If you want to invoke the LORD’s fury just shed innocent blood.  This is even reiterated by Solomon (Prov 6:16-19).  The Lord HATES the shedding of innocent blood, and especially that of the children.  Especially.

In the time of Israel the children were often sacrificed to the god of Molech to get favor from the “gods.”  It was detestable to the LORD and something which rightly brought judgment from God.

When Manasseh was King, he not only shed the blood of children but the blood of the innocent everywhere.  “Manasseh shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem with it from one end to another” (2 Ki 21:16).  Because of it Judah was to be sentenced to judgment from the LORD as was fitting for a Just God.

It was so bad that when Josiah repented and instituted a complete revival, the judgment had to persist because of Manasseh.

“It was because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all he had done, and also because of all the innocent blood he had shed.  He had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD would not forgive” (2 Ki 24:3-4).

Sounds harsh doesn’t it?  But this was justice.  For the sake of the innocent, it was necessary that God render a verdict of guilty.  And the punishment needed to happen.  Revival was important, but it didn’t take away the need for justice.

All sin separates us from God, but not all sins are equal (1 Jn 5:16-17).  The shedding of innocent blood truly angers the LORD.  And think about it.  Think of someone you love.  What would you want done for the person who murders your loved one with no cause?

This is where it gets uncomfortable.  Abortion is the shedding of innocent blood.  It’s not a small issue.  Millions of lives are lost each year from this practice.

It gets worse.  Black babies who are aborted at a rate 8x higher than whites.  Margaret Sanger who instituted abortion in a letter openly admitted that it was something set up to extinguish blacks.  Abortion literally was an attempt at genocide.  It was “the gradual suppression, elimination and eventual extinction, of defective stocks — those human weeds which threaten the blooming of the finest flowers of American civilization.”  That should cause your blood to boil, but abortion still persists.

For this the people of God have stood up to this issue.  It’s not a political issue, it’s a moral issue.  And it’s not one that should not be set aside as something casual.  It’s worth fighting for (not physically but in the areas where decisions are made).  It should indeed be a key factor in our voting.  And in our church life (thank you Catholics for leading the way in this).   And more.  It’s not a small issue.  Do not be deceived.

Not all issues are created equal.  But this is a significant one.  Even moreso in the Scriptures.  When I read that even with Josiah’s dramatic reforms and repentance, that God still did not relent in his judgment for the shedding of innocent blood, it makes me tremble.