Televangelist Ravi Zacharias, who died last year from cancer at age 74, "led a double life of forced sexual coercion" for years without getting caught, according to a public statement from his own ministry, the Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Zacharias got his start preaching at a 1983 conference organized by Billy Graham, wrote some two dozen religious books and had his own radio show, and had a good number of fans among leading conservative politicians and celebrities, especially Mike Pence.
"RZIM released an independent report by the Atlanta law firm Miller & Martin detailing Zacharias' transgressions, including sexual misconduct and rape allegations from more than a dozen massage therapists and the discovery of about 200 photos of young women on his phones, some of them nude selfies."
"Most of the women Miller & Martin interviewed said that during massages, Zacharias would grab their breasts or genitals and ask for sexual gratification. Investigators found more than 200 other massage therapists listed in his phones, many of them in Asia. He spent months at a pair of apartments he owned in Bangkok, and the investigators found 2016 texts showing that Zacharias "spent his days writing and his nights receiving massages" there...the woman who accused Zacharias of rape said that after he "arranged for the ministry to provide her with financial support, he required sex from her," then "made her pray with him to thank God for the 'opportunity' they both received." The woman told investigators that Zacharias "called her his 'reward' for living a life of service to God," and "said he warned her not ever to speak out against him or she would be responsible for the 'millions of souls' whose salvation would be lost if his reputation was damaged."
"Following the law firm's investigation and conclusions, his ministry (run now by his daughter) issued a statement that it was "shocked and grieved by Ravi's actions," and apologized to his victims: "Words cannot come close to expressing the sorrow that we feel for what you have been through or the gratitude we feel for the bravery with which you have responded." RZIM denied any sexual misconduct by its founder last fall, and Zacharias had sued one accuser for extortion before he died."
Among the mourners at his funeral last year were Tim Tebow and Vice President Pence, who spoke at his funeral and said "In Ravi Zacharias, God gave us the greatest Christian apologist of this century...He was the C.S. Lewis of our day."
Forcing a woman his ministry financially supported to have sex with him and then making her pray to God with him thanking God for the "opportunity" they had both received, telling her that she was his "reward" for living a godly life, and warning her not to tell anyone about what he was making her do because she would then be responsible for millions of souls going to hell. Sounds like this guy was real piece of work. Yet another televangelist charlatan.
Link:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/prominent-evangelical-leader-ravi-zacharias-121900046.html