Articles
Looking at the Heart of Animal Rights
The eyes of the Lord search over all the Earth seeking to show He is strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect towards Him! (2nd Chronicles 16:9)
Human beings tend to judge others according to their outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. It is a wonderful and perhaps an amazing thing that God isn’t all that happy about discovering that we have trophies, great intelligence or wealth, or super-human strength, but He is delighted by a heart that delights itself in the mind of the Spirit!
Minimally, Christ has been waiting 2,000 years for many daughters and sons like Jesus to walk with God, bring His Kingdom of Love, Peace, Joy, and Righteousness in the Holy Spirit to the people and all creatures on the planet. So far the Barbarians are winning…at least until they leave these bodies and stand before the Judge of all the Earth.
Will there be an incredible and welcome change to life on the earth? Absolutely! Will it come without a struggle and many examples? Never! When will it manifest? When will the sons of God be manifest, guarding and protecting all creation, and living in harmony with every creature? Many things must still happen in order to collectively change our focus…particularly towards pleasing the Heavenly Father instead of pleasing ourselves at the expense of all other beings. The full change will not happen until those who violate the animals with whom we share the planet are looked upon as worse citizens than pimps, drug pushers, and bad cops!
And it will not come until Christian vegetarians know God and all His precepts as much as they care about animal rights. Surely they know the story where the rich young ruler came to Jesus claiming to have obeyed God in all things since his youth. Jesus said, “You lack one thing, so go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor and come and follow me and you shall have riches in Heaven.” That man went away sorrowful for he had great riches. My point is not about physical wealth but is best captured in 2 Corinthians 10:5-6. “Casting down proud thoughts and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is complete.”
None of us see the whole picture. We see in part and we speak about what we know, which is partial; just a piece of the picture puzzle. No Christians who have not yet discovered the plight of the animal kingdom and taken steps to protect them cares to listen to our talk about the needs of birds and four-legged creatures if we don’t understand the power of His shed blood or the necessity of being born again or the reality of His indwelling spirit to as many as have received Him. It is enough, perhaps wrongly, in their minds to know Christ without listening to the animal rights message but it cannot be enough for Christian vegetarians to know the animal rights message without knowing Christ and being able to communicate that knowledge unless our only goal is to be an exclusive little club and not world changers.
God says, “My Spirit will not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh…” (Genesis 6:3) His days of struggling with the rebellious and proud is nearly and necessarily complete for creation’s cry has reached up to Heaven, and very soon “there shall be no more delay,” (Matthew 24:22 and Revelation 10:6-7) because the number of species that we are to co-operatively restore with our Heavenly Father is in great jeopardy and being managed by calloused hearts!
The story I am about to tell is not at all unusual. My story, relayed by a dear friend, comes from Mid-America and reflects actions and activities around the country on National Wildlife Refuges and other national and state “protected areas.”
My friend lives in the town of Porter, Indiana and in the only State Park inside a National Park. The National one is called The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and the state one is Indiana Dunes State Park.
When my friend moved there, they were very excited about the shorebirds, waterfowl, and the deer that daily appeared along my friend’s forest hikes in the form of a doe, sometimes several, and even an occasional buck. They got to know some of them pretty well and loved them. Last fall, they were walking along the shoreline when they encountered trucks displaying signs that read, “Caution, Deer Hunt Under Way,” or something of that sort. They went to the Environmental Center as soon as the hunt had ended and asked how many deer had been killed and why. They were informed that between 80 and 95 deer were shot and this was done, “Because, if there are too many they might starve to death and that can be a horrible thing.” My friend asked, “Well, how many deer were in the Park before the hunt?” The respondent replied: “Oh, we have no idea about that!”
My friend recently called me, excited because they had just seen one deer on a hiking trail in the park after seeing none for months following the hunt! I suggested to my friend that he or she should have suggested that there is a better solution. It is called winter feeding! As the manager of the Esme Noel King Wildlife Sanctuary I feed the deer. Somehow I cannot imagine the Lord of the whole Earth saying, “When I was hungry, you shot me!”
I am writing this message for two reasons. I would hope you would send an e-mail or make a phone call to Indiana Dunes State Park expressing your disappointment that they still kill other fellow creatures because they might get hungry! Tell them that private wildlife sanctuary managers keep wildlife healthy and happy by supplemental winter feedings with things like corn on the cob and other natural foods for other species. This requires minimal output for a great return.
We are created, in part to safeguard, guard and protect the earth and both its Kingdoms: Plant and Animal. In case we didn’t know that intuitively, Jesus informed us that we are the preservative of life on the earth and educators concerning that life. (Matthew 5:13-14) Ask them to please take the high road to living in harmony with the creation! Use your own words and share your thoughts and feelings with them.
God planted a garden eastward in Eden and expects us to follow His example which is why He gave us every herb bearing SEED for our food. The idea was that with the seed we have the capability of keeping all plant species reproducing. God also commanded us to hedge or fence around that garden. If deer populations as many Game Managers claim, grow to the point they endanger plant species let them fence in those seedling areas. No such claim was made at Indiana Dunes State Park.
Do not let anyone tell you they can’t keep deer out of their garden or out of growing areas for specific plants and seedling trees in public parks. I was a plant and landscape expert at one of the very top nurseries in the entire world. Many people would ask why they have tried all sorts of ways to keep wildlife out of their gardens, such as killing them, poisoning them and putting down chemicals to deter them without any success. My answer was always the same, why don’t you fence it? When done correctly no animals will get into your precious planted area unless you live in rhino and elephant country. Often local, state and national park managers believe they can intimidate you and dilute your protestation of killing by saying it was necessary to protect the park. This simply is not the truth. In Eden and in the future such sacred spaces will be protected by hedging with plant species. In the tropics this is often done with cactus and in temperate America it can easily be accomplished with such species as white thorn.
Most of the animal rights or environmental meetings with governmental officials on any level have opened with, “We only ask one thing: Please do not turn this debate or discussion into something emotional!” That is Orwellian lingo for “have no feelings for animals and set aside and ignore what your heart is telling you and listen to those who know not their Maker or His vision and have degrees in herd management, crowd control, or doing million dollar studies which will be obsolete before they are completed.
My other concern is elevating your awareness! Jesus said, “My Kingdom is not of this world.” The Kingdom we pray for to benevolently dominate the Earth or in other words fill it with justice and love, declares, “Even the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel!” (Proverbs 12:10) As we move through time from that statement of the Holy Spirit to a time near right now in the book of Revelation we read: “The Kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdom of our God and His Anointed One: the Christ!” (Revelation 11:15)
The point is that God really cares about the caring heart. He is looking for you and He will back you up, fight for your causes if they line up with what He speaks and reveals in His Holy Scriptures. He will confirm the words you speak to those who oppose the truth…with some awesome and convincing signs following your outcry on creation’s behalf. (Mark 16:20)
There is a Christian song that says: “Our mouth shut up, defeats us.” The word which we are called to preach in the entire world and to every creature is both in our heart and in our mouth. (Romans 10:8) If we fail and don’t cry out, there is no word for God to confirm! In such a case, you will have missed out on a miracle and a blessing all around! You can be assured by the word of God that He cares about your heart and that preaching the word is not in vain. He promises it will return void but will accomplish the purpose for which He sent it. Take Heart!
To contact Executive Director Lorelei Weimer at Indian Dunes State Park call 219-926-2255 ext 222 or email her at [email protected]. If you are inexperienced at making such comments remember that Isaiah said, “A little child shall lead them.” You can say something as simply as, “God doesn’t want you to kill the animals.”
