I'm going to address a topic that most preachers seemingly t
I'm going to address a topic that most preachers seemingly try to avoid: Animals in Heaven.
I personally don't want to go to Heaven if there's no animals there. It has been thoroughly proven that animals feel love, pain, happiness, sadness, hatred, vengeance, fear, hope, nervousness, and depression. I can not be convinced that a serial child killer can be granted entry if he asks forgiveness, but a creature so faithful, loving, and true as a dog is not, simply for having four legs and a tail.
Do animals have souls? Are there animals in Heaven? I believe the answer is "yes". I know I'm not the only one who believes this and I could stop there based on a single Bible verse:
Matthew 18:19, in which Jesus says, “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven." So if we ask for our pets to meet us at the Pearly Gates, they will.
There are many stories in the Bible where animals are mentioned, and not one says animals don't go to Heaven, nor does the Bible state anywhere that animals don't have souls.
In Genesis 1:21, animals were made on the fifth day, while people were made on the sixth. On the sixth day, God blessed all living things. Why would He bless soulless creatures?
Psalms 148:7-12 says, "Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and women, old men and children." All creatures praise God - how can animals praise God if they don't have a soul? Why would they if there's no chance of them meeting Him?
God often uses animals to get His point across or teach us a lesson: Jonah and the whale in Jonah 1:16, a dove landing on Jesus when he was baptized in John 2:32, Balaam being told off by a donkey in Numbers 22:28. Then there's Noah being told to take two of every animal but leave all the people to drown in Genesis 6:19-20.
Isaiah 11:6-9 says, "The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." This is clearly a description of how animals are in Heaven.
Job 12:7 “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;" If you're ever lost in the woods or the desert, observe the animals. They will teach you how to survive. They will show you when and where to sleep, where to find shelter, food and water, and sometimes, they will show you a way out.
Proverbs 12:10 warns us to tend to the animals: "The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel." If they didn't have souls, why would God care how we treat them?
In closing, I will leave you with one last verse which mentions animals having souls and will join us in Heaven:
Ecclesiastes 3:18-21: "I also said to myself, 'As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?'” May God bless all living things!
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