Michael Vick, star quarterback of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons was released from prison recently. He had to serve time because he was promoting dog fights, where dogs were killed.

The idea of killing animals for sport is horrible to a lot of people, including me. I don’t know of anyone who likes the idea of seeing animals hurt and bloody. But there are people who take not killing animals to the extreme.

A while back a lady wrote me a nasty letter. I made her very mad. Well, I don’t blame her, because in one of my columns I called members of her organization, P.E.T.A., (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), pagans. She resented being called a pagan, but I believe she is, and I believe her group consists of pagans. My dictionary says: Pagan: 1. A follower of a religion that has more than one god. 2. one who has little or no religion.

When you look at what they believe, I think you’ll see that the description fits.

You see, the reason I wrote the columns is that Cindy Laufer, a rock star, speaking for the President of P.E.T.A. said, “No animal should be killed for any reason at any time.” And boy, do they believe it! They have committed acts of domestic terrorism against companies like a meat-packing plant, to name just one instance.

Here’s that acronym again, WOB D WOD (What one believes, determines, what one does.)

You knew I was going to bring up what I think God thinks about killing animals, didn’t you?

God doesn’t believe in cruelty to animals, but he does believe in killing them for a good reason (like having a good meal. One man joked that P.E.T.A. stood for People Eating Tasty animals.)

God began animal sacrifice long ago; He used the blood of lambs as a method of freeing the Israelites from 400 years of slavery in Egypt. It’s called the Passover (Exodus 12:1-28), where the Israelites “passed over” the red sea, from slavery to freedom. The ritual of Passover was a symbol of what Jesus, the Lamb of God (John 1:29) would do, give his life, shed His blood, so we could “pass over” from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light.

That idea of killing animals is repugnant to many people, especially people like members of P.E.T.A., who don’t think any animal should be killed. But they, and many others who don’t like the idea of killing animals, don’t seem to be bothered at all by the shedding of the blood of unborn American children (50 million and counting).


For hundreds of years, thousands of gallons of animal blood was shed. However, animal-sacrifice isn’t necessary in New Testament times, our time, because Jesus shed His blood for our sins. The Bible tells us the reason He did it is because He loves us very much (John 3:16).

So when someone criticizes God for being cruel, and being obsessed with shedding animal blood, tell them that God didn’t spare His Son from shedding His blood. Sin is so ugly to God that He had to do something drastic to overcome sin.

In the Old Testament, animal blood forgave sins for one year, the year to come. (on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement). But the blood of Jesus forgave all sins, for all time, and beyond! One drop of the blood of Jesus is worth more than many super-tankers full of animal blood.

At the Last Supper, the night He was betrayed, the night before His terrible torture and death, taking every last drop of His blood, He told His followers, the Apostles, “Take, eat, for this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” After supper He said, “This cup is the New Covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” (1st Cor 11:23-26)

The first Adam put us into the kingdom of darkness by eating an apple. The second Adam, Jesus, put us into the Kingdom of Light by having us eat His body and drinking His blood.

What a cool thing for Him to do.

IT IS BETTER TO LIGHT ONE CANDLE THAN TO CURSE THE DARKNESS
You can reach Mr. Murphy at willmurf1@yahoo.com
www.murphy-properties.com