^“Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily,
the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil.”
Ecclesiastes 8:11, ESV

By now, you have seen the headlines and footage regarding the tragic murder of Ukrainian refugee, Iryna Zarutska.

The tragic irony of Iryna’s murder is that she came to the United States for safety– escaping the danger and uncertainty of Putin’s war. Instead of being met with safety and security, she experienced the exact opposite.

Iryna loved America. She believed in America–in the hope and security that it promised. After all, these are the words engraved on our Statue of Liberty:

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, the tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the Golden Door!”

Instead of America being the safe haven for Iryna, it was the security net for her murderer, Decarlos Brown.

Decarlos Brown is what you call a “career criminal.” His long criminal record with 14 prior incidents, spanning more than a decade, include:

• Felony larceny,
• Robbery with a dangerous weapon and communicating threats,
• Assaulting his sister, and
• Misuse of an emergency system.

Charlie Kirk aptly commented on X:

“We call the monster who killed Iryna Zarutska a ‘career criminal.’ How did we ever get to a place as a society where we even have a category for ‘career criminal’ so much so that the phrase is used regularly without thinking twice. What an absurd thing to tolerate.”

How is someone who has 14 prior arrests allowed to be freely walking the streets of America?

Godless soft on crime policies are what is allowing criminals to go free.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller, laid the blame for Iryna’s murder at the feet of the Democrat Party:

“The Democrat Party at every level — judges, politicians, academics, nonprofits — is organized around the defense and protection of the criminal, the monstrous and the depraved. The more vile the threat, the more vociferously the Democrat Party works to protect and enable it.”

As Allie Beth Stuckey notes,

“Politics affect policy, and policy affects people.”

America failed Iryna. It failed to offer the safety, protection and hope that she was yearning for.

God is a God of justice and order.

Soft on crime policies are not only unbiblical in every way (Eccl. 8:11), but they also directly impact the safety and security of a nation.

When a nation turns its back on God, His values and design for the world, a nation starts to suffer the consequences of spiritual darkness, which leads to violence, immorality, and devastation.

Now, more than ever, America is in need of a spiritual revival– one that causes us to repent and submit to God authority and His ways so that America can once again be a nation that values and protects all human life.