Many people think that life ends in the grave and that when people die, that is the end of the story but that is wrong.
The word of God (the Bible) tells us what happens when people die and where they go and why.

Man is not just flesh and blood
That's right – man is more than just flesh and blood. There is a soul (and spirit) in every human being. For the purposes of simplicity, I will just refer to that inner being in every man as the soul of man.
The flesh is what houses that soul. When we say somebody is dead, it is the body that has ceased functioning and that is what happens when his or her inner being or soul departs.
That means, long before anybody is buried or cremated, his or her soul has departed (except of course where such a person is buried alive, in which case it happens soon after).

And when the soul departs, it goes somewhere, of course. That is the truth about every human being that dies – their bodies are buried but their souls go somewhere and that place is not the grave or crematorium.

The soul of man does not die the same way that his body dies
There are two types of death. One is the death of the human body which we are all familiar with and the other is the death of the soul. A dead body is lifeless, functionless and feels no pains or pleasures. But the case is different for a dead soul.

The human soul will forever be conscious, able to feel pain or pleasure for all eternity. The death of the soul, is its eternal separation from God into a place of everlasting punishment.

So a dead soul can feel, see, hear, reason, remember, recognize, etc – in fact, a dead soul retains all the normal feelings and faculties that a normal human being has but such a soul is put in a place of everlasting punishment – hell fire. This is what the Bible calls the second death. That was what God meant when He said "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezek.18:4)

There are two destinations
The word of God (the Bible) is so clear on the fact that everybody does not go to the same place when they die. There are two destinations: one is a place of unending joy, happiness, pleasure and eternal bliss, etc. There is no pain, sorrow, regret or evil in that place. That place is heaven – God's abode.

The second is a place of torments and torture, anguish, regrets and indescribable pain. It is a place of stench, corruption, decay, thick darkness and horrors beyond description. That place is hell – the eternal abode of the king of evils (Satan) and all those who follow him.
Therefore every person that dies goes to one of those two places and every person that you see or know today will end up in one of those two places and there is no middle ground.

An eye witness account
In the book of Luke 16:19-31, Jesus gave us an account of two people who died and left this world only to awake to a new reality in another world. One went to heaven and the other went to hell.

Some people think it was a parable but it was not – it was a real life account. In parables, the names of people are not used. But in this account, Jesus mentioned a number of names like Lazarus, Abraham and Moses. You can read the full story by clicking here.

Who deserves to go to heaven or end up in hell?
Whether or not a person goes to any one of the two places mentioned depends entirely on his or her relationship with the creator and owner of life – God Almighty.

But the Bible tells us clearly that everyone of us has sinned and fallen short of God's glory and that the wages of sin is death (that is, second death or the death of the soul). (Romans 3:23; 6:23)
That means that based on our own merits, none of us is qualified to go to heaven when we die. Our own morality, kindness, philanthropy, goodness, religiosity or whatever good things we can lay claim to, do not qualify us for heaven.

According to the scripture, "..we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags.." Isa.64:6.
God's verdict is clear – all have sinned and if the wages of sin is eternal death of the soul, that is what we all deserve. But thank God that there is a way out and that where the good news of the gospel comes in.

We now have a choice – you don't have to end up in hell!
God in His love for us and not willing that we should perish decided to do something to save us from us from going to hell.
This He did by sending His Son Jesus Christ to this sinful world to die (in our stead) to pay the penalty for our sins so that we can be forgiven of our sins free of charge.

The only requirement is that we should believe the good news of God's salvation through Jesus Christ, repent of our sins and receive Jesus Christ by faith as our personal Saviour and Lord. Anyone who sincerely does that is forgiven and saved and when such a person dies, he or she can be sure of ending up in heaven.

But those who refuse or reject this wonderful offer of free salvation in Christ Jesus, leave themselves with no other option than to end up at the second destination when they die.

The big question is, what is your choice? Where will you go when you leave this world?

Click below to watch videos of real people who died
and came back to life to say what they saw!