The Red Flags of Ravi Zacharias
Though I’ve been a Christian all my life, I regrettably admit I didn’t take my study of scripture too seriously until my college years.
During that formative time, few Christian leaders in my life were more inspirational and impactful than apologist Ravi Zacharias.
His common-sense, warm-hearted rhetoric struck a chord with me.
So I listened to lecture after lecture of his on YouTube, absorbing everything I could.
Only a few years later, it came as a shock to learn my newfound hero of the faith fell ill with sarcoma and eventually died.
As hard as that was to come to grips with, however, it was nothing compared to what came next.
When the allegations of sexual exploitation first began trickling out, I was skeptical, to say the least.
Less than two years prior I had watched as incredibly dubious claims of rape and sexual assault were used to tarnish the reputation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court. Similarly shaky accusations were being made throughout Hollywood amidst #MeToo.
This man dedicated his life to promoting God’s goodness, there’s no way any of this is true, I thought to myself.
But, as time went on, it became clear that the claims had merit.
Eventually, we received a definitive confirmation from Zacharias’s own ministry when they published the results of an independent third party’s investigation into the allegations.
“To be victimized by unwanted sexual contact, advances, and behavior is horrendous. It is diametrically opposed to everything we believe about the value and dignity of every single person. We believe not only the women who made their allegations public but also additional women who had not previously made public allegations against Ravi but whose identities and stories were uncovered during the investigation,” the statement read.
“Tragically, witnesses described encounters including sexting, unwanted touching, spiritual abuse, and rape. We are devastated by what the investigation has shown and are filled with sorrow for the women who were hurt by this terrible abuse.”
The truth shook me to my core.
But perhaps it shouldn’t have.
Though listening to Zacharias’s lectures is no longer a part of my routine, I still spend much of my free time on YouTube.
About a week ago, as I was scrolling on the YouTube homepage, the title of a suggested video in my feed caught my attention: “Justin Peters Was Always Suspicious Of Ravi Zacharias.”
I couldn’t help but click. I needed to hear how Peters, an evangelist, could have possibly seen this coming.
In an interview with Pastor Joel Webbon of Right Response Ministries, Peters laid it all out.
And I have to admit, he made some very good points.
As it turns out, there were many red flags that the Christian community at large should have been aware of. For this article, I decided to pick out and examine the two I found to be the most troubling.
“I’m actually astonished that [Zacharias] did have such approval with so many in our circle… there were red flags with him for the person who cared to look,” Peters said.
Ecumenicism
One major “red flag” pointed out by Peters was Zacharias’s ecumenicism.
For those who may not know, ecumenicism is “the doctrine of the ecumenical movement that promotes cooperation and better understanding among different religious denominations: aimed at universal Christian unity.”
As with most things, there are levels to this.
Promoting unity between different protestant denominations who agree on many of the fundamental doctrines, such as the necessity of faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, is one thing.
To promote doctrinal “unity” between explicitly non-Christian churches and the Christian church, however, is quite another.
The more ecumenical one becomes, the more universalist one becomes. By accepting everyone’s “truth,” at some point, we begin denying the Truth of Jesus Christ.
“He was very ecumenical. A number of years ago he made some news and caused some waves when he went to a Mormon temple and made some really ecumenical comments to Mormons,” Peters said.
The Gospel of the Mormon church is a false one, as any credibly Christian theologian can attest.
Mormon false teachings include, among other things, that God the Father was once a man, that the Trinity consists of three distinct gods rather than a Godhead, that human beings can become gods themselves, that Jesus is a spirit-child born of both a father and mother in heaven and that only the most spiritually perverse of all of us will go to hell.
Speaking and evangelizing to the followers of false teachings is the duty of Christian evangelists and apologists.
Going out of your way to “build bridges” and create “unity” between false doctrines and the Gospel, however, is far beyond the pale.
Take this quote from Zacharias as an example. In a 2014 interview just prior to a speaking engagement at a Mormon Tabernacle, the apologist was asked “What is your hope for the relationship between Mormons and evangelicals, and this was his response.
“As a believer in the final revelation of Jesus Christ and knowing they respect and honor who Jesus Christ is [emphasis added], I would hope in the dialogue we can come to biblical conclusions on who the person of Jesus Christ is,” Zacharias said.
How could those who deny the true nature of Jesus Christ “respect and honor” Him?
Church Attendance
Another incredibly troubling warning sign was Zacharias’s lack of church involvement.
According to Peters, the apologist had “little if any church involvement” and was “always on the road.”
“I’m an evangelist Joel, that’s what I do: I travel and I preach and teach,” Peters said. “But I intentionally… limit my traveling to about a third of the Sundays so that I can go to church so that I can be fed so that I can have accountability.”
“It’s always a big red flag to me when I see an evangelist… who is never at his home church.”
Is there a passage in the Bible condemning lack of church attendance as a sin? No, but as Christians we are called to nurture and grow the church.
It is absolutely a red flag when a man who has supposedly devoted his life to Christ appears to have no interest in regular church attendance.
Also, Peters’s point about accountability especially rings true.
It’s difficult, if not impossible, to live a life of integrity when you’re not regularly exposed to other faithful Christians.
John Piper and What the Bible Has to Say
In closing, I found the words of two faithful Christian leaders to be particularly insightful when it comes to Zacharias’s fall from grace.
As a former fan of him myself, I found these words rather informative and comforting.
Firstly, some commentary I found insightful was that of pastor and theologian John Piper.
Speaking on Zacharias’s downfall in 2021, Piper pointed out three examples of gospel ministers in scripture “who, for a season, spoke the truth in useful ways, and then made a shipwreck of their lives.”
Those ministers were Judas, Demas and Hymenaus.
Though many of us today associate Judas’ name with betrayal, his turn shocked his fellow apostles. In Colossians and Philemon, Paul describes Demas as a faithful partner before writing in Timothy “Demas, in love with this present age, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.” Similarly, Paul describes Hymenaus as having appeared to be faithful before turning out to be a blasphemer.
Piper sums up these three examples with three poignant points that we should all take heed of.
- “Soul-saving, Christ-exalting truth may be spoken by hypocrites.”
- “Forsaking a good conscience is prelude to moral disaster.”
- “The amassing of money and the pursuit of lavish lifestyles in ministry are the alarm bells of the love of this age.
The Bible makes it clear that even teachers of the true Gospel can turn out to be unregenerate pariahs themselves.
Christians would be wise to put their full faith in no one person other than Christ Himself. He will never let you down.
Don’t Weep For Zacharias, Or Fear His Fate
Additionally, Pastor Webbon, whom Peters was speaking with, had this to say about Zacharias:
“The people in hell are not people who didn’t have enough faith, a little bit of faith or a moderate amount of faith,” Webbon said.
“The people in hell are people who had no faith. People who have no repentance, which means that if Ravi is in hell… it won’t be because he had some faith in Jesus but not enough or he had some repentance but not enough.”
“It means everything we saw in that man’s life, none of it was an ounce of repentance, not true repentance. And none of it was an ounce of faith.”
If Zacharias is in heaven, we can rejoice knowing that he repented of his sins.
If he is not, there is no need to despair and no need to fear that you could fall victim to the same fate.
God’s justice is perfect.
As Pastor Webbon pointed out, no one suffers damnation because they weren’t quite good enough.
We are saved through faith in Christ alone.
Faithful, regenerate, repenting Christians can rest in the hope of Christ’s salvation.
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