Jewish Voice Aims to Fulfill Bible Prophecy By Bringing African 'Lost Igbos Tribes' to Israel

Jewish Voice Ministries International (JVMI) has encouraged Nigeria's Igbo people to undergo genetic testing to confirm if they are descendants of the biblical Israelites as they claim. If they are, this would quadruple the global Jewish community, as the 40 million Igbos join the 13 million known Jews worldwide.

"In the same way as the texts [of the Bible] were preserved, I believe that the Jewish people have been preserved — it's a sovereign preservation of Israel," JVMI President and CEO Jonathan Bernis told PJ Media in an interview. He argued that the rediscovery of "lost tribes" of Israel, like the Igbo might be, constitutes the fulfilling of Bible prophecy.

"The Bible talks, particularly in the prophets, a great deal about a time when God will regather the Jewish people back to the land that he promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," Bernis explained. He noted that Israel was "restored" in 1948, and Jerusalem came back under Jewish control in 1967, after almost 2,000 years.

"At that time, the Jewish communities began to return to the state of Israel," the JVMI president added. He listed Jewish groups from Yemen, Tunisia, Morocco, and Syria, in addition to those from European countries. More recently, Ethiopian Jews in "Operation Moses" and "Operation Solomon" went north to settle in the Holy Land.

Bernis cited Jeremiah 16:14-15:

    Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, "As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt," but "As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them." For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.

While some might argue this prophecy was more focused on the return of the exiles from Babylon (an event Jeremiah prophesied multiple times), Bernis explained that "something that could initially be talking about a period of time in context has a deeper meaning."

The JVMI president noted that when the Jewish exiles returned from Babylon, "that was a remnant returning, not all of the exiles." As such, "I don't see that fulfilling the magnitude of God being the God who returns us." The Exodus was a huge event in Jewish memory, a founding of their entire people based on God's specific action to preserve them.