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Rationalizing Murder

Sep 25
7 min read
HighBeamMinistry.com

“The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can understand it? I, the Lord, examine the mind, I test the heart to give to each according to his way, according to what his actions deserve.” (Jeremiah 17:9-10)

 

“In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s house will be established at the top of the mountains and will be raised above the hills. All nations will stream to it, and many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us about his ways so that we may walk in his paths.’ For instruction (Torah) will go out of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 2:2-3)

 

What a mind-jarring pair of news stories that converged in recent weeks on my news feed.

 

The first was the news on September 4, 2026, that the judge presiding over Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial declared a mistrial due to a single juror refusing to accept the other eleven jurors’ decision that Ms. Clancy was “not guilty because she lacks criminal responsibility, which is more commonly known as an insanity defense. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington says Clancy was suffering from postpartum depression and psychosis at the time of the killings” (usatoday.com).

 

In other words, she was innocent of three egregious murders due to her mental state.

 

In case you’ve been living under a rock, in a year-long coma and recently awakened, or have zero access to any media, Ms. Clancy was on trial for the January 2023 strangulation murders of her three children, Cora (5), Dawson (3), and Callan (8 months), at the family’s Duxbury, Massachusetts, home.

 

The details are shocking. Ms. Clancy’s confession that she actually committed the heinous acts is even more shocking. But the fact that eleven out of the twelve jurors had decided she was “not guilty by way of insanity” (bbc.com) was, to me, the most shocking.

 

No, I’m not going to re-try the case. I’ve heard enough to determine for myself that Ms. Clancy is indeed guilty of murdering her three children in light of her documented preplanning and methodical execution of that plan.

 

“Surely, Dr. Jay, there are extenuating circumstances that would render her not guilty.” In my opinion and belief, no. She purposefully took the lives of her children. This was no accident. By her own admission and with her own hands, she did the deed. It took minutes of deliberate, sustained strangulation to accomplish her goal of killing her kids.

 

God’s word is clear. The shedding of human blood, especially when the victim is innocent, i.e., not warranting an unrighteous death, is illegal in God’s eyes. “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans his blood will be shed, for God made humans in his image” (Genesis 9:6). The shedding of innocent human blood via deliberate murder brings guilt upon the person. It must be “purged” from the land via the murderer’s punishment. “You must purge from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, for you will be doing what is right in the Lord’s sight” (Deuteronomy 21:9). The shedding of innocent blood is such a severe sin, that it defiles the land in which it occurred and must be atoned for to purify the land (Numbers 35:33).

 

But I’m really not surprised that most of the jury reached their decision that Ms. Clancy is innocent of murder. Have we forgotten the millions of innocent children that have been murdered in our nation after our Supreme Court rationalized and justified the murder of the most innocent human beings among us in 1973? Are we surprised that murder is rationalized and justified in a state where “Governor Maura Healey today (8/10/2026) signed legislation strengthening abortion protections in Massachusetts, ensuring that patients experiencing serious pregnancy complications can receive medically appropriate care from their medical providers they know and trust here in Massachusetts.”

 

Of course, that last statement is garbage and obfuscation. “Strengthening abortion protections?” Protection for whom? Certainly not the baby. “Serious pregnancy complications?” The pro-death side has long declared that serious pregnancy complications mean “for any reason we can conjure up.” “Medically appropriate care?” There ain’t no care in killing a preborn baby, especially when it is viable and ready to be delivered. And there certainly isn’t any aftercare for the mother abandoned to work through the mental and emotional consequences of her action.

 

The long-standing shedding of innocent human blood has deeply defiled our nation. Ms. Clancy’s case is simply a symptom and endpoint of rationalizing murder.

 

To reiterate, Ms. Clancy killed a child, a toddler, and a baby, and 91% of the jury declared her innocent via rationalization.

 

Now comes the flip side.

 

In Canada, a state that allows abortion (murdering a baby since 1969) and assisted suicide (helping a person murder themselves since 2016), “Brigitte Stegemann was killed under Canada’s physician-assisted suicide program, called Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), on July 10, 2026” (foxnews.com).

 

Ms. Stegemann had been placed in the Pearl care home due to physical and mental decline. Her granddaughter, Brigitte Kranendonk asserts, “Her grandmother still had a good appetite even following a stomach cancer diagnosis, and rejected the idea of using MAiD when it was presented as an option.”

 

Got that? Despite a declining mental condition, her grandmother was mentally fit enough to refuse a state-legitimized suicide option.

 

However, after Ms. Stegemann had a fall, her granddaughter received a call from the so-called care home “informing her that the home planned to arrange a MAiD assessment for Stegemann, despite her grandmother previously telling her that she did not want an assisted death.” Yes, the Pearl administration took it upon themselves to initiate an assisted suicide despite their resident’s previously declared decision.

 

The assessment determined that Ms. Stegemann “struggled during an assessment of her mental capacity, incorrectly answering questions about members of her own family. Kranendonk said she was present for Stegemann’s second MAiD assessment, and said that the doctor used ‘really loose terms, never using the words death or dying.’”

 

We all know where this was going. Using the excuse of a declining mental state, the people in charge rationalized murdering Ms. Stegemann.

 

“Kranendonk said that two days before Stegemann’s death, she asked her grandmother directly whether she understood that the scheduled procedure meant she would die. According to Kranendonk’s account to the outlet, Stegemann began crying and said she had ‘made a mistake.’”

 

“Stegemann was allegedly told by the doctor her grandmother could ‘deny’ MAiD on the day of the procedure, but Stegemann was already unsure if her grandmother had actually consented to it, did not want to cause her more stress, and wanted to enjoy what could be the last few days she had left with her grandmother.

 

Ms. Stegemann was murdered via a bloody “assisted” suicide on July 10, 2026. “The nurse who was administering the IV was not wearing gloves and had a hard time putting it into her right arm, piercing her grandmother many times, which resulted in ‘blood all over the place.’” Then the doctor gave Ms. Stegemann the fatal dose, which the physician called her medicine.” (Italics author.)

 

What a sick world we live in.

 

But did you catch the appalling contradiction between the two murderous accounts? On one hand, a murderer was excused due to her supposed mental condition. On the other hand, an innocent woman was murdered due to her assessed mental condition.

 

Two instances of murder, both rationalized. The guilty are excused (Ms. Clancy and those who assisted the “suicide”), and the innocents are dismissed (Cora, Dawson, Callan, and Ms. Stegemann).

 

The injustice reeks to high heaven.

 

Again, our world is sick.

 

Where is the hope? Thankfully, we have wonderful men and women of God who are fighting against abortion and assisted suicide. But where does this culture of death lead, you may wonder? I’m sad to report this:

 

“Dutch Gov’t Applauds Euthanasia of Disabled Toddler—Who Was Not Dying” (billygraham.org).

 

Yup, they murdered a toddler because they rationalized that a severely disabled child (and truthfully, that was the case) would be better off dead than alive.

 

How soon will a time come when others determine that you would be better off dead than alive? What rationalizations will they spout as they bring you your “medicine”?

 

I thank the Lord that the day is coming when God’s Law, His Torah, His iron-clad morality, will be the global standard.

 

“In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s house will be established at the top of the mountains and will be raised above the hills. All nations will stream to it, and many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us about his ways so that we may walk in his paths.’ For instruction (Torah) will go out of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:2-3, italics author).

 

These verses portray a future when the Messiah rules, and God’s law/instruction goes forth from Jerusalem, the knowledge of the Lord fills the earth, and the nations live under His righteous government in peace and, thankfully, justice. This is clearly a prophecy because we’ve never seen this on earth.

 

In that day, all true motives will be revealed and all hearts exposed and known—no obfuscation, no conniving words, no rationalization for evil.

 

May Jesus come soon to protect the innocent and judge the wicked.

 

Sources:

 

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Shining the Light of God’s Truth on the Road Ahead

 

Pastor Jay Christianson

The Truth Barista, Frothy Thoughts

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