The Little Horn

Just who is the little horn?

[Daniel 7:1-8 NKJV] 1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head [while] on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, telling the main facts. 2 Daniel spoke, saying, "I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea. 3 "And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. 4 "The first [was] like a lion, and had eagle's wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to it. 5 "And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and [had] three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: 'Arise, devour much flesh!' 6 "After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. 7 "After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It [was] different from all the beasts that [were] before it, and it had ten horns. 8 "I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, [were] eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.

The sea is the nations; the kingdoms of the earth. Each of the four creatures are powerful kingdoms that rule over others.

The first beast was Babylon. The second beast is the Medo-Persian Empire. The third beast is Greece. Finally, the fourth beast is Rome.

[Daniel 7:19-25 NKJV] 19 "Then I wished to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, [with] its teeth of iron and its nails of bronze, [which] devoured, broke in pieces, and trampled the residue with its feet; 20 "and the ten horns that [were] on its head, and the other [horn] which came up, before which three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance [was] greater than his fellows. 21 "I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, 22 "until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made [in favor] of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom. 23 "Thus he said: 'The fourth beast shall be A fourth kingdom on earth, Which shall be different from all [other] kingdoms, And shall devour the whole earth, Trample it and break it in pieces. 24 The ten horns [are] ten kings [Who] shall arise from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them; He shall be different from the first [ones], And shall subdue three kings. 25 He shall speak [pompous] words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. Then [the saints] shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time.

The ten kingdoms that arose after the fall of Rome were: the Heruli, Suevi, Burgundians, Huns, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals, Lombards, Franks, and Anglo-Saxons.

Since the little horn made its appearance after the subdivision of Rome into the ten different states (after 476 AD) but before the destruction of three of them because it arises among all ten, we now have a very definite time frame for the rise of the Antichrist power. The Heruli, Vandals, and Ostrogoths were eliminated by the year 538 AD. This power was to arise between 476 AD and 538 AD.

The Papacy is the little horn.

In regard to the time, times, and half a time, this comes out to 1,260 years. If we add 538, when the Papacy took over, to the 1260, we come to 1798. Interestingly in 1798 the French general Berthier, with a French army, marched into Rome and proclaimed the political rule of the Papacy at an end and took the Pope prisoner. The Pope was removed to France where he died in exile. This ended the time in which the saints were placed in the hands of the Papacy.

We see more of the little horn here:

[Daniel 8:9-14 NKJV] 9 And out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious [Land]. 10 And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down [some] of the host and [some] of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. 11 He even exalted [himself] as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily [sacrifices] were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down. 12 Because of transgression, an army was given over [to the horn] to oppose the daily [sacrifices]; and he cast truth down to the ground. He did [all this] and prospered. 13 Then I heard a holy one speaking; and [another] holy one said to that certain [one] who was speaking, "How long [will] the vision [be, concerning] the daily [sacrifices] and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot?" 14 And he said to me, "For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed."

This also describes the rise of the Papacy and as we saw above it did rise till it hit a snag in 1798. Essentially, from 1798 until 1929, when the Lateran Treaty was enacted, the Papacy existed but it was all but powerless.

Upon ratification of the Lateran Treaty, the papacy recognized the state of Italy, with Rome as its capital. Italy in return recognized papal sovereignty over the Vatican City. This marked the return of the Papacy, the little horn to power.

In Daniel 8:9-14 we see that sacrifice is in brackets, which means it was added. What is really being spoken of here are daily appointments with God; that is, our daily prayer time in the morning and evening. We can see that the Papacy will eventually abolish daily prayers; that is, make them illegal. Since this has already happened in the classrooms of the United States it should be easy to see how a world ruler could lead the governments of the world to abolish prayer altogether. Based on Daniel 8:9-14 this will happen and will last over six years.

We know that this applied to the end times because: [Daniel 8:16-17 NKJV] 16 And I heard a man's voice between [the banks of] the Ulai, who called, and said, "Gabriel, make this [man] understand the vision." 17 So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was afraid and fell on my face; but he said to me, "Understand, son of man, that the vision [refers] to the time of the end."

In conclusion, the little horn is the Papacy.