Jesus is Lord as Milk is White (edited with ChatGPT)

 

One of the most widely written graffiti on the Addis Ababa University main campus used to state, “Jesus is Lord.” Side by side, however, people also used to write, “Milk is white” in response. Their reply implied: “Why are you stating the most obvious fact—which is believed to be true by all ‘Christians’—as if it’s breaking news or Good News?” I used to think this was the most logical response to the “absurd” proclamation of what seemed to be common knowledge by those “fools.”

 

Did I believe that Jesus is God? Yes, I used to believe Jesus is God. Did I believe He was born as a man, taught us truth, died for us on the cross, and rose from the dead to save us? Yes, I believed all those faithful facts. That is why, when the faithful said “Jesus is Lord,” it puzzled me—they were stating something so obvious and calling it Gospel or Good News. Imagine someone shouting loudly and proclaiming, “An African is black.” What surprises you is not the fact—which is visibly true for almost all Africans—but the way they present it like a revelation. You may think this person is CNN, because to them, any information seems like breaking news.

 

Beyond the apparent absurdity of the faithful’s gospel, however, they were right—and we were the lie. When we say Jesus is Lord, it means He is God and also our Lord. And as Lord, He demands obedience. When Jesus saved us from sin and the devil—both of which would have led to eternal condemnation in hellfire—He didn’t free us to do whatever we want, as the lost world prefers to be. No, He bought us with His blood, His flesh, His suffering, His death, and His resurrection, to make us stand on the right side of the Heavenly Father with Him. As He rose from death to take full dominion over heaven and earth, His plan is to raise us up with Him—to the standard of the Heavenly Father.

 

That’s the difference between the faithful proclaiming “Jesus is Lord” and our ignorant claim that we already knew that. The faithful were obeying their Lord’s command, and as their Lord, they followed Him. They belonged to the Lord who bought them with His blood and flesh. As slaves of the Lord, they obeyed the Lord. They were in the midst of a sinful world, yet separated from it. Though in the world, they didn’t belong to it, and they didn’t live by it—but by the commandments of God. The Lord wasn’t just on their lips, He was Lord over their lives.

 

We, on the other hand, used to say “Jesus, Jesus” now and then—when we prayed the Lord’s Prayer before bed, or when we watched the Jesus movie. Beyond that, we weren’t just part of the sinful world—we were the sinful world. Jesus was Lord of our mouth now and then, but not Lord of our lives. We partied like crazy, drank and got high like crazy, lived outright sinful lives, worshipped idols (“saints,” “angels,” and so on), hated, fought, sang vulgar songs, and committed shameful sexual sins—but Jesus was supposedly our Lord. We proclaimed Jesus is Lord—how shameful. He was Lord in our mouths, but not Lord in our lives.

 

To know Jesus is Lord means to accept Him as Lord of your life. It means to be born again in spirit by accepting Jesus as Lord, and to be sealed by the Holy Spirit. After that, you realize you belong neither to the devil nor to yourself—but to Jesus. You are to do what Jesus expects, guided by the Holy Spirit. You don’t do what you want or prefer—you do what Jesus wants. Jesus Himself didn’t do what He wanted, but only what the Heavenly Father approved. His joy was in fulfilling the Father’s will. That’s the model you follow. The Holy Spirit is there to give you the holiness of Jesus, to help you do what Jesus desires. But you must obey Jesus—not sin, not the devil, not yourself.

 

This takes me to those “Catholics” and “Orthodox” “faithful” in evangelical churches. Just as Catholics and Orthodox don’t belong to God because they never accepted Jesus as Lord, those in evangelical churches who never made Jesus Lord of their life also don’t belong to God. Unless you renounce not only sin, the devil, and the world—but also yourself—you are not a slave of the Lord and don’t belong to God. A goat standing among sheep doesn’t become a sheep. The question isn’t who is mixed with whom, but what is your spiritual DNA—sheep or goat?

 

Some are even more shameful. They’ve been stuck in the kindergarten of faith for 30 years. They don’t reflect Jesus in love, kindness, humility, or spiritual maturity—but reflect the world through hate, rivalry, conflict, pride, and immaturity. Yet they think they are more faithful than new believers who follow Jesus better. Spending 30 years in KG 1, Section A, doesn’t make you wise—it makes you a fool. Nature speaks: a fly doesn’t fly toward a flower, and a bee doesn’t fly to dirt. Their nature won’t let them. Real faithful are naturally drawn to Jesus and His ways. Those who belong to the devil are drawn to the devil’s ways. You can see it in their lives. So grow the Jesus in you, rather than parading sin, the devil, and the world as Jesus—in KG 1, Section A.

 

Even Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of God—but only those who do the will of my Father.” The reason Orthodox and Catholics don’t belong to Jesus isn’t that they never say “Lord, Lord”—though modern Ethiopian Orthodox are often ashamed to say “Lord” for fear of sounding evangelical. The real reason is they don’t obey the Lord. They follow dogma and worship that contradicts God’s word, the Gospel, and Jesus Himself. As Paul said, anyone who preaches another gospel is accursed—and they are accursed to eternal hell because of it.

 

And what about us? Is calling ourselves “evangelical” or “Protestant” our saving grace? Can a goat turn into a sheep just because it hangs out with sheep? Or can a group of goats turn a sheep into a goat? Can anyone change the skin of an Ethiopian? Can a bee become a fly—or a fly become a bee? This is a matter of spiritual genetics. Even prophesying, performing miracles, teaching—all in Jesus’ name—isn’t our salvation. Only those born again in spirit, made into the lineage of Jesus, and sealed by the Holy Spirit—only they belong to God.

The Spirit of God produces the fruit of the Spirit. The flesh produces the fruit of the flesh. If you are living by the flesh, it means the Spirit of God isn’t ruling in you. You are still in the flesh. This doesn’t mean you never sin—but sin must decrease, and the fruit of the Spirit must become dominant. After 10–20 years in the assembly of the Lord, if you still hate your brothers and sisters, if you are still just a human in nature instead of heavenly in character, if your nature doesn’t resemble Jesus more and more over time, then either you are disobedient to the Holy Spirit, or you should ask yourself what kind of spirit is in you. Not all spirits are from God—and we know them by their fruits. So, what is your fruit? Are you a Catholic or Orthodox in evangelical clothing—or are you truly a Spirit-filled Pentecostal? Who are you? Dear, show me your visa to heaven—and that visa is your life.