Verse 19, this is for that which befalleth the sons of men, befalleth beasts, even one
thing befalleth them, as the one dieth, so dieth the other, yea, they have all one breath,
so that a man, that hath no preeminence above a beast, for all is vanity.
All go into one place, all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
Who knoweth the spirit of man that goes upward, and the spirit of the beast that
goes downward to the earth? And the time of my sermon this morning is man's
relation to animals, man's relation to animals. Animals play a very significant
role in the Bible. And this morning I want to preach a topical sermon on the
subject of animals, and how we as mankind are to relate to them. Now hold
your place there in Ecclesiastes chapter 3, and go to Genesis chapter 1 if
you will. Genesis chapter 1, what does the Bible say about animals? You know
we're going to go through a lot of scripture today, so make sure you
have your Bibles open, go to every reference that we talk about today, and
we're going to demonstrate the purpose of animals, their end, the role that they
play in reprobation, and God's judgment as well. Man's relation to animals. The
first point I want to make this morning is that animals are not an
afterthought in the mind of God, believe it or not. Animals are not an
afterthought. In other words, animals are actually very important to God.
They're very important to God, and this is an important point because of the fact
that society today really exalts animals even above human life sometimes, right?
And sometimes people can have this attitude that animals are way more
important than children, than people, than human life, and this can really
cause Christians to despise animals, and despise animal protection, and
despise talking about or having animals, or even the life of an
animal. But that's not a right attitude either because the Bible actually
teaches us that animals are important to God. Look at Genesis chapter 1 if you
wouldn't. In verse 20 it says,
And God said,
And God blessed them, and said,
And God said,
And let fowl multiply in the earth,
And the evening and the morning were the fifth day,
And God said,
And we see here that God made animals on the fifth and sixth day prior to
creating man, showing us that animals are not an afterthought in the mind of God.
They actually had a priority even in the creation period. Now, this doesn't mean
that they're superior to man, right? Because of the fact that we see
subsequently they're placed under man's dominion thereafter, but it does
show that they do play an essential part in God's original,
sinless creation. Okay? Animals are not a created being that are insignificant to God.
They're actually very much important to him. They were deliberately created in a
sinless fashion in order to beautify the world, to beautify creation, so that
we would honor and glorify God based upon what we're looking at. You look at
the octopus, you look at the platypus, you look at the lion, you look at all
of creation, and it should cause us to be in awe of the creator, the fact
that he made all of these creatures, okay? They were included in this world that
God pronounced to be very good, right? Demonstrating that God esteems the animal kingdom.
Go to Psalms 104, Psalm 104 if you would. Animals are not an afterthought
in the mind of God. They're very much important to God, not just in the
creation period, but even today they're very much important to God, okay?
Now as you turn into Psalm 104, I'm going to read to you from Psalm 50, verse 10,
it says, for every beast of the forest is mine. Of course, this is God speaking.
The Psalmist is writing on God's behalf and he's saying, and the cattle upon
a thousand hills. Listen to this, I know all the fowls of the mountains and
the wild beasts of the field are mine. So this is showing us that there's
not a single creature on this planet, there's not a single animal, a single
insect, not a single ant. Think about that that God doesn't know about.
He keeps track of every single creature that exists in this world.
Let me read to you from Matthew chapter 10, verse 29. Listen to this, it says,
are not two sparrows sold for a farthing and one of them shall not
fall to the ground without your father. This is showing us that even when
birds fall to the ground and die, when an animal dies, it doesn't matter
how small and insignificant they may mean to us. God knows of that death.
God knows of that animal falling to the ground. He keeps track of all the
creatures of the world. He knows every single bird that hatches,
every single reptile, every single ant, every single insect that exists.
God knows about it. In other words, he essentially keeps a catalogue
of all of these creatures showing us that animals are very much
important to God, right? Not only that, but we also see that he takes care
of all these creatures as well. Look at Psalm 104 in verse number 10,
if you wouldn't. Verse 10 of Psalm 104 says,
he sendeth the springs into the valleys which run among the hills.
They give drink to every beast of the field, the wild asses quench
their thirst. By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their
habitation which sing among the branches. He watereth the hills
from his chambers. The earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works.
He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service
of man, that he may bring forth food out of the earth.
And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, oil to make his face
to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart.
The trees of the Lord are full of sap, the cedars of Lebanon
which he hath planted, where the birds make their nests,
as for the storks, the fir trees are her house,
the high hills are a refuge for wild goats,
and the rocks for the conies.
Showing us that God not only esteems animals,
he takes it upon himself to take care of them every single day.
All of the ecosystems of this world are set forth by God
in order to take care of these creatures.
Go to Deuteronomy 22, if you would.
Deuteronomy 22, we're going to be all over the place
in the Bible today, so make sure you have a piece of paper
or a pen handy to mark some areas.
Deuteronomy 22, I'm going to keep reading in Psalm 147,
verse 9 says, he giveth the beast his food
and to the young ravens which cry.
So when the ravens and the birds are crying out for food,
who feeds them?
God is the one who's feeding them.
God is the one who sets forth the systems in place
in order to take care of all of these creatures.
Matthew chapter 6 and verse 26, you're in Deuteronomy 22,
Matthew 626 says, behold, the fowls of the air,
for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns.
Yet your heavenly Father, listen to this, feedeth them.
Are ye not much better than they?
Now, this also demonstrates that in my opinion,
mankind should avoid involving themselves
in the preservation of animals,
making sure they don't go extinct or something like that.
It's just like, oh, save the whales or whatever.
Save this particular bird or whatever.
But you know what?
If it's God's will for that bird to go extinct,
then so be it.
We shouldn't worry that a certain animal's going to go extinct
or we're going to miss out on having these types of creatures
or whatever.
If God wanted to preserve that animal, he would.
The only time we should really concern ourselves
whether an animal goes extinct or not
is if it affects our well-being.
If it affects our food source,
our well-being because of the fact that God prioritizes humanity
over the animal kingdom.
Yeah, they're important to him.
Yes, he feeds them, but we are superior to these animals
and God takes care of them in order to take care of us.
Now, look at Deuteronomy 22, verse 6.
It says here,
If a bird's nest chance to be before thee
in the way in any tree or on the ground,
whether they be young ones or eggs
and the dam sitting upon the young
or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young,
but thou shalt in any wise let the dam go
and take the young to thee that it may be well with thee
and that thou mayest prolong thy days.
In other words, don't mess with the birds,
don't mess with the ecosystem
so that it can continue to produce more eggs,
more birds for us.
He said, for thee to prolong thy days.
For your protein, for your food, right?
For your well-being, this is why the creation
and the animals are set in place.
Go to Romans chapter 8, if you would.
Romans chapter number 8.
And so, you know, don't waste your time
worrying about the extinction of this animal.
Who cares about the dodo bird?
Who cares?
You know, obviously, I care a little bit about the Saber II Tiger
that went extinct a while back
because I wanted to see it in real life.
But you know what? Who cares?
Who cares if the T-Rex went extinct,
went extinct, the Velociraptor?
Who cares if there's an animal going extinct?
Now, if God wanted to preserve that animal, he would.
What about the condor?
We should save the condor.
I don't eat condor so it can go extinct.
Don't really bother me.
If God wants to do away with the condor,
then so be it.
That's his agenda.
That's what he wants.
If he wanted to preserve that animal, he would.
You're in Romans chapter 8.
The fact is that God esteems animals to the point
that we see here that they get provided
for by God.
God takes care of them.
He creates an ecosystem that's conducive to their health,
to their food, but at the end of the day,
it's for our well-being.
Let me also say this.
God does esteem animals not only to the point
that he feeds them, but he also allows them,
listen to this, to participate in the regeneration,
referring to the resurrection,
referring to the millennial reign of Jesus Christ,
referring to the new heaven and the new earth,
believe it or not.
Now look at Romans chapter 8, if you would.
You're like, what?
Is that true?
Do all dogs go to heaven?
Is that really true?
Because everyone wants to believe that their little dog
or little cat that passed away is going to be in heaven.
Well, I hate to break it to you, but no,
that's not going to happen.
Your animal, just silence now.
Your animal does not go to heaven when it dies.
It does not have a spirit that can be redeemed.
Just as we have spirits that can be redeemed by salvation.
But here's the thing though, is that there are animals in heaven.
It's not because they got there through salvation.
It's because of the fact that in heaven,
you have these creatures known as cherubim,
which we would classify as being what?
An angel.
And these angels, which are called cherubim,
they're basically these anthropomorphic creatures
that have four faces of an animal.
It has one face of a lion, another face of an eagle,
another face of an ox.
And then it does have the face of a man,
but it doesn't mean that that is an actual man
because there's a lot of creatures that God creates
that have humanly features.
Think of monkeys and chimpanzees and apes.
There's even fish out there that have human features.
There's a blobfish.
If you look up blobfish, you're like,
this looks like a miserable person.
I'm not kidding you, it looks like an actual miserable person.
And it has these features.
It doesn't mean it's a human, it's a fish,
but it's just created by the same person.
So in heaven, you have these creatures.
They're called beasts, and so they can be classified as animals.
They're just simply a celestial beast
known as cherubim that we would classify as angels.
Now look at verse 19.
So let's talk about the fact that animals will be in the millennial reign.
They will benefit from the resurrection.
Look at verse 19.
It says,
What does that mean?
It means that all of creation,
dogs, lions, monkeys, all types of creatures,
they're all anticipating the resurrection.
When it says the manifestation of the sons of God,
that's referring to the resurrection.
That's when the sons of God,
which are those who believe on Jesus Christ,
are fully redeemed, right?
And they are anticipating that moment.
Why?
Look what it says in verse 20.
So in other words, creatures live and die.
They eat each other.
Super violent, right?
And it says here that they are subject to vanity,
meaning that like, you know, animals,
they don't really have any significant eternal purpose.
They did in the Garden of Eden, right?
But they don't really serve any eternal significance right now.
So they just have a vain life.
You and I, we have purpose, right?
We have a purpose.
The Bible tells us,
For we are as workmanship created in Christ Jesus,
unto good works which God has before ordained
that we should walk in them.
God has a purpose for us to be conformed
to the image of Jesus Christ.
Animals do not.
They are subject to vanity after the fall, okay?
He says they're subject to vanity,
not willingly.
In other words, they didn't choose that.
They're subject to that because of Adam's transgression.
Verse 21 says,
Because the creature itself also shall be delivered
from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
So that's showing us that in the millennial reign,
in the new heaven and new earth,
there will be everlasting animals as well.
Creatures will not die in the new heaven,
in the new earth.
And so, you know, that's one part
that the Jehovah's Witness got right
on their little pictures.
You know, they always have these pictures
where people are like walking in a forest
with all types of animals
and they're hugging, you know, the bears or whatever.
That's true.
They're not going to see that,
but it is a real thing, though.
And so, good job on the illustration there.
But it says here that they will be delivered
from the bondage of corruption,
meaning that they're not going to die anymore.
They will live.
They will benefit from the liberty
of the children of God, okay?
The residual blessings of the resurrection
even affects all of creation and animals as well.
Look at verse 22.
For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together
until now.
It's basically stating that all of creation,
the animal kingdom, they are groaning.
They're almost just awaiting.
They're anticipating.
They're in pain.
They're complaining.
Why?
Because they just live and die,
live and die with absolutely no purpose behind it.
It says in verse 23,
and not only they, but we ourselves also,
which have the first fruits of the Spirit,
even we ourselves groan within ourselves
waiting for the adoption to with the redemption of our body.
So obviously the purpose of the text here
is to demonstrate that we groan within ourselves as well,
meaning that, you know,
oh wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me from this body of death?
You know, we struggle with sin.
We are tempted to sin.
We have this corruptible flesh that is constantly
just fighting against us.
We got to walk in the Spirit, intentionally live for God.
And so I was just like, man, I hate my flesh.
I hate the fact that I'm tempted.
We groan within ourselves.
And God is trying to communicate here
that to a lesser extent,
the animal kingdom does the same thing.
Because they're subject to vanity,
not willingly, but because of Adam, right?
Just as we kind of complain
over the fact that we live and die,
we're tempted in like manner the animal kingdom does the same.
So, you know, your dog does not go to heaven.
He will not meet you there in heaven.
I'm sorry to break that to you.
But, you know, there are creatures in heaven
and animals in general will inherit the kingdom of God.
Okay, there will be animals in the millennial reign.
Now, go back to Genesis chapter one again.
Genesis chapter one.
Let me read you from Isaiah chapter 11
in verse number six.
This is a picture of the millennial reign.
Some can say it's also possibly talking
about the new heaven and the new earth.
But it says in Isaiah chapter 11 verse six,
the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid
and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together
and the little child shall lead them.
So this is showing us that there is going to come a time
where the spiritual atmosphere is completely transfigured
to the point where a wolf that would typically consume a lamb
will actually dwell together.
They'll be friends again, okay?
You know, the fox and the hound, right?
You know, the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the young lion
and to just add to the extreme, you know, transformation here.
It says that a little child will lead them.
You'll play follow the leader with the wolf and the lamb,
the leopard and so forth, the lion.
It goes on to say in verse seven,
and the cow and the bear shall feed.
Their young ones shall lie down together
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
So obviously the biology has also changed
within that millennial reign and the new heaven and new earth
among the animal kingdom to the point where the Bible says
that the lion who once previously ate, you know,
meat and killed and drank blood
and all that is now eating straw like an ox.
It says the sucking child shall play on the whole of the asp
and the wean child shall put his hand in the cockatrice's den.
In other words, you know, this is going to be
such an extraordinary transformation
that babies can stick their hands
inside of a hole of a rattlesnake,
of a cobra, a den of some sort of venomous viper
and it's not going to bite them.
It poses no threat, no harm.
This is the transfiguration that's going to take place.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
What is the same?
It's showing us that though we get to benefit from
the millennial reign, the new heaven and new earth,
guess what the animal kingdom does as well, okay?
Now a lot of times people ask me,
so do you think a T-rex will be there?
Are we going to be able to see the pterodactyl?
Are we going to see?
I don't know, I hope so, you know,
but the text doesn't really explicitly say it,
and so maybe animals who have already gone extinct
are just extinct forever.
We don't know, okay?
But something can change, I don't know.
So the point that I'm making here is that
animals are not an afterthought in the mind of God.
They actually have some importance in the eyes of God, okay?
Point number two is that animals,
and I mentioned this a little bit in the first point,
animals are inferior to mankind
and should be dominated by man, okay?
They are inferior.
It doesn't mean they're not important,
but they're not as important as us.
So stop calling your animal, your little pet,
more important, stop calling them a child, okay?
It's not right, it's not biblical,
it's nonsense, it's foolish
because animals are animals,
and in God's eyes they are inferior to man, okay?
Never put an animal on the same pedestal
as a human being, especially a child.
So the Bible tells us that it teaches us
that animals are inferior to mankind
and should be dominated by mankind as well.
Look at Genesis 1 again in verse 26.
It says in God said,
let us make man in our image after our likeness
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
over the fowl of the air,
over the cattle and over all the earth
and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God created he him,
male and female created he them, verse 28,
and God blessed him and said unto them,
be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.
Listen to this, and subdue it, okay?
And have dominion over the fish of the sea
and over the fowl of the air
and over every living thing that moveeth upon the earth.
Go to Genesis chapter 9, Genesis chapter 9.
So we see explicitly in the very first chapter of the Bible,
God says, he creates man, he says,
you are the ruler of this world, okay?
Over the creation you're supposed to dominate
the birds, the fish, the beast of the field,
everything that creepeth,
you are at the top of the food chain, okay?
You are essentially the one who dominates the entire world
and that's how it should operate, okay?
Now obviously this doesn't mean that creatures are,
you know, some creatures in this world are, you know,
they were stronger than them or something like that,
but obviously we have the spirit of God
and we have a mind that is able to subdue animals, okay?
We have a mind that's able to hunt animals
and subdue them and use them for our benefit and so forth.
Look at Genesis chapter 9 and verse number 2,
it says, the fear of you and the dread of you
shall be upon every beast of the earth
and upon every fowl of the air,
upon all that moveeth upon the earth
and upon all the fishes of the sea
into your hand are they delivered.
So when it says that the fear of you
and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth,
this doesn't mean that all creatures will fear you
to the point where they will flee from you, okay?
This basically means that creatures will view you as a threat.
Because they're afraid of you, they will view you as a threat, okay?
You know, this is why, for example,
sometimes people will go hiking, especially now,
a lot of this is going on,
and they will accidentally step on a rattlesnake
and a rattlesnake will strike them, right?
Or they'll just, you know, walk near a bush
and a rattlesnake will come out and strike them
because they either view them as a threat
or they view them as food.
So this should not be used as a text to say,
oh man, animals are just afraid of us, period,
and therefore we can play these psychological games with them
or whatnot.
Obviously this is simply referring to the fact
that there's a major distinction between us
and we can't necessarily abide together in harmony, okay?
They view us as a threat, they are afraid of us
and they will strike, of course, and attack if need be.
Go to Exodus chapter 21, Exodus chapter 21.
Psalm chapter 8 and verse 6 says this,
as you're turning to Exodus 21,
thou madeest him, referring to mankind,
to have dominion over the works of thy hands.
Thou hast put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen yea the beasts of the field,
the fowl of the air, the fish of the sea,
and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas, okay?
And we started off in Ecclesiastes chapter 3
talking about the fact that, you know,
the Bible tells us that the spirit of man
goeth upward and the spirit of the beast
goeth downward to the earth.
What does that mean?
It's referring to the fact that the breath,
the spirit, man is made with the spirit
but it's a living spirit that can be redeemed
and it can go to heaven.
Whereas animals, once they die,
they just stay in the earth.
They go back to the dirt.
That's their end.
They don't have a spirit or a soul
the way we would communicate to be
an actual spirit or soul that is able to worship God
and desire salvation and so forth, okay?
So animals are inferior to us
and we're to dominate them according to the Bible.
Now this means a few things, okay?
Number one is that the life of an animal
should never be prioritized over the life of a human, okay?
So that means if some dumb idiot
climbs over the fence into some lion's den, okay?
And you know, his life is in danger
and people kill the lion,
no one should mourn over the death of the lion.
Now I'll be it, the guy's an idiot for climbing over
but it's still, he's still more important than the lion.
But they're endangered.
Yeah, we're about to make them more endangered, okay?
Because the life of a human
is far more important than the life of a lion.
Now obviously, you know, people have done this
throughout the years where they,
a child falls over or something like that.
You know, people are still mourning,
what's that stupid ape's name?
Maranbe, right?
Oh, Haranbe, whatever, you know?
It's an ape.
I'll call him Maranbe, okay, just to spite him.
You know?
Oh man, I can't believe that.
And you know what, you'd be surprised,
you go on the comment section of these videos
and how much people are like condemning
the fact that he died
and they wish the person who shot them
would have died instead
and they prefer the life of the beast
over the life of the animal,
excuse me, over the life of the human being
and that's godless, okay?
Humans have a priority over the animals
and they should never be prioritized
as being, you know, oh, they're far more important,
you know, you're the one who caged them,
a free willy or whatever,
and you know, SeaWorld,
and look folks,
SeaWorld is a godless organization
that wants to make money
and look, if you've seen Blackfish,
you know what I'm talking about, okay?
You know, they capture these killer whales,
okay?
Which I think is the right thing to do,
it's okay to do that.
According to the Bible,
you can capture animals
and use them for your entertainment and amusement,
yes, we're going to get into that just a bit.
And I could see people getting all mad
as though I don't think that's right, you know?
That's because you don't really have
the biblical perspective here
that humans are more important
and God literally made a zoo for Adam, okay?
You're just like, name him what you want, you know?
It's just like Maranbe, it sounds good.
You know, who cares, right?
But you know, you have Blackfish
that capture these animals for entertainment,
but here's where they went wrong,
is they allowed people to get in the water
with these killer whales.
You know, they're called killer whales, okay?
And so they're getting in the water
with these killer whales
and these animals are literally killing a ton of people.
I mean, as far as I know,
what's the...
Tilikum was the name of the major culprit.
He killed like five people, including one of the trainers.
He mutilated its trainer.
And I'm talking about like mutilated and paraded.
A homeless man, like prior to that,
had climbed into SeaWorld that night
and went into the water
and Tilikum like mutilated him
and paraded him on his back, okay?
I mean, talk about a killer, a murderer, a murderer as well, right?
But what do you expect, okay?
It's a massive creature
and you know, just enjoy it through the other side of the glass.
You don't got to get in there with him, okay?
You know, I'm all for enjoying animals and such,
but you know, I'm not for sticking my hand
inside an alligator's mouth
to show you how fast it can snap down
before I can take away my hand or something like that.
Now, I'll gladly enjoy people who make those videos though.
Right?
The Yoink guy on Instagram.
I love watching his stuff, right?
You know, I'm in the Florida Everglades
and he's like yoinking alligators
and yoinking, you know, rattlesnakes or whatever,
cotton mouths and he's just grabbing poison, venomous things.
I mean, I'm all for watching,
but everyone says in the comment section,
like one day we're going to stop seeing videos
and we're going to know why.
It's true because it's just, you know,
it's not safe to do, right?
But you know, when Tilikum,
this great whale, this killer whale,
he killed its trainer.
You know, this is what should have happened.
It should have been put down.
It should have been put down long ago
when it killed the first person.
But you know, after that,
but this is what the people say,
they're like that whale is worth a lot of money
that trainer had to go.
You know?
And obviously now, you know,
they had some new things or whatever,
where they're not allowing people to get in the water
or whatever, that's a smart move.
But here's the thing,
is according to the biblical standard,
any animal that injures a person,
bites a person, gores a person,
causes any bodily injury to a person,
needs to be killed.
Look at Exodus 21, verse 28.
If an ox gore a man or a woman that they die,
then the ox shall be surely stoned
and its flesh shall not be eaten,
but the owner of the ox shall be quiet,
the Bible says.
But if the ox were want to push
with its horns in times past,
then it has been testified to its owner
and he has not kept a man,
but that he had killed a man or a woman,
the ox shall be stoned
and his owner also shall be put to death.
The Bible is saying here,
if your pit bull has attacked someone,
has bitten the child,
that dog should be put down.
Now, if the pit bull has attacked someone
and then you find out its history,
that it's accustomed to attacking people,
it's bitten other people in times past,
the biblical standard is not only that
the animal should be put to death,
the owner is also put to death.
That's what the Bible teaches.
You say, oh, it says ox.
Well, you can apply this all across the board.
You can apply this to a cat if you want.
You can apply this to any animal.
Any animal that causes any type of injury,
what is it showing us?
It's showing us that God prioritizes
the life of a human over the animal.
Put down the pit bull.
Put down the rottweiler.
Put down the chihuahua.
Now, I'm just kidding.
I don't know how much bodily harm
a chihuahua can cause.
Little ankle biters.
But put down the animal
that actually harms another human being.
They're like, well, it grew up with us.
It's like our family.
Yeah, but according to biblical standards,
the Bible teaches that
things should be put to death.
And if you don't, in God's eyes,
you should be put to death
if that thing attacks another person again.
And look, this is why I can't understand
when owners of dogs,
let me just vent real quick.
You want to have a dog?
More power to you.
Keep that thing on a leash.
When you're out in public,
keep that thing on a leash.
One of the things that just boils my blood
is when we're at a park
that's made for children.
There's like a playground.
And then they just let their dog
run without a leash.
And it's just like,
you know, oh, no, it's friendly.
Don't worry, it's never been in the soul.
Yeah, but it might see the color purple
on my kid's shirt and just flip
and then just go bite him or something.
You know, a couple months ago,
maybe it was like a year ago or something,
my wife had taken my kids to a particular park.
I think it was in Corona.
Is that right?
It was in Corona.
And my wife was in the van
and I don't know who else was in the van,
but like four of my kids
were out playing on the playground.
And this person comes
with pit bulls off the leash
just running in the playground, right?
And so it spots my kids
and it just starts charging after my kids, you know?
And Quicksilver over here, as I is,
you know, everyone just books it,
you know, right?
They all start, obviously they say
you shouldn't run,
but what do you expect the kids to do, though?
I say that you shouldn't run.
I'll probably run if a pit bull came out.
I mean, you know, it's just a natural thing.
But, you know, they start running
and Helen was the only one who literally
just stood her ground and just stood there
and just like looked at it.
But once Isaias ran, like it ran after them
and Isaias ran so fast towards the van
that he like dove through the window.
He was like...
He just dove through the window, you know?
And he was screaming.
I mean, he's like...
You know?
And the dog didn't end up doing anything.
He's probably tripping out like,
damn, that kid can jump, you know?
I've never seen that.
But, you know, the owner comes or whatever
and grabs the dogs or whatnot
and is just like, have some common sense.
You know, if you're going to have an animal,
be responsible, keep that thing on a leash.
Oh, it's never bitten anybody.
So do you want to try,
do you want to like change that?
You know, because it could potentially change
now that you have them off of a leash
and it sees someone and it bites them.
That happens all the time.
Just look up stories about pit bulls
killing children.
It happens a lot, okay?
And we as Christians need to recognize,
go to Matthew chapter 10,
if you would, in Matthew chapter 10,
need to recognize that animals
should not be prioritized over humans.
If they injure a child, a human,
they should be put to death, okay?
You know, I remember when we were living
in Huntington Beach, one of our neighbors
had one of those small dogs,
not a Chihuahua, but like a little bigger
than a Chihuahua.
It's one of those annoying, expensive dogs, okay?
You know?
And my wife was walking with my kids
and they see the neighbor
and they had this dog
and you know, if you have a dog
like that, just don't tell me.
But you know, the dog was right there
and the dog just bit my wife's ankle
and my wife was pregnant at the time, okay?
Which actually can cause a lot of problems
for the pregnancy if that happens.
And then the owner's like,
did my dog just bite you?
And my wife was like, yeah,
he's like, okay, I gotta go now
and she just takes the dog,
she just walks away.
You know, no sorry, no no.
It's just like, sometimes dog owners
are just loony, okay?
Don't be a loony dog owner, okay?
The point being here is that
animals should be put to death
if they attack people, okay?
Tillicum should have died a long time ago.
Harambe, you know,
if it poses a threat to a person,
you know, good that it died.
Just go get another ape.
It's not hard, bro.
Just a ton of them all over the world.
Just go get it.
Name a Harambe.
It's not not hard at all, okay?
You know, what's Tillicum's stage name?
Shamu.
You know, just kill Tillicum,
get another whale, call it Shamu.
No one's gonna know the difference, okay?
It's real simple.
You're in Matthew chapter 10.
I'm gonna read you from
Matthew chapter 8.
And you say, well, is this really like
a legitimate position?
Well, think about this.
You know, in Matthew chapter 8,
God delivers a man
from an evil spirit known as
legion.
And these demons
petition the Lord
to go into the swine, okay?
And then they are drowned
in the sea.
So in order to spare
one man's life, an entire legion
of demons go into
the swine, the
ton of swine, and they just run off
to cliff and drown in the sea.
And the Lord wasn't like,
man, what a waste.
Oh, man, you know, this is sad.
You know, let's mourn for the pigs or whatever.
You know, he's just like,
see, the man's life is more important than that.
Okay?
So man is more important
than animals.
Look at Matthew chapter 10, verse 30.
It says,
but the very hairs of your head
are all numbered.
Fear you not therefore.
Listen to this.
Ye are of more value
than many sparrows.
So even though he feeds the sparrows,
he provides for the sparrows,
he creates the perfect atmosphere
for the sparrow to replenish, to multiply,
to be fed, to live its life cycle.
The Bible says here that we
as humans are of more value
than many sparrows.
Look at chapter 12, if you would.
Matthew chapter 12, verse 11,
says this.
And he said unto them, verse 11,
he said unto them,
what man shall there be among you
that shall have one sheep
and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day,
will you not lay hold on it
and lift it out?
How much then is a man better
than sheep?
Wherefore, it is lawful to do well
on the Sabbath days.
What is Jesus doing?
He's prioritizing the life of a human
over the life of an animal.
Let's go back to the Old Testament,
Deuteronomy chapter 12.
The point being here is that
man is far more important
than animals.
Animals are not an afterthought.
They are valuable in the eyes of God.
However, they are inferior.
The life of an animal should never be prioritized
over the life of a human.
Number two is that animals are to improve.
Listen to this.
Animals are to improve
man's quality of life
through food,
entertainment, and companionship.
This is the purpose of
animals in this world.
They are to improve our quality of life
through food, entertainment,
and companionship.
Think about this.
From the beginning it was so.
In Genesis 3, after the fall,
what does God do to
clothe Adam and Eve
and protect them from the elements?
He kills an animal
and clothes them with skins.
We see in Exodus chapter 12,
the Passover lamb being instituted.
We have in Exodus 29
animals that are repeatedly
every single day
being sacrificed.
Every single
morning and night
animals are continuously
sacrificed in Israel.
The smell would have been delicious.
Burn offerings,
barbecue every single day.
And this is from God's command.
He's slaughtered these animals
every single day to atone for the sins
and eat their off.
We're not going to let it all go to waste.
You have numbers
29 to 29, where you have
the regular feast day sacrifices
and so forth.
They're improved the quality of life through food,
entertainment, and companionship.
You're in Deuteronomy 12.
Let me reach you from Genesis 9 verse 3.
Every moving thing that liveth
shall be meat for you.
Even as the green herb,
have I given you all things?
Look at Deuteronomy 12 verse 15.
Notwithstanding, thou mayest kill and eat flesh
in all thy gates. This is referring to animals.
Whatsoever thy soul lusteth after,
according to the blessing
of the Lord thy God,
which he hath given thee, the unclean
and the clean may eat thereof
as of the robe buck and as
of the heart. So we're saying here,
you know, eat the food
and it's a signal that God is blessing
you with flesh to eat.
Look at verse 20.
Deuteronomy 12 verse 20 says,
when the Lord thy God shall enlarge thy border
as he hath promised thee
and thou shalt say, I will eat flesh
because thy soul longeth to eat flesh.
Thou mayest eat flesh.
Whatsoever thy soul lusteth
after, the Bible says. Go to Job chapter
41.
So this is showing us
that the Bible does not promote
a vegan or vegetarian diet.
Now initially,
during the
creation period prior
to the fall, believe it or not,
everyone was vegetarian.
And when I say everyone,
I mean just Adam and Eve.
Not even their kids, just them.
Obviously,
the eating of flesh was introduced
after the fall because after the fall
animals are being killed, they're being
offered in sacrifices and so forth.
And this is a point that vegans and vegetarians
would try to make from a biblical perspective.
Like, well, you know, Adam and Eve,
they didn't eat flesh
and so eating flesh
is a sign of the fall. Yes, of course.
We agree with that 100%.
The problem is this is that trying to go back
to the garden of
Eden atmosphere without
Christ. You cannot become
a vegan or vegetarian and use the
Bible to substantiate that position
because according to the Bible, we're not going to be
vegetarians until the millennial
reign. When Christ returns,
it begins to transfigure the world once
again and our diets
are changed. Now, even then, in the millennial
reign people are still eating meat.
The new heaven and new earth is where
meat is completely removed and
we're just eating fruits and vegetables
or whatever. And so,
you know, eat up now because there's going to
come a time when we're not going to be able to do that anymore.
The point being here is that
you know, just because
they were vegetarians in the garden of Eden
doesn't mean that's what we're supposed to do
now because obviously there's
a major change that has taken place
between the garden of Eden and the fall.
Look at Job chapter 41. Let me
read to you from
1 Timothy chapter 4.
You say, well, you know, okay, I get
it, but
you know, I think there's only certain meats
you're supposed to eat. I think we should
hold to Old Testament dietary
laws, no shrimp,
no catfish,
no pork or whatever.
That sounds like a miserable existence, okay?
You know, no bacon,
no sausage,
but the Bible actually teaches us in the New Testament
that these things are permissible.
Now obviously these things were not
permissible in the Old Testament under
the mosaic dietary laws,
but not because it posed a moral
problem, but because
it was proposing just
disobedience to God's
command to not eat of these animals because it
pictured sin,
a picture being a participant in
other peoples, other nations' transgressions
and cultures and beliefs.
But that was just a short window
of time where that was imposed.
In fact, the Bible literally says
that meat, drinks, and diverse
washings, carnal ordinances
were imposed upon them
until the time
of Reformation.
Referring to the death of Jesus Christ on the cross,
he's the culmination of all those Old Testament
pictures, and now he says,
rise, kill, and eat.
Says that in Acts chapter 10, right?
Rise, kill, and eat, clean, and unclean.
And look folks, if you run into
a person that tells you, oh,
the Bible teaches that you
can't eat pork, and so therefore
you're sinning. According to the Bible,
they're teaching a doctrine of devils.
If they have
that preference for themselves,
it's different. If they say
the Bible does not prohibit
this, but I just feel like I shouldn't
eat pork, I'm not going to eat shellfish,
I'm not going to eat shrimp, I'm not
going to eat whatever, you know, that's
okay. But when they begin to teach
it as a commandment of God,
now it's a transgression.
Because the Bible says that the
Spirit speaketh expressly, then in
the latter times some shall depart
from the faith, giving heed to seducing
spirits and doctrines of devils,
speaking lies and hypocrisy,
having their conscience seared with the hot iron.
Listen to this, forbidding to marry
and commanding to abstain from
meats.
And then it says this, which God
has commanded to be received
with Thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
And then he says, for every
creature of God is good
and nothing to be refused
if it be received with Thanksgiving.
So look, obviously this is
giving us permission to eat any type of animal,
it doesn't mean you should though.
Like, bats
you know.
You know, dogs
not interested.
But you know, there's countries out there
that do that stuff, you know.
Southeast Asia is one of them.
Well, they'll eat dogs, okay.
And some of you might have participated
in such, I'm not going to look at anybody right now
but I'm trying not to,
you know.
But it is true, Asians often,
I know Asians
that have eaten dog, okay.
But I can't say they're sinning by doing that
because every creature of God is good
and nothing to be refused, okay.
And so, you know
they are meant for our food.
But as I mentioned, they're also meant
to entertain us
and provide amusement for us.
Okay.
And this is why zoos
are biblical.
Wild Animal Park,
Sea World,
the Los Angeles Zoo,
all these things are appropriate to have.
There's nothing wrong with having zoos
and in fact, Solomon was so rich
that he imported
all types of exotic animals.
Barbara literally says
that he imported gold and silver
apes and peacocks.
He's not eating them.
He just wants to look at them.
He just got animals
just so he could look at, right.
And so, you know, oh man
but it's so wrong to keep these animals
in cage. No, it's not.
No, it's not.
But that's being cruel. Well, cruelty
is forbidden in the Bible for sure.
But cruelty means like not feeding them.
Cruelty means like
you are like, you know
physically being abusive to them. You're
beating them. You're maiming them, right.
You're mistreating them.
Putting them in a cage
according to the biblical standard is not mistreatment.
It's not. Because it's for our
amusement. If they're getting food, you know
they don't have to go out and kill
some sort of animal to get it. We're just
bringing it to them. There's actually nothing wrong with that.
The Bible does not condemn it.
All you animal lovers are out there
all mad or whatever. That's what the Bible says.
James 3.7 tells us
for every kind of beast and of birds
and of serpents and of things in the sea
is tamed and
has been tamed of mankind.
You know what that means? Like there are instances
throughout history where people have taken a lion
and they muzzled it
and they have a chain on it and it's been
tamed of it. Oh, that's wrong too.
No, it's not. God says we have dominion over
these things and we should have
the privileges to be able to tame
them and use them for
amusement.
Solomon did it. James 3 talks
about taming animals. Look at Job 41
in verse number 5.
It says,
in Job 41
we have a description
of Leviathan.
Leviathan is this
monstrous sea creature
that no longer exists today.
And based upon
the description, it's actually
depicting a dragon.
So dragons were real.
We have it described here
in Job 41 and it actually
breathes fire.
You can look at all of the details it gives
is pretty much an actual literal dragon.
You're like, do you believe in dragons?
I mean the Bible talks about dragons.
You know
here's the thing folks, you have all these cultures
all around the world that depict an actual
dragon. Somehow that's like a mythical creature.
You think someone just made amongst all these other
you know the Chinese calendar has all these
real animals and then just this fake animal
or something like that. No, it's probably a real creature
that exists at one point.
And the Bible refers to him as Leviathan.
Now why does it exist?
Why did God create it?
Or why is it being spoken of? Well, Leviathan is
actually a picture of Satan.
Because he's the dragon.
And you look at all the parallels between
what the Bible says in Job 41
and Satan that kind of match up
and in other passages that talk about Leviathan.
Now, Leviathan is actually
the
exception to the rule of Taming.
Because
the Bible says we can have dominion over all animals
but Job 41 along with
other passages that talk about Leviathan
seem to indicate that no man
could tame Leviathan. It was too large.
Okay?
They couldn't even pierce its heart with spears.
They couldn't fight against it.
They couldn't do anything. So the way
it had to be killed was through God.
God specifically takes credit
for breaking the heads
of Leviathan and giving
the meats of that creature
to the people, to the inhabitants
of the land. This is what it says in the book of Psalms.
Okay?
And so, you know, here in Job 41
he's describing this large
sea creature and he's saying
are you going to play with them as with the bird?
Is this like any other creature that you contain?
And he says, are you going to bind him
for your maidens?
What does that mean? Well, he's basically saying
you know how you take a monkey and you bind
the monkey and you're kind of showing it off to the ladies?
Right? You got a little monkey
and you're showing it off. You got a little alligator
and you're showing it off to the girls.
You're kind of, you know, you're over here
trying to oar a farm or whatever
and you're showing off these animals.
You're like, ah, look what I've done. I've tamed this thing, you know.
And the ladies are like, ah, you know.
He's saying that you can't do this
with Leviathan. Leviathan cannot be tamed.
So this is the exception to the rule.
And the spiritual application there obviously
is that we cannot tame Satan.
Right? We are
to flee Satan, right?
Resist the devil and then he will flee from you.
You know, flee from the temptations
of Satan and so forth. The point that I'm making here
is that the Bible obviously
tells us that there are instances
where people have bound and tamed animals
for the entertainment even of the
maidens. I'm telling you right now
Solomon probably got the apes and the peacocks
in order to show him off to his 700 concubines
or whatever. You know, give him
something to do.
Right?
You guys bored? I just brought some peacocks.
You guys want to go look at the apes and the peacocks
or whatever? So that's what it's for.
Okay? Go to Genesis chapter 2.
So, you know, it's not wrong
to trap animals
and have them for your entertainment.
Obviously the Bible expects us to
be kind to animals
and not to be cruel.
And you know what? I'm not going to take my definition
of cruel from animal lovers who hate God.
Yeah, you said not cruel, but putting them in a cage
is cruel. You don't know what you're talking about.
You're an unsafe person. I'm talking
about from a biblical perspective,
a biblical standard
and I don't take my philosophies
and my ideologies from Christ's
rejecters. Okay?
You're in Genesis too. So
animals are created
for our food. Every creature of God
is good. They're created
for our entertainment. Go to Sea World.
Go to Wild Animal Park.
Go look at the giraffes
and the lions and be entertained by
go knock on the glass or whatever.
You don't like it.
You can go somewhere else, amen.
We have dominion over them. This is what the Bible teaches.
But they're also made for our companionship
as well. Okay?
Here's for you softies out there.
You're bleeding hearts now. Here's the part
that you like. Okay? It's true.
They are made for companionship.
It's a biblical thing.
I mean, think about this in 2 Samuel.
When Nathan is
confronting David,
he uses the illustration of a man
who had one U-lam.
And he says, in that story
the U-lam was like raised
with them and it became like a daughter unto them.
Right? It was just like a part of their family.
It just kind of grew up with them.
Their hearts were endeared
to the U-lam. And obviously
the illustration was used to demonstrate
that David was an adulterer. Okay?
But the point being here is that
this is a legitimate thing where
you have animals for companionship.
Look at Genesis 2. This is the original
purpose of animals.
Genesis 2 verse 18 says the Lord God
said, it is not good
that man should be alone.
I will make him and help meet for him.
So what does he do?
And out of the ground the Lord God formed
every beast of the field,
every fowl of the air,
and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them.
And whatsoever Adam called
every living creature, that was the name
they're of. So the solution
to Adam being alone
was God said, let's give him a zoo.
Now keep in mind, the animals
had already existed at this point.
They were created on the fifth and the sixth day, right?
They're the beast of the land
and so forth were already created.
These animals that he's bringing to Adam
were like new animals that got
formed in the Garden of Eden
specifically for Adam.
Understand? So he's just like, well
I don't want Adam to be alone.
I want him to have some companionship.
I want him to interact.
Let's give him a bunch of animals and have them
name him. So he brings this animal
out and he's just like
long neck, yellow thing.
Long horse, yellow neck
or whatever. You know, gray fat
whatever for the elephant. And he's just naming
all these animals. But here's the
problem. Verse 20
Adam gave names to all the cattle
and to all the fowl of the air to every beast of the field
but for Adam there was not found and helped me
for him. What does that tell us?
It tells us that animals provide
great companionship but
it's insufficient.
Meaning that
you're a little doggy
okay, is a great companion
to you but you know what? You also need to
talk to people.
You need to interact with human
beings. I just relate
better to animals.
Okay cat lady.
You know, uh, no that's not
God created us to be social creatures
with other people.
And to supplement that
companionship yeah, you can have a dog
a cat, an iguana
you know, or whatever
something that can actually like interact with you
okay, not a scorpion
or a spider or something like that. You know
uh, have some sort of creature
that will provide some sort of companionship
entertainment and so forth
and yeah, you can love that thing for sure
okay. There's nothing wrong
with loving your dog, loving your cat
your bird or whatever it may be
but just know that it is subject to vanity
it's gonna die okay. And also
understand
that that is not a substitute for real
people.
Okay, that's an important point
and I know I'm offending people right now
because you know, your little teacup
dog is like means the world to you
and you'd rather be with that dog than anybody
else or whatever. I'm just giving you the
biblical perspective on this
that God wants you to interact with
people. He wants you
to socialize with actual
human beings, okay
animals can't talk
what is it boy?
Timmy fell down the well? No, he just
he just
crapped all over your floor is what he's saying
this is like oh man, you know
I know what he meant by that, this is what he means
it can't talk
all dolphins
are just so intelligent
no, they're dolphins
but their brains are so big
yet they get eaten up all the time
by killer whales, not that smart
they're animals
I just wish I could be on an island with all these
animals, you'd be on the top of the food
chain or you'd be at the bottom of the food chain
they would just eat you
okay
animals are great, you know
when I was a kid, every kid wants an animal
they want a little dog
I had a dog
I had a scorpion
I had an iguana
what else, I had a bird at one point
but you know what, at the end
of the day it gets boring
and I want to go talk to actual people
okay, I want someone to be able to interact
with and you know what, an animal
does not have a
soul in the sense that it can
feel and communicate
you know, spiritual things
right, that's what we need people
for, okay
and so that's important to know, I'm breaking everyone's heart
here, but I'm just
you know, you gotta hear it
man is superior to animals, God also requires
man to treat animals properly
look at Proverbs chapter 12, if you would
Proverbs chapter 12
and look, we do live in a
society that kind of
esteems animals to the point
where it's just beyond reason
and people can become rude about it
okay, you're like, well you're being rude
about it, well why don't you listen to everything else
that animal lovers say
okay, you know animal lovers
they can get extreme
cat lovers can get extreme
cat lovers can get very extreme
dog lovers can get very extreme
they just become so obsessed
with their animal
that to a point where it's just like
you know, they prefer animals over
human beings, that's not right
but at the same time folks, you know
this doesn't mean we should be cruel to animals either
okay, look at Proverbs 12 verse 10
this is a righteous man
regarded the life of his beast
but the tender mercies of the wicked
are cruel
so what this means is that if you're gonna have an animal
make sure you take care of it, amen
take care of it, feed it
you know, give it the proper shelter
you know, don't be mean
to the animal, if you're being mean to the animal
just give it to someone else
because God commands you not to be cruel
he wants you to be a good steward of the creation
that he's provided, okay
you know, I think about my mom, my mom had
like these Maltese dogs
you know, these, it was like three or four
of them that just yapped all the time
you know, all they're good for is just yapping
okay, they're just like
like shut up, you know
and they just bark all the time
but she loved those dogs and she took care
of those dogs like really well
like, I'm talking about like
I'm like dang, these dogs eat better than I do
so I'm talking about the world, you know
just giving them good food
and taking it to the vet or whatever
one of them lived to like 17 years of age or something
which is like beyond its life expectancy
and so, you know, my mom took care of it
she walked it, she fed it
I think that's proper to do
I don't think it's right to be cruel to animals
I don't think, you know, people should be killing animals
and killing cats
and just abusing them
and putting them into a sack
and throwing them into a river or whatever
these are things that people used to do back in the day
you know, I don't think it's right to just intentionally run them over
or something like that
10 points, you know
I do think that, you know, if you run into
like for example
if I run into a rattlesnake in my backyard
I am going to kill it
I'm not going to try to release it carefully
because I got six kids
I'm going to grab a shovel and just chop its head off
you know what I mean?
because that thing can kill someone
it can kill my children, okay
and so, you know, I don't believe that's cruelty
that's me putting my children above the creature
but in general
we are not to be cruel to animals
treat them right, feed them correctly and so forth, okay
now go to Job chapter 12
Job chapter 12
Job chapter 12, if you would
I'm going to give one last point
in this regard
because I'm going to
this is going to pour into my Sunday night sermon
and on Sunday night
we're going to talk about this same subject
but we're going to get into the uncomfortable subject
of bestiality, okay
and reprobation and so
don't miss out on that
make sure you're here for that, you'll learn a lot
point number three regarding man's relation
to animals is that animals are
meant to illustrate spiritual truths
and provide practical applications to man
Proverbs chapter 12 verse 7 says this
but ask now the beast
and they shall teach thee
and the fowls of the air
and they shall tell thee
or speak to the earth and it shall teach thee
and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee
who knoweth not in all these things
that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this
so what's the purpose of animals
well according to the Bible we're to actually learn from them
okay
there's actually a lot of lessons
that we can learn from animals
go to Proverbs chapter 6
so God says you know
they're not just there for our entertainment
for our food, for our companionship
if we observe animals
they can actually teach us
a lot of spiritual truths
you say what can we
possibly learn
from any animal
what is it that we could possibly learn
well look at Proverbs 6 verse 6
says here in Proverbs 6 verse 6
go to the end
thou sluggard
now what is the sluggard
it means it's referring to a lazy person
a person who does not want to work
they don't want to get up in the morning
they just doom scroll all day
they don't have a job
they don't lift, they don't work out
they don't do anything with their lives
the Bible says here that that is a sluggard
he says go to the end thou sluggard
consider her ways
and be wise
so it's like to the lazy person
he says I have
homework for you
go outside and look how
the ant operates
verse 7 which having no guide
overseer or ruler
provided her meat in the summer
and gathered her food
in the harvest
what is he saying he's saying if you go to the ant
you'll realize that the ant is a very diligent insect
meaning that right now
in the summer it's working
it's saving up food
it's providing food
because he knows that the harvest is coming
he says in verse 9
how long will thou sleep oh sluggard
when thou will arise out of thy sleep
yet a little sleep a little slumber
a little folding of the hands to sleep
so shall thy poverty come
as one that traveleth and they want
as an armed man
so you know animals can
provide a lot of wisdom
it can teach you how not to be a lazy bum
you know
it can teach a person who lacks character
and doesn't want to get a job
and just sleeps around
and each chips off his stomach
and just plays video games
and doom scrolls all day
God says man the ant is more diligent
than you are
the ant will accomplish more
in its tiny life cycle
than most people today
so he says hey you need to go to the ant
and actually observe and realize hey
I'm a lazy bum
I'm a sluggard I'm a slothful person
than I need to be
diligent I need to work
I need to plan and not sleep
in all the time
by the way sleep is good
the Bible tells us that he giveth his beloved sleep
and God provides sleep
for us he wants us to get the rest that we need
what this is talking about
is someone who's a sluggard
who just constantly sleeps in
it's sleeping until
you know afternoon
even though he doesn't have a job
okay
and then he struggles to get a church on Sunday
or he's just playing video games
he's just living off
he's 30 years old living with his parents
not having a job or whatever
this is a sluggardly person
and God says it sounds like you need to take lessons
from the creatures of this world
in order to teach you some character
and diligence
so animals are meant to illustrate spiritual truths
go to 1 Corinthians chapter 9
1 Corinthians chapter 9
and I'm going to stop right there
actually I'm going to stop right there
so what's the lesson from this morning sermon
here's the lesson is that
take care of animals
appreciate animals
but never hold them
as being far more important
in value than humanity
okay
I'm not saying be cold hearted
if your dog dies
okay
but I'm also not saying
that you should be shedding a tear
if that animal died
instead of a person though
okay
it's just like well you know I just think that
you know I remember years ago
I think it was like 2020
during the whole COVID thing there's so much chaos
that a person in New York
had stolen
a police
horse right because they have
horses out there they don't have cars
they have horses
and he had stolen the police horse
and he was like filming himself
and then someone had made a comment to me like
oh man that guy should be put to death
and I was like why
and they're like because
that police horse is basically
like a police officer
and I'm like no that's a horse
that's glue
okay
that's a horse
and it's just like yeah but it's not right
to do yeah I agree
you know being a thief is not right
okay but the Bible never prescribes
the death penalty for stealing
unless you're stealing a man
unless you're kidnapping someone
you know that doesn't prescribe the death penalty
it just prescribes you know
restitution
but this is the mentality and this came from a Christian
they're just like oh
that person should be put to death
it's just like you
are you worshiping the creature more than the creator or something like that
how are you gonna say that this person's life
is less valuable than a horse
it's absolutely nonsensical
you know and at the end of the day
we have to understand that we cannot allow ourselves
to become so enamored with the
creation that we begin to
violate biblical principles
of human life
okay and so very important let's pray
Father we thank you so much for your word
and thank you for the creation Lord
thank you for animals
we're thankful for their existence
because it provides not just
educational knowledge that we can learn
but just we can be entertained
by them we can glorify you on their behalf
on their behalf and also
they are food for us
we're thankful that you provided for us whether it's
meat it's chicken it's the eggs
it's all types of sustenance
that animals can provide today
and I pray that you give us a proper biblical perspective
of how animals
should operate in our personal lives
help us never to esteem an animal
above the life of a human being
and I pray that you bless us as we go on our way
we love you we thank you
pray this things in Jesus name amen