Jesus says in John 8:44 that Satan was a murderer from the beginning, and that beginning came when God created humans, beings whose life is in their blood and who die if they sin. God had pronounced death as the penalty for sin in Genesis 2:15-17, but Satan's deceit put the power of death into his hands. He deceived Eve into discounting God's command, and Adam, though not deceived, followed her, so that when they sinned death had its beginning. Satan murdered them by deceit and still uses that weapon today. Because humanity's sins are the direct cause of death, and Satan is the spiritual father of sinners, most people live in bondage to his lies about death and the fear it produces. Hebrews 2:14 teaches that Satan has the power of death. Zechariah 3 shows him standing ready to take Joshua's life over his sins, and Job 2:5-6 shows that he can kill only those whom God permits him to kill. Jesus became human, died as a sinless substitute, and defeated Satan by refusing to sin, taking the weapon of death from his hands. Christ's blood does not cover the first death that everyone faces, but it covers the second, eternal death of the Lake of Fire. The converted are therefore freed from Satan's bondage and from the fear of death, and they no longer need to submit to his power.

Satan is the murderer Jesus describes in John 8:44, and the beginning in which he murdered was the creation of Adam and Eve, whose life is in their blood and who are subject to death if they sin. God had pronounced death as the penalty for sin (Genesis 2:17) and had already given Satan the power of death (Hebrews 2:14). His weapon was not a sword but deceit, words and attitudes that drew Eve, and through her Adam, into sin, as Eve's admission in Genesis 3:13 shows. Eve discounted God's word out of lust for pleasure and for the power of knowledge, and Adam put Eve before God, an act of idolatry. Satan still uses lies as his major weapon, and deceit will intensify before Christ's return. Because most people do not connect their sins with death or believe Satan is their spiritual father, they live in bondage to a fear of death that has a spiritual source. Satan's power remains under God's authority, however, and he can take only the lives God permits (Job 2:5-6). Christ shared in human flesh, never sinned, and died to pay the penalty, defeating Satan and taking the keys of death from him (Revelation 1:18). Believers still die the first death but escape eternal death if they abide in Christ, and Satan is no longer their father or master.

Satan was a murderer from the beginning, as Jesus declared in John 8:44, and his murderous aim flows from pride, thirst for power, and bitter hatred of God. He was created a perfect archangel, but pride led him to rebel against God, and he has since worked to ruin and destroy God's creation. His chief weapon is the lie. He deceived Eve with the claims that God does not love humanity, that His laws are a burden, and that disobedience carries no penalty ("You will not surely die"). Through these lies Adam and Eve sinned, and humanity fell under sin and the power of death, which holds the world in slavery and fear. The works of the Devil include false teachers, wars, famines, pestilence, disease, and persecution of God's people, along with the corruption of religion, science, and politics, so that even technology is turned to kill human beings. Satan wants to murder every human on earth because those who become spirit beings in God's Family will be higher than the angels, and he knows it. He will pursue the church with vengeance, and his final goal is to gather the nations into a last world war at Armageddon. Christ came to destroy these works (I John 3:8). Through His death and resurrection He conquered the one who had the power of death and released those held in bondage by the fear of it (Hebrews 2:14-15). At His return Satan will be bound for a thousand years, and his works will finally be destroyed.

Satan was the first to hold the attitude of murder, and he has promoted it ever since. The spirit of murder originates in the heart, the mind and core of a person's character, where Satan festers hatred and anger. Thought precedes action, and hatred precedes murder, so anyone who hates another person already breaks the sixth commandment by fostering that spirit. Scripture traces this attitude to Satan's own nature and arrogant pride (Ezekiel 28:14-16), and Jesus identified the Devil as a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44). Cain's killing of Abel shows the same source at work (I John 3:11-12), and James locates the roots of strife and killing in selfish desires (James 4:1-2). A murderer is therefore a child of Satan, sharing his arrogant pride and his character. Such a person, unrepentant in that spirit, will not enter God's Kingdom (Galatians 5:21; I John 3:15).