Revelation 17:8: The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

In Revelation 17:8-18, an angel explained to John the mystery of the scarlet coloured beast identified in Revelation 17:3.¹ The explanation begins with the statement that the beast ... was, and is not, and yet is.² These words do very little to solve the mystery of the beast.³ However, in the verses that follow, John learns about the evolution of the scarlet coloured beast past, present, and future from about 70 AD until the end of the little season after the 1000-year millennium.⁴

The explanation begins with the beast that ... was. This refers to the First Beast in Revelation 13:1 that rose from the sea or abyss⁵ and made war on Christians⁶ soon after the reign of Nero from 54 to 68 AD.⁷ Nero ordered the Roman attack that destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD.⁸ That same beast of the Roman Empire continued to wage war on the saints until they were completely overcome by the First Beast during the Great Apostasy as described in Revelation 13:7.⁹ The First Beast represents the Roman Empire,¹⁰ not Nero specifically as some have suggested.¹¹ The First Beast in Revelation 13:1 is also the blood-stained scarlet coloured beast identified in Revelation 17:3.¹² The disembodied spirit of Cain is the spiritual head of the First Beast,¹³ who received his power from the Dragon (Satan) in Revelation 13:2.¹⁴

In 70 AD, the Roman Empire was called Imperial Rome¹⁵ and Pagan Rome,¹⁶ which was tolerant of all forms of pagan worship and religion generally.¹⁷ After Constantine issued the edict of Milan in 313 AD,¹⁸ a paganized form of Christianity¹⁹ became the state religion of the Roman Empire.²⁰ At that time, the woman of false religion who was seated on the scarlet coloured beast evolved into the woman of false religion arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls in Revelation 17:4.²¹ In other words, the beast representing the bloody Roman Empire that killed the saints of God evolved into the adoring Roman Empire that lavished gifts upon pagan Christianity as the new state religion early in the 4th century AD.

About 150 years later, Imperial-Pagan Rome was wounded to death when Rome fell to the Germanic hoards from the north in 476 AD.²² When Rome fell, the Imperial Roman Empire became the beast that ... is not, as described in Revelation 17:8.²³ However, after Imperial Rome was wounded to death, its deadly wound was healed as described by John in Revelation 13:3.²⁴ This occurred when the fallen empire rose again and lived on in the Holy Roman Empire²⁵ or Papal Rome.²⁶ The power of Rome thus continued for more than a thousand years under the rule of the popes²⁷ and papal authority.²⁸ The First Beast thus became the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.²⁹ In other words, when the Imperial Roman Empire fell in 476 AD, it became the beast that was and is not. Then, when the Holy Roman Empire rose from the ashes of Imperial Rome, the Holy Roman Empire became the beast that yet is.³⁰ The beast that yet is continued the bloody practices of the scarlet coloured beast from the time of Imperial Rome by using the sword to enforce both political and religious supremacy under the banner of Christianity.³¹ This practice prevailed throughout the Dark Ages, the Renaissance, and during the Reformation until the Holy Roman Empire finally collapsed when Francis II resigned from power in Austria as the last Roman Emperor on August 6, 1806.³²

Even though the Holy Roman Empire came to an end in 1806, the beast has still survived and yet is. It now thrives and is growing more powerful in the modern era. In other words, when the Holy Roman Empire ended in 1806, the First Beast from Revelation 13:1-8 ended, but it emerged as the Second Beast described in Revelation 13:11-18.³³ Thus, it has become the beast that yet is in the modern nations. This is why John said in Revelation 13:12 that the Second Beast exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, except that now‒in the latter days‒the power and evil influence of the Second Beast that yet is has grown well beyond the territorial limits of the Roman Empire and operates in all modern nations.³⁴

Less than a year before the Holy Roman Empire came to an end on August 6, 1806, the Prophet Joseph Smith was born on December 23, 1805. It is not coincidental that the Roman Empire (First Beast) ended in 1806, and the restoration of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began with the First Vision in 1820.³⁵ The rise of the restored church and the demise of the Holy Roman Empire are closely related events both temporally and spiritually. The restoration of God's kingdom on earth marked a turning point in Satan's kingdom‒going from the First Beast with declining dominion and power in the Roman Empire to the Second Beast that has growing dominion and power in the whole world. Daniel described the emergence of the Second Beast in the early 1800's as a little horn that makes war with the Latter-day Saints and prevails against them in Daniel 7:8.³⁶ The Second Beast opposes‒and now is the great antagonist of‒Christ's restored church in all the modern nations. The Second Beast includes the tares sown among the wheat at the time of the restoration which grow together until the time of the Second Coming. (Doctrine and Covenants 86:1-7)

Revelation 16:13 refers to the head of this Second Beast as the False Prophet³⁷ because the Second Beast includes apostate members of the restored church of Jesus Christ that openly fight against the teachings of Joseph Smith‒the True Prophet³⁸ of the restoration.³⁹ Judas Iscariot was an apostolic apostate of the ancient church⁴⁰ and his disembodied spirit is the spiritual head of latter-day apostates who act in his image.⁴¹ Apostate members of the true church are‒and will increasingly become‒an integral part of the Second Beast that yet is as the Second Coming approaches.

The disembodied spirits of Cain (the Beast) and Judas (the False Prophet) continue to lead their respective hosts of disembodied spirit sons of perdition as the Dragon (Satan) leads his evil host of unembodied spirits. Today, these three groups influence governments, religions and educational institutions that support the Second Beast that yet is. During the future First Woe, all these evil spirits shall ascend out of the bottomless pit like a plague of locusts with increased power as described by John in Revelation 9:1-3.⁴² They will overrun the earth⁴³ until these agents of the Second Beast kill the Two Witnesses in Jerusalem at the end of the Second Woe (Physical Armageddon)⁴⁴ as recorded by John in Revelation 11:7.⁴⁵ When the Third Woe of Spiritual Armageddon quickly follows,⁴⁶ the spirit sons of perdition that follow Cain and Judas will be cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone,⁴⁷ which is also called perdition.⁴⁸ John recorded this event in Revelation 19:20.⁴⁹ In Revelation 17:8, John's angelic guide summarily explains all these events, saying: "The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition."⁵⁰

The disembodied spirit sons of perdition that follow the Beast (Cain) and the False Prophet (Judas) go into perdition at the Second Coming, but that is not the case with the unembodied spirit sons of perdition that follow Satan (the Dragon).⁵¹ At the Second Coming, Satan's unembodied spirit followers will be bound in the bottomless pit for 1,000 years.⁵² They will not go into perdition to join the Beast and False Prophet until after the little season at the end of the millennium.⁵³ This event is recorded by John in Revelation 20:10.⁵⁴ Satan's kingdom on earth during the little season is the eighth kingdom identified by the angel in Revelation 17:11.⁵⁵ This verse concludes the history of the evolving beast that was, and is not, and yet is from 70 AD until after the little season that follows the millennium.

The angel in Revelation 17:8 further explained to John the status of wicked people who now live and will live at the time of the Second Coming. The wicked are those whose names were not written in the book of life⁵⁶ from the foundation of the world.⁵⁷ The angel said that these shall wonder (admire)⁵⁸ when they behold the beast‒meaning the Second Beast in the modern age. John used similar words to describe wicked worshipers who wondered after the First Beast during the Great Apostasy in Revelation 13:8, saying their names were also "not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."⁵⁹ These similar descriptions confirm that the two beasts in Revelation chapter 13 are the same evolving beast described in Revelation chapter 17.

There is also a subtle but notable difference in the two descriptions of wicked people in Revelation chapters 13 and 17. In Revelation 13:8, the names of the wicked are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, but in Revelation 17:8 their names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. Herein lies the subtle difference: Revelation chapter 13 states that the names of the wicked are not‒or are no longer‒written in the book of life, while Revelation chapter 17 states that the wicked never had their names written in the book of life from the beginning or from the foundation of the world. Since Revelation chapter 17 is written in a latter-day context, this means that latter-day worshipers of the Second Beast⁶⁰ are people who never qualified to have their names written in the book of life during the premortal existence.⁶¹ They were never foreordained to exaltation.⁶²

The latter-day worshipers who wonder after the Second Beast may be akin to the premortal spirit of Cain who became perdition in this life because he wast also [perdition] before the world.⁶³ Worshipers of the Second Beast include apostate members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who become sons of perdition in this life as they wage open warfare against the saints in the spirit of Judas Iscariot, the False Prophet.⁶⁴ These apostates and other wicked people who never had their names written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will worship the Second Beast before the Second Coming. They will battle faithful Latter-day Saints whose names have been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world.⁶⁵ This dichotomy expresses the logical truth that people born to participate in the great winding up scenes before the Second Coming will include the best of the best pitted against the worst of the worst to maintain an equal opposition in all things.⁶⁶