The ten horns in
Revelation 13 and 17 have not yet
appeared. They will appear during the
very last days of Earth’s
history and will be empowered for a
very short time just before the
Second Coming. (Revelation 17:12)
There are two sets of ten horns in
Bible prophecy, because there is an
important parallel between them. The
ten horns in Daniel 7 were reduced to
seven horns after the three were
uprooted. Then, the little horn of
Daniel 7 dominated the remaining
seven hors as the eighth king.
In Revelation 13, there is a beast
that rises out of the sea having
seven heads and ten horns. This beast
is not the Roman Empire of Daniel 7,
as some suppose. This beast will be
diverse world empire made up of seven
heads (seven religious systems) and
ten horns (ten political powers)
during the Great Tribulation. When
the devil appears on Earth
masquerading as God, he will rule
over the seven heads as an eighth
king! (Revelation 17:11) The parallel
here is obvious. The devil will rule
with absolute power over the seven
religious systems of the world just
like the papacy (the little horn)
ruled over the seven kings (the seven
horns) it dominated. The devil will
divide the Earth into ten sectors and
he will appoint ten kings to rule as
“puppet kings” of the
kingdom. Daniel 2:44 says during the
time of these kings, that is,
the ten kings, the God of Heaven will
set up His kingdom! Study Chart 3.6
and observe two things: First, notice
that both kingdoms – the kingdom
of the feet and the kingdom of
the toes – have ten
horns. Second, notice that the ten
horns in the kingdom of the feet
become seven horns, with the little
horn ruling over them. Then notice
the kingdom of the toes.
During the kingdom of the [ten] toes,
the Second Coming occurs while the
ten kings are ruling over Earth!
(Daniel 2:44, Revelation 17:14)
Reviewing the Ten
Horns
History identifies the
ten horns that caused the
disintegration of Rome as the kings
of the Ostrogoths, Heruli, Franks,
Vandals, Lombards, Visigoths, Suevi,
Bungundians, Alamanni and the
Anglo-Saxons. The infrastructure of
the Roman Empire finally fell in A.D.
476, because powerful warlords
brought the emperor, Romulus, the
Roman senate and the empire to an
end. The city of Rome was sacked and
burned. These warlords included
Alaric the Goth, Attila the Hun, and
Genseric the Vandal, Theodoric the
Ostrogoth, Odoacer, and others who
contributed to the collapse of Rome.
These kings originated within the
ethnic nations that constituted the
bulk of the Roman Empire.
Geographically, they came from
northern Africa, Asia Minor, the
Middle East and Europe. These
warlords broke the iron fist of
Caesar. A new order for world
government came into existence after
A.D. 476. During the centuries of
Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecia and
Rome, there had been one universal
empire. After A.D. 476, the world was
broken into diverse ethnic nations.
When civil Rome fell, the distinction
between the nations of the East and
the nations of the West became
separate and prominent. Perhaps the
tow legs and the two feet in Daniel 2
reflect the Eat-West division of
Earth. Regardless, one simple fact
from Daniel 2 has held true for the
past 1,600 years: No man has been
able to merge the world back into a
single empire since A.D. 476.
Would-be conquerors have tried and
failed. Nations have come and gone.
Some nations have become strong and
others have become weak. The
continual presence of weak nations is
a sociological mystery because the
law of the jungle mandates that only
the strong survive.
The Ten Horns in
Daniel 7 Are Not the same
As the Ten Horns
in Revelation 13 and 17
According to Daniel 7,
the little horn appears on the world
stage after the ten horns rise to
power, because the little horn power
uproots three of the ten horns when
it appears. Christianity, of course,
began in Jerusalem at the time of
Christ and was dispersed throughout
the world by the Romans in A.D. 70
when they destroyed Jerusalem. The
Christian Church in Rome started
during the time of the apostle Paul,
but grew to become a substantial
political force by the beginning of
the fourth century A.D. It was then
that Constantine determined to make
Christianity the defacto religion of
the Roman Empire. Constantine was not
timid about giving his religious
views the force of laws. According to
Daniel 7, the little horn
power would start small, but grow and
become stronger than any of the
kingdoms represented by the remaining
horns! The timing of this vision is
important: After Rome was
broken up by the ten horns, the
Church of Rome rose to power and, un
so doing, it had to uproot three
nations to consolidate its dominion
over a new Holy Roman Empire.
The Church was
instrumental in uprooting the
Ostrogoths, Vandals and Heruli, three
of the original ten nations, for
religious and political reasons.
These kingdoms were destroyed because
of a long-standing theological
dispute over the deity of Christ.
This dispute is well documented in
history and is called the Arian
Controversy. Arius, a theologian from
Alexandria, Egypt, taught that Jesus
was not co-eternal and not equal with
the Father. The Church of Rome
countered Arius’ teachings by
saying they were heresy and
blasphemy, and a power struggle
began. This particular controversy
raged for about 200 years between
Christians in Rome and Christians in
Alexandria. Constantine called a
general council at Nicaea in A.D. 325
to settle the conflict, but the
dispute could not be resolved.
Looking at the controversy from our
vantage point today, the real issue
was theological control. The real
issue was not the deity of Christ,
but who would define Christian
doctrine – the Church of Rome or
the Church in Alexandria. By A.D.
508, the Church of Rome had gained
enough political support to silence
the opposition in Alexandria. For
political reasons, Clovis, King of
the Salian Franks, destroyed the
Ostrogoths, Vandals and Heruli. When
the Arian influence was eliminated,
the Church in Rome established
herself as the guardian and defender
of the universal (or catholic)
Christian faith. About 25 years after
the victories Clovis, Emperor
Justinian consolidated supreme
authority in the pope in matters of
faith and religion. Justinain
bequeathed the title, “Corrector
of Heretics,” upon the pope in
A.D. 533 even though the pope was not
in a position to wield complete
authority over the nations. However,
just five years later in A.D. 538,
after Belisarius (Justinian’s
general) subdued Italy, the pope had
the posture and dominion he sought.
He ruled over the Christian church
and Christian states with absolute
power.
Little Horn Wages War
on the Saints
According to Daniel 7,
the little horn power had the same
fierce qualities as its parent, the
monster beast. It was predicted the
little horn would become
“stouter” than the other
seven horns. It would have a
“mouth” that spoke great
words against the Most High and it
would have “eyes” like a
man. Theo mouth on the little horn
indicates that the church would
“speak;” that is; it would
dictate orders (laws and rules) which
people must obey if they
wanted to receive eternal life. The
church blackmailed the laity into
obedience with the threat of
excommunication. The eyes of the
little horn indicated the church
would have insight into matters that
would allow it to “see”
things that political rulers would
not understand. In short, the little
horn would be religious and it would
use the power of religion to control
the ways and thoughts of rulers. The
power of religion uniquely made the
little horn of Daniel 7 much stronger
than all of the other horns put
together.
In ancient times,
religion attracted the best minds,
much like science does today. Priests
were considered God’s
representatives on earth, and
whatever they said was “the Word
of God.” When Justinian
surrendered the state to the higher
power of the church, the church
became lord over the nations of
Europe. The church approved,
appointed and coroneted the kings and
queens of Europe. The church
controlled political issues, as well
as religious matters. The church
manipulated its members out of fear
of hell and eternal death. The church
claimed that its priests had the
authority to determine eternal life
or eternal death, and since few
Bibles were available, king and
peasant alike believed whatever the
priests said. There was no
“approved” source of
knowledge about God except through
the church. In effect, the clergy of
the church became God for 1,260 long
years (A.D. 538-1798). History
rightly calls this period, “The
Dark Ages.”
The church became as
determined and cruel in conquering
her foes as she had been treated in
her early years by Romans and Jews.
To gain power and dominion, popes
bribed people with forgiveness for
all sins-past, present and future-if
they were willing to fight for the
expansion of the Holy Roman
Empire. Millions of people perished
in the crusades, which, ironically,
were fought in the name of God. Popes
ruled over Christianity with an iron
fist for 1,260 years. The light of
truth was extinguished, and religious
freedom and the right to worship God
according to the dictates of
conscience were non-existent. For
centuries, the church prohibited
ownership of the Bible. The authority
of the church knew no bounds. Kings,
fearful of losing eternal life, could
not overthrow the authority of the
pope and his prelates, but as
powerful as the church was, God
predetermined a limit to the reign of
terror. The church would receive an
almost fatal wound in 1798.
Little Horn Persecutes
Saints 1,260 Years
The angel said to
Daniel, “And he[the little horn]
shall speak great words against the
Most High, and shall wear out the
saints of the Most High, and think to
change times and laws and they [the
saints] shall be given into his hand
until a time and times and the
dividing of time.” (Daniel 7:25,
KJV, insertions mine) This verse says
so much. To appreciate the depth of
apostasy to which the Christian
church fell the reader is encouraged
to review the writings of reformers
like Martin Luther and John Knox.
It should not surprise
you to learn that the conflict
between popes and protestors (the
beginning of Protestantism) centered
on the question of religious
authority. The Roman Catholic Church
claims that she alone possesses all
authority from God in matters
pertaining to salvation. This
authority, the church claims, has
been passed down to each pope from
the apostle Peter. (Matthew 16:18,19)
Historians on this time period say
millions of protestors perished at
the stake for disagreeing with the
church over this point. (See also
Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, written
by John Foxe, 1516-1587) Protestors
argued that everyone had the right to
own a Bible and to determine what was
truth. Protestants believed that
obeying God according to the dictates
of one’s conscience was a matter
of personal choice. The following
statements may help you to see the
great chasm between Catholics and
Protestants on matters pertaining to
religious authority:
Statement # 1
“That a person
with no other equipment than a
knowledge of the English language and
a seventeenth century English
translation of the Bible in his hands
is qualified to decide all matters of
eternal consequence for himself and
the rest of mankind, is the
ridiculous conclusion to which the
principle of private judgment can
finally be brought. In such a
process, the countless generations of
devout people who have lived and died
according to other beliefs simply
count for nothing. The centuries of
thought and prayer that have gone
into the interpretation of the Bible
for all these generations likewise
count for nothing.” [Some Bible
Beliefs Have to Be Wrong!, Booklet
#68, page 5, (1963), Imprimatur: Most
Reverend John F. Whealon, Archbishop
of Hartford, Knights of Columbus.]
Statement # 2
“Since the
Catholic Church holds that the Bible
is not sufficient in itself, it
naturally teaches that the Bible
needs an interpreter. The reason the
Catholic Church so teaches is
twofold: First, because Christ
established a living church to teach
with His authority. He did not simply
give His disciples a Bible, whole and
entire, and tell them to go out and
make copies of it for mass
distribution and allow people to come
to whatever interpretation they may.
Second, the Bible itself states that
it needs an interpreter…. The
Holy Spirit was given to the Church
by Jesus Christ, and it is exactly
this same Spirit who protects the
Church’s visible head, the Pope,
and the teaching authority of the
Church by never permitting him or it
to lapse into error.” [Scripture
Alone? 21 Reasons to Reject Sola
Scriptura, pages 21,26, (1999), Joel
Peters, Tan Books and Publishers,
Inc., Rockford, Il.]
Statement # 3
“We teach and
define it to be dogma divinely
revealed that the Roman Pontiff, when
he speaks ex cathedra, that is, when
acting in his office as pastor and
teacher of all Christians, by his
supreme Apostolic authority, he
defines a doctrine concerning faith
or morals to be held by the whole
Church through the divine assistance
promised him in Blessed Peter, he
enjoys that infallibility with which
the divine Redeemer willed His Church
to be endowed in defining doctrine
concerning faith and morals; and
therefore such definitions of the
said Roman Pontiff are irreformable
of themselves, and not from the
consent of the Church.” [The
Papacy, Expressions of God’s
Love, page 29, (undated), Imprimatur:
Most Reverend John J. Carberry,
Archbishop of St.Louis, Knights of
Columbus.]
These three statements
summarize the bedrock of Catholic
doctrine and they reflect the
nonnegotiable themes that have
divided Protestants from Catholics
for more than 700 years.
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