Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2006 08:26:22 -0700 (PDT)

Subject: Where do animals go?

OK Robbie, if anyone knows it will be you.  Jackie has a cat that is dying from kidney failure and we were discussing what happens to all of our animals when they die.  Were they given a soul and will they be up in Heaven?   Jokingly I told her I sure didn’t want to walk on streets of gold that had to be cleared of droppings all the time.  Will our bodies receive food ... we hear of manna from Heaven.

Suppose you think I am nuts but curious minds want to know.  My father was a lay pastor but has been deceased for many years and Mother was a deaconess of the Nazarene church and she is also deceased so cannot ask them.

Jan

Ft Wayne, Indiana USA

You guys are funny,

There’s only one main reason I believe I know the answer to your question.  When God created any living thing it was intended to live forever.  The Bible says that life is in the blood and anything that has blood in it could not die before the fall of humanity, animals included.  The first animal to die was the one God himself skinned to cover Adam and Eve.  The reason He did it that way and leaves weren’t good enough was to be a sign of people’s sin.  (Something to think about every time we wear leather).

Since people don’t really die but only changes to extra dimensional existence, basically returning to the state Adam and Eve were before the fall, and the new heaven and new earth return to their state as before the fall, it should go to reason that animals also return to the inability to die (or be sick).  Not only pets, but all animals because the Bible infers that, as it was in the beginning, no meat will be eaten in heaven, like when the lion lays down with the lamb ‘without eating it’.

Also, animals were tame in the beginning and will be tame again, so you can hop an alligator ride, ride a giraffe neck roller-coaster style, and my favorite of all is looking forward to being lifted up on a long-neck dinosaur to pick coconuts.  Dinosaurs were on the ark you know.  Ha; nothing like stretching the mind with a lesson about eternity with animals.

About the droppings - God makes “everything” for a reason.  I believe God made droppings to be used, unlike the way we waste them today.  If there was no flood and none of the vegetation and living things were squashed below the surface of the earth then there would be no oil or coal.  That’s what oil and coal are naturally made of even though death wasn’t intended to begin with.  It wasn’t meant for us to be so dependant on oil, so what should have been used instead?  You guessed it, droppings.  Also vegetation is just as useful.  God provided plenty of naturally replenishable sources of that too.

Talk about efficient, a new earth with all of the energy we ever needed free and right at our finger tips (so to speak J).  Look how much value we waste every day (ha!)

Robbie

www.unidiversal.com

Additional notes:

Speaking about heaven, Revelation 22:15 states that “For outside are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whoever loves and makes a lie.”  Isn’t this verse saying that there will be no dogs in heaven?

In this particular situation the word dog is included with several other things that won’t be in heaven, all of which are human.  This occurrence of the word for dog in the original language is “kuon” and is a metaphor for a person of impure mind; a rude, disrespectful, or ill-mannered person.  So, it’s not talking about a family pet, but a person being referred to as a dog.  I’ve heard that metaphor used quite a bit before.

Also, take note that when God created the heaven and the earth, He called everything “good.”  God made everything to glorify Himself, that includes all animals.  Billy Graham responded to a child's question, "Will my dog, who died this week, be in Heaven?" Graham replied, "If it would make you any happier, then yes, he will be."

An animal is no less saved than a child before the age of accountability.  Thank goodness all animals and people will return to peaceful cohabitation as it was before the flood.  Everything good is what will be in the new heaven and earth.  So take heart, your beloved pet and my Jasper will be there too.

Pastor Robbie

Pets & Animals, where do they go?

Question

Matthew 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

Luke 12:6 Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?

Answer

Pets & Animals

C H A R I S M A T I C   C H R I S T I A N   F A I T H

&   D I V E R S I T Y   E V A N G E L I S M

U N I F I E D   U N I V E R S A L   D I V E R S I T Y

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Jasper

Pastor Robbie's former pet

Of thousands of pages, this article about pets and animals is one of the most visited on this website.  By permission, the communication excerpts has been included below as a prime example of the type of response and meaning the article has for many.

______________________________________________________________________________

From Laura

(communications excerpts)

First contacted this ministry on Monday July 28, 2008

From: just outside Fresno, California

I lost my dear Chihuahua, "Pepper", this past Wednesday.  I had to put her to sleep because of acute liver failure, and I think it was the hardest thing I have ever had to do.  I had her for 13 1/2 years.  I have heard so many people say that animals don't have souls, and therefore, will not go to Heaven.  I was looking for evidence to the contrary, and that is how I found your wonderful article and website!

I accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was about 8 years old.  I was baptized and raised in a Baptist church that just kind of fell apart and became a dead church after a series of pastoral changes.  I left the church in my late teens and haven't been able to find one I have felt "at home" in since.  Since leaving the Baptist community, I have come to believe that Jesus would not want us to separate ourselves from one another with religious labels, and for lack of a better term, I call myself a Christian, not as one who is part of a Christian religion, but rather, as one who is a follower of Christ.

I am so glad I found your website!  I am so interested in the Bible from a philosophical standpoint, and rather than looking at it with blinders on and being influenced by what others believe, I like to look at things from different angles, finding Truth when I feel it is divinely imparted to me, and knowing that it is the Truth because it makes perfect sense, as did your article on the afterlife of our beloved pets!

I just cannot tell you what a difference your article about pets going to Heaven has made for me.  I was wallowing in grief before reading it, but now, I have new hope that I will see Pepper again in Heaven!

I am so glad I found your site.  I am so overwhelmed, feeling the love and caring coming from your ministry.  I wish we were closer to each other.  I feel like I would fit right in with all of you!

I am still having a hard time without her, but I am clinging onto your message of hope, and that is what is getting me through.

It helps to keep me sane, and to remember Pepper not with loss and regret, but with love and hope.  In my mind, instead of seeing her sick and dying, I see her prancing around in Heaven waiting for me.  Again, your article has made such a difference in my life, I can't even begin to tell you!

B.I.C. (Buddies in Christ)

Laura