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Breaking! Ravi Zacharias Ministries Confirms Late Apologist ‘Did Indeed Engage in Sexual Misconduct’

Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) has released an interim report on their investigation into sexual misconduct allegations that Protestia (and formerly Pulpit & Pen) have been on the forefront of covering for years, confirming that the world-renowned late apologist did indeed engage in sexual misconduct.

Ravi had been accused by several massage therapists of indecent sexual contact during sessions, including touching them inappropriately, exposing himself, asking them to give him “happy endings,” masturbating during sessions, asking for nude pictures, and propositioning them for sex.

The report was released by Martin and Miller, the investigative firm tasked by RZIM to get to the bottom of these allegations. They report they were given wide discretion and interviewed dozens of witnesses, including “many massage therapists” who treated Zacharias at Touch of Eden and Jivan spa. They also “reviewed numerous documents and electronic devices used by Mr. Zacharias over the years.”

Though specifically tasked with investigating the allegations stemming from the spas that Ravi owned, it seems they went a little further, writing “we were given broad discretion and authority to follow leads into other sexual misconduct that might arise, and that is exactly what we have done.”

Their findings? Guilty as sin.

While some of the massage therapists we have tried to interview are not willing to share their experiences with us, many have spoken candidly and with great detail. Combining those interviews with our review of documents and electronic data, we have found significant, credible evidence that Mr. Zacharias engaged in sexual misconduct over the course of many years. Some of that misconduct is consistent with and corroborative of that which is reported in the news recently, and some of the conduct we have uncovered is more serious. Our investigation is ongoing, and we continue to pursue leads.

The firm notes that that the full report will be released to RZIM board of directors in early 2021, and the board has apparently pledged to release it publicly. The full text can be read below.

RZIM has released a statement in response to the findings, writing in part:

However, while the investigation remains ongoing and is not expected to be completed until January or February, yesterday we received a brief interim update on the investigation we felt we needed to share (attached). Sadly, 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. We will speak more comprehensively to all concerned after the completion of the investigation.

We are devastated for those who have suffered from Ravi’s misconduct and for the pain that they are enduring. They have asked for confidentiality and anonymity, and both we and the investigators are committed to honoring their wishes.

We await news of the full report, given that there are many unanswered questions, with Ravi’s guilt being a foregone conclusion for years and being the least of these.

Rather, the issue is with the RZIM board and with the way they’ve handled everything over the years, particularly with dismissing concerns and putting out false information when clearly something was seriously amiss.

In fact, when we first reported on the newest round of allegations and broke that story, with the information provided by use by the tireless advocate Steve Baughman, RZIM told us that it would be “virtually impossible to investigate” and then only changed their tune when the story got too big to ignore.

There is also the matter of Lori Anne Thompson. We are confident that she will be completely vindicated, but what manner of obstruction and obfuscations has the board been indulging in for years that has made it possible for her story to have been ignored, covered and buried?

Ravi threatened to kill himself if his interaction with her went public, and the result of that was letting Ravi put out a statement in Christianity Today filled with lies that victim-blamed her and exonerated him, declaring himself wholly innocent of whatever it was that led him to off himself if it ever got out.

We can only hope the investigation addresses RZIM’s complicity in the cover-up because it’s pretty obvious they’ve had their hands all over it.

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New Testimony in Ravi Zacharias Sex Scandal: Exposed as Pervert and Molester

Christianity Today brought wide attention to a story we’ve had at Protestia for weeks now, which is the allegations of sexual misconduct against the late famed Christian apologist and RZIM founder, Ravi Zacharias against members of his staff at Jivan Spa, a business he owned with partner Anurag Sharma.

We’ve been attesting for years now that Zacharias has been involved in some truly debauched behavior, writing as far back as early 2018 about allegations of sexual misconduct, and how Zacharias’ sexting scandal story simply did not make sense to anyone paying attention. Since then we have periodically updated with whatever new findings we gained.

In fact, we were roasted over the coals and widely condemned for including this paragraph in his obituary: “The final years of Zacharias’ ministry were marred by credible accusations of a cyber affair between he and a female follower of his ministry and the discovery that RZIM had inflated Zacharias academic credentials in its promotional materials.”

We received howls of condemnation for daring to sully his good name, and were told that obituaries were only reserved for happy memories.

Now, CT has done some rare good work and expanded a story that we had begun and helped break several weeks ago. Here are a few salient portions from the story, which describes allegations of witness testimony from the women he had in his employment:

Three women who worked at the businesses, located in a strip mall in the Atlanta suburbs, told Christianity Today that Ravi Zacharias touched them inappropriately, exposed himself, and masturbated during regular treatments over a period of about five years…

CT has verified the identities and job histories of the three women. They shared their stories under the condition that they not be named, fearing the stigma of coming forward as victims and possible retribution for harming the reputation of a famous Christian leader. They spoke with CT by phone multiple times over the past five weeks, and CT heard from three coworkers at the spas who corroborated elements of their accounts.

The third woman said that after Zacharias exposed himself several times, he asked her to massage his groin area and moved her hand there. It is possible that his back injury caused pain in that area, she said, so she complied with his request even though it made her uncomfortable.

By that point, they had talked for hours in the private massage rooms, the woman said. He had asked about her life, and she had told him everything from her career aspirations and her struggles as a single mother to her childhood relationship with Jesus and how she had been sexually abused.

The woman felt that Zacharias was ministering to her and “there was a holiness around him.” She thought she was, in turn, helping him and felt compelled to go along to an extent.

Then Zacharias tried to move her hand to his penis, the woman told CT. She refused and turned away as he masturbated. The next time she gave him a massage he exposed himself again and masturbated again. By her account, this happened more than 50 times over the next three years.

He would say, ‘I need it. I need it. I need it,’ the woman recalled. He would say he needed it so much and it was good therapy.

Zacharias asked her to have sex with him. Both times, she refused because he was married. He told her that he dreamed of being able to leave his ministry and his life as an apologist behind to live a normal, private life. But he couldn’t because this was his ‘burden,’ the woman recalled.


‘He would expose himself every time, and he would touch himself every time,’ one of the women told CT. ‘It was where he went to get what he wanted sexually.’

Zacharias masturbated in front of one of the women more than 50 times, according to her recollection. He told her he was burdened by the demands of the ministry, and he needed this ‘therapy.’ He also asked her to have sex with him twice, she said, and requested explicit photos of her.

Sharma, an IT professional, met Zacharias in the mid-1990s. In one conversation, recorded by someone not associated with the spas, Sharma describes himself as Zacharias’s close friend. Even after the business relationship ended, they continued to talk until the day Zacharias died, he said.

‘He had no friends, and he needed somebody to talk to,’ Sharma said. ‘He was very sad about all his demons, and he said that was the condition of the human heart.’


This is one of the rare occasions where we would encourage our readers to read the long article from Christianity today, as it largely echoes what we’ve already said, but provides much more detail of the allegations. The whole article is here.

As far as what that means for his legacy, the investigation that is supposedly taking place, how we should view his conversion in light of eternity, and the fact that he went to the grave seemingly in unacknowledged, unrepented of, a gross moral failing; we can only pray that he learned enough of the gospel during his time teaching it to have truly believed it at the end.

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RZIM Statement on Ravi Zacharias Allegations: ‘It’s Virtually Impossible to Investigate’

Several days after three of Ravi Zacharias old colleagues and employees, including his business partner and co-owner Anurag Shamra accused the renown, now deceased Christian Apologist of sexual harrasment at a Spa he co-owned, RZIM has released a statement on the incident, saying they believe the allegations to be false, and that it would be ‘virtually impossible’ to investigate them.

In a statement released to Protestia by Ruth Malhotra, Public Relations & Community Manager, RZIM commented:

We, the family and ministry teammates of Ravi Zacharias, can say that the accusations being made against Ravi do not comport in any way with the man we knew for 74 years, nor do we believe them to be true. These accusations pertain to businesses closed nearly a decade ago. While we would like to respond in more detail to these accusations, it is virtually impossible to do so at this time given these accusations were only made months after his death and were never raised during his 74-year life. 


While we appreciate receiving a statement, it doesn’t make much sense. Given that his accusers are still alive, including his business partner who has made the accusation, and in fact still lives in the same city as RZIM headquarters, it seems that the ability to investigate is not ‘virtually impossible’ but rather ‘imminently doable.’

RZIM could likewise easily interview and reach out to Steven Baughman, the one who has interviewed all three alleged victims. Furthermore, one of the alleged victims, while not wanting to have her name released publicly, said she would be willing to speak directly to Margie; Zacharias widow, about the incidents that she claims occurred.

Even if RZIM completely disbelieve the story, this is certainly more of a case that they don’t want to investigate, rather than they can’t.