In Daniel 7:7, the ten horns on the fourth dreadful beast represent Satan's dominion in the modern nations that emerged on the world's stage after the fall of the Roman Empire.¹ After Rome fell in 476 AD, Satan's ten horns of power and dominion grew stronger for more than a thousand years in the emerging nations.² This period of dominion included the Dark Ages³ and the Great Apostasy.⁴ During this time, Satan exerted incredible power over all people in the Roman Empire.⁵ There were indescribable atrocities and inhumanities as nations went to war in complete spiritual darkness to forge the borders of modern nations.⁶ After a thousand years of darkness and human depravity in the emerging nations, a little horn began to emerge from among the ten horns in Daniel's vision.⁷ The little horn does not represent people or events from ancient Greece or Rome as some have suggested.⁸ The little horn emerged from among the ten horns when the night of darkness known as the Great Apostasy came to an end in the modern era.⁹

The little horn in Daniel 7:7 is the latter-day Second Beast that John saw in Revelation 13:11, which had "two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon." Daniel's little horn also incorporates the symbolism of the False Prophet, whom John identifies by name for the first time in Revelation 16:13.¹⁰ That is, in the modern age the Second Beast supported by Satan's power has all the appearance of a harmless lamb with two horns of secular and religious power, but as soon as the Second Beast symbolically speaks it is the voice of Satan (the Dragon).

Daniel's little horn emerged from among the ten horns in his vision to symbolize Satan's growing power¹¹ in the modern nations of the latter days.¹² This new growth of evil¹³ coincides with two significant events in history, beginning first with the Industrial Revolution.¹⁴ The Industrial Revolution reshaped the economic, social, political, and religious institutions of the world where Satan's latter-day dominion can be seen.¹⁵ Satan uses God-inspired inventions and modern technology¹⁶ in destructive ways to enlarge and enhance his power and dominions.¹⁷ Today, Satan's little horn has eyes and a mouth that are enhanced by modern technology, which gives Satan worldwide power and influence.¹⁸ Through modern technology, Satan's little horn has more power on earth than at any other time in history.¹⁹ The Second Beast doesn't just speak like a dragon, its voice is amplified by every means of modern technology throughout the world.

The restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ is the second and more significant event that coincides with the emergence of the little horn from Daniel 7:8.²⁰ The restoration began when God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ appeared to the boy prophet, Joseph Smith.²¹ Since the time of the First Vision in 1820, God's latter-day kingdom²² has grown side-by-side with the little horn of Satan's latter-day kingdom.²³ The two kingdoms are mirror opposites in their growth and development. After the final fall of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, Satan's little horn of latter-day power has grown²⁴ from obscurity.²⁵ The growth of Satan's little horn of power parallels the growth pattern for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which also imperceptibly emerged²⁶ and grew from obscurity starting in 1820.²⁷

Daniel symbolically described the growth of Satan's little horn of dominion among the ten horns of the modern nations in Daniel 7:8. In that verse, Daniel saw the little horn become so powerful among the other ten that "three of the first horns [were] plucked up by the roots."²⁸ Three is a divine number that means complete perfection.²⁹ Daniel's imagery means that Satan's latter-day kingdom has become full or complete on earth³⁰ by uprooting three of the ten horns of Satan's power in the modern nations.³¹

The number three represents Satan's latter-day kingdom that functions through, and is the synergistic sum of power from, three sources that John the Revelator describes as (1) the Dragon (the unembodied spirit of Satan), (2) the Beast (the disembodied spirit of Cain), and (3) the False Prophet (the disembodied spirit of Judas Iscariot).³² The latter-day little horn is an incredibly powerful spiritual kingdom of evil³³ with power and dominion from these three Satanic sources, not from three earthly governments as some suggest.³⁴ In the broadest sense, Daniel's imagery means that the overpowering horn of Satan's latter day dominion has eclipsed his dominion in all prior kingdoms going back to ancient Babylon.³⁵ This comes as no surprise given the current state of modern technology and Satan's ability to use that technology to communicate his Satanic messages worldwide through his many agents.

In Daniel 7:8, the little horn has "eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things."³⁶ This imagery, as noted, describes Satan's use modern technology to establish his worldwide dominion. Daniel's description of the little horn mirrors John's description of the Second Beast in Revelation 13:11 that "had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon." The similarity in the symbolism exists because the little horn and the Second Beast both represent Satan's latter-day dominion in all the world.

The little horn in Daniel's vision has eyes like the eyes of man. This personification of the little horn identifies the disembodied spirit of Judas Iscariot as the latter-day antichrist,³⁷ whom John calls the False Prophet in Revelation 16:13. The False Prophet inspires latter-day people³⁸ and institutions to pattern themselves after his evil and apostate character.³⁹ The character and image of Judas can be seen in the unholy institutions that are part of the latter-day church of the devil that fight and seek to destroy the kingdom of God.⁴⁰ The eyes of the little horn symbolize knowledge, intelligence, and cunning in an age of information.⁴¹ His mouth speaks blasphemies as he battles against God⁴² and tries to usurp God's power.⁴³ Daniel saw the latter-day efforts of the little horn to change laws and thereby control or restrict the freedom of religious practices.⁴⁴ The success of these efforts are self-obvious in modern society.⁴⁵ Spiritually weak people in modern society fall prey to the power of the little horn every day,⁴⁶ including devout members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Membership in the church of Jesus Christ has grown dramatically since its organization in 1830, with millions of members worldwide.⁴⁷ Nevertheless, the number of saints are relatively few⁴⁸ when compared to the members in Satan's kingdom that fills the earth.⁴⁹ Although the Latter-day Saints are relatively few in number, they are the specific target of the False Prophet and little horn in Daniel 7:21, which states that, "the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them."⁵⁰ The war against the saints in Daniel 7:21 is a continuation of the war that Judas initiated against Christ's ancient church when he, as an apostate member of that church, hailed the Savior as his friend at Gethsemane even as he betrayed the Son of Man with a kiss.⁵¹

Some scholars place the war against the saints in Daniel 7:21 at the start of the Great Apostasy when members of the ancient church were still alive to engage in such a war.⁵² This conclusion has some appeal because the power of Satan, acting through Cain as the spiritual head of the First Beast, made war against the ancient saints until they were entirely overcome at the start of the Great Apostasy as described by John in Revelation 13:7.⁵³ However, the tragic war that overcame the saints during the Dark Ages in Revelation 13:7 is not the war that the False Prophet (little horn) is now making against the modern saints in Daniel 7:21. They cannot be the same war because the little horn in Daniel's vision didn't emerge from among the ten horns until after Satan's dominion was established in the modern nations⁵⁴ and the gospel was restored in 1830.⁵⁵ Almost 1600 years separate the war made by the First Beast (Cain) against the ancient saints in Revelation 13:7 from the war made by Judas, the False Prophet (little horn) against the Latter-day Saints in Daniel 7:21. Obviously, the little horn in Daniel 7:21 couldn't make war against the Latter-day Saints until after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was restored and saints‒within the meaning of saints in the ancient church‒were again on earth following the Great Apostasy.⁵⁶

The two wars against the saints in Revelation 13:7 and Daniel 7:21 also differ significantly in their outcome. The ancient saints were entirely overcome by the First Beast (Cain), but that will not be the case with the Latter-day Saints. Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel chapter 2 describes The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a little stone cut out of the mountain without hands that will not be destroyed.⁵⁷ Daniel 7:25 confirms that the little horn of Satan's latter-day dominion shall only "wear out the saints of the most High."⁵⁸ Satan cannot overcome the Latter-day Saints completely as he did the ancient saints in Revelation 13:7. However, the False Prophet (little horn) will wear out some Latter-day Saints to the point that they become apostates of the church even as Judas became the archetype apostate when he fell from his high standing as an apostle of Jesus Christ in the ancient church.⁵⁹

Although the little horn has power to wear out and prevail against some Latter-day Saints, Satan's dominion will ultimately be cast down before the Second Coming of Christ.⁶⁰ This will occur, as predicted by Daniel, when the Ancient of days (Adam)⁶¹ attends the future gathering of saints at Adam-ondi-Ahman 3½ years before the Second Coming.⁶²