The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.

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James Fairweather was only fifteen years old when he stabbed a drunken and helpless man 102 times during an encounter in Colchester, England. Three months later, Fairweather stabbed a second victim in both eyes as she walked along a nature trail in the same Essex community, resulting in her death. He was stalking a third victim when police arrested him. What made his capture particularly chilling was his admission that he wanted to kill at least fifteen more people.

When the judge handed down the teenager’s sentence, Fairweather turned toward his parents and mouthed, “I don’t give a s—.” 

Fairweather is one of the world’s youngest serial killers. He’s also one of the few who showed absolutely no remorse for his crimes. His mother branded him a “monster.” His teachers heard him express a desire to be a murderer but didn’t believe him, thinking him to be merely an “edgy teenager.” He idolized Peter Sutcliffe, the “Yorkshire Ripper,” and regarded American serial killer Ted Bundy as his favorite murderer. He claimed possession by the devil and said he heard voices in his head that compelled him to kill. Both killings showed elements of planning and sadism.

How does a young person like Fairweather become so obsessed with killing? Granted, he was later diagnosed with autism. He played violent video games. He owned a stash of horror films and a book called The World’s Worst Crimes. Not a healthy combination, to say the least. 

At the same time, lots of teenagers suffer from disabilities and lead otherwise normal lives. And many young people indulge in violent fantasies without crossing the line into criminal activity. Fairweather’s heinous crimes draw attention to the macabre thoughts and motives that lie beneath the surface in criminal minds. Even more chilling, they remind us of the depths of our common human depravity. We don’t like to think about it, but we all know we have it in us to be another James Fairweather.

Scripture is filled with stories of violent, often premeditated, murders. Cain strikes down his brother Abel. Moses kills an Egyptian and buries him in the sand. King David sends Bathsheba’s husband to certain death at the front lines of battle in order to hide his own adultery. And on it goes. Almost from the beginning, humans have been murdering one another. 

Jesus puts an even finer point on the sixth commandment when he tells his listeners that murder begins in the heart (Matt. 5:21-22; 15:19). And if senseless killing is a human trait nearly as old as mankind, Jesus makes a bold statement about an evil creature behind it all, a being Jesus describes as “a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44).

The murder of humanity

In John 8, Jesus confronts Jews who are trying to put him to death. These self-proclaimed descendants of Abraham are, in fact, children of the devil. That is, from a moral and ethical point of view, they share the evil one’s nature. They love neither God nor truth, and therefore they reject the one God sent to be Savior of the world. We pick up the story in verse 37 with Jesus speaking:

“I know you are descendants of Abraham, but you are trying to kill me because my word has no place among you. I speak what I have seen in the presence of the Father; so then, you do what you have heard from your father.”

“Our father is Abraham,” they replied.

“If you were Abraham’s children,” Jesus told them, “you would do what Abraham did. But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You’re doing what your father does.”

“We weren’t born of sexual immorality,” they said. “We have one Father ​ –  God.”

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and I am here. For I didn’t come on my own, but he sent me. Why don’t you understand what I say? Because you cannot listen to my word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies” (emphasis added).

John 8:37-44

In what way is Satan “a murderer from the beginning”? Certainly, God did not create him this way. The Lord declared everything he made “very good indeed” (Gen. 1:31), and this would imply the angelic host as well as the physical universe. Further, as The Westminster Confession states, God “neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin.”

At some point – either prior to God’s creation of the world or shortly thereafter – Satan rebelled and then became a murderer, adopting other evil character traits as well. Some commentators suggest Satan’s murderous rampage began when he enticed Cain to kill Abel. But it seems more biblically faithful to place the evil one’s serial killing in an earlier and wider context. 

Through his successful temptation of the first humans, Satan robbed Adam and Eve of spiritual and physical life. In a very real sense, Satan murdered the human race, for he enticed Adam and Eve to sin, thus bringing death into the world (cf. Rom. 5:12). 

On the day …

The story begins in Genesis 2. The Lord places Adam in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. The command is clear: “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die” (Gen. 2:16-17, emphasis added). The Hebrew verb for “die” is muwth and may be translated “to die (as a penalty),” “be put to death,” or even “to die prematurely (by neglect of wise moral conduct).” Adam is given joyful work and bountiful rewards as he tends the garden paradise that meets his every need and serves as the intersection between the dwelling places of God and humanity. 

To further Adam’s bliss, God delivers a parade of animals to the first man and entrusts Adam with naming them. Adam comes to realize something is lacking. The animals are diverse and beautiful, but they are unable to provide the degree of companionship and intimacy for which God created Adam. So, the Lord causes a deep sleep to fall over Adam, and from Adam’s side God creates a woman, who complements the man. As Genesis 2 ends, we find the man and his wife naked, yet feeling no shame (v. 25). 

There is no hint of trouble in the garden. Adam and Eve enjoy all the Lord has given them, including personal intimacy with their creator. But we all know this is not the end of the story. The very next verse introduces the serpent, and the verses that follow introduce death. Here, we pause to consider the death of humanity and Satan’s role as a murderer.

Eve has yet to be created when God gives Adam the command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve gets the message, however. She’s aware of the limits of her human freedom, and she understands the consequences of disobedience. She tells the serpent, “God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die’” (Gen. 3:3). So, either God or Adam – or perhaps both – have taught Eve about the tree, although Eve wrongly adds “or touch it” to the prohibition. 

The serpent pounces on Eve’s statement and declares, “No! You will not die” (v. 4). This may be the focal point of Jesus’ statement in John 8:44 when he calls Satan both a liar and a murderer. Just as lies flow from the evil one’s nature, murder is Satan’s ultimate thrill. And the death of humanity is his aim. Consider this: When the serpent falsely assures Eve she will not die for disobeying God, his goal is to murder her. In getting Eve to think God is withholding divine wisdom from his creatures, he entices her to distrust God, then to disobey God, which the serpent knows will result in death at the hands of God. 

Eve listens to the serpent’s enchanting voice and believes him to be her advocate. Like Haman, who gleefully erects gallows intended for his Jewish enemies, not knowing they are to serve as the instrument of his own death, Eve examines the tree, sees it is good for food, delightful to behold, and desirable for attaining wisdom (Gen. 3:6). So, she takes some of its fruit and eats it. She also gives some to Adam, who partakes as well. At the very moment they believe to be entering a more divine state of knowledge, they receive a sentence of death – a shocking reversal of fortune.

Their eyes are opened, as the serpent promised, but not in the way they expected. Immediately, they see their nakedness and are ashamed – the opposite of their innocent state in Genesis 2:25. They sew fig leaves together and make coverings for themselves (Gen. 3:7). Next, they hide from the Lord among the trees in the garden (3:8). And finally, they deflect responsibility for their sin (3:12-13). Adam tells the Lord, “The woman you gave to be with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate” (3:12). And Eve explains, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate” (3:13).

Next: Three kinds of death