Unleashing the Beast

276 / U NLEASHING THE B EAST

because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie (2 Thessalonians 2:9-11). Often in Scripture and in prophecy, bleeding images, crying statues and other supernatural phenomena are nothing more than an assignment of the Adversary to draw attention away from Christ. They are attempts to draw attention away from the Bible and the truth. The birth of a lamb in a Muslim village helps to illustrate this danger. M USLIMS AND THE L AMB OF G OD Just as Christians carefully discern the signs of the times (Matthew 16:3) to ascertain the prophetic season we are in, Muslims likewise have their own convictions about the last days and the signs that precede the Mahdi and the day of judgment. They, too, believe we live in a momentous season. From time to time, an unusual incident will generate renewed concern in the approaching last days. Such interest was generated in Uzbekistan with the birth of a lamb. The headlines of The Nando Times read "Lamb of God Brings Consolation, Controversy." To a Christian, the title would suggest an article about Jesus Christ, whose life of sacrifice identified Him as the "Lamb of God" (John 1:29). Instead, the article told of a lamb that was born in Durmen Village in Uzbekistan. Born three days before Eid al-Adha, the Islamic holiday marking the end of Muslims' annual pilgrimage to Mecca