I didn’t want to believe it when I heard the news.
You always want to believe the best about the people you respect.
But you can’t deny the truth forever.
Even when the truth is sickening.
If you are someone who has followed Ravi Zacharias and the RZIM organization, then I’m sure you understand how I’m feeling. For those of you who are unfamiliar with him, Ravi Zacharias was a well known author, evangelist and apologist who passed away last May. After his death, he was accused of serious sexual misconduct including rape.
On February 9th 2021, Miller & Martin, the law firm hired by RZIM to look into these allegations, confirmed their veracity.
Betrayed, distraught, disgusted, angry. Confused. Disheartened.
I’ve felt all those emotions and more this past week.
Ravi Zacharias was one of the best known and admired apologists of our time so to learn the news about his secret life of sin and immorality has been absolutely astounding, in all the wrong ways.
If someone like Ravi Zacharias can sink to such low levels of perversion and deception, any of us can.
And that truth is harrowing.
When I finally forced myself to read the letter issued by the RZIM international board, which started out with the words “It is with shattered hearts that we issue this statement“, my heart shattered too.
It shatters for both the Christians and non Christians I know this will affect. Hypocrisy grieves and angers people. Understandably so.
As I’ve been mourning and praying, the Lord has revealed two truths to me that I felt the need to share.
THE HARD TRUTH
Anyone can lead a double life.
Outside of God’s grace, we are all capable of the same deception and immorality that Ravi Zacharias practiced.
That scares me.
And yet, it also strangely comforts me, as I realize it doesn’t matter how educated or wealthy or talented you are. What matters is your heart and where it’s at with the Lord. What matters is your devotion and dependence on Christ.
Intellect, fame, notoriety, influence…. it doesn’t matter to God.
Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. And you can’t hide your heart from God. You can’t fake your righteousness. You can’t conceal your sin.
Proverbs 10:9 says, “He who walks in integrity walks securely,
But he who perverts his ways will be found out.”
We need Jesus, friends. We need him so much more than we can ever understand.
Without him, we have nothing. We are as Ephesians 2:1 describes us, “dead in our trespasses and sins.”
THE COMFORTING TRUTH
God is bigger than Ravi Zacharias and his purposes will prevail.
Finding out this news about such a prominent man of the Christian faith has been devastating for me. And I’m a believer. I can’t imagine how unbelievers are reacting to it. Pointing fingers. Laughing at us. Mocking the name of those who claim to follow Jesus but act like the world… or much worse.
I’ve been afraid of what this will do to the church, our witness, and God’s name.
But though this disgrace is extremely serious, it is not significant in it’s impact to God’s plans and his purposes.
Psalm 33:11 says
“ The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
the plans of his heart to all generations. “
No one can change the character of God and there is nothing we can do to diminish his holiness.
The truths that Ravi Zacharias shared and defended, no matter how twisted it seems now, still stand firm because they weren’t Ravi’s truths.
They were Gods.
So don’t lose heart. Don’t give the devil the satisfaction of throwing up your hands in discouragement or defeat.
God is so much bigger than one humans sin,
no matter how grave the sin.
As I’ve been reading different articles in response to this great scandal, I came across one written by Dr. Jim Denison, who lives in Dallas. In it he talks about the storm in Ft. Worth that killed six people and injured dozens more. The reason?
The ice fell before the snow, coating the bridges and roads. Under the snow was a sheet of ice that the drivers couldn’t see and as a result, when you walked or drove on the snow, the ice it was hiding wasn’t just dangerous. It was deadly.
Dr Denison closed with this statement,
“When ice is under your feet, the safest thing you can do is get on your knees and crawl to safety.“
So I urge you-
If you are harboring secret sin that you think won’t be exposed, repent. Christ promises that if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
If you are yielding to the temptation to point fingers at Ravi Zacharias and feel squeaky clean in comparison, beware. The Lord opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. (James 4:6)
We each need to examine our lives in humility, and out of fear and reverence for the Lord, surrender to Him.
We each need to place our hope in Christ and not in Christ’s witnesses, no matter how much we respect them.
We need to fall before God and cling to his goodness, because we are living in dire times.
There is ice beneath the snow these days.
We need to crawl to safety.
