II Kings 1:10-14
The son of Ahab, king Ahaziah, had been badly injured in an accidental fall. He sent messengers to inquire of the god Baal-zebub whether or not he would recover. God sent Elijah to meet those messengers as they went, and he rebuked them for going to a false god for answers when they had a true God of Israel. Elijah also prophesied that king Ahaziah would die of his injuries. These messengers turned back from their mission and told king Ahaziah the prophecy of Elijah. II Kings 1:1-8 (KJB).
The king then sent an officer with fifty men to arrest Elijah. Being an enemy of his father and himself, the king probably desired to have Elijah put to death. I Kings 21:20 (KJB). Elijah called for God to send down fire from Heaven and burn this captain and his fifty men, and God did that. The king sent another captain of fifty men, and at the request of Elijah, God consumed them with fire. The third captain of fifty, being very afraid and very wise, fell on his knees before Elijah and begged him to spare the lives of himself and his fifty men. An angel of God told Elijah to go with them, and he came to the king. Apparently, the king had also become very afraid of Elijah because he did not order him to be killed. Elijah repeated his prophecy that because the king had inquired of a false god instead of the true God of Israel, he would die in his bed, and he did. II Kings 1:9-18 (KJB).
The atheists criticize God for this story because they claim that God had innocent men killed. God creates humans in His image to be good and creative. Genesis 1:31; Genesis 1:26-27 (KJB). Most people are basically good because they try to adhere to the good nature that God has put into them. But all humans are also sinners because the Devil injects spiritual death into their inner beings which causes them to sin. Sin causes spiritual death and spiritual death, in turn, causes sin. Genesis 2:17; Genesis 3:15; Romans 5:12 (KJB). God gives all humans free will, and so some humans choose to deliberately practice heartless cruelty toward their fellow humans. They become evil, and the smart ones can sometimes gain power over others by terrorizing them or confusing them with lies and propaganda. Most of the people over whom evil rulers gain power are basically good people, but because of the weakness that their sins cause, they follow and obey their evil rulers. This fact makes good people who obey evil rulers also responsible for evil.
The Bible records that God has no problem with killing evil humans and the good people who follow them because the weakness of the good people assists the evil rulers to gain more power over other people. Therefore, God had no problem killing the two fifties with their captains because they were obeying an evil king.
Most countries where the people rule usually have good rulers because they will not obey evil rulers. Nevertheless, all humans are sinners. Romans 3:23 (KJB). When free countries sometimes have to go to war against evil countries, some people in the free countries claim to be so good that they can be conscientious objectors. If most people were conscientious objectors, evil would rule the world. Conscientious objectors actually assist evil in gaining power in the world. God expects good people, even though they are also sinners, to fight against evil just as He taught in the Old Testament. Any fight against evil requires self-sacrifice. One becomes willing to sacrifice one's life, limb, or even mental health. One becomes willing to become extremely depressed if one has to kill the good people who follow the evil rulers. One becomes willing to become self-sacrificial in whatever way is needed in order to defeat evil. The only valid conscientious objector is a good person who refuses to follow or obey an evil ruler.
Christ sacrificed Himself to save all of humanity from sin, evil, and spiritual death. Humans have no power whatsoever to overcome their sins, evil, and spiritual deaths which will become eternal death. Romans 5:6 (KJB). Humans cannot even begin to imagine the tremendous suffering that the sins, evil, and spiritual deaths of all humans caused Christ on that cross. I John 2:2 (KJB). Christ shed His blood on the cross to save those humans whom He would save by His grace, but He dismissed His Spirit to descend into Hell to leave behind there all of the sins and evil of the rest of humanity so that He could save them as well. Matthew 26:28; Luke 23:46; John 5:24; Psalm 16:9-11; Acts 2:25-31; I John 2:2; I Timothy 4:10 (KJB). Christ's Spirit rose immaculate from Hell to reanimate the perfect body of Jesus so that He could rise from the dead with complete victory over all sins, evil, spiritual death, and the Devil. I Peter 3:18; Hebrews 2:9-18; Revelation 1:17-18; I John 3:8 (KJB). Christ has liberated all sinful humans from eternal death because in His resurrection He changed eternal death to only a temporary death. II Timothy 1:10; I Corinthians 15:20-26 (KJB). In the end of the world, Christ will visit all of His living humans "on the earth, and under the earth," and He will cause them all to repent and return to faith in Him as their Savior so that He can use His fiery wrath against evil to purge them all of their sins, evil, and spiritual deaths for Him to cast into the lake of fire, and He will recreate their repentant, good and living natures with new bodies to live forever on His recreated earth. Revelation 5:11-14; Matthew 13:36-43; I Corinthians 3:11-15; II Peter 3:9-13; John 5:28-29; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:1-5 (KJB). Christ, being Almighty God and Almighty Love that cannot fail, cannot fail to win a complete and absolute victory over the Devil and all of his evil works. I Corinthians 13:8; I John 3:8; I Timothy 4:10 (KJB).
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