More than 160 recordings of Ravi Zacharias’ talks and lectures are online again, five years after the deceased apologist’s ministry confirmed allegations of his grooming and sexual abuse and took everything down.
A new website, The Ravi Zacharias Library, is selling audio recordings for $3.50, $7 and $10 each.
A family-run Facebook account announced the launch of the library to its nearly 9,000 followers on January 4. “Ravi was uniquely gifted and used by the Lord to share the beauty of the Gospel,” the post said. “We’re thankful to be able to make his content available, once again.”
Zacharias’ son Nathan published an edited version of the statement on his website on Jan. 5.
“Ultimately, this is the Lord’s truth, story, and work,” he wrote. “Our hope is that … God may use it as He wills, and those who seek it may find it.”
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Former staff and leaders who pushed for accountability at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), told The Roys Report (TRR) they were surprised, shocked, angry and heartbroken over the launch of the library.
“I stand in support of the women who were abused by Zacharias,” Amy Orr-Ewing, former president of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, said in an email. “I cannot see any reason to publicise Zacharias’ messages.”
Carson Weitnauer, who worked in RZIM’s Atlanta office until he resigned in protest in 2021, said after he got over the surprise, he was overcome with sadness.
“Ravi would talk about how he’d leave no stone unturned in the quest for truth,” Weitnauer told TRR. “But then this library is burying the truth in the quest for profit.”
Talks and lectures removed from the Internet
Until this week, the disgraced apologist’s work appeared to be headed for oblivion. While evangelicals disagree widely about who should be “cancelled” — and what merits cancellation — Zacharias’ work was effectively disappearing.
Seven months after he died in 2020, Christian radio networks across the United States stopped rebroadcasting Zacharias’ popular program Let My People Think. HarperCollins, the largest publisher of Christian books in the U.S., pulled his titles, including several bestsellers. HarperCollins also halted plans for a final posthumous work.
Another apologist, Lee Strobel, stopped publication of a book that featured a 19-page interview with Zacharias. He released a revised edition “updated and expanded,” with the interview excised.
RZIM itself removed Zacharias’ talks, lectures and Q&As from the internet, expressing regret at the hurt he caused multiple women over the course of many years.
The apologetics ministry’s website remains dormant today. RZIM appears inactive, though CEO Peter Sorensen has continued to file paperwork with the state of Georgia to keep RZIM open.
A few old videos of Zacharias’ teaching remain on YouTube. They are interspersed with others titled “What Ravi Zacharias Did,” “Ravi Zacharias: A Tragic Missed Repentance” and “Is Ravi Zacharias in Heaven? Thoughts.”
Several stray audio recordings are available on SoundCloud, including one lecture on “desacralization” that has been streamed more than 18,000 times. And there are still many used books for sale online.
But someone who doesn’t accept the evidence of Zacharias’ abuse — or doesn’t think the abuse diminishes the value of his teaching — would be hard pressed to find much to watch or listen to.
‘Legacy will be restored’
Nathan Zacharias has been fighting to change that. Since 2021, the youngest of Zacharias’ three children and the only son has pushed and pleaded with RZIM to give the copyrights over to the family.
“I believe that one day my Dad’s actual legacy will be restored,” Nathan Zacharias wrote at the time.
Zacharias rejects the investigations of his father that found evidence of sexual abuse, including the investigation paid for and accepted by RZIM. He has accused those involved of being dishonest, biased, unethical and cruel. His website is called “Defending Ravi.”
Part of the defense is attacking the evidence, part attacking the procedures and part attempting to gain control of intellectual property.
In 2023, the board considered licensing Zacharias’ likeness, image and audio to the family for five years. The offer came with some conditions.
“It would be important that we agree not to disparage one another, publicly or otherwise,” the board said in a letter to Zacharias’ younger daughter, Naomi Zacharias Zumbach. “Our partnership in this project with you would be difficult if such disparagement occurs.”
The board also asked for a commitment to “pursue a biblical reconciliation” that might repair the relationship between the board and the Zacharias family.
Zumbach, who now runs a humanitarian grant-making organization, rejected the terms. In a letter later shared on the Defending Ravi site, she accused the RZIM board of engineering the terms so that the family would have to reject them.
“The mission or the organization … once included ‘the preaching and teaching of Ravi Zacharias,’” Zumbach wrote. “I do hope you will honor that part of the mission and make his resources available once again.”
Zumbach said she was speaking for her brother and mother, Margie Zacharias. The eldest Zacharias daughter, former RZIM CEO Sarah Phillips, was not involved.
Family controls intellectual property
It is unclear how negotiations over the intellectual property and copyright have developed in the last two years. The Ravi Zacharias Library, Nathan Zacharias, RZIM, and Peter Sorensen did not reply to emails with questions about the legal arrangements.
According to the “about page” on the new website, the library is run by family members and not associated with RZIM.
“We have no affiliation with RZIM today, nor knowledge of their current activities,” this site says. “Per RZIM’s request, we removed any mention of RZIM operations from these recordings.”
The website does not indicate whether more audio or other materials will be made available on the site in the future, or if this is a complete collection.
In its first few days online, the Ravi Zacharias Library also experimented with other efforts to restore Zacharias’ reputation. A biography, later pulled down, did not mention any controversies or scandals, presenting the late apologist as a modern saint.
“His gentleness, humility and calling were evident not just his preaching, but in his heart for those in need,” the bio said. “People would marvel at the evident mark of the Holy Spirit upon him.”
Former RZIM board member Stacy Kassulke called the bio “a doozy.”
Kassulke said the whole project seems like an effort to evade reckoning with the real harm that Zacharias did.
“This release is heartbreaking, but not surprising,” she said. “If we’re still at the first stage of even simply acknowledging the events, there’s a long way to go.”
Experts say many Christian leaders have attempted a comeback after scandal, but the posthumous restoration of a ruined reputation is unheard of.
Christian publishing veteran Jeff Crosby, president of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, said he couldn’t think of any examples from his 42 years in the industry.
Historian Suzanna Krivulskaya, author of Disgraced: How Sex Scandals Transformed American Protestantism, said she didn’t know of any from history.
“Most got away with things while still alive,” Krivulskaya told TRR. But considering how often abusive behavior has been excused with platitudes about the biblical King David and how God uses broken people, she said, “I wouldn’t be surprised.”
Daniel Silliman is senior reporter/editor at The Roys Report. He began his two decades in journalism covering crime in Atlanta and has since led major investigations into abuse and misconduct in Christian contexts. Daniel and his wife live in Johnson City, Tennessee.
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31 Responses
Ravi was a gifted man of God. People who have prominent ministries who affect a lot of people are biggest targets of satan. That is why God’s word says to pray for the Body. The church system has turned Christianity into a hierarchy which elevates them like untouchables. If they ask for prayer because they are faltering, the “Christian”armchair wrecking crew disowns them.
If they hide their faltering and have no one to go to they fall deeper and when discovered are still annihilated like it is some kind of a judged talent show.
Doesn’t mean we elevate it when satan causes their fall, but the good works should stand. Truth is truth.
I still maintain that everyone who is pointing accusatory fingers who did not pray for him or others in ministry who fell is held accountable too. It is shameful of Christians to focus only on the negative and not the good at all as Paul directed.
I agree that Christianity, especially in the US, has elevated some of its leaders in an ungodly manner. I also agree that Christian leaders face greater opposition from Satan, and that “truth is truth.” However, it is precisely because there was truth in Ravi’s apologetics that his life and legacy are so tragic and damaging. The way he lived his life calls everything he taught into question and we are left to sort out what was “of God” and what was not. Perhaps one day, years from now, when his victims have passed and the pain of his hypocrisy has ceased to sting, Christians will be able to objectively review his work and glean it’s nuggets of truth, but not now. It’s just too soon.
Satan does NOT “cause their fall”.
Please read James 1:12-16 (and there are other supporting verses, eg in Mark and Matthew where Jesus clearly says that evil begins in the HEART).
[And notice the warning in verse 16 of the James passage!]
“I still maintain that everyone who is pointing accusatory fingers who did not pray for him or others in ministry who fell is held accountable too.”
This is a classic example Christian bullying, and a shifting of blame.
“Gentlness and himility”. The women he groomed and abused during his other clandestine life would disagree. Woukd more ikely consider it a false facade, to advance his grooming behaviour.
After an independent investigation proved his wrong doing, the very idea of selling his materials preached and published while leading this life is audacious at best, hypocritical at worst.
One recordings is actually called “Flirting with the Truth”?! …. Spoiler alert!!
Also the family’s horrific reconfiguring of the truth with the accolade:
“His gentleness, humility and calling were evident not just his preaching, but in his heart for those in need,” the bio said. “People would marvel at the evident mark of the Holy Spirit upon him.”
How does this fit: Ravi and Margaret manoeuvred a naive young student in Canada, then ‘in need’, due to being pregnant with Ravi’s younger brother’s baby, into aborting their pre-born baby?
The now mature aged lady shared her story after the sexual abuse was publicised.
A baby conceived by his single younger brother? In a conservative Indian family with high aspirations?
No Way!
That tragic story altered that then-young lady’s life.
It wasn’t only sexual abuse which Ravi left in his wake.
Somehow I doubt the Holy Spirit would be upon a serial abuser, liar, groomer, and fraud.
This despicable predator deserves to be remembered as a what he actually was a destroyer of lives as a deplorable predator nothing else
Ravi’s actions only proved that he needed the gospel he preached as much as all of us do, even Julie Roys.
So as a person who studies the Scriptures including apologetics I put forward this; The horrible actions committed should NEVER be erased or diminished…NEVER! That being said do we throw away the tremendous wealth of knowledge that was brought forth as well? Does the sin erase the factual presentations that were given concerning the word of God? We should consider that. I despise what Ravi did and never condone it however to I throw away everything I learned about the scriptures I learned from his teachings? How are the teachings that have been proven true about the word of God preserved without diminishing the sin/crime?
I used to faithfully listen to James MacDonald’s sermons through a podcast app. After he was fired and I learned about his behind-the-scenes behaviors, I questioned everything. What of this was truth and what was false? I still don’t know. That’s the problem with putting religious leaders on a pedestal and separating them from true relational community. When I have a relationship with someone as a neighbor and friend, it’s easier to see the good and the bad in them, and them in me. Instead of questioning each individual celebrity whose character has later been revealed to be horribly corrupt, we should be looking at why we developed this system of celebrity religious figures deemed “too big to fail.” Instead of studying the writings and audio presentations of these supposedly “religious greats” perhaps we would be better served spending time reading and discussing the Bible within our local neighborhoods and communities without all this extra stuff?
This is an important question. I myself asked it in the comments above: will you throw away the apologetics arguments that you learn from Ravi Zacharias and used to strengthen your faith and evangelize others?
The answer I believe is, we implicitly believe that the apostles after their conversion were sinless and that’s how the Bible got written. But I don’t think so. I think they were sinning while they were writing the Bible.
There is something about leaders being held to a higher standard!.. His memory and works now hold no water and should be relegated to the Evangelical dustbin!
I suspect the real reason for this online library is to try and rebuild this fraud’s legacy and deal with their own cognitive dissonance. They might as well stick their fingers in their ears and go “La La La La, I am not hearing you.”
Maybe we can look at Ravi’s legacy in 50 years, long after the principals and immediate descendants have passed into history.
Zacharias rejects the investigations of his father that found evidence of sexual abuse, including the investigation paid for and accepted by RZIM. He has accused those involved of being dishonest, biased, unethical and cruel. ???
How can you reject the truth!
Mike K, rejecting the truth might best be explained by Charles Mallet above — cognitive dissonance. Based on reading this website I suspect that Ravi’s wife and children found their personal identities in and their generous incomes from the family patriarch. He was quite a rainmaker. No longer employed by RZIM and no longer enjoying the status and other benefits of their connection with him, they staunchly refuse to accept well-documented facts.
Initially I felt sorry for them; learning that your much-lauded late husband or father led a double life be must be traumatic. Those sentiments are gone because the Zacharias clan directs such vitriol against bearers of bad news. Former associates reported how Ravi yelled harshly at anyone who asked him for greater accountability; sadly, his family members seem to be following that example.
I’m sorry. Before the exposé of Ravi Zacharias, I found his teachings and messages “much ado about nothing.” So it made sense when everything was revealed, because real spiritual truth must come from the real spiritual heart as Jesus said…we really don’t need to keep this library.
In my early 20s, I was struggling with my faith and close to walking away from belief in God altogether. I had questions my ’90s conservative Christian upbringing had never addressed.
During that season, a pastor friend recommended Ravi and his ministry. I read his books and found a renewed connection to God. Ravi became someone I deeply admired. I recommended his work widely and consumed as much of his content as I could find online.
I remember the day he died. I saw a brief “RIP Ravi” post from Ergun Caner on Facebook that was quickly deleted, and I called my mom in tears, convinced that Ravi Zacharias had died. The next day, the news was official.
I share all of that to say: when the truth of what he did came to light, I got rid of the books and unsubscribed from the channels. As loudly as I once praised Ravi, I was equally clear that he had been a wolf masquerading as a sheep.
To my knowledge, there was never confession or repentance from him. Just evasion and manipulation of the truth. And because of that, I do not believe that his content should be up for purchase online. He put that stain on his work and his legacy, not a “cancel culture” “armchair Christian” mob.
Will you disavow (abandon) the apologetics arguments you learned from him?
I am going to post an unpopular opinion. I am so glad that Ravi’s works are published.
Just 3 weeks ago, I tried to post this comment on this website:
Roys Report took down Ravi Zacharias apologetics ministry that was so effective in evangelizing atheists, intellectuals and people from India since he was himself Indian.
I myself clung to my faith in Christ – helped a lot by reading and listening to RZIM. Now it is destroyed completely – his books are not even available for posterity, to help others.
I grieve that his ministry is gone.
Roys Repost did not treat Ravi’s sin as mere adultery. No, it had to be “sexual abuse” to take maximum effect.
But any independent observer can see that “power imbalance” is not always the case just because it is an older man with a younger woman. From what we can see, the women in Ravi’s case were consenting adults.
Ravi should have been punished for inappropriate conduct and adultery alone.
In the general case; As everyone knows, there is always an attraction between older, wealthy, high achieving men, and younger beautiful women who are looking for security and advancement. It is a dance as old as mankind.
In the secular workplace, many people’s careers have been destroyed because of women who used their female attractions on their supervisor, to get an advantage over their team members.
It is not just predatory supervisors but also seductive women who are the problem.
You are aware that the independent investigation found credible allegations that he raped at least one woman and sexually assaulted others. How anyone can view that as “adultery” is beyond me. https://julieroys.com/investigation-finds-ravi-zacharias-reportedly-raped-a-massage-therapist-sexually-molested-others/
Julie,
Sometimes the labels, “independent investigation” and “credible allegations” are used to turn away scrutiny of the investigation and allegations.
After all, they must all be qualified professionals, so who are we to question them?
But we have to ask the simple question – why didn’t the women go to the police if they were abused?
When the abuser is a gangster who commits or threatens physical violence, or clergy who abuses minors (this is heartbreaking) or cult leader who has brainwashed his followers, then it is understandable that they are intimidated into silence.
But Ravi was none of these and the women were not minors.
The book of Proverbs in the Bible has several verses about the seductive person and the fault is on both sides, not just the one who gives in to temptation.
In history, Society has automatically tended to believe the word of a man over a woman – especially when rich and powerful men were involved.
This led to women and weak sections of society being mistreated.
Today, Society has swung to the other extreme by automatically believing the woman over the man in order to correct earlier wrongs.
But this in itself can result in injustice.
I don’t know if you have watched this video by Ken LaCorte who was raised evangelical Christian,
“Did the #MeToo Movement Go Too Far?” on his Youtube channel,
“Elephants in Rooms – Ken LaCorte” where he looks at uncomfortable topics, honestly.
I don’t agree with everything he says but it is worth watching.
It’s simply not possible for a woman to seduce a man unless he is looking for that sort of activity. God did not build a flawed Creation – we have the ability to resist perfectly and walk/run away from temptation. It is NEVER the woman’s fault, although she might be found complicit.
It’s a shame to see cancel culture so strongly at work, since cancel culture does not come from God, but from the enemy.
God did not cancel Adam and Eve.
God did not cancel Abraham after he sold his wife for sex to supposedly save his own life. In fact, he still became known as the father of faith because God concentrates on what we do and are going to do right, rather than on the mistakes that we make. Selah.
God did not cancel the prophet Samuel after he twice misrepresented the message God had given him, and became spiritually abusive towards King Saul. He was still used by God even after his bad parenting had led to him overlooking the terrible sexual abuse by his own children in what was Israel’s equivalent of the church.
Anger leads to knee-jerk reactions, and anger is a demonic perversion of gentleness and calmness. In their anger too many people throw out the baby with the bath water.
Trevor G, thanks for thoughtful comments. Cancel culture can indeed be extreme, and our gracious God uses flawed sinners to advance His kingdom.
Allow me to posit, however, that the Zacharias family is, ironically, engaged in canceling. The stated goal is to rehabilitate Ravi’s reputation, and his widow and son refuse to acknowledge that their baby (to borrow your analogy) even created bath water. They demonstrate no concern for those who were sexually abused by this man in acts of demonic perversion (again, borrowing your words).
Print editions and audio recordings of Ravi’s books remain available for purchase on Amazon and eBay websites. His apologetics work has not been canceled.
God does call for some to be removed from fellowship though, unless they repent. There are many examples throughout Scripture. Consider 1 Corinthians 5: “1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. 2And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.“ Ravi’s sin seems to be in a similar category.
Also, in all this, where is the mercy and grace and kindness toward the women he harmed? Why are they an afterthought at best in most of the discourse?
Ravi’s family is not alone in seeking to whitewash the legacy of a deceased leader. By means of it’s legal acumen and deep pocketed admirers, Living Stream Ministry has thus far staved off the much overdue exposé of it’s very corrupt founder, the late Witness Lee. That unrepentant book publishing bully (lsm.org) may soon topple like a Goliath under the weight of former member podcasters. Hopefully 2026 will be the tipping point so that Justice for victims may finally arrive. http://www.hidinghistoryinthelordsrecovery.com
https://rzlibrary.com/products/building-your-private-life?variant=47543646421144 doesn’t age well.
The Zacharias story is sordid, sinful and heartbreaking. But, his teachings should not be book-burned. If someone wants them, there should be availability. But the family should not attempt to whitewash their patriarch’s failures, in fact they should be admitted and acknowledged.
It is my sincere hope that Nathan Zacharias and the rest of the family are able to at least find peace in this life. One book Ravi wrote that I really enjoyed was “Cries of the Heart.” I think they’re still for sale online in various places.
I know it has been reported that Ravi has done inexcusable things. So has everyone else including me. I don’t trust the media, especially those calling themselves Christian media or advocates of a particular group. So much can be skewed in the subtle snares of bias; concentric waves building upon one another until catastrophe. It is the most subtle of all of the snares according to George MacDonald in CS Lewis book “The Great Divorce.” It takes time to discern the truth, if we can ever truly know in this dim side of life.
I think enough time has passed to warrant some grace and forgiveness, as each is able to do. To let the Zacharias family heal, let his work stand or fall on its own. If the Lord is with it, it will grow, if not, it will return to dust. I think the epitaph, in Ecclesiastes 12:9-14 is worth reading and applying here. I summarize: Ravi did some very good things, those came from the Lord… fear God and keep His commandments, God will bring every act to judgement.
Julie Roys, I’m not attacking you here. Some of your work and advocacy for abused people like myself has been excellent.
Our family loved listening to Ravi Zacharias. I mean, the children get to do what they want, but I for one would equate consuming RZs messages with eating dog poop brownies. No thanks. The good that might be there is totally eradicated by RZs abominable, unrepentant actions.