How do you treat a woman who has murdered her baby by abortion?

We are often asked how we minister to women AFTER they have killed their baby by abortion. Recently a precious friend spent months offering personal & particular help to a young mom who was abortion-minded. After the mother murdered her baby at 14 weeks, my friend asked, "What do we do now? How do we treat her? She is a close friend of my daughter's. We love her. This is so confusing. Can we continue to have a relationship with her? Everything has changed now that she has taken the life of the little one we have loved & have lost at her hand."

Through our mission we personally engage fifty or so women who are murdering their babies by abortion every week. I have been meeting these moms for over 16 years. Our combined experience as a missionary team has afforded us intimate counseling time with thousands of pre, mid & post abortive women. For more than half of the mothers we meet it is not their first abortion. (A number of the women have already aborted twice or more. Marian was arriving for her 8th abortion. The abortion clinic's record was 19 abortions on one mom. I heard of another record at an abortuary in NJ of 22 abortions on one woman.) Half of the women we minister to are already post-abortive. We are often asked how we minister to women AFTER they have killed their baby by abortion. Because we want to be true to Jesus Christ our response has been to share what the Word of God has commanded us to do in regards to how we relate to the woman who is guilty of shedding innocent blood.

The scripture is clear on how we are to view & treat the mother who murders her own innocent baby:

A man tormented by the guilt of murder will be a fugitive til death; let no one support him.
Proverbs 28:17 (NIV)

A murderer's tormented conscience will drive him into the grave. Don't protect him!
Proverbs 28:17 (NLT)

A man who is laden with the guilt of human blood Will be a fugitive until death; let no one support him.
Proverbs 28:17 (NAS)

A man that does violence to the blood of any person shall flee to the pit; let no man stay him.
Proverbs 28:17 (AKJV)

A man oppressed with the blood of a soul, Unto the pit fleeth, none taketh hold on him.
Proverbs 28:17 (Young's Literal Translation)

John Wesley notes that the meaning of the scripture here is: "None should desire or endeavour to save him from his deserved punishment."

Matthew Henry's commentary on Proverbs 28:17

This agrees with that ancient law, Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed (Gen. 9:6), and proclaims,
1. The doom of the shedder of blood. He that has committed murder, though he flees for his life, shall be continually haunted with terrors, shall himself flee to the pit, betray himself, and torment himself, like Cain, who, when he had killed his brother, became a fugitive and a vagabond, and trembled continually. 2. The duty of the avenger of blood, whether the magistrate or the next of kin, or whoever are concerned in making inquisition for blood, let them be close and vigorous in the prosecution, and let it not be bought off. Those that acquit the murderer, or do any thing to help him off, come in sharers in the guilt of blood; nor can the land be purged from blood but by the blood of him that shed it, Num. 35:33.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Numbers 35:33

1. That wilful murder should be punished with death, and in that case no sanctuary should be allowed, no ransom taken, nor any commutation of the punishment accepted: The murderer shall surely be put to death, v. 16. It is supposed to be done of hatred (v. 20), or in enmity (v. 21), upon a sudden provocation (for our Saviour makes rash anger, as well as malice prepense (NOTE: Contemplated or arranged in advance; premeditated) , to be murder, Mt. 5:21, 22), whether the person be murdered with an instrument of iron (v. 16) or wood (v. 18), or with a stone thrown at him (v. 17, 20); nay, if he smite him with his hand in enmity, and death ensue, it is murder (v. 21); and it was an ancient law, consonant to the law of nature, that whoso sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed, Gen. 9:6. Where wrong has been done restitution must be made; and, since the murderer cannot restore the life he has wrongfully taken away, his own must be exacted from him in lieu of it, not (as some have fancied) to satisfy the manes or ghost of the person slain, but to satisfy the law and the justice of a nation; and to be a warning to all others not to do likewise. It is here said, and it is well worthy the consideration of all princes and states, that blood defiles not only the conscience of the murderer, who is thereby proved not to have eternal life abiding in him (1 Jn. 3:15), but also the land in which it is shed; so very offensive is it to God and all good men, and the worst of nuisances. And it is added that the land cannot be cleansed from the blood of the murdered, but by the blood of the murderer, v. 33. If murderers escape punishment from men, those that suffer them to escape will have a great deal to answer for, and God will nevertheless not suffer them to escape his righteous judgments. Upon the same principle it is provided that no satisfaction should be taken for the life of a murderer (v. 31): If a man would give all the substance of his house to the judges, to the country, or to the avenger of blood, to atone for his crime, it must utterly be contemned. The redemption of the life is so precious that it cannot be obtained by the multitude of riches (Ps. 49:6-8),

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So, how are we to treat the woman who has murdered her baby? We are to treat her with full respect for God's requirement of how we treat a person who has slain an innocent person & has not been sentenced to just punishment for her crime by the magistrate. We are to treat her as a pre-meditated murderer. We must give her no support & we must be rigorous & honest in pursuing justice for the baby. She must not be offered comfort but left to the slough of despair, the pit of misery that is the place where all murderers go when they are guilty but escape justice. If you have been a friend or the abortive woman is a family member, your relationship cannot remain as it was. I explained this to a woman whose mother works in the abortuary the other day. If your husband was sleeping with another woman, would you have the same respect for him? Would you continue to treat him as if nothing had happened? If your neighbor had raped your daughter, would you greet him in the same friendly manner as usual? Would you bake him an apple pie & bring it over for him to enjoy? There are no more stocks & pillars, but there should always be a stigma attached to grave, willful sin. Sadly, with abortion the predominant philosophy is; "She is hurting. Give her a hug. Treat her with love. This is going to be hard for her." Would you think that is how your friends should treat your adulterous husband? Would you want people to pour acts of kindness upon the man who raped your daughter? What sort of respect does that show for the innocent victim when the perpetrator is comforted in their sin?

Take the holy Law of God to women (and men) who have slaughtered their young. Let the Sixth Commandment have its full effect on the hell-bent sinner. To do any less is witholding the law, which is perfect, converting the soul. Once the guilty mother has stopped justifying or excusing herself for the sin of murder against her baby and against God, then, & only then, is she ready to hear the grace of the gospel. If a woman's mouth is shut & she is no longer giving reasons why she 'had' to do it or blaming others for murdering her baby & the mother appears genuinely humble & repentant, commend her to the grace of God in Jesus Christ. (Listen to Hell's Best Kept Secret. It will help you understand this biblical approach to evangelism: http://www.livingwaters.com/learn/hellsbestkeptsecret.htm) If an abortive mom is impenitent, let her know that because of the instruction of God & the dictates of your own conscience, you are going to remove the comfort of your friendship. Just as you would (I hope) no longer be friends with someone who was sleeping with someone else's husband or someone who had raped a little girl, break off your friendship until the guilty mother shows signs of true remorse for the slaughter of her child. There is no need to be mean or cruel in the manner in which you carry out this command from God. You can & you must do this in LOVE. Our greatest desire is for the woman to repent & for her to run to Jesus for He is the only source of grace that saves, forgives & heals of sin. And may God use your biblical response &, by the work of His Holy Spirit, bring the woman to reconcilition in Jesus Christ.

To reiterate: Don't be afraid to address child-murder as sin. We are finding that many with women are murdering more than two of their infants --- soon America will be like the Soviet Union, where women average 6-9 abortions. Don't rely on your feelings, for feelings can & often are, deceiving. Be biblical. Perhaps God will use our obedience to bring about a spiritual awakeningthrough fear of the Lord & a proper stigmatization of human sacrifice.

I hope this helps you to understand why we do not refer mothers who have killed their babies to post-abortive ministries for support. The devil has made light of abortion and is licking his lips with the blood of 1.3 million little innocents in our nation every year. The world & the flesh & the visible church has by & large tolerated and sympathized with the devil. Enough is enough.

Patte Smith
Sanctuary Ministries
www.sanctuaryministries.blogspot.com

PS You may want to do a bible study on the testimony of two of three witnesses to help to solidify your understanding of the sin of murder(including abortion) & how we are to respond biblically. You might begin at Deuteronomy 17:6 (http://bible.cc/deuteronomy/17-6.htm) & proceed from there. This biblical teaching is also another reason why we go to the killing places. After all, in Acts 1:18 Jesus said: "You shall be My witnesses." (cf Is 43:10) Amen? Amen!

Abortive Women: Are they Victims? What does the Bible Say?

'Victim' is not a very biblical word. It's commonly used to describe an aborting mother or a woman who has already killed her baby (or babies) by abortion. But, is calling a person who has shed innocent blood a 'victim' a biblical concept?

Do a word search for the word 'victim' in the bible. (I like www.blueletterbible.com) You might be surpised.

The word 'victim' doesn't occur even once in the King James. I found it 4 times in the New King James. Twice in the NIV. Once in the ESV. The New Living Translation has 'victim' used 13 times. Check it out for yourself. While it is popular in the pro-life community to refer to women who murder their babies by abortion as 'victims', you will no precident for the guilty person as a 'victim' in scripture. The Bible reveals to us that God has a special affinity & loving concern for the children, especially orphans, & for the widow (only those who are a 'widow indeed' I Timothy 5:5). There is an emphasis in the scripture on not neglecting but being generous & providing for the poor & needy. We can see that the Lord is angry with those who take advantage of the less fortunate & rob them. Interestingly, there are warnings against immoral women (harlots, prostitutes) who prey on weak, lustful men in order to take them down into the pit. Proverbs 23:28 of the NKJV describes immoral women this way; "She also lies in wait as for a victim, And increases the unfaithful among men." Matthew Henry notes: 'One adulteress may be the ruin of many a precious soul and may help to debauch a whole town.'

The Bible shows us that human beings have the God-given ability to make choices that are morally right or morally wrong. (Romans 1:18-32) We know when we are doing evil & we know when we are doing good in the sight of God & man. That's the function of the the gift of the conscience (which literally means: 'with knowlege'). This truth is known as the biblical doctrine of general revelation (http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/packer/04guilt.html) & coincides with common grace (http://www.ldolphin.org/common.html). All aborting & post-abortive women (as well as the babies in their womb) are created by God, in His image, and for His glory. They have inherent value & inherent accountability to their Creator. According to the Bible God holds every human being (*note: WOMEN ARE PEOPLE) morally accountable & responsible for their thoughts, words & actions before God. The impartation, affirmation & confirmation of this knowlege is the divinely ordained basis for moral excellence and responsibility. (It is also the way that the Lord communicates the guilty knowlege of our inherent need for remission of guilt.)

As Christians we are commanded to humbly exhort others to follow God's perfect standards, as revealed in His Word. While we cannot trust man's standards, we can & should trust God's standards because He is the Creator and ultimate Judge of all the earth & He is the Source of all universal moral absolutes.

When someone is entangled in sin, as an aborting & post-abortive woman is, we are commanded to restore her in a spirit of gentleness and humility (Galatians 6:1-5). This is the biblical definition of imparting the truth in love. (Eph 4:15) Devotion to truth is a necessary, noble Christian characteristic. Holy love & godly truth go hand in hand. (I John 3:18; II Jo 1:1; III Jo 1:1) Truth of God as revealed in the scriptures is to be our motivator as well as our plumbline & guide. Knowing that no one is righteous (Romans 3:10-18,23), we minister in humility & love in hopes of seeing the Spirit of God bring those who are in sin to genuine repentance & faith that they be reconciled unto God through Christ. If we share biblical truth with mercy and compassion we fulfill the royal law. James 2:8 says: "If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well" If you refer to an aborting or post-abortive woman as a 'victim' you falsely represent to her that she somehow excused or justified for murdering her baby. Thinking of herself as a 'victim' of others or circumstance prompts her to re-double her trust in her own deceitful heart (her flesh/carnal nature) & agree with the world & the devil, which all work together to dismiss the Law of God. That's exactly how she has gotten pregnant (if she is unmarried) & is considering or has murdered a child (or children) in the first place! And, believe me, each year we hear thousands of aborting women we meet at the abortuary (many of them professing to be Christians!) defend their pre-meditated murder of their baby by telling us that it is their 'situation' which is the 'reason' they 'have to' slay their infant. So, when you call them a 'victim' you are reinforcing the lie they have already told themselves.

Dear friends, we cannot compromise God's revealed standards; they are not ours to compromise. We should not expect God to bless our labors for His glory when we refuse to do His work, His way. (As an aside, remember, we are not looking to please others or for credit from anyone for our labors in the Lord. When we use 'our words' or the recommended counseling technique taught by so & so & endorsed by such & such, the CREDIT goes to US & teachers of the philosophy. The CREDIT goes to Him when we use His own Word!) There is no other way to do God's work but by humility, knowing that we are under the same moral Law as the abortion-vulnerable or post-abortive woman. We are all under the dominion & staggering influence of the law of sin & death which is in our members. It's no secret! We are all personally guilty of sinning against the enlightenment of the conscience (trangressing God's law is the definition of sin) & we all need to savingly repent! Everyone of us, without exception, must come to Christ His way, the way of repentance, faith & the practice of holiness, which are all gifts of His grace. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14) We share the truth as it is in Jesus or the purpose of sharing the gospel "... in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:7-9) None of us has anything to boast about, but we cannot, we MUST not, in the name of 'niceness' or under pressure to conform ourselves to humanism's therapeutic 'correctness' gospel, change the eternal message of salvation! Revelation 22:18 speaks of a warning against adding anything to the message of the Bible. We must not add or shorten or obfuscate or distort the essential truths & doctrines, or we become guilty of suppressing the truth of unrighteousness (Rom 1:18) & be accursed. Woe unto those who compromise & doctrine & truth of scripture. Using a word like 'victim' leads aborting women & post-abortive women to think more highly of themselves than they ought or to presume upon the grace of Jesus Christ. (This is very common in the modern church & is a result of a false & heretical understanding of Christianity called 'universalism'. http://www.carm.org/religious-movements/universalism/universalism)

Only genuine saving faith (which is repenting faith) in the person & work of Jesus Christ can satisfy divine justice for the sin of murder & every other sin.

Aborting women & post-abortive women kill their babies because they are guilty, selfish sinners. (We are not speaking of the exceptions of mentally & physically disabled or incapacitated women or young girls who are literally under the dominion of a parent or parents who bring about the murder of the child.) We are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners. (http://www.letusreason.org/Biblexp120.htm)

We, including abortive women, are born with a sinful nature, and we therefore respond sinfully to our circumstances. These are facts that are firmly established in the testimony of holy writ. Jesus unequivocally declared this reality in Mark 7:21. (Please permit that I have changed the gender for obvious reasons) "For from within, out of women's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery ..." The Savior does not say that women have evil thoughts, are sexually immoral and murder because they are 'victims' of others & didn't know any better. While we do see that women have a propensity for being deceived since in the garden (that is a WHOLE other topic & VERY INTERESTING, see II Timothy 3:6 * ), they are nonetheless held acountable for their sin. There is nothing in all of scripture that gives the impression that anyone is basically good. On the contrary, there is none that are naturally good or naturally do only good. (See Rom 3:12 & Jesus in Matthew 19:17, Mark 10:18 & Luke 18:19). The testimony of God's Word is clear: Every single person has a fallen nature & a corrupt sinful heart & they must take responsibility for their own guilty knowlege of having violated God's law when they trangress in thought, word & deed. No exceptions. Everyone needs a Savior from sin (not mistakes, or poor decisions, & not even from their victimhood) Sin is what aborting & post-abortive women must be forgiven & cleansed & healed of. The penalty of sin (hell) & the power of sin (indwelling tendency to idolatry & rebellion against God) must be paid (atoned for & remitted) & broken by Jesus Christ. Salvation is of the Lord, by His Holy Spirit. Salvation of aborting & post-abortive mothers is not by counseling, nor even by church, nor by the mere reformation of behavior. The sinner's prayer cannot save a guilty mom. Regeneration is not by the decision of the woman, it is by decision of God in Christ. Nobody is allowed to change the way a guilty woman is saved & no one is allowed to promise her 'healing' from her wretched sin & the sins of those who have sinned against her, except by the gracious, efficacious work of the Holy Spirt through the saving power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Over the past few decades I have read all manner of pro-life & post-abortion, purportedly 'Christian' , materials & websites & tracts which lead women to believe that if they have murdered a baby (or two, or 22) they are 'victims'. It is as if they honestly believe that when a mother murders she sins only against herself. While I understand what they are trying to communicate, this is a gross misrepresentation. The scripture; "There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end is the way of death" (Pr 14:12; 16:25) always comes to mind. 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions' also comes to mind. When we sin it is not primarily against ourselves, it is against God. Of course, with murdering a baby by abortion, it is also against the innocent child, the real 'victim' of the mother's calculated domestic violence. The propogation of the term 'victim' with regards to abortive women is a blatantly false bastardization (or shall I say feminization?) of Christianity, which is no Christianity at all. As followers of Christ godly women must not flatter & deceive aborting & post-abortive women by giving them man-made/woman-centered lies about her being a 'victim', but faithfully taught the truth, lest the Word of God be blasphemed. (Titus 2:1-5 instructs us to teach good things, such as sound doctrine, admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.) Remember that "She who rebukes a woman will find more favor afterward than she who flatters with the tongue." (Pr 28:23, gender adapted). Christians must be faithful to give the abortive woman the moral law of God, which forbids fornication (flee fornication, no fornicator has any inheritance in the kingdom of heaven,etc) & murder (You shall not murder, all murderers have their place in the lake which burns with fire & brimstone, etc) Telling the truth with scriptures is, according to God, the most loving thing we can do! "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." (Pr 27:6) Aborting & post-abortive women must be taught the law of sowing & reaping. "Those who plow iniquity, And sow trouble, reap the same." Job 4:8, "They sow the wind, And reap the whirlwind." Hosea 8:7, She who sows to the flesh & murders her baby will reap corruption. Look at this powerful prophetic warning in Proverbs 28:17 to aborting women. (Again, I have changed the gender for obvious reasons) "A woman burdened with bloodshed will flee into a pit; Let no one help her." (Hence why Post-Abortion Help/Support is UN-biblical: http://sanctuaryministries.blogspot.com/2006/09/why-post-abortion-support-is.html) The immoral woman who lives for her own pleasure is said to be 'dead while she lives' in I Timothy 5:6. However, the woman who sows a life of holiness is rewarded: "Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy" Hosea 10:12 The abortion-involved woman does not need a self-help program, she needs a Savior.

Jesus alone has the Words of Life. (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/note.php?note_id=233286745144) Don't use seductive reasoning, vain philosophy & worldly wisdom when speaking to or writing about aborting women. Don't sacrifice the truth of God to perpetuate a lie. If you use unbiblical words like 'victim', you do so to the detriment of your hearers & to your own spiritual peril. It's a slippery slope. Please, take 'victim' out of your vocabulary. (Unless you are willing to properly assign that status to the person to whom it rightfully belongs: the abortion-imperiled or aborted baby.) Isaiah 61:8 promises of how God is faithful to lead us in truth: "I will direct their work in truth" Share the Word of LIFE!

Hell's Best Kept Secret
http://www.livingwaters.com/learn/hellsbestkeptsecret.htm

True & False Conversion
http://www.livingwaters.com/learn/trueandfalse.htm

What things does the Bible teach Christian women to speak to ungodly & godly women?
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/note.php?note_id=225776425144

Our Post-Abortion Tract: Killing a Baby By Abortion is a Serious Sin
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/note.php?note_id=217872215144