Sid Roth

Sid: Now I have on the telephone a Russian Jewish couple that is red hot for Jesus, red hot for the Yeshua.  Gennady and Svetlana I go back a long time.  I remember meeting them I think that it was in Canada in a hotel room and we talked about I have a Messianic Congregation in Brooklyn, New York. And before we knew it the two of them were moving out there and they were pasturing a Russian Jewish Congregation. And who would have known Gennady that so many years later God would birth something with the two of you that would be in my opinion and I believe more important in God’s opinion historic. And I’m talking about we are doing right now in the land of Israel secular Russian radio no holds barred completely proclaiming the gospel to Russian Jews, and offering my book of the 10 Jewish testimonies. The one if you remember I got in a dream from God. God said “More Jewish people would come to know Him through this book than anything that I had ever done.”  And we’re making this available free to Russian Jews in Israel that call. We are then plugging them into a Messianic Jewish Congregation in Israel.  Gennady it’s almost outrageous that you’re able to reach so many Jewish people in Israel on secular radio!

Gennady:  Well to me it’s an amazing situation at the moment. I’ve been in the ministry for about 13 years and I…

Sid: Oh, it’s your bar mitzvah year!

Gennady:  Yeah yeah that right. (Laughing) And you know God’s ways are not our ways and when He opens the door He knows what He’s doing. I believe we’re living in the last days and that’s why God’s opening wide doors. Especially for the Russian Jews that are moving out of Russia the formally Soviet Union.  And Israel and actually Germany and Europe they’re filled with Russian Jews. Even Montreal where I live it’s over 60,000 population in one city of the Russian speaking people.

Sid: Well, this is beginning and we are looking into getting the broadcast that Gennady and his wife Svetlana are doing in Israel. We already have it now in Berlin, Germany, and this is secular radio and for Russians. And the Russians as Gennady said are the most open Jewish people group on the face of this earth.  In fact Gennady many years ago I read a book by a friend of mine his name was Steve Lightle and the name of the book was called “Exodus II.”  Did you ever read that?

Gennady: Yes, yeah I read that book before yeah.

Sid: Okay, and I bumped into Steve a few years ago and I said “Steve in your book you prophesied the Iron Curtain’s going to come down, there is going to be major revival in Russia.” And this was before this happened the book was written many years ago.  And you were right, but what you described the revival was the most miracles that you would ever seen.  I mean people without limbs would get their limbs back.  Every miracle that you read in the Bible and then as Jesus said “You’ll do the same works that I’ve done and even greater.”  I don’t think that that’s happened yet in the former Soviet Union.  And he said “Absolutely not.” So what I believe Gennady is what we are doing is the beginning of this great move of God’s Spirit on Russian Jews.

Gennady: Sid about a year ago when this started our television program across Canada and God spoke to me and He said “The Jewish people are still looking for a sign.”  And when I heard this from God I said “This is marvelous it means that the gospel that you preach to the Jewish people today will follow signs and wonders will follow the gospel.” And that’s what I’m standing upon.

Sid: Listen, not only does God say the Jew requires a sign.

Gennady: Yes.

Sid: And how have we been reaching, let’s be candid Gennady, how have most of us been reaching Jewish people over the years.  Unfortunately, the same way that we’ve been reaching Gentiles over the years and that’s through the brain, through apologetics, through the cerebral area. Billy Graham himself said himself that better of 90% of the people that come forward in one on his campaigns never in a church a year later.  Something’s wrong, we’re using a humanistic approach to the gospel and it’s about time we use God’s approach which has always been and He said “I change not,” supernatural.

Gennady: Sid I believe in the Talmudim Apostles they were walking in in the Book of Acts.  Actually I call it a book of Action (Laughing) and when I see, when I look into the examples of this people I saw “Lord, use me the same way.”  And I feel that it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen and this is the word of God and that’s what it is and God will perform His word.

Sid: Well, I believe Gennady it’s going to be contagious.  Large numbers of Jewish people are going to come to know the Lord according to Paul in Romans the 11^th chapter the 25 verse it talks about a mystery. It says “For I do not want you brethren to be uninformed of a mystery so that you’ll not be wise in your own estimation.”  In other words there is a mystery but that mystery should be revealed to His children and it is right now.  And here’s what the mystery is “That a partial hardening has happened to Israel.” What does that mean? That means that most Jewish people have a hardness over us that we’re blind to the gospel, but it’s like spiritual scales. But there are some Jewish people that have broken through not because of us but because of God’s mercy, I’m one of them Gennady is one of them, his wife Svetlana is one of them.  And it says this is going to happen when another event occurs.  The event that he describes is “When the fullness of the Gentles has come in.”  Then you’re going to see the spiritual scales come off of the eyes of the Jewish people. And I proclaim right now that the spiritual scales are coming off of Jewish people therefore it means we are at the fullness of the gentle age.  Now it gets better than that; in the past we’ve taken these Jewish believers and put them in boxes called Messianic Jewish Congregations rather than boxes called Gentile Churches. And that was a starting point because God wanted church to get back its Jewish roots and understand that it is of God and it always will be of God.  But there’s something better coming it’s called the One New Man and as these Jewish people get saved can you picture 100’s of Paul the Apostles being raised up from these Russian Jews.  Maybe some of those 144,000 we read about in the book of revelation.  Then this new life if you will comes into the church, the middle wall of separation comes down between Jew and Gentile we became One New Man as Paul said “The true body of Messiah.” And the miracles that were used to reach the Jew it becomes contagious; they jump on the Gentile believers but when the two come together the Jew and Gentile come together and form the complete body of Messiah, the glorious Church comes on the scene and devil watch out. And come quickly Lord Jesus.  Gennady is that good preaching?

Gennady:  Excellent! Sid I’m just listening and I’m enjoying it. (Laughing)

Sid: Okay, I believe that our Mishpochah must understand the Russian Jew and who better than a Russian Jewish red-hot fiery evangelist and his wife.  Gennady you were raised as an atheist and what was life like, and what city was that you were born in?

Gennady:  I was born in a small town of Slutz in Belarus and it’s about 60 miles south of Minsk which is the Capital of Belarus.  Into a Jewish family we had; actually my parents they told me before the second World War that our city had population of about 80% of just Jewish people.  About 20% of the Gentles but after the second World War a lot of Jewish people died. Any way the city where I lived and my wife as well it was quite a Jewish city.  Yeah, and in any case we were atheist because we were surrounded by the atheistic society we could not practice anything. The only way that we knew were Jews was by you know by traditions in the family. Parents told us that we were Jews and we knew that we were special and we had a little community on our own and also persecution. We knew.  Anywhere you go they would call you names.

Sid: Now did you know, now let me ask you some basics.  Did you know the basic Biblical holiday? Did you know about Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Shavuot, Sukkot?

Gennady: No, no, never.  I heard something about Passover but that was it.

Sid: What about the Shabbat, the Sabbath?

Gennady: Never celebrate it. Never had an interest in anything like that because no one in my family celebrated Shabbat at all.

Sid: Okay, what about God?

Gennady: No, no absolutely not; I was not a believer I did not believe that God is existed and neither anybody in my family.  It was just pure… if it was something concerning Judaism it was purely traditional approach and very very little, that was it.  I grew up that way; and you know my interest was in music a lot when I was little and when I finished school my desire was to become a musician, I did.

Sid: What was your instrument?

Gennady: Well my major is drums yeah.  But I play a lot of different instruments.

Sid: And so you wanted to be a sup… did you know about the Beatles?

Gennady: Sure, I was crazy about Beatles, and actually Rolling Stones, and The Purple, and Zeppelin these groups that I use to listen in my days in Russia and I paid a lot of money for the records. (Laughing)

Sid: So you knew about the Beatles but you didn’t know about Judaism.  Okay, hold that thought we’ll be back on tomorrow’s broadcast.