Understanding Part One makes it easier to make sense of Part Two because this part is more significant, in the long run. Knowing we all must die at some point in time forces us to take an accounting of who we follow and thus, where we will eventually be after death. Suffice it to say, one must realize that death is not the end; that there are only two places one will be able to go after death.

Daniel 12:1-2 “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”

I am not stating this fact, the Holy Word of God has stated it and it should a sobering reminder that our lives here on earth are being recorded. In my last article we examined being known by our fruits. And this is exactly correct according to the Word of God, because what we do here on earth in our lives is indicative of what we believe.

If we run our lives around obtaining wealth, living a crazy and self-absorbed lifestyle, the world knows we prefer a worldly life. Thus the world will deal with us accordingly. Whereas the born-again believer in Jesus Christ knows this life here on earth is very short, thus they choose to do things that will honor and show their love for God Almighty.

Matthew 6:19-21 “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

As with everything else in this life we must have some sort of compass available to guide us. It is the lure of everything else in this life, that sets us apart, either to Satan and his ilk or that of Jesus Christ. In almost every article I write, I mention that we must consider the length of time we have here on earth. And because we know there is a life after death, how we live and what we believe while we are here, is paramount. We have a choice of two directions for our lives, and that decision is what will determine where we will be after our death. It is simple: heaven or hell!

When we live each and every day, we are either doing so for ourselves or for what we know God would prefer for us. Some of us read the Bible and choose to honor God in our daily lives, while others choose to honor themselves. I keep making reference to the obvious number of days we live here on earth and then ask the question: Is this enough time for gathering great wealth? Or…is there something ahead that would be more fulfilling?

How obvious is it, that the majority choose to make themselves happy first and always; it is a self-absorbed life. The Word of God tells us that the Lord God Almighty will meet our NEEDS. It is always very apparent that the majority choose to have their every WANT met first and of course there is their NEED in this as well. There is indeed a parable concerning this train of thought (relying on ME). This parable exemplifies the difference between, What we WANT and What we NEED.

Luke 12:16-20 “And he spake a parable unto them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?”

How much do you need to live each and every day? How about just enough meat and bread and clean water for you and your family, thus any excess could be shared with those that have nothing. If we look around ourselves in this day and time we KNOW in which direction the majority of people are moving. If we take some time and read the Word of God, we will notice that Lord calls for you and me to be HUMBLE. Take a few minutes and read in the Bible about the Israelite’s in the wilderness and The Lord God providing manna from heaven for them (Exodus 16).

The Word of God contains words from HIS lips to your ears defining how we should live; IF we choose to have heaven after we die. What is so unusual is that the Word of God is specific and straight to the point, and all questions are answered. Having read the Word of God we then see how we should live each and every day. We then abhor the “It’s all about ME” mentality that so many choose.

Again, we see who has chosen “It’s all about ME!” And to hell with anyone else and we then know that their lifestyles do not have any concerns for anyone else…and that includes God. We can also see that their indecision concerning the Lord God is paramount for them, that they choose not to consider an afterlife. Witnessing this, why should God choose to save them to heaven? If you choose everything else in life, leaving God out, then upon your death, YOU deserve to be left out of heaven.

Does this attitude show that the majority are more interested in pleasing themselves? Absolutely! It is obvious their treasure is to be had here on earth. Thus when they die, it stays right here on earth. This proves that the passage of Scripture in Matthew 6:19-21 is real. Again we see where Scripture proves itself over and over again. Try and find a book that is able to do the exact same thing as the Word of God… My friends…it does not exist.

Ephesians 5:6-7 “Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them.”

It is obvious that born-again believers in Jesus Christ must be separate from those who do not follow Jesus Christ, lest they influence our lives and decisions. It is difficult for us as humans to follow Jesus Christ. But then, we belong to HIM and our lives are not our own. Living our lives according to Jesus Christ leaves the burden of life on HIS shoulders. Who would you think is more capable, YOU or HIM?

There are some troubling situations throughout life and the biggest failure for born-again believers is that we forget to ASK of our Father in heaven. And if we do ask, then we ask amiss. We are always looking to ourselves to fix whatever is wrong according to our lives and then ask for the results to be according to how we think things should be.

As the Word of God tells us, God knows everything and HE can see everything and HE can be everywhere all at once. That being the case, why should any of us choose things to be the way we want them to be? Isn’t that how the rest of the world is?

This issue of life and death is difficult and we mourn and feel bad when death takes place because we will miss the loved one that has gone on. I am born-again to Jesus Christ and if and when I die, I know I will be with my Lord and Savior; no more pain and suffering, no more lacking anything at all.

Having said that, I do not want anyone left behind to feel sad and to be mourning my death on earth. I want them to be celebrating my new life in heaven with my Lord and Savior (which is exactly where I want to be in the first place). How is it that people can feel so bad about someone that has received an upgrade in life?

In one day there are approximately 360,000 live births and every day and there are approximately 151,600 deaths in this world, according to Ecology.com as of 2011. I am sure that these are a variable statistics. (But note the three births to every one death.)

In the year 1, the population of the world was estimated to be about 200 million and as of 2011 it is 7 billion. According to About Education.com. And as I stated before this is variable according to whom you wish to ask.

And according to Ecology.com the average life span is 67 years. Again this is variable, concerning whom you wish to ask. So now we need to ask: How many people have ever arrived on earth in any other manner than in a live birth? As we know the answer is zero.

How many people have never died on this earth, according to the Bible? The answer is two; Enoch in Genesis 5 and Elisha in 2 Kings. How many have ever died and been resurrected? We could say Lazarus, but he did indeed die a final time. That leaves Jesus Christ, who is the Lord God Almighty. He was crucified and died and then three days later was resurrected. So now we see the exceptions to the standard rule.

So what am I getting at here?

Anyone able to hear or able to read this has been born. That being the case, the obvious next question is, who will die? The answer is all of us and so we see that since the beginning of mankind, everyone dies. To get oneself on earth, one must be born and to leave this earth, one must die; that is the common rule of life. And of course, everyone knows this in their hearts whether they are willing to verbally admit it or not.

There is one exception to this rule, the Rapture of the church of Jesus Christ. Of course this has not occurred as of yet, but is a future prophecy of the Holy Word of God. Simply looking at the statistics, one thing is clear: If you were born here, you will DIE here. Looking at the facts, because you are reading this, you already know you must die to leave this earth; there is no alternative except for the Rapture.

Throughout the Word of God, Jesus Christ is the only One to have died and been resurrected and tells us there is life after death, there is indeed an eternity. Keep this on the backburner of your mind please.

There are many deaths according to different situations; car accidents, heart attacks, strokes and the list can go on and on. In this we know there is no one set of rules, according to how a person leaves earth or even at what age. Yet according to statistics, the average life span for everyone in the world is 67 years, while some countries see much older people. And some countries see much lower ages at death. The common ground must then be, that everyone dies…eventually.

I would venture to say, if you ask all those that have lost a loved one, where that loved one went, everyone will exclaim heaven or at least the facsimile there of, make sense? The obvious next question SHOULD be: How do you KNOW they are in heaven? The vast majority will admit, they don’t know for sure but that they hope they are in heaven, because they were “good people.”

So then the next question is this: Who determines who is good and who is not good? Obviously, there are people that do “good acts” and by the same token, those who do not. We must ask, who determines what is a good action and what is not good? Many parents love their children and yet sometimes a child grows up to be a serial killer, right?

So we see that some people are easily fooled by what they determine is love or the like, not willing to settle accounts according to that child’s actions. So are actions by any one individual, the actual or true determination as to whether they are good or not? The answer may surprise you:

Mark 10:18 “And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.”

There’s an “oops moment” for you!

So now, if we believe this, we must change the statistics of Man here on earth, right? So…there is none good except God and everyone is then NOT good. Now what? There must be a way for us to become good, right? Because as everyone knows, ONLY the good go to heaven. If we look in the Word of God once again, we find the answer:

John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

According to this passage of Scripture we must go to Jesus Christ in order to see God Almighty, am I not correct? Thus we see, being successful, a pillar of the community, being an entrepreneur is NOT enough. Ah-oh! Another “oops moment!” Your good deeds are as filthy rags…wow!

Isaiah 64:6 “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”

Wow…again! We must be living behind the proverbial “8” ball every day of our lives. There just doesn’t seem to be a way out for us, right? Wrong! You must understand, that the original sin of Adam and Eve has been passed down from person to person, since the day they sinned in the Garden of Eden. Therefore if all things remain the same no one would ever be able to see heaven after we die.

John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Matthew 26:27-28 “And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.’”

Those are verses you need to remember. Here on earth, if we drive from one point and continue on, we will eventually end up right where we began our trip. In other words, life here on earth shows us there are limitations to life; we can only stay here on this planet until the day we die. No one has ever been able to change that aspect, thus we know there is an afterlife.

There must be a reason for living just so many years and then it all ends, right? It is then obvious to us, that life is for a particular reason, otherwise there would be no need for death as a human. Is this making any sense to you?

This is so very obvious, no matter how wonderful you are, no matter your level of wealth or your public prominence, everyone dies! And all that you worked your fingers to bone for becomes nothing. Your body lies in the grave and eventually returns to the dust from whence it came. I say it’s obvious, but ask around as see how many people are able to make any sense of this, how many understand this?

I don’t care what you believe or what you think. This is real life for each of us, where there is a beginning there is definitely an end. What so many are not willing to accept is that there is a life beyond this life here on earth. There is something inside of us that is more than what we see in the mirror. We know this is a spirit and it is not confined to earthly conditions, it does indeed go on.

To be continued…