In Part 1 of this subject we discussed the responsibility that we carry toward the Animal Kingdom and how walking in a greater measure of communion with that Kingdom will cause us to need to bear more responsibility for them than we do currently. If you haven’t read it, you can catch up here: Restoring Communion with the Animal Kingdom Part 1: Responsibility and Cost. Today we are going to talk a bit about the personhood of animals and how we need to shift our mindsets to match with what is actually true, not what we have tended to believe previously. We will also be looking a bit more into what this will cost us to properly steward in the Kingdom of God.

I was giving our dog Seraphina a shower recently with flea shampoo and Sunshine was mentioning how she thinks I’m better with the dog (as far as how I treat her) than Sunshine is. Not that Sunshine is bad or abusive in any way—just that she thinks I tolerate and manage the dog’s behavior better. I replied that I think it’s probably because I recognize the dog has her own thoughts, will, personality, and emotions, and I don’t think we always take that into account enough as people. Sunshine said, “Well yeah, but she’s still just a dog.”

I replied, “Yeah, she’s a dog, but that’s exactly my point. What if part of our problem is that we relegate her to ‘just a dog’ status and ignore her will, emotions, and intellect?” It took a bit of convincing to get her to believe that dogs have a mind, will, and emotions (and I’m still not sure she’s entirely convinced), but it got me thinking.  Before going further, I’ll explain to you what I pointed out to my wife about animals having a mind, will, and emotions. Regarding Seraphina’s mind, we have the ability to train her to do things. She knows how to recognize certain commands and words, such as “outside”, “go home”, “crate”, “potty”, “Seraphina”, “puppy”, “food”, “hungry”, “no”, and more. Not only can she recognize these words, but she knows what they mean and in some cases what behavior is expected of her when we say those words to her. This requires intellect, or said another way, a mind.

As for Seraphina’s will, that is clearly evident in her behaviors, especially when we take into account the fact that she does have a mind and can understand some of what we tell her. When she is playing outside on our property and we tell her to “go home,” she knows she is supposed to, well, go home. The thing is, when she hears us tell her that, stops, looks at us, and then runs in the opposite direction she is enacting her will. A rebellious will mind you, but a will nonetheless.
Now for the emotions. When we first got Seraphina as a puppy, she had clearly been mistreated. It took a week before she started playing like a normal puppy would do and it wasn’t because she had some kind of developmental delay—it was because she was too afraid. I had to reach into her crate and pull her out of it and we would take turns holding her on our laps while she laid there shaking until she realized we weren’t going to hurt her. She wouldn’t take food from our hands for a while and we had to stop touching the food and move away before she would eat it. This animal was experiencing high levels of fear. Now, this is only possible if animals can experience emotions because fear is an emotion. Seraphina likewise experiences happiness, sadness, hope, disappointment, and other emotions as well, and if one observes her long enough, these various emotions become visibly evident. This is what I explained to my wife about our dog, but the same matters apply to all other animals.

In reality, the main difference we see between a dog and another animal, such as a beetle, is the level of intellect available. Theoretically all animals possess a mind, will, and emotions, but what allows them to display and/or experience a greater range of those things has everything to do with intellect or brainpower, or said another way, the size and complexity of their brain. Now, here’s where things get trippy. The human soul consists of a mind, will, and emotions, and as I have already proven, animals have the same. The level of intelligence they have, the intellect of their mind, will vary, but they still have one. The thing that’s fascinating is that when we realize that the human mind is not stored in the brain but the brain is the physical interface for the mind and the body, then it means that animals also have a soul that exists in a soul dimension similar to how we do (While some might like to use Greek and Hebrew to argue with me about this, I’m not talking about the spirit of the animal, I’m talking about their soul, and they aren’t the same thing. Argument over.).

Now, what would happen if we shifted our mindset and actually believe that animals have a mind, will, and emotions, have intellect, personality, and desires, and then treated them accordingly? I’m not even talking about if we could talk to each other, like I suggested in the prior installment, but what would it look like? How would we shift how we treat animals when we understand more about how they are made and what they experience? I believe if we truly understood this and changed our interactions with animals, we might see a difference in how they interact with us.

Now, I want us to come back around and take another look at this subject of cost. What price will we have to pay to communicate with animals and restore our relationship with the Animal Kingdom? Keep in mind as I discuss this that I’m not saying we should shy away from wanting things due to the price that may come as a result, but I do think it is important to think things through before we dive headlong forward without preparation. Luke 14:28-30 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’” If we want to steward the gift, we need to consider the price.

When we understand that animals have intellect and personality and have their own feelings and desires and then we are able to talk to them, what will that change for us? Let me throw out some ideas to consider—things that might ‘cost’ if we really could understand and communicate with animals like we are talking about. Going to the Veterinarian’s office might prove traumatic, as you will be exposed to the fear and pain of the animals present. An animal shelter would be even harder to go to, much less work at. Depending on how the animals are treated, the Pet Store, Zoo, and Circus might also become off-limits as well. If you’re a hunter, you might give up hunting simply because when you hear the dying cries of the animal you just shot, it will mean a lot more than it did before. Animals won’t just be ‘dumb beasts’ anymore to you – they will be your friends. If you’re a meat-cattle farmer, you’re probably going to need to find a new profession. Try telling all your animal- friends that you’re going to have to kill them once they get big enough. I mean, I’m sure they’ll understand, right?
This may sound entirely overboard to some and it may seem these things won’t matter much, but think again. Animals don’t just communicate using words like we do, and they certainly don’t use human-language when speaking to us. The communication is at its root soul-to-soul or spirit-to-spirit, whether it sounds like we hear them with our physical ears or not. If we shoot an animal with earplugs in, we may still hear their dying cries because it isn’t limited to the audible range, and as such simply going out of physical earshot is no guarantee either.

How do I know any of this? Have I had animals speak to me directly? Not that I recall. But I know others who have, and I have had enough experiences talking with plants, stars, angels and other non-physical beings that I have a few clues that indicate this is how it works. I have also experienced animals responding to my thoughts or words even if I didn’t hear theirs.

For one example of this, my wife and I were sitting in our car which we had parked on the side of a street. We were sitting in the car talking to each other with the sunroof closed but with the divider open so that we could see the glass above us. A black cat walked toward us, hopped up on the hood of the car, slowly walked up the front pane, over the top, and down the back, then hopped off and walked away a short distance. My wife and I both enjoyed this very much, as we got to observe the cat walk on the roof as well as the rest of the car. I even recall saying to her “I wish the cat would do that again – that was cool.” Within about 15 seconds the cat trotted over, hopped back up on the car hood, went quickly over the top and back down, and left. He/she looked back at us at one point and we both had the distinct feeling the cat was asking “There. Did that make you happy?” The cat was nice enough to humor our request, but it seemed like it found the request somewhat annoying. Clearly though, the cat heard our thought-request and complied when it was physically incapable of hearing us due to the windows being shut—and even if the windows had been open, the cat likely wouldn’t have understood my English. And yet, the cat did exactly what I wanted, meaning it understood what I wanted through nonverbal communication, proving my point.

I once had a dream that suggested there are many people out there who have had similar experiences communicating with animals, and that some do it regularly but have simply been unwilling to talk about it, especially in the Church, for fear of negative labels and derision from others. I firmly believe that people often don’t want to take risks and share things because they feel unsafe—and often times other people make it unsafe to share. My hope is that by opening this subject up we can help empower people to start conversations about this topic and walk forward into greater communion with the Animal Kingdoms together. Let’s get started!

There are many people out there who would like talk to animals. Or rather, I should say that want to hold conversations with animals (talking to them isn’t hard, but understanding when they talk back is another matter entirely). In addition to just talking to animals, there is a desire for the separation between Man and the Animal Kingdoms to be removed, that the veil between the two would be torn once and for all.

The Bible says that there will be a day when the lion will lie down with the lamb, and a little child will lead them. This is typically relegated to a far-off future post-return of Jesus in the Second Coming. But the veil was torn over 2000 years ago and there is no longer a separation, so we can have connectedness and peace now. And while one could say that the temple veil represented separation between God and man only, I suggest that is not so. Jesus died to set us free from every curse and bondage and place that was less-than God’s intent, so it would stand that all separation of every kind brought in through the Fall of Man was dealt with, not just that of God and man.

The fear of Man was placed upon animals at a time when (I theorize) that there was a dietary deficiency as a result of the flood. It is possible that it was the atmospheric change that scientists have theorized that caused this change, or it may simply have been that so much of the earth was covered with water that many plants simply died after that length of time and some of those plants became extinct. It is possible that any number of other things transpired to cause this change—we will never know outside of divine revelation.

What we do know is that as is recorded in Genesis, after the Flood the rules changed. Animal began to eat animal (suggesting that all animals had been herbivores prior), and Man started to eat animals as well. I imagine it was due to survival needs and in order to protect creation that God placed fear of Man into animals. And why not? After all, He loves animals too. It would be uncharacteristic of God to tell mankind to make animals a target and then in turn give animals no internal warning system whatsoever to let them know Man is now a dangerous species. Due to this warning system, however, animals run away from people unless they as a species have been tamed over a long period of time.

If walking in a forest, deer usually run away when they see a person. If a squirrel or bird is hanging out at a bird-feeder, they will typically run or fly away when a human approaches, even if the person approaches slowly and with no negative feelings directed toward that animal. It’s almost as if something about our very presence tells the animals to “get away.” I believe it is time for this fear to be removed not just conceptually, but in practice.

Before we take another step to start asking God to remove that fear, I think we need to look at some things honestly. For starters, why do we want this ability with animals? If it’s because we “want to,” because we love animals, or because we have some other positive, non-threatening reason, then it stands to reason that pursuing this ability is worthwhile. After all, Jesus purchased it at a very high price, so why should we not live in it? However, this ability doesn’t come free of charge–anything that God gives us comes with a measure of responsibility. An example of this is our diet—do we eat meat? And are there hunters among us?

If the second of the above answers was “yes,” we are at the greatest risk for misusing and abusing this capacity. If you think about it, are we really going to lure animals into a sense of false security only to then trap or kill them and eat them? This is probably the very reason why God put fear there in the first place. If we decide we want to live at peace with the Animal Kingdom then we actually have to live at peace with them. I’m not saying one has to become a 100% raw-food vegan, but in reality if we want to live in a manner that respects the lives of animals then we must treat them differently than we have collectively in the past.

Animals are a large part of our economy, not just the food chain. Almost every restaurant in the U.S. alone serves meat in 80% or more of its food dishes, and often the percentage is much higher than that. There are some farmers who raise nothing but meat-animals, and there are many jobs that do nothing but handle dead animal-flesh. Some examples: taxidermist, butcher, meat-attendant-at-grocery-store, meat packing company employee, food-processor-of-dried-meat-products-employee, professional game hunter, restaurant cook/chef, rancher/ranch hand, trucker-who-ships-meat-and-livestock. If we stopped eating meat, we would actually remove thousands and thousands of jobs from the economy. While those people would eventually find other jobs or work in other similar job-areas that don’t involve meat, the point is that carnivorous behavior is actually quite ingrained into our culture. To take a step away from that and choose to be vegetarian actually limits food choices greatly, which is a consideration we have to look at. Even if we all decided to go vegetarian (which isn’t likely), there would have to be some kind of scalability to the process to phase out of old ways and into new ones. In reality, if we start collectively changing our habits now, it will likely take a generation (about 20+ years) before we see a significant difference.

A few years ago I was preaching at a gathering in Washington State and as per the custom of that group, they gathered together prior to the meeting for food and fellowship potluck-style. I didn’t tell anyone at the time that I was vegetarian (I’m not currently but was then), and I didn’t believe in imposing my dietary choices on other people for a single evening. But as a result there was actually only one food item there that I could eat—macaroni and cheese. And don’t get me wrong—I like mac and cheese. But with a large gathering and literally only one food item that wasn’t meat, it kind of makes the point I’m getting at. And I’m not just talking about foods that have touched meat or have pieces of meat in them. I mean that every one of the non-mac-and-cheese items offered were all different forms of cooked meat—thus there was no “eating around it.” And please don’t hear this as a complaint—I chose not to make my food preferences known, and I enjoyed both my meal and the company I kept while eating it. I am using this example to point out that if we want to live at peace with the Animal Kingdom, we will need to make some mental shifts in our lives, resulting in some physical shifts and possibly dietary changes as well.

Let’s revisit the responsibility issue of a greater dominion over the Animal Kingdom and ability to communicate with them better. Let me explain what I mean—for every area of supernatural connection that we gain, whether it be with Animals, the Nature Kingdom, Stellar Spirits, or some other group, we open ourselves up to a greater measure of responsibility. For example, if I can talk to animals then when they approach me with problems, it stands to reason that I will need to at least attempt to do something about it. Additionally, many animals habitats worldwide have been drastically altered and managed by humans, and as such they are going to need our assistance for a number of the problems they run into because we’re often the ones that caused them to begin with.

Being Dr. Dolittle could have its high points, and I’m sure it does, but it also comes with its own price. What if we were busy trying to order our pets around and it told us it didn’t like it when we talked to it like that? How would we handle a rebuke from an animal? I’d be shocked if Balaam was expecting the response he got from his donkey when he was busy beating it. And to be honest, Balaam was pretty blessed that he got a donkey who wasn’t inclined to fits of rage, as kicks from donkey hindquarters can be deadly when aimed properly. And what are we going to do when the deer take over our yard and eat our garden to shreds during hunting season because they’re running from the hunters and know they’re safe at our place?
Or what if our neighbor’s cat comes for a visit and tells us what he sees the father doing to the child late at night when mother is sleeping and he thinks no one is watching? How do we handle that? Precious few authorities on the planet would believe us if we said “the cat told me the father is molesting his child”, and it certainly won’t stand up in court of law. I get that got real dark real fast, but these are the kinds of problems we will actually run into. Are we prepared for them?

I’m not saying we should shy away from wanting things due to the price that may come as a result, but I do think it is important to think things through before we dive headlong forward without preparation. Luke 14:28-30 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’” If we want to discover how to restore communion with the Animal Kingdom, I believe it is good to do so, as it is part of what Jesus purchased for us. I believe that in the same way God is restoring the revelation of life and immortality to us, God is also restoring our ability to communicate with the Animal Kingdom—but I think we need to also consider what it will cost us. It is my hope that by discussing this, we will be able to reason through some of the things we need to learn and understand as God releases this to us so that we can properly apprehend, live in, and steward the gift.
We will be covering more about this subject in Part 2, dealing with Mindsets and Personhood. Come join us next week!