Pets, Near Death Experiences, Dreams, and Visions of Heaven (#13 in a series)

Today's blog is all anecdotal evidence; these are stories in which the people telling them believe they are true.

I cannot prove or verify any of them. I cannot disprove them either.  Skeptics seem to find pleasure in dismissing these accounts with some psychological explanation, but at the end of the day, their "explanation" is simply another story that cannot be verified.  They are what they are. If they smell funky, toss them out of your mind. If they bring comfort, enjoy the moment. But the stories were all told with sincerity of faith.  All of the pets and owners had developed a love bond between them.  Some were seeking comfort, but for others assurance came unasked. There is nothing of value to be achieved by scoffing, so I ask only that you accept them at face value.

• A boy who was having an allergic reaction and beginning to lose consciousness suddenly found himself being pulled through a tunnel of light. He heard barking, and shortly he saw a dog he once had come running toward him. When they met, the dog jumped into his arms and began licking his face. He was surprised that the dog felt more real than ever, complete with smells and sounds. Soon other pets and people he knew who had passed on came to greet him. His next memory was of a hypodermic needle being withdrawn from his arm.

• A woman who was in cardiac arrest on the operating table was simultaneously having a vision of walking through a meadow on the outskirts of heaven. She was being escorted by an angel who was taking her to the Throne Room for an appointment. She noticed some animals playing at a short distance, and as soon as she focused her attention on them, they stopped and looked intently at her. She was told that they were looking to see if she was the loved one they were waiting for.  (She wasn't, and at her appointment she was told that she needed to to return to earth.)

• One woman tells of crying out to God after the death of her pet cat. She asked that He would take care of this for her because she was left with nothing but hurt. In her own words, "One night an Angel appeared to me, woke me by gently shaking my shoulder, and he was holding my cat in the same condition that I had found him in; but when I looked at the Angel, he smiled and my cat was looking right at me—no longer dead! My cat did his funny little call to me. The Angel smiled at me and they left. I will never fear for an animal again after God so graciously gave me this gift."

•  This report was posted on a website where people can record their testimonies of what God has done for them.

I know what Jesus did for me. I had a wonderful beautiful dog. His name was Cody. He was a big white dog. He had long white hair with a tail that looked like a fan his was so long. He was old and suffered from arthritis. I tested him with pain meds for a long time. The day came when the meds didn’t help anymore. He couldn’t stand up without help. So I did the hardest thing I had to do. I had him put to sleep. I grieved a long time. Then one day I was standing against a wall just looking at the sky and thinking about my mom. I thought mom is up there somewhere. Then all of sudden I saw the spirit of a big white dog running through the clouds. It was my Cody. God was so good to let me know Cody was there and he was able to run again. NO MORE ARTHRITIS PAIN!!! I know I’ll see him again. 

• A man had a dream about his recently deceased dog being in paradise. The dog first appeared as a light coming down a twisty path, but as it got closer he could see it more clearly, and it was panting as if it had been playing hard. He wondered about that only briefly because he soon saw another dog chasing after the first, the second dog was one he'd had 14 years before; his two pets had met and become friends with each other there in paradise! He saw that other animals lived in this paradise before his dream ended. When he woke up, he was left with the understanding that they will stay there until he gets to heaven, at which time he can come and take them to his new home.

•  The dog that a woman had grown up with and had been a family pet for over half of her life had finally succumbed to old age. She was praying, asking God for some sign of reassurance that He was in control of the situation so that she could more easily let go of her grief. The next night when she came home from work, she heard her dog bark a "welcome" as he often had done, but this time she felt the presence of the Spirit of the Lord and knew it was a "Until we meet again" bark. 

• A woman who had been asking God for 30 years if pets were in heaven was driving down a highway at sunset. She had a vision of Jesus in the clouds. By the time she safely pulled over, that part of the vision was gone, but she got her phone and took a picture of the remaining sunset. Her dog that had died a couple weeks earlier was in that picture in the cloud formation. She is convinced that was a loving answer to prayer.

• An elderly man had been concerned about his aging arthritic dog. He knew as the winter was coming on that it would be harder for his pet to get around, so he was trying to decide if the time had come to put his dog to sleep. One afternoon the man fell asleep in his recliner with the dog at his feet. During his nap, he dreamed of a shaft of light coming down from heaven, and his dog sprang up, frisky as a puppy, and bounded up the light as if it were as stairway. When the man woke up, he found that his dog had died in its sleep. The man believes that he saw into the spirit realm during his dream, and that his dog really is in heaven.


All these stories take a little bit of faith to believe—exactly what scripture says we need. In Mark 9:23 a man in need of Jesus' compassion got this answer: Then Jesus said to him, "'If You can? Everything is possible to the one who believes."

To quickly summarize, no one in these stories was "Seeking a Specific Sign." Some had asked God to heal their grieving hearts, but that is very different than dictating a certain sign. God had promised to meet your needs, not to perform on command.  Nothing in these stories conflicts with the nature of God, or with the Bible. The pets had been companions, not idols. Some of the pet owners had been unconscious, some were dreaming, and others fully awake and aware. Yet in each case, God was able to deliver a message of loving reassurance in a way that each person could receive.