Ras Rootka Zebulun, The Twelve Tribes Lion

From The Rastafari Expression,
A regular column by Kaya I IsesaJah, May 29, 2006         

Ras Rootka Zebulun: To please the Most High Jah(Yahweh) you have to obey His Commandments, and strive to be on the level of perfection like His Beloved Son Yahshua of Nazareth, and avoid temptation from the Devil. I know that we as human beings are not perfect but we should try to be like the Most High as His Children. I would also say that you have to love your neighbors and do no harm to those who practice malice against you which even the Messiah, the Christ, taught us in the Bible. Also help those who are in need don't ignore them like Babylon has been doing constantly. If people would move in this manner I feel that the world would be a better place for I n I but it is not. However it will be when the Shiloh returns to establish His Father's Kingdom on Earth, the restored Garden of Eden!

Kaya Isesajah: How are we as a People going to Inite? What major obstacles does the I see for Rastafari?

Ras Rootka Zebulun: The only way that we as a Rastafarian Community are going to really inite(unite) is when we stop with the ego about this house is better than this other house. It is nothing but foolishness to me. We are all Rastafarians and even if we cannot see eye to eye, why should ones move with such malice, why ridicule other Rastafarians for the works they are doing? His Majesty never operated in that way so we have to be like H.I.M. and show love and raspect(respect) . That is one of the major obstacles among Rastafarians less cooperation, few correspondence and we need to really work on this. It is a good thing to see that some of the houses are in cooperation with all Rastafarians. So Unity is a must in Rastafari and we need to see more of it no division! One House of Rastafari! Unity is strength like the Emperor said!

Kaya Isesajah: The biggest two issues in Rastafari online today, and in general, are those of the Race Issue and the issue of Jesus Christ. Would you care to explain your views on "White Rastafari", or Rastafari of races other than being Black, and the whole issue of the person of Haile Selassie and Jesus Christ.

Ras Rootka Zebulun: Yes there are certain online Rastafarian communities who have issues with Race and about Jesus the Christ which absolutely shouldn't be an issue whatsoever, and speaking in general for that matter. There is no such thing as White Rastafari, as there is no Black Rastafari, or Brown Rastafari, Rastafari is Rastafari as I see it. Rastafari is not racial it doesn't refer to any specific ethnicity.

I know that there are some Rastas who fight against non Africans joining the Movement but that is nothing but partiality. I hope they remember that Jah doesn't look at the outward of a person but the inward which is the heart of the individual. Anyone can be a Rastafarian just as long as they overstand (understand) what the Movement is about, and not look to water it down, with some other kind of ideology.

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Rastafari is first and foremost an African(Black) Liberation Movement, but no one cannot reject the fact that it is also a Movement for Jah People. Rastafari is not only cultural for Black People, but can be spiritual for other people too. I as a Rastaman, I don't look at the color of one's skin, I look at their heart instead, their spirit not their flesh. His Majesty said," We must overcome petty prejudices and become members of a new race. Mr. Garvey commented," I believe in the Fatherhood of Jah and the brotherhood of man." Brother Gad said, " We are not laboring for only one set of people but all people." Rastafari is not racial but spiritual! Only Babylon deals with racism but Rastafari bun dat out!

Concerning the issue of Haile Selassie and Jesus the Christ, this shouldn't even be an issue among certain Rastafarians. Ok, because His Imperial Majesty spoke about the Messiah Himself if ones read his very utterances. Personally for me it was King Selassie I who spiritually revealed Yahshua Ha Mashiach as Lord and Savior. It was the King who directed me to the same historical Messiah who was born in Palestine, Northern Africa! There is a spiritual connection with the Messiah and the Emperor through the Royal House of David. For David's two grandsons, Solomon's sons, Rehoboam and Menelik, are progenitors of both Yahshua and Ras Tafari. David's seed shall flourish throughout all generations! Like Gadman taught me," Same Spirit but different flesh." Alright, so they both carry the Spirit of Jah in them and were used as vessels of the Most High teaching the people the words of the Most High, bringing them to the Father. Haile Selassie sat on the Throne of David and the Messiah as Shiloh will return to rule on it forever in the New Jerusalem to come. So this shouldn't even be an issue or problem, because most Rastafarians I know acknowledge Haile Selassie and Jesus the Christ. Some just sight up His Majesty as the returned Messiah while others look for the return of the Messiah King. Raspect still.

Kaya Isesajah: As we already know, there are persons who sight up Christ, as their Savior in Rastafari, do you view this as watering down the movement, if so, why? If not why not?

Ras Rootka Zebulun: No, I do not see any Rastafarian watering down the Movement if they accept the Messiah, the Christ. How could that be discrediting to the Rastafari Movement, when our father, H.I.M. Haile Selassie I, was an Orthodox Christian raised up as a youth within the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and head of the Church itself? Of course I am aware that there are some Rastafarians who actually have this kind of mentality, but I encourage them to recognize that His Majesty was the 134th Christian King of Ethiopia. Did not the Lion of Judah, His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I, teach about the Hebrew Messianic Faith(the true Christian Faith)?

Is not Haile Selassie known as Defender of the Faith? Yes, so how could ones oppose other Rastafarians who sight up Jesus the Christ, Yahshua Ha Mashiach, when the King surely accepted Him and the Rabbi's teachings? Therefore, Rastafarians have to follow the King's teachings and examples. The Bible shows us that there is no other name where we can receive salvation from, and the Emperor himself said that we can only be saved through the blood of Jesus the Christ.