5. Question: What happens when you die?

Answer: The Lord says in 2 Corinthians 5:8 that the very instant we die, our spirit leaves our body and instantly we are in His presence. Christians know Jesus and believe in His forgiveness. Christians know that after we die we will stand in the presence of God with abundant love for Jesus; we will have abundant peace and joy that we are forgiven forever; we know that we will remain in His presence forever and we will remain in heaven and in His Love forever; Christians maintain peace that we are right with the Lord forever as our God, Savior and Friend. Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 3:12; Hebrews 10:19-20; 1 John 4:7-19.

The Bible gives other evidences that we are completely conscious and alive in our spirit immediately after death. Jesus stood on the mount speaking to the living, conscious spirits of Moses and Elijah. Moses and Elijah had died hundreds of years before the body of Jesus was born. Matthew 17:1-3.

Jesus said that He is the God of the living; Jesus referred to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as living persons (in spirit)...not dead persons. Matthew 22:32. Jesus said that His children will never spiritually die. John 11:25-26.

In the DVD "The Evidence For Heaven" (hosted by Jerry Rose and produced by Grizzly Adams Productions, Inc.) many Christians give accounts of their after death experience. They were all medically dead (documented as truth by their medical doctors, recorded in their medical records at the medical centers where they died) and they all came back to life to tell about a literal place called heaven. They all confirmed that it is true that when your body dies, your spirit goes to heaven; they were all greeted by Christian family members and close friends who welcomed them to heaven. All Christians should watch "The Evidence For Heaven" DVD because of the joy it gives you to hear about all we have to look forward to in heaven.

Some have asked the question: "If persons go to heaven immediately when they die, what does the Bible mean that at the time of the rapture, 'the dead in Christ will rise first?'" Most conservative Christians believe that at the time of the rapture, those who have died will be conscious, alive spirits with the Lord. Our Lord Jesus will come to earth in the clouds, surrounded by His angels and the spirits of those who are Christians. The dead in Christ, the bodies of those who have died, will become perfect bodies and rise to meet their living spirit in the air (like putting on clothing). Then all Christians alive on earth will receive perfect bodies and rise up to meet the Lord in the air. All who are Christians at the time of the rapture will not experience the plagues and destructions that come upon the earth. After the old, present earth is destroyed, the Lord will create a new earth and a new heaven. See Matthew 24; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 21:1-3.