=18.= So general were the ill-effects of the commonly-accepted doctrine, unscriptural and untrue though it was, regarding the endless torment awaiting every sinner, that even before the Church had been formally organized in the present dispensation, God gave a revelation through the Prophet Joseph Smith, touching this matter, in which we read:--"And surely every man must repent or suffer; for I, God, am endless: wherefore I revoke not the judgments which I shall pass, but woes shall go forth, weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, yea to those who are found on my left hand; nevertheless it is not written that there shall be no end to this torment, but it is written endless torment. Again it is written eternal damnation ... for behold, I am endless, and the punishment which is given from my hand, is endless punishment, for Endless is my name; wherefore, eternal punishment is God's punishment. Endless punishment is God's punishment.[161]" [161] Revelation given March, 1830; Doc. and Cov. xix, 4-12. =19. Satan.=--We have had occasion to refer frequently to the author of evil among men. This is Satan,[162] the adversary or opponent of the Lord, the chief of all evil spirits, called also the Devil,[163] Beelzebub,[164] or the Prince of Devils, Perdition,[165] and Belial.[166] The figurative appellations Dragon and Serpent are applied to Satan, when reference is made to his fall.[167] We learn from the revealed word[168] that Satan was once an angel of light; he was then known as Lucifer, a Son of the Morning, but his uncontrolled ambition prompted him to aspire to the glory and power of the Father, to secure which he made the unjust proposition to redeem the human family by compulsion; failing in this purpose, he headed an open rebellion against the Father and the Son, drawing a third of the hosts of heaven into his impious league.[169] These rebellious spirits were expelled from heaven, and have since followed the impulses of their wicked natures by seeking to lead human souls to their own condition of darkness. They are the Devil and his angels. The right of free agency, maintained and vindicated by the fateful strife in heaven, prevents the possibility of compulsion being employed in this fiendish work of degradation; but the powers of these malignant spirits to tempt and persuade are used to their utmost limits. Satan tempted Eve to transgress the law of God;[170] it was he who imparted the secret of murder to the fratricide, Cain.[171] [162] Job i, 6-22; ii, 1-7; Zech. iii, 1-2. [163] Matt. iv, 5, 8, 11; I Peter v, 8. [164] Matt. xii, 24. [165] Doc. and Cov. lxxvi, 26. [166] II Cor. vi, 15. [167] Rev. xii, 9; xx, 2. [168] Doc. and Cov. lxxvi, 25-27. [169] Doc. and Cov. xxix, 36-37; see also Pearl of Great Price: Moses iv, 3-7; Abraham iii, 27-28; "Jesus the Christ," pp. 8, 9. [170] Genesis iii, 4-5, and Pearl of Great Price: Moses iv, 6-11. [171] Pearl of Great Price: Moses v, 29-33.