Yes, God does love the animals, that they have spirits that have saved people in so many ways

I appreciated Ami Reece’s article called “All Creatures of Our God and King” printed on Jan 3, 2024. I would like to respond to that story about whether animals go to Heaven or not from a Christian, spiritual perspective.

And I have 3 beautiful 9-12 yr old Shih-tzus that I love so much and believe/want to see in Heaven!

It says in Ami’s article, that she is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which I respect, but have a different viewpoint than what she said of “many Christians” who think that “God isn’t worried about the animals, and that they don’t have spirits”. (2nd col, 1st par)

A little of my background, so that you know where I am coming from:

I became a Christian at age 6 at my cousin’s So CA Baptist Vacation Bible School and then, rededicated my life at our Christian & Missionary Alliance Church in No CA. I went on to study the bible and pray daily as a teen because of my parent’s divorce when I was just 12 yrs old; I had to help my 3 younger brothers and myself to get through a tough time.

At a biblical college, I learned to hear God thru the Holy Spirit (“My sheep hear my voice” John 10:27). And after having four children with a difficult marriage, I wrote a book* of visions that I received from God that helped my life. So, because of my spiritual experiences, I am probably an elite group of your average Christian, yet would like to speak for our Faith group (having been a Christian most of my 60+ yrs of life).

God made us all unique and different, did he not? If no snowflake is the same, surely we can understand the difference of each human being in a much smaller group than that of snowflakes? And in regards to the animals in the Bible that Ami so eloquently brings up, what right do we have to limit God and his Love for all advanced life on this planet?

The well accepted and archeologically many-times-proven Bible speaks of Jesus picking twelve unique disciples who would follow Him, carrying His message of the God News of forgiveness and redemption into the world by the sacrifice of His Life and resurrection. So why is it that Christians seem to think that we all need to agree on everything? Yes, agreement on the basics of the Nicene Creed, is fine, but there are so many other beliefs that we may differ. Take the eternal destination of animals, for example?

A little more background:

My daughter, Abigail Elizabeth Caudle was killed in a workplace accident at the tender age of 26 in Anchorage on June 20th, 2011. The injustice of her death is another story.

Anyway, the night that Abigail died, after we came home from the hospital, (where they had covered her head in a white sheet- that is a reality check), I asked God if I could talk with her. A parent who has lost a child will completely understand this- where did they GO?!! (Again, another topic of whether we can talk with those alive people in Heaven or not? Look at Jesus’ example of talking with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration- Matt 17. Were Moses and Elijah dead or alive? Yes, Saul was not to conjure up the spirit of Elijah, but again, a topic for another day.)

Anyway, Abigail did come to me in spirit that night after I asked this of God (remember, “with God, all things are possible”). In spirit, we immediately both asked the other for forgiveness for the things that we felt we had done wrongly to each other; we got our relationship right when it had sometimes been difficult while she had been on earth. We talked a little about her accident, our love for each other, and her new home in Heaven.

When I went to God in prayer, He continued to show me more things about Abigail in Heaven (a second book that I hope to write someday); like how she crossed this HUGE ravine (like the Grand Canyon) when she died and went into heaven. This angel caught her “shirt” as she started to fall into this black abyss, and then carried her across this huge ravine that took a long time to cross. I, then, saw about 20 family members looking at her, to welcome her to Heaven. I now knew that she would be OK. (I later counted about 20 family members who would have been looking for her in Heaven!). I was relieved to see this vision, of how God had provided for Abigail’s entrance into Heaven after her horrible accident.

There were many other heavenly visitations with her, but one was about her bunnies, thus the point of this story:

In spirit, I was asking her one day how she was doing? God showed me her playing with 3 entities that were about half the height of a normal person. She was pushing a cart with these 3 entities on the cart, down a hill while they gleefully enjoyed it. Then, they all went back to the top of the hill as Abigail stepped onto the cart and the three of them pushed her down the hill, to her enjoyment!

Then, I thought to ask her about her two bunnies that she had as she had grown up: had she seen Angel and Buttons in Heaven, I asked her? But it came to me just then, by the Holy Spirit, that she had a third black bunny when she had lived at her dad’s as an older teen! I had forgotten about that bunny because I had only seen it once or twice. These were the three entities that she was playing with in Heaven! Then, I knew that the vision was real- of God and not made up by my subconscious- I didn’t know that she had 3 bunnies until the vision reminded me of that fact!

I have other stories of seeing other people’s pets in Heaven, which again, is yet, another story.

But I wonder if we can’t appreciate other people’s experiences with God and Heaven, rather than judging that “all must be alike and have the same beliefs”? - these beliefs being that Heaven is outside of “what is religiously allowed”?

It was the Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes and lawyers- followers of the law, who kept people “out of Heaven” by destroying their faith that wasn’t “good enough” for their perfect standards.

Jesus said of them:

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. (Matt 23:13)

And of the Scribes and Pharisees- “For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” (Matt 23:4)

So, let us allow some individual belief in Christendom, please! Look at the fruits of a person’s life (as Jesus told us to do in discerning whether someone is of God or not), and realize that Yes, God does love the animals, that they have spirits that have saved people in so many ways. Legalistic people, please stop saying to other people, who know that their pet is deeper/eternal, that they couldn’t be going to Heaven. And where is the scripture/evidence, that animals do not have spirits or that they will not be in Heaven after they die? I would love to have a biblical, theological debate about this someday.

In the meantime, please know that we have a very gracious God in Heaven who loves all of His Creations, as I appreciated in Ami’s article.

Marianne is author of "The Lamb was Sacrificed for All- Inspired Visions about Jesus and God’s Love For Us” (www.thelambforall.com) under the pseudonym of Faith M Garden, published by Dorrance Publishing, 2014. Marianne has lived in Wasilla for over 4 years and before that, in Anchorage since 1996. She is re-married, has 3 other biological grown children, 4 stepsons and 6 darling grandchildren!