I hesitated to even write this. Most of my blogs are meant to lift you up, encourage your faith, and point to hope. But today feels different. Today is a sobering moment. The more I’ve seen the video of what happened, the more I realize I can’t stay silent. As a pastor, I need to use my voice and this platform, not to stir up division, but to call us toward unity, truth, and righteousness.
Earlier this week, we lost a young woman named Iryna Zarutska. She was only 23, a Ukrainian refugee who came here hoping to find safety and peace. Instead, her life was brutally taken on a Charlotte train.
I will not write the name of the man who killed her here on my blog, because evil doesn’t deserve a spotlight. But Iryna deserves to be remembered. She was a daughter, a friend, a young woman with dreams. And her life was stolen because someone with a long history of violence was left free to walk the streets again.
Iryna stepped onto that train in what looked like her work clothes, likely just another ordinary day for her. She found a seat, probably expecting a quiet ride. But within moments, the man sitting behind her stood up and pulled out a knife. In an instant, he began stabbing her. The horror of it was captured on video for the world to see.
What’s almost harder to watch than the violence itself is the silence that followed. No one rushed to her side. No one intervened. She was left hurt, terrified, and alone. A voice in the background can be heard saying, “He got that white girl.” And there she was, curling up on the seat, likely realizing she was slowly dying, facing her last moments in fear and without help.
This wasn’t just a crime. It was sin. It was hatred. It was evil in plain sight.
And here is where we must be honest: evil doesn’t just spread through people’s choices. It also spreads through policies and decisions made by those in power. Policies that sound compassionate but end up being cruel. Bail reform that puts violent offenders right back on the street. Abortion laws framed as “women’s rights” but leaving generations of children dead. Leaders who speak of “mercy” but forget that mercy without accountability is not mercy at all—it is injustice.
Here’s the truth we cannot ignore: when we abandon God’s truth, the very systems meant to protect us become the very tools that destroy us.
So how do we respond—not just in sorrow, but in godly action?
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We pray for Iryna’s family—and for all who suffer unseen and unheard.
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We stand against systems and policies that protect the powerful more than the vulnerable.
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We stand for those who cannot stand for themselves—just as Scripture tells us:
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“Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed” (Psalm 82:3).
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“Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause” (Isaiah 1:17).
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We hold leaders accountable—asking more of those who make policy, so that mercy and public safety walk hand in hand.
Evil thrives when good people stay silent. Iryna’s story reminds us that silence is not an option. May God help us to stand for truth, demand accountability, and walk in His righteousness.
