Ravi - His great and tragic legacy

Micah Coate

At seventeen years old, the young man, depressed by his grades in school, and his average ability in playing Cricket found himself contemplating suicide. He didn’t know that the maximum number of suicides in India occur just after school examinations, but he definitely felt the weight of having never attained academic excellence and the shame it would surly bring to his family. He simply didn’t care and he didn’t want to live anymore.Although his parents were Christians and he went to church with them fairly regularly, nothing about the Christian faith became real to him. He had never even opened a bible on his own initiative. As such, the young man thought there was no real difference between himself and an atheist. Maybe that softened his conscience as he was about to become another sad statistic of youth suicide. At his parent’s home in New Delhi, the depressed boy having no hope for the future in this life and no idea what awaited him in the next, ingested the poison, closed his eyes and waited to die.But the boy didn’t die. As he slowly and painfully awoke hours later confused and dehydrated in a hospital bed, the he realized that his plans were thwarted. A servant from the house had found him passed out and rushed him to the closest hospital. Not long after becoming responsive, laying in the hospital bed with his mother standing nearby, did a man walk into their room. The stranger was not a Dr. and was not invited in, so his presence was a bit curious. The man had a little red Gideon’s New Testament Bible and he offered it to the young patient.  Seeing that he was too weak to reach out and take it, the man opened it up to read its words aloud. The boy’s mother gently tried explaining to the stranger, although his intentions seemed good, that her son needed rest and privacy at the moment. The unknown man, aware that the boy had just tried to commit suicide, politely replied that her son needed to hear God’s word more than anything else.With that, he opened the New Testament to the gospel of John and read from the fourteenth chapter - "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.” It was those words from verse nineteen that resonated with the boy. “Because I live, you also shall live.” That promise of Jesus seemed to bring life into the boys poisoned body and purpose into his broken spirit. Upon hearing these words in Red, the boy who just previously didn’t want to live, having no reason to live, now believed that if Jesus himself was alive, then he too wanted to alive. And not just live - but live in God, and for Christ. The young man purposed in his heart to leave no stone un-turned in his pursuit of truth - that is to say, his pursuit of God.Laying in the hospital bed that day in 1963, this young man’s life was forever transformed by hearing Jesus’ words. And in turn, God would use him to transform many other lives for the kingdom of Heaven. The stranger with the bible was named Fred, and the boy he read the gospel to was seventeen year old Ravi Zacharias.Within just eight years of his unsuccessful suicide attempt, Ravi had become a passionate preacher - He spend the summer in Vietnam preaching the gospel to both US soldiers and VietCong members. Soon after that, in 1972 Ravi married his once  youth group friend, Margaret Reynolds. They would remain together until the end. Upon graduating from Ontario Bible College in Canada, Ravi soon began preaching for a Christian Missionary organization and was sent to Cambodia for a short time. After being ordained by the same organization in 1980, Ravi began teaching at it’s affiliated Seminary as a professor of evangelism. It was during this stint, that the relatively young 37 year old Ravi, was invited to speak in Amsterdam at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. This placed him on a global pedestal as a leading international evangelical preacher.Between teaching in class and guest speaking for large events, Ravi found himself sharing the gospel message back in his homeland of India. And it was there where he really saw the need for an apologetic ministry - to preach not only to one’s heart, but one’s mind as well. This was a ministry of teaching using logic, reason, intellect, and science to persuade even hardened skeptics.  So in August of 1984, Ravi  started  Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) in Toronto, Canada. This platform served his desire to remain a classical evangelist, but “in the arena of the intellectually resistant.”The timing of Ravi’s apologetic ministry heartened many Christians and challenged many atheists. At the time, ardent atheists like Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and Sam Harris, were gaining popularity and Ravi was one of few Christians taking their arguments not only seriously, but humbly as well. This kind and intelligent approach to answering atheists and skeptics won over many people. Even those who didn’t ultimately agree with Ravi’s defense of the gospel, God, and the Bible, had respect for him. As years turned into decades, Ravi’s fame, talent, and gracious ability to dialogue with others in public forum who had doubts about the Christian faith grew to widespread acclaim. His personal testimony of finding real-life after attempting suicide also comforted those dealing with mental illness and bolstered his overall credibility. Besides frequently speaking at leading universities in America, and authoring over 25 books, Ravi continued to travel and preach the gospel in numerous countries - nearly 70 in total. Over time, his faithful service and ministry grew by leaps and bounds. By 2015, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (or RZIM) employed 250 people in 15 locations around the world with a listed revenue of 25 million dollars. Ravi was 69 years old and while in good health, the ministry that bore his name was nearing its fruitful end.  But around this time, disturbing allegations started coming out concerning the grey haired, beloved evangelist. Some of the assertions claimed that Ravi had a long history of inflating his credentials. Numerous people, even including admirers, reported that Ravi had insisted on being called “Dr.” when he had never obtained a Ph.D. or even a Doctorate. He did hold honorary doctorates from various institutions, but tended to use these honorary titles as academic ones, even referring to himself as “Dr. Zacharias” in printed material.  Ravi also referred to himself as a "Senior Research Fellow” at Oxford University, a "Visiting Scholar” at Cambridge University and a "professor at Oxford”. And while Ravi played a part in such places to certain extents, all those claims were found to be false.But far more concerning than his inflated credentials, were accusations of sexual impropriety that started to arise. In October of 2016, Ravi texted a married woman with whom he had a relationship with that he would consider suicide if she went public with her allegations of her and Ravi’s secret relationship. The Canadian woman claimed that Ravi “manipulated” her into sending him sexual text messages and explicit photos. As this was the first sexual scandal against Ravi to be made public, few knew about it and even less took it seriously. But a long line of women who had secret relationships with Ravi across the world noticed and were gaining confidence to come out as well. On July 31, 2017, Ravi filed a lawsuit against the Canadian woman and her husband on grounds of extortion, but a few months after, both the couple and Ravi agreed to a five million Non Disclosure Agreement.Between having to clarify his exaggerated credentials and buy a couple’s silence, Ravi spent his last years defending his character and reputation far more than he did the gospel. Still, all the good that Ravi had done for so many years outweighed these present accusations. Plus, it wasn’t unheard of for a woman to file a frivolous sexual harassment claim against a notable Christian man as an easy way to receive money. As the smoke had settled, in 2018 the Christian publishing company, Harper Collins announced a new book deal with Ravi and things seemed to return to normal. But as demands of the ministry continued, Ravi, now 74 was not up to the task; not only emotionally, but physically as well - particularly, his back. He had long been seeing massage therapists and had recently undergone surgery on his spine for chronic discomfort. But after three weeks of severe pain following the surgery, a biopsy was taken from his lower spine. A malignant tumor was found on his sacrum and in March of 2020, Ravi was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer.The news spread quickly and gained sympathy from Christians around the world. The recents claims of sexual misconduct were quickly buried underneath the report of the newly found cancer. While Ravi and his wife seemed to handle the news by the grace of a sovereign God, time would eventually tell. But there was hardly any time left and within only a few months of the diagnosis, Ravi died at his home in Atlanta Georgia on May 19th, 2020 at the age of 74. He was buried in a coffin built by prisoners from Angola,  on May 21st in a private cemetery in Georgia.The universal outpouring of support for the family and admiration for the famed apologist came from all corners of the earth. Not only had Ravi reached millions of ordinary people, but politicians, athletes, and other famous celebrities. One of the world’s leading Christian apologists had died and having lived nearly 3/4’s of his life preaching and teaching the fundamentals of the Christian faith eloquently and passionately across the globe, his legacy would be like those greats who had past before him like Chuck Smith, R.C. Sproul, and even Billy Graham.But unlike these Christian leaders, the legacy of Ravi was not set upon his death. And what would have and what should have been a solid legacy becoming of a prestigious Christian leader, was just beginning to erode. And up until publishing this, is still suffering ruin.Just four months after Ravi’s death, three women employed at the day-spas that he co-owned in Atlanta, came out alleging that over a five year period, Ravi engaged in unwanted sexual activity with each of them. It is alleged that Ravi would expose himself, touch himself, and touch some of the massage therapists who were working on him - and not only those women living in Atlanta, but other massage therapists in Thailand, India, and Malaysia. Not only would Ravi offer his spiritual guidance as a way to manipulate these women, it seems he used finances from his ministry to give them lavish gifts in exchange for their services and their silence.Soon the allegations against Ravi were too large to ignore and Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) - the largest Christian apologetic organization in the world, had no options but to hire impartial attorneys to investigate the claims. After interviewing 50 witnesses and examining various cell phones that Ravi used from 2014 to 2018, they reported, “we are confident that we uncovered sufficient evidence to conclude that Mr. Zacharias engaged in sexual misconduct.” (https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2021/february/ravi-zacharias-rzim-investigation-sexual-abuse-sexting-rape.html)At first RZIM, denied the claims that their wise and honorable founder had been anything but noble. But after the preliminary investigation, On December 23, 2020, they confirmed the allegations were indeed true to the shock and sadness of all the staff. They put out a statement saying:  "The interim investigation update indicates this assessment of Ravi's behavior to be true—that he did indeed engage in sexual misconduct. This misconduct is deeply troubling and wholly inconsistent with the man Ravi Zacharias presented both publicly and privately to so many over more than four decades of public ministry. We are heartbroken at learning this but feel it necessary to be transparent and to inform our staff, donors, and supporters at this time, even while the investigation continues.”By the time the investigation was over, the news had only gotten worse. Ravi Zacharias International Ministries released the results of its investigation on February 11th 2021. Without going into detail, the report found that Ravi had sexually explicit communication and photos from over 200 women - some of these messages were just months before he died. Furthermore, the report concluded that tens of thousands of dollars were taken from the ministry fund, specifically under the “humanitarian effort” account, and used to pay housing and schooling costs for some of his massage therapists.It would seem that the prestige of serving God for five decades by preaching to those around the world was brought down by a few months of investigation. Any honor Ravi held in the hearts of his audience had now turned to dishonor and it wasn’t due to a brief investigation or a bad choice Ravi could make once in a while, but sadly and more accurately, a lifetime of living two contradictory lives. A duplicitous life is repugnant to all people, but from one who claims to be a disciple of Christ, and teaches the Christian faith on a scale such as his, it is intolerable.Because of this, Ravi Zacharias will be remembered for many things by many people. He will be a rare one who leaves a sad and confusing aftermath - a legacy that at the heart contradicts itself. Ravi’s teachings were deeply received by many people, but his own heart only received them partially. Ravi formed a ministry that taught to one’s mind and intellect above their heart and emotion. But obviously his heart needed to be transformed along with his mind. He preached to one’s mind from reason, logic, and intellect. It is clear now, that after living with a secret life of sexual immorality for years, Ravi abandoned those in his Great and Tragic Legacy. 

https://www.listennotes.com/e/c582b0c0aaa84225857167e9a592bb2a/