Spiritual narcissists will never stop trying to achieve their evil goals. But Christians can stop enabling them by refusing to idolize anybody anymore. Let no one be above suspicion or question!! Let no one have unconditional, unquestioning support!! Make people accountable for their behavior. If we see something questionable, we have to question them on it. If we can’t question them, there is an idolatry situation in play.
Hello Readers, hope all’s well. Time for another post.
I felt motivated today to write about Ravi Zacharias, his secret life of sin, and his downfall. I know I’ve mentioned the travesty of the Ravi Zacharias scandal in passing. But as far as I remember I’ve never written a full post on it. I write … a lot of blog posts, so if I did write a post on this before and don’t remember, my apologies.
What made me suddenly feel I needed to write on it was a thought that occurred to me about the situation. Ravi Zacharias was enabled by his own ministry and the donations it collected to live his secret life of depraved sexual aggression. That money (which donors thought was being used for Evangelism) provided the financial means for his double life of sin. But he needed—and received—one more element before he could really get away with it. That second element was the unquestioning, unconditional trust of his ministry employees and the people around him.
No one questioned Ravi about all the time he spent in spas and massage parlors. No one asked about his frequent travel. Everyone believed in his public image as a famous Evangelist and man of God. Everyone trusted him and defended him from allegations. He had unconditional support … and no one deserves that.
We can’t give anyone a “blank check” for unconditional support like this. It becomes idolatry. And when a sexual predator like Ravi Zacharias becomes an idol, they take advantage of the fact no one questions their behavior to prey on the unsuspecting and vulnerable. In this case, they take advantage to prey on the Body of Christ.
So that’s the topic for today. Let’s discuss.
Who Was Ravi Zacharias??
But first, something to note. I won’t go into detail on who Ravi Zacharias was, and not too much detail on what he did. I will sum it up like so ….
Who was Ravi Zacharias?? A famous evangelist and Christian apologist. He had a decades-long career of speaking and writing about Christianity. He was the distinguished guest of heads of state around the world. They invited him to speak about Christianity. To learn more about who he was, start from his Wikipedia article. And go from there.
What did he do?? He lived a double life of sexual sin and criminality. He tried to force himself on women, sometimes sexually assaulting them, and raping at least one. He manipulated them emotionally and Spiritually to get into a position where he could do this to them. He told one woman if she ever spoke out about her rape, she would be “responsible for the millions of souls” whose “salvation would be lost” if his reputation was damaged. That is filthy, disgusting Spiritual abuse and gaslighting right there. And for the record, millions of souls definitely did have their Faith shaken to the core … after learning of Ravi’s horrible crimes!!
To learn more about the sins of this serial sexual predator, read the neutral 3rd party report created by an investigative law firm HERE.
Even when things didn’t advance to sexual assault, Ravi texted many women and got nudes from them. Meanwhile he sued one woman who came forward while he was alive, demonizing her. His disgraced ministry would later apologize for that, admitting that the woman who came out in 2017 was telling the truth.
I could go on and on, because there’s a lot of information now available after Ravi’s death and the investigation of his electronic devices. But I’ll stop here and let you read the above report if you want to know.
There’s only one more detail I want to add. One final insult added to injury. Ravi Zacharias financed his double life of sin with money donated to his ministry by well-meaning Christians from around the world. He took what they thought they were sowing into a Godly ministry and used it for atrocious evil.
What a snake, eh??
Well, enough of that. Is there anything the Body of Christ can learn from this??
No more “Blank Checks”
We, the church, the Body of Christ, can no longer write “blank checks” of approval for people. There is no one on the face of the earth worthy of our unconditional support with no questions asked. No one can be above suspicion or question. Not anymore. In the Ravi Zacharias case we see the consequences of elevating someone above questioning.
Making somebody in our church above question is a form of idolatry. No one can ever be above question, because no one is worthy of that status. All humans are imperfect and sinful. When someone, even a famous man of God, does something questionable they need to be questioned. Predators like Ravi Zacharias thrive when no one can question them.
Jesus Christ is the only perfect human being who ever lived. Everyone else who is not Him is flawed, fallible, human. Every person alive will make mistakes, fall to temptation, and sin. If they’re challenged on their behavior and rebuked early on, they might not reach the level of crimes Ravi committed. They may be successfully rebuked and correct their course. But if a person is never challenged, they will become another Ravi Zacharias.
To stop this from happening, no one can have unconditional support. And we must never idolize any human being. Only the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are worthy of our unconditional devotion and worship. To extend a similar kind of “blank check” of blanket approval to a human being is idolatry. We must never idolize any preacher, pastor, evangelist, politician, or anybody else!!
When people become idolized it goes to their head. Read the Ravi report linked above. Ravi Zacharias showed narcissistic behaviors; he seemed to be a Christian narcissist. I’ve written about these wolves in sheep’s clothing before. Check out Do Not fear the End Times Part 112: Spiritual Narcissists. Also check out Part 113: Snakes in the Pulpit.
Spiritual narcissists exist and are a real threat to the Body of Christ. They are very charismatic, manipulative, and deceptive. They maneuver themselves into a position of power and idolization. Then they take advantage of that to prey on their victims.
Spiritual narcissists will never stop trying to achieve their evil goals. But Christians can stop enabling them by refusing to idolize anybody anymore. Let no one be above suspicion or question!! Let no one have unconditional, unquestioning support!! Make people accountable for their behavior. If we see something questionable, we have to question them on it. If we can’t question them, there is an idolatry situation in play.
Another thing we can do is speak up. If we know something disturbing, we should find someone safe we can talk to about it. We can pray for discernment about what’s worth bringing up and what isn’t. But if something ever bothers us about another person’s behavior, well, that’s a sign that it’s gone beyond an acceptable level and must be stopped.
As for pastors and other Faith leaders, there’s something they can do too. They can step down from their position and sit on the sidelines for some time if they struggle with lust and can’t control that. It’s better to take the time to deal with your lust than it is to create even one victim!!
And what about Ravi??
We all fall short of the Glory of God. Everyone sins. Everyone falls to temptation sometimes too. But there’s a huge difference between the occasional temptation versus a life of sin.
Ravi Zacharias was living a double life of walking in sin, committing the same sins over and over when he knew better. Where was this guy’s fear of the LORD, if he spent so much of his life studying Christianity but still lived in sin to this extent?? It’s like he wasn’t Christian at all, and didn’t believe anything he talked about!!
And this is why, after his death, everything he built is burning to the ground. He has been revealed as a hypocrite, a fraud. He preached Christianity in the day and lived a secret life of sexual aggression at night. But what’s done in the dark will always come to light, and after his death he could no longer keep the allegations from coming out. Now his former ministry and his family suffer the consequences of his actions.
In the neutral 3rd party investigation of his electronic devices, his wife had to learn he was adulterous and unfaithful. He didn’t care one bit about his Christian marriage—he spit on that blessing God gave him. He didn’t care at all about the wedding vows he made before God (another sign that he never believed in God). His children had to learn that he was unfaithful to their mother. And so on and so forth.
As for his ministry, it has crumbled worldwide. Many branches of the former RZIM (Ravi Zacharias International Ministries) have folded or cut ties with HQ. The ministry’s name has changed and all mentions of Ravi Zacharias are being scrubbed out. Ravi’s books have been taken out of print by the publisher.
The name Ravi Zacharias is now known for shame and disgrace. It’s known for sexual assault and even rape. As a result of being exposed as a two-faced hypocrite, Ravi’s former ministry has been devastated and is no longer useful to Christ.
And who is to blame for the downfall of Ravi Zacharias?? Only one person is responsible: Ravi Zacharias.
Only one person is responsible. Don’t tell me one word about “liberal media.” The media didn’t make Ravi Zacharias commit sexual immorality and crimes with all these women.
Don’t tell me one word about demons and Spiritual warfare. Demons come after all Christian believers. We all have to deal with Spiritual warfare in our lives. This does not create any acceptable excuse for our sins—especially not a lifetime of repeated sins like Ravi’s life. That shows a lack of any repentance, because if he had been remorseful in any way he would have REPENTED!! and turned from his sins!!
This lack of repentance, again, makes me question if this man was ever really a Christian or believed in the Bible …. I mean, where was his fear of the LORD?? Why didn’t he come clean and turn away from evil??
There are no excuses here. A sexual predator infiltrated the Body of Christ and preyed on Christians. At the same time, he become famous worldwide for Christian apologetics and evangelism. That made many people look up to him … and look up to him too highly. Because they looked up to him so much, their Faith was shaken to the core or even shattered when the truth about Ravi came out, much to the devil’s delight.
This is what happens when someone is put in an idol position they don’t deserve, because no one deserves that position. How long will the church continue to ignore allegations or cover for unacceptable behavior by popular pastors and other Faith leaders?? The next Ravi Zacharias is already out there, making his way to the top. If the Christian community would stop giving people the unconditional benefit of the doubt, stop writing “blank checks” of approval and support, maybe we can stop the next Ravi before he makes someone a victim.
We must to pray for the church on this. We must stop idolizing Spiritual narcissists—that is an important part of how we, the church, enable them. We have to be more discerning, and make everyone accountable.
And we must pray for the many victims of Ravi Zacharias.
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