The Beast in Revelation 16:13 is mentioned as just one evil spirit among the unholy trinity of three that includes the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet.¹ John first mentions the Beast in Revelation 11:7.² In that context, the Beast broadly refers to the Second Beast from Revelation 13:11-18, which symbolizes worldly institutions and wicked people of the last days. The actions of these wicked people are influenced by evil spirits who follow the Beast that rises up from the bottomless pit in Revelation 11:7 to kill³ the Two Witnesses in Jerusalem⁴ at the end of the Second Woe.⁵

The head of these evil spirits (the Beast) is the evil spirit of a man⁶ and it cannot be Satan because his symbol is the Dragon.⁷ John does not identity the Beast by name, but the Beast derives his power from the Dragon (Satan) in Revelation 13:2, 4.⁸ Therefore, the Beast must be the disembodied spirit of Cain,⁹ who murdered his brother Abel during their mortal lives.¹⁰ At the time of that murder, Cain made a secret oath with Satan to kill his brother,¹¹ and in return, Moses 5:30 states that "Satan sware unto Cain that he would do according to [Cain's] commands."¹² When Cain is finally resurrected after the millennium he will have power and supremacy over Satan.¹³

Cain is called perdition¹⁴ (destruction)¹⁵ rather than a son of perdition¹⁶ because he was perdition in the premortal existence¹⁷ and his actions on earth reconfirmed his status.¹⁸ He became the first Master Mahan of great wickedness on earth when he murdered Abel.¹⁹ Satan used Cain to establish the first earthly kingdom of Satan among mortals.²⁰ The people in that kingdom became exceedingly wicked and numerous.²¹ Cain stood at their head²² as he stands at the head of all secret societies,²³ including secret combinations that do and will exist in these last days.²⁴ Since the time that Cain first conspired with Satan to kill Abel,²⁵ evil conspiracies have existed²⁶ to commit murder for gain²⁷ and to destroy the kingdom of God.²⁸ Cain gloried in his murder of Abel²⁹ when this telestial world began,³⁰ and Cain (the Beast) will again glory in his murder of the Two Witnesses in Jerusalem³¹ as this telestial world ends at the Second Coming.³²

Cain is symbolically described as a beast in Revelation 11:7³³ and his image is the First Beast in Revelation 13:1-10.³⁴ In Revelation 13:1, John saw this First Beast rise up out of the sea to symbolize Cain's rise from the abyss (hell) as a disembodied spirit.³⁵ He rose from hell, not as a beast, but in the image of a beast.³⁶ The image of the beast is the sign for Cain's evil spirit,³⁷ just as the Dragon is the sign for Satan's evil spirit.³⁸ In a similar vein, the False Prophet is the sign or name for the disembodied spirit of Judas Iscariot, who is the third son of perdition in their unholy trinity.³⁹

The image of the beast is also in the likeness of the kingdoms of the earth.⁴⁰ Cain has stood at the head of Satan's earthly kingdoms since his conspiracy with Satan gave him the right, power, and authority to do so.⁴¹ Cain's disembodied spirit took dominion on earth in the Roman Empire about 70 AD,⁴² when the Dragon (Satan) gave his power to the Beast (Cain) in Revelation 13:2.⁴³ Cain's dominion has and will continue in Rome's successor kingdoms on earth⁴⁴ until the Second Coming,⁴⁵ including the latter-day dominions of the Second Beast in Revelation 13:11-18.⁴⁶ The kingdoms of the earth consist of wicked people⁴⁷ that hearken to Cain and his army of disembodied spirit sons of perdition,⁴⁸ sometimes called angels of light.⁴⁹ The acts of wicked people in Cain's earthly kingdoms are done in the image of Cain, who murdered his brother for money and power.⁵⁰

Joseph Smith explained the identity of the First Beast in Revelation chapter 13, saying: "The beast John saw was an actual beast, and an actual intelligent being gives him his power, and his seat, and great authority. It was not to represent a beast in heaven:⁵¹ it was an angel in heaven who has power in the last days to do a work."⁵² Thus, John saw the image of an actual beast, but that image was a symbol or sign for Cain.⁵³ The word heaven in this context means the postmortal spirit world⁵⁴ where both righteous and wicked spirits of the dead await the resurrection.⁵⁵ Disembodied spirit sons of perdition await the resurrection in chains of darkness.⁵⁶ Nevertheless‒and their chains notwithstanding‒these evil spirits have been given immense power on earth since at least the time of Christ's resurrection.⁵⁷

Christ ministered in the postmortal spirit world⁵⁸ as a disembodied spirit⁵⁹ between his death and resurrection.⁶⁰ His three-day ministry bridged the great gulf between paradise and hell.⁶¹ When this occurred, the kingdom of God could be established among the wicked spirits in prison for the first time.⁶² At the same time, however, a kingdom of evil was simultaneously organized⁶³ among the disembodied spirit sons of perdition⁶⁴ in opposition to the new light of the gospel in that sphere of existence.⁶⁵ Cain's disembodied spirit became king over that evil kingdom⁶⁶ because: (1) Satan's unembodied spirit remains on earth and is not in the postmortal spirit world to assume that role,⁶⁷ (2) Cain stood at the head of Satan's kingdom on earth and his disembodied spirit continues in that role after his death,⁶⁸ just as righteous spirits in God's earthly kingdom continue their role in God's heavenly kingdom after their death,⁶⁹ (3) Cain is the father-figure to all disembodied spirit sons of perdition in prison,⁷⁰ just as Satan is the father-figure to all unembodied spirit sons of perdition on earth,⁷¹ and (4) Cain's spirit entered the postmortal spirit world with the same evil attributes and powers he possessed on earth.⁷²

Cain's disembodied spirit led other evil spirits in the postmortal spirit world to oppose the kingdom of God in spirit prison for many centuries.⁷³ Then in 70 AD, Cain's disembodied spirit rose from hell in the postmortal spirit world in the image of the First Beast to oppose the kingdom God on earth. Cain's disembodied spirit opposed God's kingdom on earth commencing in 70 AD as he opposed God's kingdom on earth when Cain lived in mortality.⁷⁴ Many other disembodied spirit sons of perdition accompanied Cain when he was loosed from the postmortal spirit world and rose from the sea (hell) in Revelation 13:1.⁷⁵ This became possible because the veil between the living and the dead⁷⁶ parted when Christ was resurrected.⁷⁷ At that time, saints that died before Christ's death were resurrected and were seen of many in Jerusalem.⁷⁸ Many other saints rose and were seen on the American continent among the Nephites.⁷⁹ When the veil of death separated so that resurrected saints could appear on earth for the first time, the Lord also gave power to disembodied spirit sons of perdition to appear on earth⁸⁰ with their opposite influence.⁸¹ These opposites go hand in hand.⁸² For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things.⁸³

After 70 AD, the disembodied spirit of Cain had Satan's power on earth. Revelation 13:7 states that Cain had power "to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations."⁸⁴ Cain's disembodied spirit was again a fugitive and vagabond on earth after 70 AD,⁸⁵ just as he was a fugitive and vagabond in mortality after he murdered his brother Abel.⁸⁶ Cain's power and influence will continue to increase on earth until the end of the Second Woe, when he will ascend out of the bottomless pit for the last time to use his influence to bring about the murder the Two Witnesses in Jerusalem.⁸⁷ During the sixth Vial Plague of the Third Woe, the disembodied spirit of Cain (the Beast) and his disembodied hosts of hell will prepare for the spiritual battle of Armageddon against Christ and the hosts of heaven.⁸⁸ Christ will prevail and Cain's spirit will be cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone during the seventh Vial Plague in the company of the False Prophet (Judas Iscariot).⁸⁹