From growing up in a strict Jewish home to becoming an Adventist pastor, Richard's life has been far from normal. Find out how he is impacting the lives of people in Paris.
“We are here in the city of Ville Juif, this name means the city of Jews, Jewish city in French. In fact we are very close to Paris, in a suburb of Paris. Why we came here is because this street, especially this building behind me has a very meaningful meaning for me because it is where I was a child. In fact, this synagogue was planted or established by my father when I was a child.”
Richard was born in Casablanca, Morocco, but it was a difficult country for a Jewish family to live at the time. They relocated to France when Richard was a young boy. His family bought a house in a suburb of Paris but soon realized there was no Jewish synagogue nearby.
“Because we had no synagogue in this city, my father who was an Orthodox Jew, decided to plant a synagogue. He did it first as a home church, a home synagogue we could say. This synagogue became the official synagogue of this city Ville Juif, and it was here where I had my bar mitzvah when I was 12. Exactly like Jesus in Jerusalem when He was 12.”
“We are here in front of this school, my school when I was a child. Why this school has importance for me is because it was my primary school and it was in this school I met a friend who introduced me to his father. His father was a Seventh-day Adventist. There were not many Seventh-day Adventists in Ville Juif at that time.”
It was here that Richard was introduced to the Bible. He would go to his friend’s house any chance he could to study the Bible over the next few years. With time he started to feel a change in his outlook on life.
“Progressively it took me about 5 years, I discovered Jesus was the Messiah of the Bible. Then I gave my life to Jesus. But it was very difficult for my family. I remember about 2 months before my baptism, my father called many rabbis to try to convince me not to convert to Adventism.”
“But no argument could compete with what I understood from the Bible. After this month when my father discovered I decided to be baptized he said, ‘you are no longer my son’ and he threw me out of the house. I had not seen my father for about 10 years.”
There are millions of Jews around the world who have yet to be ministered to by Christians. Since the day he gave his life to Jesus, Richard has been passionate about sharing the gospel with the Jewish people. He became a pastor, and lived in Israel for 15 years to study and pastor there. He eventually moved back to Paris to continue his work in reaching the Jewish people.
Today, Richard leads a small Adventist Jewish congregation in Paris. This group meets regularly in a small space of what was once an old movie theater. The meetings are meant to bridge the gap between the Jewish faith and the Adventist faith, but they need your prayers.
“I have said I was born in a Jewish Orthodox family. I know the Jewish people are the people of God from the Bible. But something is missing among the Jews. What is missing is a knowledge of Jesus. I have discovered Jesus 40 years ago. Since that time I am in the church. I try to share Jesus with the Jewish people because I know they need Jesus. I know the second coming of Jesus is very soon, but for that He needs the Jews to discover Jesus. I have experienced that in my life. I have experienced the Jews need Jesus, we need to share Jesus with them.”
“Because we want Jesus to come back soon, then we have to do the Jewish ministry. We have to preach the gospel to the Jews.”
Please pray for this Adventist synagogue as they continue to grow. Thank you for your support of ministries like this.
