Posted on 01/06/2021 6:47:03 AM PST by SeekAndFind
New details have emerged related to the now-acknowledged sexual misconduct of the late Ravi Zacharias as recordings of a former business partner have surfaced describing Zacharias' misdeeds.
According to Anurag Sharma, a man who co-owned two spas with the late apologist, Zacharias repeatedly engaged in exposing himself to massage therapists and masturbating in front of them over the course of several years. In recently recorded audio footage that was shared exclusively with The Roys Report Monday, the website of independent investigative journalist Julie Roys, Sharma told investigators that he confronted Zacharias about his actions, which he discovered sometime between 2007 and 2010. Sharma also maintained that Zacharias told him to erase all information about his appointments at the spa from the company computer system.
It was around this time when the two men owned Jivan Wellness, which reportedly offered massage therapy as well as a form of ancient Indian medicine rooted in Hinduism, among other wellness services.
“It started actually, the lady therapist who had come and who talked about that he’d been misbehaving—exactly the pattern that was there...,” Sharma told an attorney hired by the Christian Missionary Alliance denomination, the denomination that had ordained Zacharias, in December 2020.
“And this was exactly the pattern, which was, I saw it plenty of time.”
He described the pattern of sexual misconduct as the apologist saying he was tired after traveling and working, and thinking that he was entitled to misbehave at the spa.
In July 2010, after he was informed about another massage therapist who had refused to take an appointment with Zacharias because of his misconduct and Zacharias' request that he delete information from their electronic records, Sharma wanted to get out of the spa business as the experience had devastated him on several fronts, claiming to have invested $300,000 to $400,000 or more in the business with little return. The Jivan Wellness spa was officially dissolved in September of that year, according to Georgia state records.
Sharma stated in interviews with multiple investigators that the apologist was his close friend and that he became a Christian through Zacharias.
Zacharias died in May 2020 after a battle with cancer. Following reports of sexual misconduct after his death, his ministry subsequently set in motion an independent investigation and confirmed in a Dec. 23 interim report that he had indeed engaged in sexual misconduct, some of which was "serious." A full report is expected in the coming weeks.
“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,” the ministry said last month.
The admission of misconduct came after the leadership of the ministry had previously expressed that it believed the claims were false and that the allegations “do not in any way comport with the man we knew for decades."
As a result of the scandal, several Christian radio networks that carried Zacharias' teachings have removed him from their affiliate stations.
Moody Radio announced over the Christmas holiday weekend that it was immediately canceling Zacharias' broadcasts from its lineups.
“We are deeply saddened after reading the preliminary report provided to us by Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM),” Doug Hastings, vice president of Moody Radio, said in a statement.
“The picture that is becoming clear about Ravi Zacharias through the work of an independent investigator is very much inconsistent with his public ministry,” he said, adding that the network believes that those they partner with must be above reproach.
American Family Radio, which has over 180 radio stations, also dropped Zacharias from its regular programming. It had aired Zacharias' "Let My People Think" broadcasts on its Sunday programming for approximately 20 years.
what is with my fellow men?
Is our faith based on a fallible man or the God that created the man? What man is not fallible?
It seems he had a pattern of abuse over a long time. And he also lied about his credentials, making it sound like he had degrees he in fact didn’t earn. He lived a double life. Giving him a pass is unfair to those teachers who live in an honest and decent manner. I read some of his books and I thought they were okay. But he critiqued our postmodern, relativistic society while living according to its worst aspects. I don’t think there is anything salvageable from this.
Its so easy to claim misdeeds by a dead person who can not defend themselves. Why are we so quick to believe allegations that if true should have been brought forth when the happened? I can’t help but believe this is just an attempt to besmirch someone who was jealous of Ravi or there is a money angle at play. Unless there is film proof I just can not judge a man guilty when he can no longer defend himself.
Here is hoping more people have the strength to not feed at the trough of lies.
also dropped Zacharias from its regular programming.
God uses infallible men for his purposes, what else is there?
You are right. I’m not saying that Ravi did these things. All I’m saying is that judgement should be suspended until evidence is made public. If it’s just hearsay and rumor, then we all have good reason to be skeptical about attempts to “character assassinate” someone with a reputation such as his.
I hope RZIM is bankrupted asap.
Knowledge without spiritual power.
yeahh...after all he is probably once saved always saved so no biggie what he did; its all good..
Because when it comes to Christianity, we don't need to hold up liars and cheats. Far too many people in this country think lusting, masturbating, porn use, is fine. The church leaders hardly discusses it, brush it under the table as just one of many sins while the congregation is rotting. If this is being exposed, its a good thing.
The church, the country, the Republican Party. Look at all the evil and fecklessness being revealed in just the past few weeks alone.
Truth. So many Christians allowed lust to rule their hearts, cheating on spouses with every lustful look, now it's coming back. This election was stolen right in front of our eyes and not a damn thing we can do about it. The leaders we picked defended the steal or have become too weak to stand up against it. This moral decline started in the home of every married person who claimed to be Christian and love their spouse but lusted and cheated and broke their vows. Then these same people wonder why politicians they elected and trusted would do the same to them... They should have demanded better of themselves and their leaders.
There are a lot of great people there. Did you forget them? Those who have done absolutely nothing wrong? Maybe they can move across the street and change their name. That’s what split churches do.
When Jesus died on the cross for Ravi, He was careful to leave this sin out of the deal.
He came out with a rather awkwardly-stated rebuttal when the allegations first came out. It felt like he was untruthful, to be quite honest. I never listened again. When I heard him come on a station, I felt the HS tell me to change stations. Not that his teaching was not MOSTLY above board, but he did compromise towards the end, one thing that was hard to swallow. He became one of the pope’s advocates for unity. But unity with other religions is not the unity Christ is speaking of in the NT. We must not be swayed to follow the false and submit to false teachers.
I was truly sorry to see his fall. He was so absolutely on the mark, but it seems he began to think that he was owed some kind of outside the box respect and I think his behavior followed. Jesus never felt He was owed anything, but was humble and followed the Father’s voice only. He never gave in to PC teaching to make himself acceptable to the masses. So, the masses turned on Him. This is our experience here in whatever God gives us to do. Don’t expect great followings bc when you get them, you have to somehow compromise to keep them.
Why would Ravi turn to metaphysical treatments to rejuvenate himself. He had to know it was wrong. It is sad, but to be expected. We have a slew of very public preachers who’ve bit the dust through one extravagance or sin. We tend not to be a humble people. Pray for our remaining pastor/teachers to daily seeks only God’s will for His glory!
What a load of crap. So some former business partner where the business did not do that well has hearsay non-witnessed stories. Ravi was very influential, and attacking Ravi does hurt the Christian community as a whole — there is incentive for those that want to hurt Christians to bring about accusations against Ravi after he died.
Let’s look at the facts. No documented evidence — hush money payment evidence to therapists, no recordings, no multiple named witnesses (only one therapist I believe was named). I also don’t trust the business partner. So where is actual evidence? And everyone is so quick to throw Ravi under the bus.
You pharisaic bunch can all go to the ranch — you all seem to be good at finding BS.
Oh so the bottom line is since Jesus died for all sins, you can sin all you want ‘cause its ok your saved. After all as Martin Luther said, when you sin, sin bigly!
The atheists are not mourning.
Jesus left out of His crucifixion some of your sins.
You’re in big trouble!
The bottom line is that all that business in the Bible about the blood washing away your sin is just pretty talk. You can ignore it.
Yep if u don’t repent and sin no more then it was for nothing.
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