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RAVI ZACHARIAS'S BEHAVIOR PROVOKES OUTRAGE ACROSS THE WORLD AND INTERNET

RAVI ZACHARIAS'S BEHAVIOR PROVOKES OUTRAGE ACROSS THE WORLD AND INTERNET
Brits, Canadians break with RZIM. C&MA denomination expels him

COMMENTARY

By David W. Virtue. DD
www.virtueonline.org
February 19, 2021

Across the blogsphere, revelations of Ravi's Zacharias's behavior have rocked the evangelical world with headlines that most fallen leaders would dread seeing. He died before he ever saw one. One can only imagine what his wife and children must be thinking and quietly suffering as they see headlines like:

"Don't Diminish Ravi Zacharias's Abuse With 'We're All Sinners'" - Christianity Today

'You Are One Step Away from Complete and Total Insanity': The inside story of how Ravi Zacharias's ministry concealed and enabled his abuse. -- David French of the Dispatch.

Anatomy of a scandal: What's next for journalists working on the Ravi Zacharias fallout? -- Richard Ostling

Ravi Zacharias and infinite human capacity to deceive ourselves - The Christian Post

Ravi Zacharias scandal shows why independent ministries are so difficult to investigate -- Terry Mattingly

Stop Defending the Indefensible: A Plea Concerning Ravi Zacharias -- Grayson Gilbert

UK: Zacharias Trust Separates itself from Ravi Zacharias International Ministries US: US Board failed in leadership and governance --- VIRTUEONLINE

I could go on and on. There is no let up any time soon and there shouldn't be. The depth of betrayal has yet to be fully realized. The double life lived out with women massage therapists in two spas he owned, sex, an allegation of rape, falsifying his credentials and an apologetic style that was at a very minimum manipulative. Dr. John Stackhouse has catalogued this here: http://www.johnstackhouse.com/ravi-zacharias-as-exemplary-apologist-a-demurral/

Zacharias was a fraud. He has been called the Rasputin of America, the Larry Flynt of fundamentalism. He even fooled the good people of the Anglican Church in North America at a conference he was invited to speak to in Dallas. I was there. They can't be faulted. They did not know. He was the master manipulator. Zacharias fooled nearly everybody, except for a lawyer Steve Baughman, who wrote a book COVER-UP IN THE KINGDOM: Phone Sex, Lies, and God's Great Apologist Ravi Zacharias. Baughman wrote the book in 2018. Nobody read it, or if they did, they didn't want to believe it. The board and his denomination said nothing, no doubt hoping it wasn't true or would all go away as "gossip". Well, it didn't. Devotion to RZ was absolute. Millions of dollars were at stake if it all should come out in the wash. Any criticism of Ravi was met with scorn, derision and shame; the go to position for a narcissist.

He travelled the world with a woman in tow, who met his massage and sexual needs "for the kingdom" of course. People knew, but no one said anything. Until recently, his denomination, The Christian and Missionary Alliance, stoutly supported him. I know, I asked them.

Now they are singing a different story. Here is what they wrote recently about his predatory behavior:

"We are deeply grieved over the pain suffered by Lori Anne Thompson, the massage therapists, and others who may have been victimized by Mr. Zacharias' behavior, and support appropriate advocacy efforts on their behalf. Mr. Zacharias' actions were in direct violation of his obligation to demonstrate his commitment to serve Christ and His people through his devotion, character, lifestyle, and values. In recognition of this gross violation and its painful consequences to the victims and others who were impacted, the C&MA posthumously expels Mr. Zacharias from licensed ministry in our denomination. This comes with the automatic revocation of his ordination."

Lori Thompson, the Canadian woman he manipulated into a sexting relationship on his Blackberry, has finally come out with her story, believing an NDA no longer applies. You can watch her story if you can stomach the pain of watching. It can be viewed here: https://www.pscp.tv/w/1ynJOBNvdQyGR

I also wrote about RZ getting an abortion for his brother's girlfriend, a situation which has never been denied or refuted.

The British branch of RZIM couldn't take the half measures of the American RZIM board and broke free.

"The UK Board of the RZIM organization has unanimously decided to make a clean separation from the global RZIM organization. The UK Board argued that the US Board did not go nearly far enough in terms of actions relating to leadership and governance with very serious issues and systemic failings that were raised in recent months and confirmed by the Miller & Martin report.

"The M&M report revealed that Ravi Zacharias was guilty of sexual misconduct on a global scale, including 200 selfies taken with women, with one allegation of rape, sexting, nude massages and more. While the RZIM board offered an apology, many questions still remain unanswered."

The Canadian branch of RZIM announced this week that they were winding down the operations of RZIM Canada. "We recognize the ongoing need for an apologetics-based approach to evangelism. Regrettably, we are of the conviction that it is not possible for RZIM Canada to fulfill this mandate within the current environment."

Let that sink in.

At the most fundamental level, the Board trusted naively, without investigating, even over Lori Anne Thompson. The Senior Leadership has a lot to answer for. The board knew about Zacharias'a exaggerated credentials and rumors of his sexual misconduct and should have gone after him. They didn't. When one overseas apologist spoke to RZ about the massage lady he was toting around with him, the apologist was bluntly put down and told he was not being loyal and dismissed. He resigned.

It now appears the board ONLY acted when Christianity Today blew the whistle and someone finally believed that Lori Thompson was telling the truth and RZ was lying. The board knew this all along. They should ALL resign for their refusal to act sooner. The organization should either close down or be rebranded, but RZIM is finished. To date, no one is talking about closing down the ministry. They should. After all, RZIM was Ravi and Ravi was RZIM. Enough said.

END

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