Hey ... Cool thought. And sorry for the misunderstanding.

Liz,

I think your statement

"I don't think my Misty will be in heaven, however, I do believe that the "parent" dogs will be and it will be just a matter of time before I can breed them back to getting my Yorkie."

Is on the right track and the only reason I can think of that God wouldn't provide things that we are used to - that is pets would be if they were bad or would hurt us. Therefore, dog breeding might just be one of the jobs in the new earth!!!

I wouldn't chose that profession, but might put in an order for one when the time comes.

As I understand it, at the time that Revelation was written the phrase "1000 years" did not necessarly mean a litteral number of years, but meant time to have questions answered, that full answers can be given, that there is no need for a quick answer due to being rushed, but you can take all the time you need.

As for pets being in heaven and your argument "Dogs and Cats are "man made" 'devolutions' of original species such as Wolves, Lions and Tigers" May I remind you that Mrs. White pictues early man as fruit and nut eaters and animals as vegtable eaters and we are devolutions from the fruit and nut eaters to eating what was originally designed for animals, and that is if we are vegitarian.

Mrs. White, while believing in a firm 7 days creation, is not as anti-evolution as we conservative Christians tend to be. She has periods of post fall devolution that we are all a part of. If our pets, as a result of their devolution should not be in heaven, than neither should we for our devolution and Chrit's sacrifice is in vain. Also, don't forget, Jesus bore the crown of thorns representing the curse on the earth and animals.

In closing may I share a story? (PS it makes a great childrens story for Sabbath school. I hope many of the readers here will order the book, it's thin and inexpensive):

The monks did not know if he was alive or dead. The emperor called for his death and a group of men kidnapped him and apparently killed him. But there was no body and occasionally came a rumor that the kidnappers took him into hiding to save his life. But as the weeks stretched into months and no firm word, the monks felt that their leader was not going to return. They choose one monk to care for the building while the others left, taking nearly everything that was not nailed down, including several dogs that the monks kept to warn them if someone tried to listen to their discussions. The monk who was left was barely able to hide a small puppy from the others. He wanted it to catch mice and rats and therefore would not feed the puppy, thinking it would make him a better mouser.




One night there was a knock on the door. The monk was surprised and pleased as a burley man with a thick beard came in. The monk made dinner for his guest. As the guest sat down to eat, he saw the puppy and cut off a piece of sausage to feed him. The monk protested but the guest, known as Squire George, ignored the monk as he shared his meal with the puppy. Squire George was the long lost leader of the monastery, returned from hiding to help his friends with some difficult choices. The puppy and Squire George became fast friends, sharing the meal, playing and slept that night together.

The next morning Squire George shaved and went to visit his friends who needed his advice. While his friends were happy that he was alive and to see him again, they were not too welcoming of his advice, and Squire George returned home feeling very sad. Walking in the door the puppy saw him and came running to Squire George, giving him a welcome that only a puppy can give, and Squire George couldn’t help but laugh and while playing with the puppy said “No one else liked me today, but you still like me, you must be a fool to still like me” and the word “Fool” or “Tolpel” (umlaut over the “o”) became the puppy’s name.

The years went by and the friendship between Squire George and Tolpel grew. Squire George married and had children, and Toplel was a part of the family, and probably protected the family since he was still a good mouse and rat catcher, even with sharing in the family meals, and that probably protected Squire George and his family from getting the Plague that came across Europe.

Squire George worked hard and sometimes saw very good results, but other times not so good results, and these times would make Squire George very sad. After one hard day Squire George was feeling very sad. He looked at his life and felt like a failure. He even felt that God could not love him and he was thinking that it was so hopeless that he should just give up his work and give up on God. As he was thinking this, Toplel saw him and gave Squire George the type of friendly greeting that only a beloved dog can give his master, which reminded Squire George of Tolpel’s greeting while still a puppy, Squire George then felt “Tolpel loves me! If Tolpel can love me, I know that Jesus also loves me!” and he recommitted his heart to Jesus and continued with his work, which has been a blessing to all of us, since Squire George was the name that Martin Luther used while hiding from the emperor.

In showing Jesus love to Tolpel by being kind to this puppy, Jesus was able to show his love to Martin Luther through Tolpel. [now would God keep this ministerial dog, a dog who's ministry has reached over the centuries to even bless us, out of heaven?]

This story was adapted from portions of two books, “Tolpel, Luther’s dog” and "Martin Luther" by William Graffan. It’s a small book and part of the story is in Tolpel is in this book and in the two other children’s book Graffan wrote on Luther’s wife. They are excellent books for both young and old. They are available from S. G. Verlag, Brestauerstaasse 15, 38176 Wittenberg/Bortfeld Germany.

Any thoughts or coments???

I liked your story about the puppy; and I do think that GOD can and does use animals to *get* to us sometimes. Jonah's whale, and Balaam's talking donkey come to mind from the Bible. However, I stand behind what I said previously about our pets.

Maybe I a wrong, but I feel that sometimes we get a bit mixed up between our time in heaven and our final home on the earth made new.

I believe that the time spent in heaven will be a time of growing up, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Adam and Eve were probably 2 to 3 times our height. We will develop mentally in heaven, and in the presence of Jesus we will certainly grow spiritually. I haven't read anything that convinces me that there will be animals, etc. in HEAVEN.

We then come to the time of the final judgment and the destruction of sin forever, and then we find that Jesus will create "a new earth" -- and that is when I believe the animals, birds, fish, insects etc will be created. We can be sure that God will create animals that we can have to love. My little Misty was just the right size dog for me -- when I am just 5 feet tall, but, when I have grown to my new height of, say, 12 feet, then I would need to have a dog approximately 2 1/2 times bigger than Misty! I can be assured that my "new earth dog" will be just the right dog for me! And -- there will be no parting!

Beryl

Thank you Beryl for sharing this thought with us. I like what you have said here.

Yes, I agree completely, I always think of the *New Earth* as heaven too. But there is a distinction between "Heaven" where we grow up, and "New Earth-heaven".

On a side note, how did you know I was only five feet tall? That is really funny.

Beryl, I am sure that you will enjoy your wolf in the New Earth. I know that I will enjoy my serpent.

It is almost humorous to see how Earthly-minded we as human beings are. Hot,tempered discussions could easily develop on whether there will be serpents, cats, dogs, hot dogs or wet cats in Heaven!

To be honest, I really ain't concerned a bit about it, because my King knows every single need of mine better than I do myself, and I doubt that I will be able to remember to check whether there are cats, dogs, serpents or bushmen in that Glorious place!

The moment it finally dawns upon us that we are standing on the Sea of Glass before God's Throne (if it ever does!), surrounded by huge, blistering and joyful angels, and beholding the beauty and majesty of Jesus Himself, handing out golden harps and crowns personally to every one of us--I dunno... I can't understand how I won't be sobbing of pure happiness, gratefullness, humbleness, you name it. Everylasting life, totally undeserved!

Makes me scared to death by thinking of my own weaknesses, but it fills my heart with humblenss and sincere love to Jesus when thinking of His promises!

It is always comforting to think about how short this life is compared to the eternity that is about to dawn upon us! He will not fail us no matter what happens, so let us never turn our backs on Him! Now is not the time to let it go, it's just about to begin... :)