A particular breed of sheep known as “Jacob’s sheep” are raising eyebrows in Israel because of their potential link to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, author Daymond Duck said at the recent Mid-America Prophecy Conference here.

Duck said there is a marked effort underway in Israel to rebuild Solomon’s Temple and one of the purposes is to restart the animal sacrifices that were part of worship for the Jews in the Old Testament.

In the Old Testament, Jacob (whose name was changed to Israel) took part of his father-in-laws’ flock of sheep when he return to Canaan (Palestine) from ancient Syria.

“I will pass through all thy flock today, removing from thence every speckled and spotted one, and every dark one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and of such shall be my hire,” Jacob is quoted as saying in Genesis 30:32.

For some reason, the breed was wiped out under Turkish rule in the past. That breed has not been in Israel as many as 5,000 years.

According to an article in the Times of Israel, Moorish invaders took the sheep to Spain and then England where the sheep was considered a trophy breed. Some were eventually taken to North America for zoos and commercial use.

It took lengthy negotiations between Israel’s Agricultural and Rural Development and Canada’s Food Inspection Agency to ship 119 of the heritage sheep back to Israel in 2016. While most sheep have two horns, Jacob sheep have four to six horns.

Duck said the Israeli government gave 100 acres for pasture for those sheep in a location near Bethlehem. Officials believe that may be the same location when shepherds were watching sheep when angels informed them of the birth of Jesus Christ.

“When the Temple is rebuilt, those sheep will be used for sacrifices,” Duck said.

Duck said Israel also now has two red heifers – another animal with prophetic implications.

The Times of Israel wrote that rabbis want to breed the rare cattle to use in an ancient purification rite. Red heifers were slaughtered as sacrifices in the Temple and the ashes were used in purification rituals, especially for people who had become impure through contact with dead bodies.

The prophetic significance is centered Numbers Chapter 19: “This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke.”

For a red heifer to quality, it has to be watched and protected from birth to prevent any blemishes or scars. That means no vaccination scars, ear piercing, contact with broken fences or ulcers. The Temple Mount imported frozen embryos from Red Angus cows in the United States in hopes of producing more red heifers, which must be female and must have never given birth. Israel doesn’t allow importation of live cattle due to concerns over disease.

Duck also pointed out developments that foretell of the Rapture of believers and the Second Coming, including:

• The rise in wealth in the nation Israel, which was desolate before becoming a nation in 1948. In 1948, there were 800,000 Jews in Israel and now there are eight million. Israel has five desalinization plants and plans to build more to use water from the Mediterranean Sea.
• The moral decline of people throughout the world.
• The move by the United Nations to form a world government.
• The advancement of personal identification technology.
• The efforts to create a Revived Roman Empire.
• The alignment of Arab nations against Israel.
• The rise in power of China.
• The similarity of modern culture to the days of Noah before the Great Flood.
• The rise of false religions and the lukewarm nature of the churches in America.
• Global economic problems.
• The increasing number and intensity of natural disasters.

Duck said President Trump could reveal his peace plan for the Middle East soon.