’s 4-minute video.)

Arkansas Governor in hot water for celebrating Christmas

And finally, secularists and atheists alike were predictably furious with Arkansas Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders this past Christmas, reports LifeSiteNews.com.

It’s just not that they found her professed love for Jesus Christ problematic. It’s that she used her position as governor to spread the truth that Jesus Christ is the Savior of Mankind.

On December 16, Sanders issued a declaration recalling that “more than two millennia ago in the little town of Bethlehem, far from the centers of power in first-century Rome, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born in a humble manger.” Sanders added that “on that first Christmas, Christ’s arrival was unassuming” and “not focused on the wealthy or powerful but rather on the poor, powerless, and meek.”

Sanders then approved an extra day off for state employees on December 26 “in order that [they] may spend this holiday with their families giving thanks for Christ’s birth.”

The God-hating Freedom From Religion Foundation was livid. In a letter to Governor Sanders, attorney Chris Line said, “State offices are not churches, and gubernatorial proclamations are not sermons. The governor is free to practice her religion privately, but she may not use the authority of the state to promote Christian doctrine as official government speech.”

Governor Sanders tweeted, “The Freedom from Religion Foundation took issue with me closing state offices to celebrate Christmas and sent a letter demanding I rescind my proclamation. Christmas is not just a holiday; it’s the celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth. Meaning matters, we won’t pretend otherwise.”

Matthew 1:20-21 says, “What is conceived in Mary is from the Holy Spirit.  She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”

Close

And that’s The Worldview on this Monday, January 5th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Follow us on X or subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  I’m Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

The post Venezuelan dictator captured in daring U.S. raid; Arkansas Governor in hot water for celebrating Christmas; Muslims in Congo, Africa kill 15 appeared first on The World View in 5 Minutes.