America has always been a violent nation, with periods of intense savagery marking its history. Recently, there appears to be an increase in brutal violence, evident in a series of horrific incidents over just 19 days from late August to early September 2025. On August 22, 2025, Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, was fatally stabbed in the throat in an unprovoked, racially motivated attack on a Charlotte, North Carolina light rail train, with no one aiding her for over a minute and a half as blood poured out. On August 27, 2025, a shooter at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in South Minneapolis, Minnesota, fired through the windows, killing two children and injuring 21 others before taking his own life, driven by an obsession with mass murder and hatred for various groups. On September 10, 2025, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated by a gunshot to the throat at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, with gruesome videos spreading rapidly on social media. That same day, in Dallas, Texas, a Cuban immigrant savagely decapitated hotel manager Chandra Nagmalaya with a machete over a dispute about a broken washing machine, then desecrated the body further. Also on September 10, 2025, a 16-year-old anti-Semitic white supremacist student at Evergreen High School in suburban Denver, Colorado, opened fire with a revolver, wounding two students before killing himself, radicalized by extremist ideologies. As of September 10, 2025, CNN reported 47 school shootings in the year, resulting in 19 deaths and at least 77 injuries. Beyond these, unlisted gang-related violence and gruesome murders add to the tally of brutality. This surge in brutality is seen as a sign of the times, reflecting a deeper societal trend toward savagery and inhumanity. Brutality, characterized by synonyms like savagery, barbarism, and cruelty, embodies a feral, untamed nature, marked by menacing and predatory intent. It manifests as extreme hatred, producing violence that exceeds normal enmity, sliding into acts akin to war crimes and inhumane torture. Brutal individuals act like wild beasts, driven by emotional instinct rather than reason, while dehumanizing their victims to justify their abhorrent crimes, reducing them to contemptible entities deserving of destruction. This lack of self-control and disdain for the common good fuel their actions, as they are unable to govern their emotions and harbor a deep, uncontrollable animus toward their targets, often extending to entire groups or beliefs without rational basis. Survivors are left grappling with the senselessness of such acts, as seen in the Minneapolis church shooting driven by irrational hatred. Historically, brutality is not new, as evidenced by the savage murder of Stephen, where a group, incited by a governing body, transformed into a mob acting like snarling animals, demonstrating state-sanctioned violence at the highest levels. Such acts, perpetrated by both political extremes, reveal a universal human capacity for cruelty, with no side immune to committing heinous acts when driven by deceitful and wicked hearts. As the end nears, this spirit of brutality is expected to intensify, with satan and his minions eager to ensnare the elect in violent traps, unrestrained in their hatred. Yet, the call remains to discern these signs, grow in relationship with Christ, and trust in God to provide safety and guidance through tumultuous times ahead.