Re: A "first" death....

"Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment..."

That verse flies in opposition to what Jesus and his disciples believed.  (Paul was not a disciple.)  

The Sadducees believed that you were a body and that there was no life after body death.  The Pharisees believed as you do (and the Romanized Christian church) that something exists beyond the body - that you have one life only.  Paul was a Pharisee (and a Roman, and a murderer).  The Essenes believed in pre-existence, and reincarnation.  You can do a little reading and find that Jesus was an Essene.  (See the Essene Gospel of Peace.)  

If you read the following passages you will find that both Jesus and his disciples believed in reincarnation - John the Baptist was the reincarnation of Elijah - per Jesus, not me.  The belief in reincarnation was common in his day.

"For all the prophets and the law have prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who was to come." (Matthew 11:13-14) 

"And the disciples asked him, saying, 'Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?' But he answered them and said, 'Elijah indeed is to come and will restore all things.  But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they wished.  So also shall the Son of Man suffer at their hand.'  Then the disciples understood that he had spoken of John the Baptist."  (Matthew 17:10-13)

Again, you are denying that God is an eternal spirit when you believe that we die and then sleep until some mystical resurrection.  God created us in God's image (see Genesis) and Jesus said that God is spirit.  If you don't believe the creation story and you don't believe the words of Jesus, I can't assist you.