Such was the headline in a recent edition of a popular news tabloid. Reader's Digest also recently featured an article entitled, "Life After Death: The Growing Evidence."

Attention has been increasingly drawn to this reality because people have given reports of various experiences they have had in their close brushes with death. Their being lifted out of their bodies to watch what was going on; their being in the presence of a great light; their going down a long tunnel with a general sense of peace, etc., seem to sum up their experiences. Many of the skeptics attribute it all to hallucinations, to toxic shock, drugs and other causes. However, there is a growing number of Doctors of Medicine and Psychiatry who have come to the conclusion that there is strong evidence that these experiences were not just hallucinations nor fantasies. "There is something going on here," one of them said, "and it can't be explained in traditional ways." Another Doctor said, "There is increasing evidence that we do live after death. I think it prudent to prepare for the eventuality."

The fact that there is "life after death" is not strange to the Bible. The Word of God has always taught the truth of man's soul being immortal and of his existence being eternal. In what is perhaps the oldest book of the Bible, the book of Job, the question is asked, "If a man die, shall he live again?" (Job 14:14). In chapter 19, verse 25, Job, the man of faith, answers with positive certainty of knowledge he had received by the revelation of God Himself. He said, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh (resurrected) shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another." The Christian's hope expressed in New Testament revelation likewise gives this certain prospect: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2).

Most of the experiences people have had are all similar in that they are all pleasant, and this regardless of their varied beliefs or disbeliefs about God and the Bible. This raises a question in the mind of Christians as to the source of these experiences, for the Bible does not teach that the unbeliever, when he dies, finds himself in pleasant circumstances of light and peace. Quite to the contrary, Jesus tells us in Luke 16 of the rich man who died without Christ and "in hades (his disembodied state) he lifted up his eyes being in torments . . . and he cried . . . have mercy on me . . . for I am tormented in this flame" (verses 22-24). This was anything but pleasant! On the other hand, for the believer who dies, like the repentant thief, Jesus said, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise (meaning, the garden of delights)." The apostle Paul writes of this state of the believer as being "present (or, at home) with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8).

One cannot help but wonder if the pleasant experiences realized by those who are dying and revive, are not induced by another power. Satan is the prince of the power of the air. He appears as an angel of light. He has many ministers whom he uses to deceive men into believing that irrespective of their beliefs, all is well. He lulls men into sleep and Jesus says of him in John 8:44, "He is a liar and the father of it." He has always, from the beginning, contradicted the Word of God in order to deceive men and bring them to ruin. The Bible declares, "after death the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). Jesus said, "If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall died in your sins. . . . If ye die in your sins, whither I go ye cannot come" (John 8:21,24). And, concerning the unbeliever, Jesus says he will be "cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched": implying eternal punishment with unremitting remorse of a conscience never purged by the blood of Jesus.

"I think it prudent," said one Professor, "to prepare for the eventuality." How wise his words are. The Bible says, "Prepare to meet thy God" (Amos 4:12). Let me tell you first of all that God has prepared salvation for you. "God commendeth His love to us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). This is the gospel message. All you need do to be prepared is to (1) Confess your need to God; (2) Repent of your sins; (3) Put your faith in the Lord Jesus accepting Him as your Saviour, and (4) Confess Him as your Lord. "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Romans 10:9).

To be saved is to be prepared for the eventuality of death and to have the assurance of an eternity of peace and joy in the light of His presence.