I'm not sure of your background, so I mean no offense if there is something I'm about to share that differs from your particular tradition. This will certainly disagree with many of the more popular theologies. Nonetheless, I hope that some of these ideas may inspire more thought and consideration to the way things work, and ultimately bring you peace.

Today's churches generally define "the gospel" as the way in which God, through Jesus Christ, gives us good things - salvation, peace, blessing, etc. The gospel is generally understood as believing that "God gives me good things because he is a good God." Billy Graham packed stadiums teaching about all the benefits of believing and all the terrible things if we don't. After we become a Christian and when something terrible or tragic happens (and it will), it's extremely perplexing because this idea is directly opposed to the advertisement that we had heard. Many pastors and theologians spend a lifetime finding ways to reconcile this perceived contradiction and they've gotten good at it. Mother Theresa, for example, believed as many others, that suffering was a gift and that it forced us to draw closer to God. Other traditions would say that Satan is attacking and therefore is the real enemy behind trouble. What I'm saying is that there are a myriad of ideas that try to explain the contradiction of what we believe the gospel is and what we experience in real life.

What if the gospel meant something different? If you lived in first century Rome (when Jesus began his ministry) and heard the term, "Gospel" it would mean that someone was announcing a new Caesar or ruler of some kind. Accompanied with it would be all kinds of hopes and dreams. When Jesus came, he announced the "Gospel of the Kingdom of God" the people heard, "The King is here and he's going to usher in God's rule!" meaning that he was bringing in God's authority into a world that had gone rogue. They were confused when instead of toppling Rome he died at their hands. See, instead of toppling Caesar, he crushed an enemy that was far, far worse. This enemy had been plaguing the world since the beginning - death itself. The Good News of Jesus is that he has defeated the greatest enemy that has ever besieged mankind, death. With Christ's resurrection, we maintain that hope. Death is a reality in this present age but we know that death has been defeated and when Jesus returns, we shall rise in glorified new bodies. Our eternal home isn't a disembodied spirit floating on a cloud, but in a new body on a new and perfected earth. This is the hope of all who die that has not rejected God. I'm not a Universalist, meaning that I do believe that people can say "No I do not want to come under God's rule" and God will honor that rejection (which is a terrible and disturbing truth). I believe with all my heart that an innocent child will discover the glory of eternal life through the saving work of Christ.

We now live in a very complicated and strange day. The Jesus said that the kingdom of God had come, but he also said that it was coming in the future. This is not a contradiction. Through faith, we experience the Kingdom (God's will) now in our hearts and as the church we are commissioned to spread it through doing God's will in our communities. This means feeding the hungry, ministering to the sick, bringing justice to the oppressed and of course, sharing the good news and helping others find faith in Jesus. Yes, it's terrible when evil rears it's ugly head, but we cannot fall into the trap of cowering in fear. We know that death has be defeated and that we are called and commissioned to continue kingdom work until Jesus returns.