Portland, Oregon Church  -  Affiliated with the Intercontinental Church of God and the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association

SUBJECT:  Animals and Pets

QUESTION:  Are our pets going to be resurrected?

ANSWER:

This is a very good question.  It clearly comes under the heading of speculation but I recently gave a sermon in which I stated, "I know that God is mindful of man because I know that God is mindful of animals".  That sermon in audio and video is here: http://www.icgchurches.org/Portland_OR/portland_sermons.shtml “Mindful of Us.”

The verse I referred to was Psalm 8:4-5

"When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him?  And the son of man, that thou visitest him?

The question of this verse is, "Is God mindful of man?".  My point of the sermon was to say that I know that He is because I know that He is mindful of animals.  I then set to prove that God IS mindful of animals.

Genesis 1:31 God looks at everything He made (including the animals) and says that it was all good.

In Exodus 20 the law is given to man but in verse 10 as He speaks about keeping the sabbath He says that animals will keep the sabbath also.

Notice Psalm 50:10  For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.  I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beast of the field are mine.

The animals belong to God...He states it, so it must be important.

In Psalm 104 and verse 10, God says,

"He sendeth the springs into the valley, which run among the hills.  They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst.  By them shall the fowls of heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches."

Look at how God is describing His animals.  Even better, look at Deuteronomy 32:10 where God describes His love for His people Israel...

"As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over here young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings."

God is here showing His feeling for man by using a metaphor of an animal that He loves.

Do you remember the account of Jonah and how he complained when God did not destroy Nineveh?

He says in Jonah 4:11...the last verse of the whole book...

"And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle.

Notice that he mentions the cattle as part of His reason for not destroying the city.

Now look at what God says about specific animals:

Deuteronomy 25:4  Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.

Matthew 10 and verse 29:  ...and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

A sparrow does not fall with God knowing.

Proverbs 12:10  A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast.

It seems clear that God loves His animals.  Now look at how deeply emotional man gets around his or her love for an animal.  Go to your video store and check out the videos of the Johnny Carson show.  The most requested piece of video tape from that program is when Jimmy Stewart comes on the show and reads a poem about his dog that just had recently died.  There was not a dry eye in the place, even Johnny was crying.

If mankind can feel that way about an animal, how much more does God?

Go to this web site address below.  It is a tribute web site for pets that have died.  Look at the love, the emotion, the tears and sadness about these animals.  How can we think of a loving compassionate God that does not have those same kinds of feelings.  We can sure see it in the scriptures above.

http://rainbowsbridge.com/residents.aspx   This is just one of many such sites.  In google.com type “rainbow bridge + pets”.  The primary site is: http://www.rainbowbridge.com/

Portland, Oregon Church  -  Affiliated with the Intercontinental Church of God and the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association