The God of the Living

"And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, 'I am the God of Abraham and  the God of Issac and the God of Jacob?' He is not the God of the dead, but of the living"-Matthew 22:31-32, paralleled in Mark 12:27, paralleled and expanded on in Luke 20:37-38
And my favourite verse as a proof-text  for this topic.
"And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down, with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints"-Revelation 5:8.
Clearly, if you believe in following scripture, you can deduce several things.   1) Those in heaven are conscious of the saints on earth.  2)If God is the God of the living, those that are with him, must too be alive.  3) Contrary to what some Neo-gnostic sects think, the Old Testament God is the same God as the New Testament God, the text even says as much.  I think that all of these are important,but let's stick with the first two, since we Catholics are constantly accused of idolatry from Protestants.  (Not all) for praying to Saints in Heaven.  They'll say things like, "why do you pray to dead folks".  Well, umm, I don't.  Those in Heaven are not dead.  They are more alive than we are now.  Revelation 5:8 seems to at least indicate some degree of consciousness in Heaven.  Another problem is that some folks think that the word pray is synonymous with worship or adoration.  I think maybe some of these folks should read some Shakespeare.  "I pray thee", means something along the lines of "I ask you", the word pray, simply means "to ask a favour". You may disagree with our religious practices, but please make your objection about what we actually believe and not what you think we believe.