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Home , Albert Mohler, Ravi Zacharias

Dr. Albert Mohler on Ravi Zacharias fall Transcripts from “The Briefing” podcasts 2.18 - 2.19.21

An Embarrassing and Tragic Headline for Evangelicals: New Report Confirms Serial Sexual Misconduct and Abuse by Ravi Zacharias

But finally, today we have to turn to headline news, which is for evangelical not only tragic but embarrassing. I'm talking about the revelations that have come from RZIM, that is, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, that the late evangelist, Ravi Zacharias, who died back in May of 2020 was guilty of massive and grotesque sexual misconduct. He lived what his own board has acknowledged to have been a double life. And that double life finally caught up with him.

But actually, as we shall see, that double life was at least hinted at in the latter years of his ministry. What am I talking about? Well, the Board of Ravi Zacharias Ministries released a report. They had undertaken to hire a law firm to investigate accusations of a very credible source that were made against Ravi Zacharias. Accusations that had to do with the fact that he had owned two eastern massage parlors that had been located in the area. He was accused by some of those who had worked in the parlor of sexual misconduct.

But when you think about it, the very nature of that kind of massage therapy matched to an evangelical ministry. Let's just say that doesn't work. But somehow that, however, was kept out of the knowledge of most evangelicals. Including evangelical leaders, who frankly had no idea that Ravi Zacharias had been in the business of a massage parlor, as well as international apologetic ministry. The reality is that this is one of those tragic headlines that captures our heart and pierces it, simply because this appears at first glance to be so implausible. And yet it turns out to be true.

One of the things we see here is the nature of the report coming from this law firm. It reveals that there are credible accusations, along with evidence of the fact that it's not just that Ravi Zacharias lived a double life. But that he was guilty in at least one case of what's described as rape.

In the statement released by the ministry's board just days ago, the board stated: "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."

2 "Tragically," said the board, "witnesses described encounters including sexting, unwanted touching, spiritual abuse, and rape." They went on to say, "We are devastated by what the investigation has shown, and we are filled with sorrow for the women who are hurt by this terrible abuse."

Now, I mentioned Ravi Zacharias on The Briefing about the time of his death talking about his massive impact in terms of . An impact that comes down to at least two different dimensions. One was the fact that he became known for the intelligent defense of the Christian , and for his willingness to go on college campuses and elsewhere in order to defend the biblical . The other thing was that he had put together a network that was truly multinational, including speakers, and those who had platform access in many parts of the world where evangelical Christians in the had not gone.

But there were warning signs, and I was aware of one of these warning signs. It had to do not with his sexual behavior, but with his education. He was often referred to as Dr. Ravi Zacharias, and there were claims made about study at places like Oxford and Cambridge. I had only a couple of encounters with Ravi Zacharias when we shared speaking responsibilities. But in one of them, simply at dinner after the session I just asked him ... there were three of us at the table. I asked him straight forwardly, because I naively simply wanted to know where he had done his doctoral work. The answer was, let me just say, evasive. Evasive to the point that it was embarrassing. So embarrassing that Ravi Zacharias arranged that we never actually had any conversation beyond that.

He and his ministry admitted years later that he did not have an academic doctorate, even though he had been introduced as having one. That's a problem, and it's an embarrassment that across the evangelical world it's not a solitary problem. But when you come to the sexual misconduct, the reality is that in 2017, it came to the awareness of most evangelicals that at least some accusations have been made against him. But his board declared that he was cleared of those charges that had to do with sexting, and a relationship with a woman who was not his wife. A settlement was reached with Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, but little more than that was known. And at that point, the question was raised: just how exactly without offering ample evidence is such a charge or accusation cleared?

The biblical standard that we find in text, such as verse Timothy 3 and Titus is that you are not to have an ill repute. You're not to have charges made against you that are not made clear. An accusation of bad moral character, of a bad reputation against one minister, becomes largely a slander against Christianity if that minister continues with the accusation not cleared. The open letter that came from the International Board of Directors of RZIM and its investigation of Ravi

2 3 Zacharias, and again, they turn to a law firm known as Miller & Martin, it is absolutely devastating.

Actually, from a Christian understanding, it's heartbreaking. Because it also raises another huge issue that we're going to have to talk about on a future edition of The Briefing. And that issue is what happens to the preaching of one who is later discovered to have led a double life, and to have had a deservedly bad reputation? Someone who it turns out was living a lifestyle that is incompatible with the message preached? What do we do with the message? What does this say about those who came to a saving faith in the Lord Christ because of Ravi Zacharias's ministry?

Well, the Christian church has had to deal with that kind of question before, and we will turn to answering that question tomorrow. It turns out that the original context of that question came when you had ministers of the church who had committed apostasy by denying the faith during the time of the Roman persecution. How did the church deal with that? Well, that raises a very relevant issue to thinking about the aftermath of the Ravi Zacharias controversy today.

But there is another issue, and on this issue we have to end. When you are looking at this kind of horrifying headline of a moral nature, it reminds us of the biblical that we must be careful. Our sin will find us out. Now, that doesn't always mean that that sin is revealed even in human history to fellow human beings. But as the makes clear, just think of a text like Hebrews 4: Nothing is hidden from .

Just three quick thoughts of immediate urgency given the tragedy of Ravi Zacharias's ministry here. One thing, there has to be an adequate process of oversight and accountability. And that means there had to have been a knowledge. There must have been, but there wasn't. There needed to be a set of guidelines in place such that no Christian minister could ever have this much time to get into this much trouble over this many years. That simply should not be possible.

The other insight is that an independent ministry with a self-perpetuating board has an even higher burden of responsibility in this regard when compared to someone that from the outside can intervene in a ministry, just to say. The issue in the SBC, the Southern Baptist Convention, is very different. The trustees of our boards are elected by the convention. They're not chosen by the ministry. And eventually, the Southern Baptist Convention itself can come in and take control if necessary in order to save the integrity of a ministry.

The third urgent issue is also really, really important. When you think about it, it is virtually impossible that no one knew enough to connect enough dots to know that there was a huge 3 4 problem in this ministry, and there was such a problem for years. There is responsibility in that knowledge even as there is moral responsibility in the acts that were undertaken by Ravi Zacharias. The Bible does tell us that the devil is roaming to and fro, seeking whom he may devour. The same New Testament in James 3:1 tells us that not many of you should be teachers. Because teachers, after all, will incur a stricter judgment.

We also have to recognize that the Christian church, and in particular this ministry, owes a responsibility of care to those who were victimized by the ministry. This also is something that Christians have often overlooked. Very real women were harmed in very real ways. They were scandalously preyed upon by one who did so even as he was claiming the mantle of Christian ministry. It's a tragedy beyond imagination to go astray. But it's even more horrifying to lead others astray.

How Should We Think About Ministry of One Who Has Fallen? The Gospel Never Fails, Even If the Preacher Doe

But finally for this week, a pastoral dimension, as we think about The Briefing yesterday, I did talk about the tragedy of the report that's come out concerning the late evangelist Ravi Zacharias, but it raises a theological, a pastoral question that's been presented to me and I want to address in the format of the briefing in a way that I hope will be encouraging and also a bit educational and for that matter affirming, and it comes down to this.

You have people who sometimes look at a failed ministry and say, well, what about the people who came to Christ during his ministry, through his preaching? What about people who came to Christ because of the preaching of the gospel that happened under this minister, this pastor, this evangelists? When there has later been a denial of the faith, there are preachers, of course, who have declared themselves to be atheist. There are those who fail morally, sometimes absolutely abysmally. And the question is, does that nullify the gospel that was preached in their message?

The bottom line is this, the gospel is the gospel. The gospel saves, even if the lips that utter it are lips that are later discredited. It is the gospel that can't be discredited. It is not a preacher who cannot be discredited. And when it comes to Christian ministry, this is something that church has had to think about through centuries that have included everything from plague to persecution, and persecution actually was the occasion of the church having to think about this most ardently, most urgently.

At the end of the third century and in the beginning of the fourth century, the Christian Church, Christians were horribly persecuted by the Emperor Diocletian. This is known as the Diocletian Persecution and under it, especially in North Africa, that becomes very, very strategic. Especially among Christians in North Africa, there were some who denied the faith. There were some ministers who denied the faith. They were often identified as priests at that time. They denied the faith and then the question came, what about their ministry?

Now, the church at that time was holding to a sacramental and a doctrine of the priesthood, that meant that there was a faithful priesthood that was handed down from priest to priest, from bishop to

4 5 bishop. And the question was, if a minister performs a ministry and then the minister subsequently denies the faith, is the ministry in-authentic? Is it then nullified? It could come down to an ordination. It could come down to the consecration of a bishop in the church at that time. It could come down to the ministry in a total sense at the time.

It could come down right now to the question, if you heard the gospel or you know someone who heard the gospel and came to a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, by hearing the gospel preached by a pastor whose ministry was later discredited by or by theological error, are you still saved? And the answer is yes, because you were never saved by the preacher. You were saved by Christ. You were saved through the preaching of the gospel, and the gospel has not failed, even if the preacher has.

In that period in the early church, there were those who were known as the traditores. They were those ​ ​ who had, that's the word for handing over. They'd literally handed things over to the Roman officials as a sign of their apostasy. That is the fact that they were denying the faith that included the Bible, it included ornaments of worship. Most importantly, it did include the Bible. They handed the Bible over to the Roman authorities as proof of the fact that they were now denying Christ and it was a huge theological crisis. And we can understand why it was and why it is a huge theological crisis because tragically enough, there are the traditores in our age as well, in every age until Jesus comes. ​ ​ The most comprehensive answer to this question came from Augustine, the most influential and important of the theologians of the early church. And Augustine made very clear that it is not about the preacher. Then that's what we better understand. It's not about the preacher. Now, in terms of moral responsibility, preachers must keep in mind. Let's just think about where we began the briefing today, that it is by sin that embarrassment and disrepute is brought upon the church, but all Christians have to understand that Augustine was right in this sense. The church has been right through the centuries in this sense. It's the power of the gospel that saves. It's the preaching of the word of God that saves. It is Christ who saves. And yes, there are those who preach the gospel and then fall into sin or fall into error. But insofar as they preach the gospel, those who heard the gospel and believed are saved. They need have no question about their assurance of because after all they are not trusting the preacher, they were trusting Christ.

And so we end today where we began, our ultimate confidence must be in God and in God alone. We look to hear his word in his word, the written word of Scripture, and in Scripture alone, his final authority and final word. We trust in Christ alone for our salvation. We're thankful for the human agents, for the preachers, teachers and evangelists who brought the word to us.

But our confidence in the end is where it must have been in the beginning, in Christ and Christ alone.

Thanks for listening to The Briefing.

For more information, go to my website at albertmohler.com. You can find me on Twitter by going to twitter.com/albertmohler. For information on The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to sbts.edu. For information on , just go to boycecollege.com.

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