True Sayings Series
The Little Horn    Part 1 of 4
By C. Eldon McNabb

Daniel said, "I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns."

"I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things." (Dan 7:7,8)

The Common Promotion The subject of the Little Horn has been preached for many years now. The popular promotion as to who, or what, it is has varied from time to time as kingdoms rise and fall. In the 1940s and 1950s, it was thought to be such men as Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin. The common promotion today, with some variations, seems to be that the Little Horn is a man who shall stand up with great political power to persecute someone immediately after "The Church" goes to heaven. Of course, if Jesus had come in the 1940s or in the1950s, there would certainly have been an unacceptably long gap between the coming of our Lord and the rise of that persecutor.

Common Sense We are now approaching the dawn of the seventh millennium from Adam. Approximately four thousand years have elapsed between the first man Adam and the last Adam, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The first millennium was Adam’s, the second was Noah’s, the third millennium began with Abraham and ended with Samuel, and the fourth began with the establishment of the Kingdom of Israel and ended about a dozen years after the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. About two thousand more years have passed from then until now.

It is crucial that Christian ministers know approximately how long it has been from the first Adam unto the present time, because God has allotted only six thousand years for carnal men to have the rulership and stewardship of the world. They will not get an extension. God has promised the rulership of the world to Jesus Christ and His faithful friends after that.

There are no historical records immediately available for us to study which could reveal to us when that seventh millennium might begin, except for the account given us by Jesus’ disciples. Luke gave us some historic details in Luke 2:41-52 and Luke 3:1-3, 21-33, but they are inconclusive of themselves. So, we must learn how to "discern the signs of the times," and let the Spirit of Truth guide us to the truth concerning the preparation for the return of our Lord. (Matt. 16:1-3) It is necessary that we earnestly seek God for wisdom, and begin to apply some common sense to the Bible, so we can find out what we need to know about the transition from the sixth millennium over into the seventh.

We can be sure that the seventh millennium will begin in the general time frame of, what we call, the year A.D. 2000. One day, in the Spring of 1962, I was walking along with the prophet Grady R. Kent, discussing the things concerning our Lord’s coming. I remember him saying, "We have the big picture. All we need now is to work out the details." Since that time, the Spirit of the Lord has revealed many of those details to us. Now the time is upon us, and we must quickly find out the rest of those details. Very soon now, "The judgment shall sit, and the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High." (Daniel 7:24-27)

The Sign of The Little Horn The rise of The Little Horn is one of the great indicators that the allotted time of carnal man’s dominion is coming to an end. God has also given us signs to alert us to what that horn is, and of the time of its revealing. That horn does not simply pop up one day, without any warning. It will arise according to prophecy, and God’s prophets will recognize it. When the time comes for that horn to begin to wear out the saints of The Most High, all the prophetic necessities will have been established on the world scene, and the "signs of the times" will be readable to the wise-hearted among God’s people. (Amos 3:7)

I have often heard someone speak of the "sign of the coming of the Son of Man." However, I can’t remember a sermon on "The Sign of The Little Horn," so, perhaps this will be something new. The appearing of The Little Horn is surely a sign of the soon coming of Jesus, but we will also consider the sign of the coming of The Little Horn itself.

Next month, in Part 2 of The Little Horn, Pastor McNabb takes us to chapter seven of Daniel, explaining the little horn in relationship to the Fourth Beast, and how the prophet’s vision reveals important truths about our time.