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“Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the Twelve” (Luke 22:3).

The Lindsay Clancy trial is capturing our national attention. Sadly, in our muckraking madness and insatiable cultural appetite for conspiracies and controversies, the sensational and emotional dominate our airwaves and Apps. 

While I firmly believe in everyone receiving a fair trial, and do not want to get ahead of the court systems here, I think it an indisputable fact that Clancy confessed to murdering her three young children by strangulation. So, we have to ask how it is that “guilt” is even in question here? 

Again, I am not trying to deny her rights to a fair trial. I am merely asking why there is even a debate about her guilt? She admitted to murdering her children! 

But, she is pleading “not guilty” in her ongoing trial. And her defense rests upon a quirk of Massachusetts law regarding “criminal responsibility.” Her lawyers are saying she did not possess said responsibility at the time of the killings due to post-partum depression. In some states, she would enter a plea of “not guilty by reason of insanity.”        

Well, I say it’s insane to even allow such a legal category to exist! 

No, I am not denying the reality of hormonal conditions in pregnant and post-partum women. That has always been true since Eve gave birth to Cain and Able. Hormones often go to war inside us, as fallen sinners, and can indeed cause us much grief, sorrow, anxiety, fear, worry, anger, frustration, and the list of vices goes on. 

I remember puberty well. But not fondly. 

But at no time did my Dad ever excuse a fit of teen-age rage. He held me to account. Nor did Dad ever say, “Son, your hormones are boiling over, so just go have sex with a few girls and get it over with.” That was never acceptable in my upbringing. Rightly so. And thank God. 

So how is it that we have come in our society to create categories to remove legal culpability for confessed crimes due to chemical imbalances or emotional instability or “poor mental health?” This is, it seems, the inevitable result of an atheistic therapeutic take-over. When psychologists rule a culture, that culture goes psycho. 

Psychology, in my humble opinion, is one of the least scientific sciences out there. Second only to “Origins Science” driven by Darwinian Evolutionary Theory. I am not saying that neurology is unscientific. Thank God for genuine science of the brain that literally helped saved my neighbor’s life 15 years ago when he had a traumatic brain injury in an ATV accident. Neurology has worked “miracles” (humanly speaking) for combat veterans and others. And, there are fascinating strides being made in neurology related to mental / emotional trauma victims. 

But, true neurology is not the same thing as psychology / psychiatry. Not at all. Psychology’s “bible” is the DSM, which changes more often than a pandering politician. Diagnoses often rely upon perceived or admitted behaviors. The patient tells the therapist what she is doing or experiencing or thinking, and based upon those patterns of behaviors, a label (diagnosis) is given. These labels are often considered “life-long” and are usually treated with medicines, along with some talk-therapy, hypnosis, or the like. Young children in public schools are being over-diagnosed and over-medicated simply because they are doing what boys and girls have done for millennia – fidget, not pay attention, obsess over physical appearance, etc. And this has gone on for years, seemingly unabated. Never seriously challenged politically or spiritually. If it can be said to be science at all, it would be a highly inexact science. And that’s being gracious.

Now, I think I heard a recent news report claim that Lindsay Clancy was on dozens of prescription meds. Even if she’s just on a few, it matters. In my decades of pastoring, I have seen those meds turn people into shells. Almost as if they’re unable to respond to life as a human. Give me an angry person who is willing to confess the sin of anger and search the Word of God and seek the Spirit of God for forgiveness and freedom through faith in Christ, and I can make many inroads into helping that person learn to mortify sinful anger by grace. But give me a person who is so medicated that she is barely capable of getting angry, or elated, or frustrated or whatever, and almost nothing I can do or say makes any difference. I am becoming more and more convinced that often (not always), these meds de-humanize people. They robotize us. 

Add to this that Clancy says she “heard voices” and we have a recipe for demonic disaster. It is no surprise to any Bible-believing Christian that mind and mood-altering drugs have often walked hand-in-hand with demons. I am not one to think demons are automatically “in” those meds / drugs. But, it seems pretty clear to me that often those drugs facilitate demonic activity. In other words, they can make someone an easier target. And sinners who are living without the salvation available only by grace through repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ are already easy pickings for Satan’s angels. 

But, find me a psychiatrist or psychologist who even believes in demons. Or Satan. Go ahead. I dare you. Find me one. Find me a Judge or lawyer who has a biblical worldview and actually believes in demonic-oppression or possession. Our society laughs the idea of “hearing voices” off as a mental health crisis or insanity or mere religious prattle. Almost no one believes the Apostle Paul anymore: 

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but . . . against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12). 

But I believe him. And I believe Lindsay Clancy is (or was) demon-possessed. And I believe she needed help in years past, and in months past. Desperately so. But the help she received told her to merely sweep the house, leaving a tidy-looking void to be filled by more demons (see Matt 12:43-45). She was doubly victimized. By Satan and by godless secular therapies.  

But, none of this renders her innocent of murdering her children. By her own admission, she took their truly innocent lives. She murdered them. And if she were at all remorseful or even had a modicum of morality as a human being, she would expect and accept true justice. 

But instead, she and her legal team demonstrate they are in an ongoing state of demonic influence. By trying to deny moral culpability, they show they are truly insane. But, in a State that just legalized abortions up to birth, one wonders how anyone in that State could ever expect genuine justice to prevail. Why should the Court care? Does the location of these three children as outside the womb somehow bring potential culpability that would not exist were they still inside the womb? 

Massachusetts is insane. In Satan’s snare. We must pray for the true churches and believers remaining in this cursed State. But for the grace of God, our State is next. 

Lindsay Clancy needed (and needs) Jesus. She needed the Gospel. She needed someone to tell her how a holy God, whom she has offended by her sin innumerable times, has made a way for her to be forgiven, freed and full of everlasting life, through the righteous life, atoning substitutionary death, vindicating resurrection and powerful ascension of His Son, Jesus the Christ. She needed to hear the command of God to “repent and believe the gospel.” I suppose it is possible she did hear all of this, and rejected Christ in her depravity. But, the odds are, she heard only pandering psycho-babble. It is a bleak situation to consider. 

Churches in Massachusetts must find their evangelistic courage. Churches in Indiana must too. There’s only one Strongman who binds Satan. His name is Jesus. “Him we proclaim.”

God, help us proclaim Christ to more of our neighbors who need more help than our government or hospitals or therapists could possibly ever provide. Jesus, save us from ourselves. 

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A potential “copycat” crime has already been committed in North Dakota:   https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/inspired-by-lindsay-clancy-mom-slashes-throats-of-3-young-children-killing-2/?utm_source=daily-2026-08-24&utm_medium=email   

by Keith McWhorter