Articles
Animal Lovers: Grab on to the Word of God

The host on a certain Christian channel opened the show by stating, “I want our audience today to hold on to your seats. This subject is amazing, it’s unusual, I don’t know if we’ve ever had one quite like this on television, but we’re going to talk about ‘Animals in Heaven.’” The host acknowledged that his dog died and he took it exceptionally hard.

This article has no intention of mocking anyone participating in this presentation but its only aim is to encourage them and you to hold on to God’s Word instead of seats. It is a fantastic thing that you all are concerned about this subject. Jesus did not teach like the religious leaders of His day but rather He taught with authority. Authority comes from what is written by the inspiration of our Heavenly Father. It is sad that some people must say that animal rights and animal welfare is unusual, amazing or normally untelevised. The Apostle Paul who wrote much of the New Testament spoke on it in many places. Jesus taught on it largely by His actions, the Old Testament prophets pointed to it, and the last look in the bible says much about it.  This was not meant to be a rare subject but a critical part of the Word of God and the good news of the Kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.  

To the host I empathize with the loss of your dog and assure you that animals in Heaven are no new thing and have reportedly been witnessed to by some of the biggest Christian leadership in the world. Jesus said, “Be careful how you hear.” I heard a well known minister this day say that many people don’t hear what the Word of God is saying because they want to continue their practice of disregarding it. I often concern myself with those persons who will soon be lost souls, but I don’t worry about the animals becoming castaways. They certainly won’t be going to hell as a group and many of them have been experiencing hell on earth for many generations. The guest pastor said, “We have an obligation to treat animals a certain way, it’s something Christians should consider.” As your minister and reporter, I first want to say, “We need to do more than consider, we need to treat animals the same way we want to be treated.”  I recommend you read Isaiah 11:9, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” The most important part of this scripture is not when this will happen, but the fact that it is ordained to happen. Only love (which God is) can change people or animals and they are awaiting to see God’s love manifest through His sons and daughters. This is why Adam once had this relationship with all God’s creatures whom he named but also why they are awaiting this restoration of love and part of the reason why God commands us all to do all of our things with love.  “Let all your things be done with love.” (1Corinthians 16:14)

To a woman professor who was also a guest, the host asked, “How did you get so involved in animals and explain how it ties into the Bible?” She replied that she was involved in the pro-life movement and heard the Macedonian Call. “God was calling me because there was an urgent need. The same is true with my involvement with animal welfare. When I moved from the northeast to a different cultural area, the cultural standards were lower concerning the treatment of animals,” she said.  She continued, “I see a lot more neglect and cruelty around me now that I live in a rural area. I felt I needed to be a little bit more outspoken and take a leadership role in advocating not for animals rights but animal welfare and stewardship because I don’t believe the bible calls for animal rights.”

My response as a minister of the true gospel is to ask, “Do animals have the right to live unharassed and unhurt? Do they have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness or is that right for people alone who harm most species of animals more than any other creature? Do they have the right to go to Heaven and be saved or are they just born to be cut, bashed and poisoned, have their legs broken and sawn asunder? Should harp seal pups have the right to not get their brains bashed out with a club? Or do whales have the right to live in an ocean clear of the danger from oil pipe lines?” Before you answer, you better read this scripture. If through the finished work of Jesus we may enter Heaven, see what Romans 8:20-21(NLT) says. “Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.” King James says in Romans 8:20-21, “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” We all have a right to come boldly to the throne of God because of the finished work of Christ and so do all God’s creatures that Adam named. See Hebrews 10:19-22. Let us not subject God’s creation to the corruption that springs from the flesh and the natural man and not the Spirit of God.

The host asked if the professor had joined a particular animal rights group lately, which he named. The professor replied no and stated, “So many Christians don’t understand the differences between all the animal organizations out there. Some are anti-God, anti-Bible, and anti-human. But many even if they are not Christian, their principles are in line with biblical stewardship of animals as God called for.” The professor explained this speaking about Adam’s communion and companionship with all the animals and went on to say, “And in the original language of the bible animals do share with human beings the breath of life.”

Your minister who is commenting on these things would like to emphasize that the original text says that Adam became a vital being by receiving the breath of life from God. The Hebrew word is nephesh which is translated living soul in the King James in Genesis 2:7 and is #5315 in the Strong’s Concordance. This number indicates the words are closer to vital being. Adam shares this distinction with all of the other animals. Genesis 6:17, 7:15, 7:22 all mention that various animals had received the breath of life. Genesis 2:7 states that Adam had received the breath of life and he became a vital being as we mentioned. It is most reasonable to conclude that the animals became vital beings because they also received the breath of life. They are all vital to the eco-system, or the web of life. As I always mention, some preachers who sit in darkness teach that animals do not have a soul. Soul means collectively: mind, emotion and will.

The guest pastor shared with the professor that there are horses in Heaven because Jesus is returning on one. My question is, “When there are hedgehogs and ravens, why would only horses be in Heaven? God is no respecter of persons; could He be a respecter of animals?” When the host asked the professor, “What if a child asks you if the cat they just lost is in Heaven.” The professor admitted she would have to tell them she did not know. I would interrupt that Romans 8:20-21 definitely states that the creatures have been subjected to hope for what all people should hope for: “deliverance into the glorious liberty experienced by the children of God.”  The professor mentioned that her husband is a hunter and fisherman. Your minister asks, “How can you kill a fish or blast a hole in a ten-point buck’s hind quarters and through its chest without hurting it?” The professor said that she believes the sad fact of modern living is that the vast majority of meat eaten in America today is meat that comes from factory farms which do not treat animals in any proximity to biblical principles. But I say the sad fact that is even greater than factory farming is that there still are people in the US who cut the throats of emus and ostriches and decapitate snapping turtles to make turtle soup for their drunken buddies, even though such practices wipe out many species which are perishing. This is sad indeed!

I must conclude with this question. The host said, “Let’s just get this question out of the way – will there be animals in Heaven?” The professor who brought out some good points and things to be considered seemed uncertain about how to directly answer this. I must jump in here and say absolutely, animals have been in Heaven ever since death afflicted them and they have seen the past and the future, unlike so many humans.

In a number of tracts that blanketed the nation long ago, we were told how angels will meet us at death’s hour and lead the true believers to Heaven. Jesus said, “Not even a sparrow will fall without your heavenly Father.” I would emphasize that God is with the sparrow when it dies for the purpose of guiding it from overburdening fear and to lead it home.

Pastor Jesse Duplantis has a remarkable video about seeing Heaven in a visitation and one outstanding point was that he noticed little birds flying down from trees bigger than any on earth and teaching the saved tunes to new praises that flowed from their hearts. In science we know this as a symbiotic relationship. Even at my winter feeding stations few things on earth feel better than when a chickadee or Clark’s nutcracker come down to take a morsel of food from my hands. I doubt seriously that the saints would deprive airborne musical instructors of such a treat.

We can speculate forever as to what may or may not be in Heaven. Some people even wonder if there are animals in Heaven. The Bible is filled with “here a little,” and “there a little” of accumulating information that gives a clear shout of Yea and Amen to this question! The professor introduced the idea that animals in Heaven could be made there, while the animals on earth have no opportunity to go there. Ridiculous! In Luke 14:5 Jesus asks, “Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit and will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day?” The Master was teaching that we can and ought to do good on the Sabbath day. Such acts of kindness to animals are necessary and furthermore, “a righteous man regards the life of his beast.” (Proverbs 12:10) How can we let a bull fight in an arena until his life is taken or blow the life from a Trumpeter swan with a shotgun and claim to be regarding their life? We are depriving them of life!

Why would Jesus encourage us to rescue an ass on the Sabbath day but let a dying sparrow make its transition all alone or not at all and create new ones in Heaven? It makes no sense to abandon the sparrow on earth and scripture suggests God does no such thing. I am sure the sparrows in Heaven once hated their life on earth at times just as much as some of us do where the adversary lurks to rob, kill and destroy. If you are still thinking about robbing, or killing or destroying I don’t believe there is much probability of my coming to your defense as Jesus told some people, “the devil is your father.” That means the one who is parenting you is Satan – Stop listening to him!

An awful lot of professing Christians believe God put animals here to be a natural resource for us to kill. The scripture points out that all things were created for His, Christ Jesus the Creator’s, pleasure. All the guests on the show emphasized we must honor God in the way we treat animals and not simply gratify ourselves. Some mistaken people who claim they know the bible say we were given dominion over many things including all God’s creatures. Dominion was given to a man who obeyed God, did only those things he saw the Spirit do and walked in love. Until we are conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, we have no right to dominion as a fallen being and our exercise of that dominion will result in error, better known as sin in previous generations.

If you say you love animals, it’s time that you help advance and accelerate the coming of the day of God (2Peter 3:12) just as the word teaches and prepare for the next thousand years on earth by remembering this: the good works that we do today travel into the future and help create what the world of eternity will be. We are getting very close to the time when scripture says, “There shall be no more delay.” Let’s move things ahead with all the spirit, energy and finances we can muster and let us be the change we wish to see. The Destroyer has hoped for the end of the church along with all those who believe not the gospel of the Kingdom but the Bible says that Jesus will build His church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Animal rights and animal welfare are rooted in the Word of God. Indeed they can grow from no other source for God ordained them. I have barely scratched the surface of what I hope you discover concerning God’s love for every creature. Jesus said, “You are either for me or against me.” Stop sitting in the middle of the road. It’s too dangerous for you and for all of the animals you profess to love.

Invest your life in effectively proclaiming what once was and shall be part of the heart of the gospel. God tells us to announce the gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15) Creature means what it says there! Check it out. We humans want God to go before us, then we will preach the gospel, but Mark 16:20 tells us, “And they went forth and preached every where, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following.”

If you have received the Lord Jesus Christ, God is with your spirit and God is Spirit.

Minister David Prather

The Church in the Green  

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