A random sampling of those who performed such a task revealed the following: John 3:16-17; Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world; Jesus died on the cross for sinners; by accepting Jesus Christ as our personal savior we will inherit eternal life; our Creator took on the physical form of a man and lived among us, the Kingdom of God is present allowing us to live in it by following Jesus; and Jesus’ resurrection communicated the substance of our true inheritance when we believe.

     The Good News appears to be intimately linked to beliefs, i.e., a person must first believe what Jesus brought and taught in order to receive what God promised.  This understanding can be found in the words, “Whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

     These words should settle the issue of defining The Good News.  Yet, we also have Jesus’ parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin suggesting that beliefs are not necessary.  These lessons instruct humanity that God’s love is so unconditional that God uses every means possible to supply guidance for men and women to refine their skills of spirit so they may grow away from their reliance on aspects associated with their material existence.

     A key to defining The Good News can be found in the nature of God.  Is there anything in God’s created order that is new, i.e., it never existed before Jesus arrived on the planet?  The answer for both the visible and invisible aspects of our world is, “no.”  What makes any discovery “new” for us occurs when we uncover it for the first time.  Did Jesus bring a new consciousness with him or was he pointing to its existence through his life and teachings?  We must assume the latter.

     Jesus’ Kingdom of God referred to the quality of spirit that radiated from people when creative energy patterns exude from them in all circumstances.  In other words, we will be masters of our world only by mastering ourselves, i.e., constantly refining our thought and emotional patterns.

     A dilemma occurs when we articulate our logic and intellect while allowing our emotions to remain at very primitive levels.  Our energy patterns operate more efficiently when our mind and heart are in harmony, for always our perception of the world is determined by what our thoughts and emotions decide it is.

     The Good News begins to manifest within each of us as soon as we integrate this discovery into our life patterns.   We allow people and circumstances to be what they are while we remain an island of peace.

     For example, there was the Canaanite woman who had lived with five husbands and Jesus pointed out that the man she was living with was not one of them.  Jesus never condemned her.  There was the woman who was about to be stoned to death because she had been caught in the act of adultery; again, there was no condemnation by Jesus.  In both instances, what mattered was allowing these women to be who they are while he responded in ways that encouraged them to find more creative living patterns.

     The Good News Jesus pointed to during these and other instances, was that we can overcome the attractive icons of this world by learning that our physical world offers us very little that we really need for our spiritual evolution.

     Knowing about the existence of this level of consciousness is the beginning of wisdom.  Most of us have discovered that belief requires little energy from us.  Putting into practice what we know, however, requires that we reorder how we think, feel and perceive. The Good News is that the material world is only a gift, a tool for refinement and an environment that is only temporarily useful.

     Once we understand that it is impossible for the world to define us by any of its standard measuring devices, we are free from believing that our identity must be linked to our caste system, religious orientation, sexual orientation, body, age, level of self-esteem, sinful past, vocation or notions of success.

     The consciousness Jesus pointed to will always remain invisible.  However, when that consciousness is awakened and fully functional, our radiance and power to create become enormous.  We become a magnet for attracting what we need to create that has not yet been visible in the physical world.