Pets and the Supernatural

What is the supernatural?  

Merriam-Webster says; of or relating to an order of existence beyond the visible observable universe 

Is the spirit realm real?   

If it is, are animals spirit beings? 

Whether you realize it or not, there is an unseen realm that coexists with and runs parallel to our natural realm.  Everything happening in the natural realm is the result of things that are taking place in the spirit (supernatural) realm.  The two realms coincide and they are connected.                                               Nothing just happens!  There are no coincidences!  

Is there any significance to animals being spirit beings?  Yes!  

Whether an animal has a spirit or does not have a spirit is vital to what takes place once they die.  The answer to the question above holds an important key in determining their eternal destiny.  Only a spirit being can exist beyond the expiration of their body.

If animals are in fact spirit beings, then they will live beyond the grave.        

Spirits never die  — they are eternal.

If it were true that animals were merely bodies made from dust, then their life would be over at the grave.  But that’s not true because your pets’ eternal destiny has been predetermined by God — before the foundation of the earth.  

There’s something more to them than what meets the eye.  That something is the very essence of who they are — spirit and soul.

There is an eternal part of animals —

just as there is an eternal part of man 

Let’s begin by clarifying the fact that spirits are not souls, and souls are not spirits.  Over the years religion has used spirit and soul as if they were the same, even interchangeable.  Although they work in tandem, they are two very different entities.  

The Bible makes a distinction between spirit and soul in the book of Hebrews:

For the word of God is quick and powerful,
and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit,
and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12

The soul is WHO you and your pets are:  the mind, the will and emotions.  

Spirit is WHAT you and your pets are.  The spirit is the breath that gives life.

By design, spirit and soul are both intangible and immortal — they will live on forever.

How can we be sure that our pets are eternal spirit beings?

Answer:  Because that’s what the Bible says!  

Let’s begin with what the wisest man, Solomon had to say.  In the Book of Ecclesiastes, he made it clear in saying that animals were indeed spirit beings by comparing the physical and spiritual deaths of both man and animal.  

“I said in my heart, “Concerning the condition of the sons of men,
God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are animals.

For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals;
one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other.
Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity.

All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust.

Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, 
and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth?”                        
Ecc 3:18-21 NKJV          
More on this portion of Scripture in a future blog – 

When Solomon used the word “breath” in verse 19, that word was translated from ruwach in the Hebrew and means “spirit”. (Strongs #7307).  

The same Hebrew word is used in verse 21 and also carries the meaning “…one breath.” 

So the Bible makes it clear that animals, along with mankind, do indeed have a spirit component.   

Another Bible example that confirms animals are spirit beings is found in the Book of Numbers. This is an actual account of what happened to Balaam’s donkey that not only substantiates animals to have a soul (mind, will and emotions) but also that animals are indeed spirit beings:

22 Then God’s anger was aroused because he went, and the Angel of the Lord took His stand in the way as an adversary against him.  And he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.  

23 Now the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand, and the donkey turned aside out of the way and went into the field. So Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back onto the road. 

24 Then the Angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side.  

25 And when the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord, she pushed herself against the wall and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck her again. 

26 Then the Angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. 

27 And when the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam’s anger was aroused, and he struck the donkey with his staff.  

28 Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”

29 And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!”  

30 So the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever disposed to do this to you?”

And he said, “No.”

31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand; and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face. 

32 And the Angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to stand against you, because your way is perverse before Me. 

33 The donkey saw Me and turned aside from Me these three times. If she had not turned aside from Me, surely I would also have killed you by now, and let her live.” Numbers 22:22-33

You cannot see or operate in the spirit realm
unless you are a spirit being!

 The Bible makes it clear that Balaam’s donkey was able to function and see exactly what was taking place in the spirit realm.  The Lord did not have to open her spiritual eyes because they were already open — that was not the case for Balaam.  The Lord had to open his eyes in order for him to see what the donkey saw all along. 

If the donkey were just a body, or even just a body with a soul,
but had no spirit, she would never have been able to see or operate in the spirit realm.  

THE SPIRIT REALM IS REAL !

While we look not at the things which are seen, 

but at the things which are not seen: 

for the things which are seen are temporal; 

 but the things which are not seen are eternal. 

2 Cor 4:1

More to come on Pets and the Supernatural…