JAMIE: It really is so interesting. So now we’re—I’m going to spice it up a little bit. I want to hear about this because as we’re—I was looking over your material, over your new book, you have the lost tribes in there. And it’s kind of hitting it, but there’s something about this that’s so fascinating to me. Tell us about the lost tribes.
JONATHAN: It is. Well, during the 1990’s, I lived in Russia, from Æ93 to 1997. Sid was working with me. We saw an incredible harvest of Jewish people come to faith, and then the doors began to close, in the later 90’s, as the novelty of the Gospel wore off, but we had an incredible harvest. And I was asking the Lord, after doing these huge festivals of Jewish music and dance, where we filled football stadiums, “What’s next Lord?” and the Lord led me to an unlikely place, Ethiopia.
JAMIE: Ethiopia?
JONATHAN: Ethiopia. And it was in Ethiopia that I discovered the Beta, Israel. Beta Israel is Hebrew, it means House of Israel. And these are Jews living in Ethiopia, some of which, a percentage that had actually been taken to Israel. There’s 130,000 Ethiopian Jews now. We began to minister to the Ethiopian Jewish community through medical care, eye care, dental care, just keeping these people alive because they lived in abject poverty and they were persecuted. And from that, I began to meet representatives from different parts of Africa, became aware of a community in India, the B’nai Menashe, the children of Menashe, that claim to be descendants of the lost ten tribes. And I feel, Jamie, like I’ve been on this Indiana Jones adventure seeking out these lost tribes. So instead of searching for the Ark of the Covenant, I’ve been searching for the people of the covenant and God’s been bringing them to me. It’s been an incredible journey and they’re out there.
JAMIE: This is incredible. So you’re telling me that there are Jewish people hidden in plain sight, these tribes, these lost tribes, that are covering the globe. I mean, you’re talking about Africa, are there other places?
JONATHAN: All over. Now, I wouldn’t say they’re in plain sight in every case. For example, a representative came to me from Zimbabwe and told me about his community and I sent representatives to find this tribe called the Lemba. Well, it turns out, they’re in the bush of Zimbabwe and you have to really travel to remote places to find them, but they’re there, about 60,000 of them. They have their own kosher butchers.
JAMIE: What?
JONATHAN: They have their own oral traditions handed down to them for at least eight hundred years that are the laws of Moses. Now, it’s not rabbinic Judaism. Understand that after the temple was destroyed, a new Judaism emerged based on the rabbi’s, the oral law, but they adhere to the Torah, the first five books of Moses, not because they’re reading it, but because their oral traditions have taught them. They circumcise their males. Now they got a little bit off; instead of the eighth day circumcision, which is in the Torah, they circumcise their males on the eighth year. We’re trying to fix that one because that’s a painful mistake. JAMIE: Yeah, yeah. I want to—Hold on there because I have so many more questions about this. This is so fascinating. You’re doing research and finding these people; I want to know how are you doing this and are there other lost tribes that have yet to be found? I want to—Look, this is “Something More”, I’m so excited, Jonathan Bernis here. He’s opening my mind in new ways and helping me see and discover prophetic mysteries of Israel, right now. [music] Tune in, stay tuned, this next segment, I’m going to ask some more questions specifically about these lost tribes.
Tags: its supernatural, Sid Roth