More than five years after the death of apologist Ravi Zacharias, audio recordings of his lectures have been made available online by members of his family. Credible allegations that Zacharias had engaged in a pattern of grooming and sexual abuse surfaced around the time of his death in 2020.
Zacharias was an Indian-born Canadian and American Christian apologist and ordained minister who authored numerous books and enjoyed widespread influence among evangelicals for several decades. However, shortly after his death, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) announced that a third-party investigation corroborated claims that Zacharias had for years used his authority as co-owner of two spas to sexually abuse massage therapists.
RZIM subsequently removed all of Zacharias’ content from its online platforms and announced that it would change its name. HarperCollins also pulled all of Zacharias’ books and halted work on a posthumous book.
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Zacharias was also previously accused of engaging in a pattern of sexually predatory behavior toward Lori Anne Thompson, a Canadian woman who, along with her husband, was a major donor to Zacharias’ ministry.
RZIM later became embroiled in several legal battles, including lawsuits alleging that the organization misled donors by failing to investigate Zacharias’ actions while he was alive.
RZIM has since been functionally dismantled.
However, members of Zacharias’ family, including his wife, Margaret, and two of his children, Naomi Zacharias Zumback and Nathan Zacharias, have maintained Zacharias’ innocence. In a 2024 open letter, the family members said, “We can’t convince anyone what we are saying is true and we feel no need to do so.”
“The globally publicized story is plagued with inaccuracy and hostility, and it has caused widespread destruction,” the letter continued. “In addition to those who continue to use it for their own personal gain, it established a precedent for a process that is dangerous and extends beyond our personal experience and pain.”
Sarah Davis, Zacharias’ other daughter and former CEO of RZIM, was not a signatory of the open letter.
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Now Zacharias’ family has apparently secured the rights to some of Zacharias’ work and has published it to a website called The Ravi Zacharias Library. The site has no affiliation with RZIM.
