Ravi Zacharias’ Son Speaks Out about Investigation, Blasts RZIM and Findings
In a series of posts on Instagram over the last two weeks, Ravi Zacharias’ son, Nathan Zacharias, who works for the ministry as a video producer/editor, has come out hard against RZIM, criticizing their methods of investigation and the validity of their findings and suggesting that it’s all made up. These wayward thoughts are encouraged by a plethora of acolytes in the combox, who are enabling him in his beliefs, decrying the whole sordid affair as a lie designed to discredit the man after his death.
Included are a few select portions from a series of posts over the last few weeks. For the full posts, visit here. While fundamentally we can understand how difficult this must be – lose a father and then have him revealed to be a sexual predator, Zacharias betrays a troubling sub-biblical understanding of judgment, repentance, and sanctification.
February 5:
First, RZIM does not speak for me. They have formed their own opinion. But it does not dictate mine. I do not agree with them for legitimate reasons. I will not, however, debate those differences publicly.
…Regarding some specific individuals who were once my colleagues, how “brave” you are to aggressively take on a man who can’t even defend himself, as well as attack his grieving family who is far more blindsided and hurt by this situation than you can ever be. And how “righteous” you are to think that we must continually pile on our punishment AFTER he has already faced the ultimate judge.
…God chose to spare Dad from all this by calling him home when he did. But how “virtuous” of you to insist that you hand out the relentless punishment and humiliation that God saw no place for in dad’s lifetime.
Even *if* these allegations are true, there is no doubt that God actively blessed my dad and did so right up until he passed. His impact was only getting greater. So what these individuals are saying – along with any person or organization that wants to cancel my dad – is that God was wrong to do so, so we must now correct God’s blessing/mistake by erasing my dad and his voice. To that I say, “That’s a bold strategy, Cotton, let’s see if it pays off for him.”
Finally and most importantly, nothing could change how much I love my dad and miss him. I am still proud to be his son.
February 12:
Since RZIM just released their report, I’d like to say a few things. Considering what I heard about the investigators’ aggressive behavior towards favorable interviews toward my dad, their rather one-sided interview list, and the fact that RZIM released a verdict of guilt in December without anyone at the ministry actually seeing the evidence, I just don’t exactly have faith in the process or complete accuracy of the information.
…Sometime in December, this became less about the fearless pursuit of truth and accountability, and it became more about the fearful appeasement of the mob and channeling our own hurt through severe judgment.
…The last 6 months, Mom has refrained from speaking out publicly as a wife at RZIM’s request for fear it hurt their public stance, she handed over dad’s devices (it was not RZIM who did that) for examination, and taken other sacrificial steps at their request too. She wasn’t interviewed by the investigators. It would seem getting as much of a full picture of a man would benefit an investigation of areas of weakness, but I guess was outside the scope of the investigation.
…My mom was not given the courtesy of seeing the material and ‘evidence’ first when it was finally presented officially a couple of days ago. Instead, a board of 18 people, senior leadership, and even someone no longer on staff at RZIM got to ask questions and pour over every detail of allegations that didn’t even involve them. Yet my mom, who has more of a right to know every single detail than anyone, was not allowed in. After many persistent requests, she was eventually emailed the report. Something considerably different than hearing it directly from the investigator and being able to ask them direct questions.
…Dad was a human being, a brother, a son, an uncle, a father, a grandfather and a husband. All of which take precedence over “Founder of RZIM.” However it is how his alleged mistakes affected RZIM and only one category of “victim” that seems to have been the focus. But for any family reeling? “We love you and will hug you as we shut the door behind you.”
…He was not RZIM’s and the Christian culture’s commodity to buy when popular and sell out when no longer helpful to them. They were happy to run him into the ground no matter how tired he was or how much pain he was in. Now they’re happy to bury him. As I type this, they’re erasing him from social media.
…Regardless of whether today’s report is right or not, the handling of this has been very hurtful to a family that also had legitimate rights in this process. If these things are true, Dad’s choices absolutely went against his Christian beliefs. And that is deeply painful. But so have RZIM’s choices. And they have added more pain that actually could have been avoided.
February 16:
We’re approaching close to two months since my mom requested my Dad’s phones back from rzim [sic] so we could examine them. She has requested them repeatedly, and we still don’t have them.
But in August, as we first found out about the allegations, we looked at his phones to check the contact between dad and two of the people involved – Anurag and Vicki. Not having any clue what Dad would (be) accused of months later, we didn’t spend time searching through every part of his phone. Now I wish we had. These pictures are some of the texts from Anurag.
In Anurag’s messages, he speaks about the behavior of Steve Baughman, the man who has driven a lot of this. Anurag refers to Baughman as “SF Man” and “Banjo man” and calls him crazy. The context of additional comments is that Baughman is baselessly attacking my Dad’s character and that my Dad is a good man. But Anurag would later team up with Baughman and say the opposite.
…These are clearly not the words of people who consider my dad to be a predator or a man with a double life.
…Rzim had these messages. Interesting they didn’t make it the report. It mentions details like he didn’t want to use rzim’s [sic] private wifi, so as to shape the narrative, but somehow mentioning that at least two of his accusers behaved in ways that contradict their stories didn’t make the cut.
About Author
Grateful that you posted this, giving voice to Ravi’s family. They not only lost a father and husband, but are grieving over the recent revelations.
Yeah. Has got to be tough
The wife and family are on the board. They are RZIM along with Ravi. RZIM hired the lawyers to investigate. Ravi’s daughter said she would release the report. Her brother needs to have a talk with her. She was CEO. Ravi’s son said he wished they checked the phones first before handing them over. I guess they didn’t know the evidence was on there. To this day the wife and estate refuse to hand over other phones that RZ was using during the Thompson affair. What are they hiding? They will not release Thompson from the NDA so she can be a voice in the investigation. I guess everyone didn’t read Ruth Maholtra’s 26-page insights and recommendations for RZIM? There was a history of covering for Ravi in that organization. According to ECFA standards, family members and the head of the organization should NOT be on the board because of the conflict of interest. Four family members including RZ controlled the board. They all were paid handsomely according to 2015 records. After 2015 RZIM claimed to be a church so they didn’t have to let the public know what the family was taking in salaries.
If the son and family are not happy with the last investigation they should ask a donor to finance an honest and independent investigation from experts. This way the investigators are not paid by RZIM and have no bias. The board and staff should all be investigated. The financials should all be investigated by a group of experts that don’t receive their paycheck from RZIM. The women overseas should be contacted, and overseas operations should be investigated before they all close down and evidence destroyed. Do you think the family and organization are willing to do that? Wealthy donors will often pay for outside experts to look at ministries. It is a common practice. I believe we will really find out the whole truth if this is done.
To NATHAN YOUR FATHER GREATLY AFFECT MY LIFE IN A POSITIVE WAY . I HAVE GREAT TROUBLE BELIEVING THAT THIS WOULD COME OUT AFTER HIS DEATH. THE ONE ACCUSER IS SAID TO HAVE ASK FOR 5 MILLION DOLLARS TO KEEP QUITE. 5 MILLION. IT IS VERY HARD FOR ME TO BELIEVE A WOMAN WITH 5 CHILDREN COULD BE IGNORANT ENOUGH TO BE A VICTIM . I THINK THE INVESTAGATING TEAM SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED. I DO NOT THINK THAT RAVI’S BOOKS AND DVDS SHOULD BE DISCONTINUED. I DO NOT THINK RZIM SHOULD CHANGE THE NAME NOT YET. I THINK ANOTHER GOD FEARING INVESTIGATION TEAM THAT BELIEVES AND FEARS GOD ALMIGHTY SHOULD INVESTIGATE THE INVESTIGATORS AND THE SITUATION. TO MANY PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD WILL DO ANYTHING TO SCAM PEOPLE. RAVI MAY HAVE MESSED UP BUT I CANNOT BELIEVE IT WAS A REGULAR THING . AND IT MAY NOT OF EVER HAPPENED AT ALL. PICTURES OF BEAUTIFUL WOMEN ARE JUST PICTURES OF BEAUTIFUL WOMEN . COULD SOMEONE ELSE OF HACKED RAVIS’S PHONES PLANTED EVIDENCE. WE LIVE IN A SCAM FILLED WORLD. I THINK SOMETHING IS WRONG FOR PEOPLE TO COME FORWARD NOW . I THINK THEY WANT FREE MONEY . EITHER WAY GOD BLESS YOU NATHAN AND YOUR FAMILY. MY HEART HAS BEEN SADDENED THE DAY I HEARD YOUR FATHER DIED. MY MOTHER DIED THE 9TH OF MAY 2020. THEN I HEARD ABOUT RAVI SEVERAL WEEKS LATER. I AM S FOR I MISS MY DAD AND MOM. LIKE I SAY GOD BLESS YOU. I NEVER MET YOUR FATHER BUT I FELT AS IF I KNEW HIM BY THE MANY VIDEOS I LISTENED TO OVER AND OVER.
Yes I agree, They are self serving. It is lies.
It’s a sad situation for everyone affected by this whole thing. While I am not defending Ravi, at all, let’s not forget we are all sinners and all must sit before the judgment seat of Christ. While Ravi’s sins seem magnified because of his celebrity status, how many of us–myself included–have sinned thusly inside our minds and hearts. Let’s remember that before we, like Commodus in Gladiator, give a thumbs down to someone else.
While I understand the degree of moral failure if these allegations are true – and apparently they very well may be – the move to delete Ravi’s books and videos is yet more mindless cancel culture. Whatever his personal sin, Ravi Zacharius was directly responsible for powerfully advancing the Gospel and that fact and the works that accomplished it, deserve respect.
They are just trying to use this to cancel all Christian books going forward. This was one of their first opportunities to cancel culture Ravi’s materials. I am a big girl and can choose what books I read. How convenient, that upon Ravi’s death, they decide this is so important that they have to cancel all his books. I would like to give a fortune cookie (actually scripture cookie) at my next bible study the next time someone talks about Ravi.
“Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” 1 Corinthians 10:12
I work as a prison chaplain. I have an offender that clerks in the chapel that is a huge fan of Ravi Zacharias. Yesterday, he came to me and asked if I might know why the local Christian radio station was no longer playing him on the radio. I explained what has happened and he was devastated and baffled. “How could someone like him do that?” he asked. I told him that anyone of us can stumble, and likely will, if we do not have accountability. This is what happens time and time again with our Christian celebrities. They grow beyond their local church, their ministries are too big for their fellowship of churches, they become accountable only to how popular they can be.
Well said, Aaron!
I’m guessing you none of you who comment “all of us stumble” have never been a victim of a predator.
Ravi engaged in systematic predator behavior for years. Somewhere along the way the devil got to him. This was much bigger than a “stumble.” He looked for vulnerable women and then he pounced.
My heart goes out to the victims.
Although I agree with your assessment of it being more than a stumble, and myself and my brothers all being victims or molestation/sexual abuse as boys, the victims are more than those abused. Not trying to make this “about me”, but I loved the man who abused me and still do although he’s dead. I also know that others who knew him were victims of his deceit. I can never fault my mother or others for being deceived or blame them for something they didn’t do.
It’s a difficult situation for all parties involved; Ravi’s family, his coworkers, us who either came to faith or our faith was strengthened through his ministry, and OF COURSE those he preyed upon.
Acts 17 apologetics on YouTube had a good video about this sad situation.
To Nathan and your family,
I believe your father is innocent and even without your statements above the moment I read the title of some news source I absolutely with all my heart and soul I believe this is not true. FOR THE family I cannot even begin to speak of the evil behind this, and for what it is worth I am so so sorry for your loss and the devastation this brings, as well as, the pain of knowing just how greed and lawlessness shows up without notice.
It has been an honor to listen to Ravi Zacharias and his messages many to which have carried me through so much in my own life including losing my own father. My heart is with you all and I believe God will reveal the deception behind this.
I can say every single time I heard your fathers voice I felt the presence of God and such peace, for that I know the anointing of the holy spirit had been with him and this world is a better place because of his commitment to the love of Jesus he so willingly offered.
Its truly heartbreaking knowing there is and continues to be evilness that can twist and turn on a persons motives only to suck the life of another human being for their own personal gain is unspeakable in darkness. furthermore, not to mention the lack of transparency to begin with.
I am appalled by the disdainful way that Ravi Zacharias has been displayed with the very people he trusted and served throughout his life. There would no RZIM WITH OUT RZIM and the ultimate love of Jesus and the teachings he shared were divinely orchestrated by God. How convenient it is that as his son Nathan stated, “He is not here to defend himself.” How do you do this to someone one might ask? Those whose moral compass disappeared.
God I pray for the family of Ravi Zacharias and for their protection and for your sovereignty to be made known in the way this situation has been handled and to bring complete transparency to the deception present and to remove any evil force behind this and to expose the unknown. God you are all knowing and you ask us to seek truth may we do so accordingly to the bible. God we thank you for the live changing ministry that your servant Ravi Zacharias shared with us and for his obedience to his calling. Lord we thank you for your truth in the love you have for us all, in your name Jesus amen….
Matthew 12:36-37
“And I tell you, that you must give an account on Judgement Day for every idle word you speak. Your words now reflect your fate then: either you will be justified or you will be condemned.”
Living Bible
Diane, the ministry says it is all true. Ravi’s own cell phone and laptop confirm it. They took his words as proof and perhaps you should too. This is only the tip of the iceberg. RZIM has hired PR firms (Demoss), Crisis management lawyers (Martin and Miller PLLC), Guideposts management team (https://guidepostsolutions.com/), and now a lawyer who was herself a victim of abuse (Rachael Denhollander). They would not spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on these groups if it wasn’t true and expecting more to come out. They are moving into damage control now. More will come out so brace yourself. My opinion is this an organization that is protecting its brand and family empire. Sad to see Christian ministries run like corporate businesses. I suspect the family is just putting more spin out there as their crisis management team advises them. I hardly think it is heartfelt at this point. They are manipulating public sympathy.
Diana. You don’t think there were nude photos of an Ravi‘s Southeast Asia an massage people on his devices? They don’t believe those amorous and slightly erotic emails to the women were written by him?
I mean, what part of the Miller report do you think is factually in accurate? Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I would bet a lot of money that you have not read it.
Thank you Diana. This whole post mortem smear is just so the anti God faction can cancel Christian books for good. This was just a cog in their wheel. What a bunch of nonsense for them to come up with this after his death. Shame on them and shame on every single self righteous so called Christian who chimes in with this.
You are right to warn people about their idle words. I bet they have sinful hearts and hands on keyboards going where they know they should not. So they pick on a deceased pastor to make themselves feel better.
You obviously didn’t read the report.
Yes I agree, I thought it was lies from the first. Shame on RZIM for hiring unbelievers with an axe to grind on this subject, pretending that was being objective. Satanic wickedness trying to ruin the reputation of a man respected around the world for his godly messages and life.
Agree & Amen!!
I see that many are having a hard time understanding and accepting who Ravi really was when no camera was actually running. Let me suggest that everyone watches the 1972 Award Winning Documentary The Story of Marjoe Gortner. You can find it on Vimeo or some other places. It will explain everything that you will need to know about who Ravi and his family really is.
Follow the money trail. (1 Timothy 6:10)
The heretic Zacharias and his rotten son are drowning in wealth…
how dare you stop that money from flowing in!
Why Ravi Zacharias’ Board of Directors should be judged & FIRED?
1) The directors are cowards since they did not have the courage to confront Ravi’s alleged sin in 2017
2) They are not acting righteously in publicizing Ravi’s sin.
Matt 1:19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.
3) They should not have a hired Law firm to flaunt a fellow brother’s sin to the whole world in detail (who knows if it is accurate since it is a one sided story). I will not read it.
1 Cor 6:1-3 Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life? (nasb 1995)
4) You are accusing a dead person who is not here to DEFEND HIS CASE.
5) These directors are stopping this great ministry. Should we take out the Psalms from the Bible since David committed such horrible sins much more worse than Ravi’s sin?
6) Who has the righteousness to judge someone who is already passed away.
(It is strange that all these so called grace and love preachers are the worst critics of his sin!)
Matt 5:20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. (nasb 1995)
With all due respect – I believe RZIM’s disclosure of this is righteous, because
1. The Bible states clearly in 1 Tim 5:20 “But those elders who are sinning you are to reprove before everyone, so that the others may take warning.” This is a command. By ‘everyone’, it is safe to assume that Paul meant the congregation and scope of influence of the sinning elder. Ravi’s scope of influence was global, and making this available to all is only appropriate for a ministry as large as RZIM.
2. The proof as evidenced within the report is undeniable. The Bible states in multiple places that one cannot ignore the testimony of two or three witnesses. Here we have the testimony of many victims worldwide, and not just two or three, or from just one city. Also, Ravi’s actions were not only confined to the Christian community and his ministry, so it is appropriate that a thorough investigation was made by professionals.
3. David repented and was a man after God’s own heart. His repentance is clearly documented in the Psalms. Ravi had many years to repent and apologize to his victims, but there is no evidence of that. Instead, very sadly, the evidence shows overwhelmingly that he took advantage of his position and influence to abuse and manipulate women, lie and make up facetious stories to cover up his sins, and misuse huge amounts of ministry funds for his sin. He led a deceitful double life over the course of many years, and this cannot be the behavior of any Bible-believing Christian, much less ministry leader.
4. I Tim 5:24 says this :”The sins of some people are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their sins follow after.” The Bible is pretty clear that it’s never a good idea to cover up sin, but sadly, Ravi, prior to his death, repeatedly denied that he was ever unfaithful to his wife or acted inappropriately. It is important that RZIM be as transparent as possible before God and man. Lawsuits could very well follow, and it would be much better to hear this first from RZIM than from secular sources.
5. Lastly, and most importantly, the victims – and there are many – cannot be ignored, maligned and hurt any longer. Releasing this information of course does not heal all the wounds of abuse, but it is one vital step towards acknowledging that real and serious harm was done. This is their time of healing and vindication. This is the time when Christians should pray from them and to show them what real Christian love is. Nathan and Ravi’s family are also victims, and we need to uphold them in prayer especially during this very difficult time.
Hope this different perspective helps. Blessings to you.
“I will not read it.” Says everything about your post. You Formed an opinion without facts.
The report is not one sided. Read it. You’ll be enlightened.
I wonder if Judas the betrayer was one or more of the Board Members?
Ravi pet these cobras over these years ..they didn’t show any courtesy to give some time for Ravis family to grieve on his death rather these power mongering people wanted to bring this up right away …I am not justifying any wrong doings but i have lots of doubts on this …reasonable doubts …can see many evil faces laughing at this …but remember if these are not true your generations will be affected by this
Why come out with this after his death? Better be testing every spirit today because believe me, they do not want Christian books out there.
Facts are facts. Evidence is evidence. Photos are photos.
Ravi’s multiple electronic devices contained proof of his sinful behaviours.
Even if he were still alive, it was only a matter of time before he got caught.
The true victims are the women he manipulated and exploited AND the many donors who gave millions of $ through the years to his “ministry.”
Amen
In my opinion, any “ministry” that has the founders name in the title is a red flag. It is narcissistic and unbiblical. I never heard of Peter ministries, or Paul ministries or Aquila and Priscilla ministries.
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association named after Billy graham
“Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.” 1Co 4:5
I can’t understand how easy was to forget Ravi’s spiritual contribution to our generation, by many “famous” evangelical leaders, and turn their back on him just on the basis of a report produced by people with no fear of God.
I am sadden over the biggest scandal fellow Christians fall prey to is the cancelling of God’s great people of faith. We all have fallen short of the Glory of God, and we must not fall into the category of judgement by feelings. The devil is here to steal, kill, and destroy, and will stop at nothing to deceive, especially Christians. Why Christians, well for non-believers, the devil already has them, but for Christians, he is working overtime to turn you away from God, Jesus and the Holy Scriptures.
How many of you critically think and ask yourself, for the many years Dr. Ravi has been one of greatest teacher on Apologist ever. One must have to question, why after his death. If there was an issue with sexual inappropriateness, you mean to tell me not one person came forth.
What comes to mind, when Judge Roy Moore was running for Alabama Senate and won the primary, then the sexual alligations came out destroying his chance in the Senate. His career was destroyed and the Constitution he fought for, for many years was discredited. Why, because the devil was act work to deceive the people of faith to side with the devil’s minions like George Soros, Carl Rowe, the socialist, the Globalist, est. Democrats and Republicans. Where are his accusers now. The damage to Judge Roy Moore was accomplished. I see so many of Gods people acting like the Sadducees, and most disturbing falling prey to the Woke destroyers of Gods people.
Not just Judge Roy Moore, most recent President Donald Trump, Rep. Matt Gates and Majorie Greene, and many more who is fighting for what is right.
I have fallen short so many times, and I thank God for his mercy, grace and forgiveness for all my short coming.
So much more to expound on, but having saying that, I will nevet discredit Dr. Ravi Zacharias because, if he fell short as a human being, as so King David and Solomon. God only knows his heart, and I believe God used him in a mighty way. Shall we discredit the Bible too, which is full of fallen people. After all, remember, God used so many people and all of us as well whether in small or large ways we must not become like the Sadducees.
I pray for my fellow Christians and the Zacharias family to keep fighting the good fight of righteousness. And most importantly, i pray for the accusers that God will examine their heart if they are trying to destroy Dr. Ravi’s many years of teaching people the character of God.
I have not read the report.
The Christianity Today article seems “too convenient”.
In my mind, there is no doubt that God worked in mighty ways through Ravi Zacharias. The response to the report according to the article, i.e. cancelling his radio messages and stopping the publishing of his books, is “the world’s” response. There is more than a small dose of resentment and jealousy in the response to the report – from people who apparently coudn’t wait to find some dirt on RZ. I believe that we Christians can recognize/discern the voice of the Holy Spirit. Ravi was given a great gift from God. Again, l have not seen the report, but l really doubt that the man was “a monster”.
Honestly, l think of the Bill Clinton issues. Clinton was free to do what he wanted with whomever he wanted, except for the rape allegations and the perjury and obstruction of justice.
With RZ, l never expected him to be perfect. It was the message – salvation through Jesus Christ – that endures. Earthen vessels, my friends.
Only God and Ravi Zacharias know what happened last May 19, as his bonds to Earth were broken. We can mourn for him and his alleged victims. And we should mourn for ourselves because none of us is worthy to share Glory with God.
Let us, in this moment, die with Christ, die to our sin, and plead for forgiveness and mercy.
Ravi Zacharias to me was a wonderful apologist, I know not what he did in secret and it is not for me to judge. But what I know is that if I were feeling abused I’d either stay away from such a person or report it. Moreover, if I had a friend who was engaged in such a thing, I’d mention a word of caution. In my opinion, it’d be better to have mentioned this while he was still alive. We are all humans and it’s easy to point a blaming finger when you are not the one in the situation but Ravi always said he was not the embodiment of righteousness but Christ. Whatever ensued or happened to these victims may the Lord be their comforter whether true or not. God bless us all.