The Little Horn: Rise of the Antichrist?

The Bible describes the Antichrist’s rise to power in specific detail:

After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different 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 horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. (Daniel 7:7-8)

Thankfully, we don’t have to guess what this vision means. The angel interprets the vision for Daniel:

Thus he said: ‘As for the fourth beast,

there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth,

   which shall be different from all the kingdoms,

and it shall devour the whole earth,

   and trample it down, and break it to pieces.

As for the ten horns,

out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise,

   and another shall arise after them;

he shall be different from the former ones,

   and shall put down three kings. (Daniel 7:23-24)

Has any of this happened yet? Yes!  In 1995, a military alliance called the “Western European Union” became ten countries. This alliance was a separate organization from the European Union. However, the alliance worked very closely with it. The EU was not a military organization at the time. Therefore, EU member countries agreed to use the Western European Union as its “defense component.” (1, 2, 3)

So here, we see a group of ten kings in the area where the Roman Empire once was, just like Daniel says:

As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise, (Daniel 7:24a)

The Little Horn

From the passages above, we can determine the characteristics of the “little” horn, before he subdues the three kings:

• He rises to power after the 10-nation confederacy is in place, not before.
• He rises to power within this group of ten, without being one of the ten kings.
• He starts off less powerful than the other ten kings, since he rises as a “little” horn among ten larger horns.
• He rises to power gradually, not instantaneously. (4)
• The horn represents a specific man, Unlike the other horns, he has “eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.”

This is so specific, that it only describes one person in all human history. This describes the political career of an important EU official in the past.

In 1998, at the Vienna European Council, European leaders agreed that they needed a person to represent them on the world stage. Document 666 stated their opinion on the matter:

666. In December the Vienna European Council expressed the opinion that the Secretary-General of the Council and High Representative for the CFSP should be appointed as soon as possible and be a personality with a strong political profile...(5)

Here, document 666 proposed a new job title, called the “High Representative for the CFSP [Common Foreign and Security Policy].” For our purposes, we will call this the “EU High Representative.” This position did not have much legal power. It relied heavily on the personality and influence of the office holder, as document 666 suggests it would. (6, 7)

In 1999, Javier Solana was appointed as the EU’s first High Representative. (8) He was also appointed as the Secretary General of the 10-nation Western European Union. (9, 10, 11) Since European leaders wanted to keep the Western European Union closely linked to the EU, they also appointed Javier Solana as Secretary General of the 10-nation WEU around the same time. They purposely put him in both positions, giving him a “double hatted” role.

This fulfills Daniel’s prophecy, when it says another king will come after the ten kings. It says,

“and another shall arise after them; he shall be different from the former ones,” (Daniel 7:24b).

Javier Solana was appointed after the original 10-nation alliance was in place. The EU High representative position was brand new. The WEU had Secretary-Generals before Solana, but he was the only one to hold the post after the WEU became ten members, just like Daniel’s prophecy says. (1, 9, 10, 11, 12)

Javier Solana was not one of the original ten kings. Though he was from Spain, he acted on behalf of the European Union, not Spain. Spain was still a voting member in the 10-nation group, despite Solana’s presence in the new EU position.

Weaker than the Others

Furthermore, he was weaker than the leaders of the 10-nations. In an article summarizing his career, EUObserver discussed his struggle with other member countries:

He is generally well-regarded for having been able to give some weight to the post despite not having much power and without having stepped on member states' toes, who fiercely guard their national sovereignty in this area. (13)

Another columnist from VoxEurop, wrote:

When speaking on behalf of the EU, Solana had to make do with a very limited mandate, which meant that he could neither promise, nor indeed do very much. He had the backing of a large bloc, but one that was divided, and in terms of foreign policy, entrenched behind the US. (14)

An academic work, “The Principal Agent Model in the European Union,” talks of Solana’s weakness:

In order to ensure some degree of continuity, the rotating Presidency was assisted by the institutionally weak High Representative for the CFSP. While the office holder Javier Solana was generally seen to make the most of the little powers he held, it depended on the nature of the job or the mercy of the rotating Presidency to what extent he could influence foreign policy (7)

Despite the constant struggle, Javier Solana’s influence gradually grew. According to one academic work:

As HR-CFSP, Solana grew in stature constantly, becoming universally accepted as the “external voice and face” of the EU. (15)

Note the similarity of how Solana “grew in stature” to Daniel’s description of the little horn, which grows as it gains influence. His rise to power was gradual, not instantaneous.

Furthermore, note how Solana was the “external voice and face” of the EU. This sounds a lot like Daniel, when it says that the Antichrist will have “eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.” This was a common term used of him. According to the EU External Action website:

In addition, the post of the “High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy” was created to allow the Union to speak with ‘one face and one voice’ on foreign policy matters. (16)

The fact that he starts as a "little" horn indicates that he starts off not as powerful as his comrades. Javier Solana was appointed after the original ten nation alliance was in place and had less power than them. This strongly fits the image of a little horn rising among ten larger horns.

In the next article, we will talk about how Solana put down three of these ten in his rise to power.

End Notes:

1. "List of 28 Delegations." Western European Union. Accessed October 22, 2018. http://www.weu.int/Delegations.htm.
2. "Shaping of a Common Security and Defence Policy - EEAS - European External Action Service - Western European Union." EEAS - European External Action Service. Accessed October 22, 2018. https://eeas.europa.eu/topics/common-security-and-defence-policy-csdp/5388/shaping-of-a-common-security-and-defence-policy-_en#The Western European Union.
3. "Treaty of Amsterdam." EUR-Lex Access to European Union Law. November 10, 1997. Accessed October 22, 2018. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:11997D/AFI/DCL/03.
4. MacArthur, John. "The Coming Kingdom of Christ, Part 3." Grace to You. April 06, 1980. Accessed October 24, 2018. https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/27-17/the-coming-kingdom-of-christ-part-3.
5. "General Report 1998 [en]: (Chapter V: Section 1: Common Foreign and Security Policy)." European Communities. Accessed October 24, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20070316064533/http:/europa.eu/generalreport/en/1998/x0666.htm. Document 666
6. Kirk, Lisbeth. "Solana Report: EU Foreign Policy a Failure." EUobserver. January 22, 2001. Accessed October 24, 2018. https://euobserver.com/news/1323.
7. Delreux, Tom, and Johan Adriaensen. The Principal Agent Model and the European Union. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. https://books.google.com/books?id=mH86DwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA111&dq=high representative CFSP weak&pg=PA111#v=onepage&q=high representative CFSP weak&f=false
8. "Shaping of a Common Security and Defence Policy - Cologne European Council." European External Action Service. Accessed October 24, 2018. https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage_km/5388/Shaping of a Common Security and Defence Policy#The Cologne European Council.
9. "CV of Mr. Javier Solana Madariaga." Western European Union. Accessed October 24, 2018. http://www.weu.int/Solana_en.htm.
10. Smyth, Patrick. "Solana to Become Head of WEU." The Irish Times. November 11, 1999. Accessed October 24, 2018. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/solana-to-become-head-of-weu-1.248786.
11. "List of Secretaries General of the Western European Union." Wikipedia. May 01, 2018. Accessed October 24, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Secretaries_General_of_the_Western_European_Union.
12. "Jose Cutileiro, Europe's Fledgling Defender." The Economist. July 30, 1998. Accessed October 24, 2018. https://www.economist.com/europe/1998/07/30/jose-cutileiro-europes-fledgling-defender.
13. Mahony, Honor. "EU Top Diplomat to Step down in Autumn." EUobserver. July 6, 2009. Accessed October 24, 2018. https://euobserver.com/news/28417.
14. Wyborcza, Gazeta. "Foreign Policy: The Trouble with Javier." VoxEurop.eu. July 15, 2009. Accessed October 27, 2018. https://voxeurop.eu/en/content/article/55431-trouble-javier.
15. Breslin, Shaun. Comparative Regional Security Governance. London: Routledge, 2012. https://books.google.com/books?id=sOHGBQAAQBAJ&lpg=PT61&dq=javier Solana stature&pg=PT61#v=onepage&q=javier solana stature&f=false
16. "Shaping of a Common Security and Defence Policy - EEAS - European External Action Service - European Commission." EEAS - European External Action Service. July 08, 2016. Accessed October 24, 2018. https://eeas.europa.eu/topics/common-security-and-defence-policy-csdp/5388/shaping-of-a-common-security-and-defence-policy-_en.
17. “Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

Photo Credits:

1. Pentagon. "Javier Solana 1999." Digital image. Wikimedia Commons. November 12, 2005. Accessed October 24, 2018. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Javier_Solana_1999.jpg.
2. Solana-Steinmeier picture: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Steinmeier_Solana_Karlspreis_2007.jpg