For 40 years Sid Roth has encountered the Holy Spirit in dramatic ways, but even he was astonished by what happened on two recent trips to Jerusalem.
Last October, 550 Jews attended his “Lectures on the Supernatural,” and 525 of them made professions of faith in Yeshua as their Messiah. In April, 650 Jews attended and 98 percent made professions. “I’ve been in ministry for 40 years and have never seen anything like it,” Roth says.
Roth grew up in a traditional Jewish home. “Like most American Jews, I found organized religion irrelevant to my life,” he says. “I was proud of being Jewish, but bored with religion.” His search for answers led him to Eastern meditation, the New Age movement and the occult.
Finally in 1972 he hit rock bottom. A Christian businessman challenged him, saying that Roth’s Jewish Bible condemned his occult practices and told him that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah whom his Orthodox Jewish upbringing had carefully hidden from him. Roth was stunned. He searched the Scriptures for himself, had a supernatural encounter with Jesus and was set free from demonic oppression caused by his explorations into the occult.
“In place of fear and desperation,” he says, “I had a tangible peace and feeling of love that I had never experienced before. And I knew that Jesus was real.”
Immediately he began to boldly proclaim that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah—and hasn’t stopped. In 1977, he started a ministry and national radio program called Messianic Vision. Two years later, he launched It’s Supernatural!, a TV program featuring guests who have experienced healings, miracles and personal encounters with God. Today the program is broadcast all over the U.S. 28 times a week in Israel as well as in Russia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries. More than 900 past episodes are also available on a free app, It’s Supernatural! Network.
“Sid’s passion for the Lord and his passion for Israel are unmatched,” says Jorge Parrott, director of missions for MorningStar.
Roth says he focuses on supernatural signs and wonders because Jesus did.
“Would thousands have come to Jesus to hear a great teacher?” he asks. “No, but they came to see miracles happening. When He captured their attention because of miracles, the scales came off. They still do.” Roth says it’s critical to understand the “mystery law of evangelism”—reaching “the Jew first” according to Romans 1:16, not as an end in itself but to evangelize the whole world.
“When God wanted to reach the whole world, he went to the Jew first—to Abraham,” he explains.—Diana Scimone
