‘Heartbroken’ RZIM Board Reports Investigation Finds Ravi Zacharias Engaged in Sexual Misconduct
ALPHARETTA, Ga. — The executive committee of the Ravi Zacharias International Ministries board of directors released a public statement on Wednesday outlining that an interim report on an investigation into sexual harassment allegations against the now-late apologist Ravi Zacharias has found “significant, credible evidence that Mr. Zacharias engaged in sexual misconduct over the course of many years.”
“This misconduct is deeply troubling and wholly inconsistent with the man Ravi Zacharias presented both publicly and privately to so many over more than four decades of public ministry,” the board said in the statement. “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.”
According to reports, several women who provided massages to Zacharias at the Touch of Eden and Jivan Wellness spas he co-owned lodged complaints against the popular apologist, stating that he asked for “more than a massage.” They claimed that he touched them without consent, asked for sex and explicit photos and handled his reproductive organs in front of them.
According to Christianity Today, some members of RZIM, including his family, denied the allegations at the time as they “do not in any way comport with the man we knew for decades.” However, the law firm Martin & Miller, LLC was hired to conduct a private investigation into the matter.
It advised in a preliminary letter provided to the board on Tuesday that — in working with other private investigators — “dozens
of witnesses” were interviewed, including those who had provided services to Zacharias, and “numerous documents and electronic devices used by Mr. Zacharias over the years” were also reviewed.
The law firm stated in a letter made publicly available by RZIM that while it is “not disclosing any specific conduct we are investigating beyond the spa allegations” at this time — suggesting that there may be more to the matter, “we have found significant, credible evidence that Mr. Zacharias engaged in sexual misconduct over the course of many years.”
“Some of that misconduct is consistent with and corroborative of that which is reported in the news recently, and some of the conduct we have uncovered is more serious,” the correspondence outlined. “Our investigation is ongoing, and we continue to pursue leads.”
Martin & Miller, LLC said that they expect to conclude the investigation in January or February and release a complete report shortly thereafter.
Read the letter from Martin & Miller in full here.
“We will speak more comprehensively to all concerned after the completion of the investigation,” the RZIM board said in its statement. “We are devastated for those who have suffered from Ravi’s misconduct and for the pain that they are enduring.”
It said that the report would likewise be released publicly when received and asked for prayers for the victims and the “devastated” members of the Zacharias family.
Read the public statement from RZIM’s executive committee in full here.
Zacharias, a popular apologetic speaker and author, known for books such as “Jesus Among Secular Gods,” “The Lotus and the Cross,” and “Sense and Sensuality,” as well as his “Let My People Think” radio broadcast, died of cancer in May at the age of 74.
Four months after his passing, the day spa women came forward with the allegations, which are stated to have first began a decade ago.
Zacharias had previously been accused of engaging in an inappropriate telecommunications relationship with a Canadian woman, but he denied the allegations and rather sued the woman and her husband. He stated that she had sent him unwanted photos of herself but acknowledged that it was wrong to have communicated with her without his wife involved in the first place.
It is not known whether Zacharias had any accountability in place. 1 Corinthians 10:12 states, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”
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