I am glad that you and I have these questions.

Try to answer you, yes, some cultures, such as mine, understand that there are more connections between past lives and existence on earth before they are guaranteed to enter the ancestral world. Let's draw from a known story of Jesus to evidence this wide-understanding beyond that of my society (Bantu, Nguni, Koi-San nations):

An angel allegedly announced that he had enetered his mother, Mary, in a non-convensional manner.

Jesus arrives and begins his earthly time, performing miracles and speaking of the dead and after life ever so casually. When he was about to be crusified, he allegedly saw ghosts or spirits while praying on a mountian: The Transfiguration

27But I tell you truthfully, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.” 28 About eight days after Jesus had said these things, He took with Him Peter, John, and James, and went up on a mountain to pray. 29And as He was praying, the appearance of His face changed, and His clothes became radiantly white.…

He is crucified. At that time, Jesus had many words to leave his followers. It is worth noting that they did not point out that his afterlife was related to the person he was about to quit). For example, Jesus is believed to have said, "today you will be with me in paradise."