All God's Creatures

If you have ever owned a pet, you know the feeling when they're alive. They're always there for you, without fail. Dogs, cats, birds, and horses show excitement at seeing you, and want attention as soon as you reach them. Quieter animals such as turtles, fish, and snakes aren't quite as able to show excitement, but they do sit and listen to you if you need to rant to someone - someone who can't talk back, or argue, or hurt (whether intentionally or not).

Sela, my best friend and big sister of eleven years; she passed away in February of 2012.

If there are going to be animals in Heaven (unless someone wants to dispute what this verse is saying?), why should our pets not be there as well? Does it matter whether they have souls or not? I don't think so - because there will clearly be animals in Heaven regardless, according to that verse. Why would God have regular, normal animals in Heaven, but not our pets whom we loved and whom - if He truly does have a hand in everything that happens, as so many people say - He gave us in the first place?

When they pass away it feels like, at the very least, you've lost a friend. With some who have no one else, it's as though they've lost their soulmate, their sister or brother. Before you tell me that's ridiculous, you can just stop. I've experienced it firsthand, as has my mom. We know our emotions, and anyone who tells me that the loss of an animal cannot hurt as much as losing a beloved family member doesn't understand my emotional structure or my mother's.

That said, when such a thing happens, many often wonder - will we see our pets again, in Heaven someday?

I believe we will. I believe they do go to Heaven.

I will be giving a Bible passage or two in order to back up my claims, and discuss each passage accordingly. I hope that it will be an encouragement to those missing the animals they love, and something to think about for people who believe pets will not be in Heaven.

One passage in the Bible is Isaiah 65:25:

The wolf and the lamb will feed together,

    and the lion will eat straw like the ox,

    and dust will be the serpent’s food.

They will neither harm nor destroy

    on all my holy mountain,”

says the Lord. (NASB)

Let's take a look at that verse for a few moments, shall we? There will be animals in the afterlife, whether it's Heaven or the New Earth (or both, if you're one of the people who consider them one and the same; I know some who think of them as different places).

Some people have said to me, "Your pets won't be in Heaven. Jesus did not die for rats, dogs, and other animals; they don't have souls!"

If animals don't have souls, then why do they have to be held to the law that says Jesus needed to die for you? Animals, since they are - as many people like to remind me - 'soulless and not human', should be held to different standards, should they not? Just something to think about. Also, since they cannot know 'what is right', as people say, then they also cannot know 'what is wrong'. Going off of this, I would imagine that this is somewhat (not totally) similar to an infant dying - it is too young to know right from wrong, so it must not be going to Heaven, right? Wrong.

(Please note that I am only comparing the concept of right and wrong between animals and infants, not the presence of a soul, before you rebuke me for comparing humans and animals [which I will continue to do in my own life, but shall keep out of this blog article].)

Another argument people use (though considerably less often) is that God does not love animals, and thus, they will not be in Heaven (or something like that). In response to that, I share this verse - Matthew 10:29:

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. (NASB)

And then there is this verse, Matthew 6:26: 

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? (NASB)

From those verses, I basically take away that God clearly cares enough about birds (and most likely other animals) to feed them, and take the time to see when one of them falls to the ground. 

So anyone who says that God doesn't care about animals or love them should re-think that idea. He clearly does care, otherwise He would leave them to die without watching them or feeding them. Not only that, but if He didn't care about them, why would He put them on Earth in the first place? Something to think about.

I have a few more Bible passages to share with you before you go. Take a look at Ecclesiastes 3:19-21:

 For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity. 20 All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust. 21 Who knows that the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beast descends downward to the earth? (NASB)

Looking at those verses, they seem to be telling us that we do not know whether animals will go to Heaven or not. The first part mentions that 'all have the same breath'. According to an article I've read, 'breath of life' has been translated to 'soul' before; just an interesting tidbit. And it says quite clearly - "There is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity. All go to the same place."

Is that same place Heaven? Most of my mind believes that it is. Though that is disregarding Hell, so I am still considering the meaning of 'the same place' and whether it means the afterlife in general, Heaven, or just 'the dust'.

In that vein, Revelation 21:5 states:

 And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true. (NASB)

"Behold, I am making all things new". All things would also include animals, would it not? I don't see why it wouldn't. What does 'all things' entail, if you believe that animals are not included?

And then there is Romans 8:20-21:

20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (NASB)

"...that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God." Are animals a part of the creation or aren't they? You can't honestly believe that humans are the only part of Creation - and thus the only things, living or not, who will be set free from corruption.

I do believe that's all I have to say on the matter. I hope I made you think about the subject more than you normally would, whether you believe animals will be in Heaven or not. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them in the comment section below!

Until next time,

Theodora Ashcraft

Mordecai's Story

I don't remember when we found him. I do remember that me and my mom were going to do everything we could to help him, just as we did and do with all stray cats.

See, we leave enough food out for our cats and any strays that happen to pass by. If we see strays, we try to befriend them. When they trust us, we take them to the vet and have them spayed or neutered; we also have the vet give them a check-up and buy any medicine we need to give the cats. When they're all healed, we let them loose. If they decide to stick around, they're always welcome.

Anyway, we leave a bowl of food out for our barn cat every morning. As a result, we often have strays (and occasionally the neighbour's cat) drop by and eat. I have no doubt that many of them drop in for a snack and then leave without me ever knowing they're there.

But some of them stick around - Magi, the dark-striped tabby is one who has been around for a long time. Cloud Dancing, a beautiful silver cat, spent a long time here before moving on; we saw him in the yard of a house on the other side of the neighbourhood. A wandering, drifting cloud; never sticking in one place for too long.

One week some time ago, we noticed that the food was disappearing much faster than it should have if just our cat and Magi were eating from it (Cloud Dancing had left). We thought it must be raccoons, and dismissed it as such.

Then one morning, I happened to look out the window and see a flash of orange. I saw enough to realise it was an orange cat.

I told Mom, and we started to keep an eye out for the mysterious stranger again.

As time went past, we realised that a dangerously gaunt orange tabby cat was eating our food. He was starving, and his fur was dirty and matted. He was covered in scabs, both from fights and from fleas. From his outward appearance, one would have thought he was just a rough-and-tough tomcat who was down on his luck and shouldn't be messed with - or just an 'ugly' cat that didn't deserve pity. Or both.

But one day we took our chances and went outside to approach the cat. We moved slowly. He ran off the first time, scared.

We decided to try again - and the second or third time, after several minutes of speaking gently to him... he walked right up to us and started rubbing his head against our legs, begging for attention. We petted him, and he even let us put him on our laps - you could feel his bones through his fur.

There was no fight when we carefully ushered him into a cat carrier and drove him to the vet. After a few days, we were able to take him home. We were told to keep him confined until he healed from the aftermath of the surgery. We were also given medications for his flea problems.

They had groomed him. He was still skinny, but his fur was no longer matted, and now he got food regularly, and as much as he wanted or needed. He had to stay in the bathroom for a few days. He didn't like it; he wanted to go outside again. But he always welcomed attention. Every time you would enter the bathroom, he would stand up on his hind legs and place his paws on your legs, wanting you to come down to his level and put him on your lap.

After several days of feeding him and keeping him clean, he was ready to go outside. We carried him down the stairs and out the door, and set him down. He immediately bolted, bounding through the grass.

As I turned around to head back in, I felt something crash into my legs from behind. I turned back to see that he had come running back and tackled my legs. I laughed, needless to say.

The days passed, and my mother and I knew that this charming orange tabby was here to stay. We still hadn't named him. My mother is the designated namer, and usually chooses names I would not choose. But her name for him - Mordecai - was okay. I wouldn't have named him that, but I liked it.

Unbeknownst to her, I've nicknamed him two things - my 'little lion', and my 'Cai. He is one of the friendliest cats I have ever met, and he appeared to have taken a shining to me early on. He loves everyone, but I'm the one he tends to run to first.

He has his own bed in the garage beneath a heat lamp next to the two beds belonging to our Russian Blues. He also has his own bed right outside our living room window - a large box padded with blankets and a pillow. Beneath that, he has a wooden cat house fitted with a heating lamp, as well as two bowls for food and water.

He's no longer that malnourished, matted and pitiful little creature he used to be. He's a healthy weight now, and his fur is thick and clean. It has been at least a year now, and he hasn't left. I think Mordecai is here to stay. And I'm overjoyed that he decided to.

Here are some photographs of Mordecai now; I don't have any of him before we rescued him, but you can see him as he is now.

Resting in his bed outside.

He was pretty sleepy, but he still managed to stay awake long enough to let me snap a ton of photographs.

There's my little lion. <3

Just look at those eyes!

Mordecai, chilling out on the front sidewalk.

I love this photograph. The brown and the green perfectly show off his soft orange fur. He has to be the most photogenic cat I've ever met.

He heard my dad out in the driveway when I snapped this photograph, hence why he's looking away.

Mordecai on a warm summer evening, relaxing on the still-warm rocks out back with Bob, our tuxedo/barn cat. This was taken through a window, which is why it's blurry.

My 'Cai is such a wonderful cat. This is why I feel such a need to rescue animals. I could have left this little one to fend for himself because he was 'dirty', or because he looked 'mean'. I could have gone off of how he looked when I first met him, gaunt and beaten up, and thought, "He looks like he gets into fights a lot, he must be mean. I'm not going anywhere near him."

But because my mother and I didn't, we've gained one of the brightest presences in our day-to-day life. You never know what kind of soul might be beneath the surface of the outward appearance - it could be a black soul, or it could be one of the brightest you've ever seen. You just don't know.

That is Mordecai's story. Or, rather... what I know of it. There's no way of knowing what happened to him before I met him. All I know is, I'm so blessed to have found him.