How deep must your perversion be to think that you can get away with this stuff forever? The only way I can explain it is that you must be psychotically double-minded, or you must not really believe in God.
Rod Dreher, The American Conservative Feb. 12, 2021
Dreher is being typically emotional. Reporting on Christianity Today‘s reporting on Ravi Zacharias, he recoils in horror at this “vile man.” I don’t disagree, though given what we know now, it would have been better for Zacharias if all the vileness had come out while he was still alive and could see what his sin had done. That would have been an opportunity to repent.
But really, he had many opportunities , especially in the last few months when he must have known his time was short. He could have confessed. Or he could have destroyed all his phones and emails. The fact that he did neither of those tings indicates that he was living on an unreal plane.
Every conscious, deliberate sin, from adultery to tax cheating, requires a certain double-mindedness.
“Psychotically double-minded” seems the more likely of Dreher’s alternatives, but double-mindedness may be more common than he thinks. In fact, it may be the default position of all of us, including Christians. Every conscious, deliberate sin, from adultery to tax cheating, requires a certain double-mindedness. A Christian man who berates his wife, an elder who makes nasty comments about troublesome church members, a pastor who develops a gambling habit, a Sunday school teacher who constantly talks down her husband. And me, who wastes an hour and a half on Netflix when I should be checking up on my neighbors.
We all know what we should do, or shouldn’t do. The scripture we swear by is very clear. But on the way to action, knowledge gets sidelined. We shuttle it into a storage room called “Holy to the Lord,” where we make our sacrifices and holy acts. And then we claim our “free time” to do what we want.
Ravi Zacharias traveled the world, spoke at conferences, wrote dozens of books that sold millions of copies, counseled celebrities and world leaders. In that role, in that room, he may have (probably did) believe every word he was saying as the head of RZIM: the name, the legend. Once outside that persona he was a slight, elderly man with chronic back pain. Perhaps one justified the other. RZ spoke a blessing over Ravi. When he prayed with women he was preying on, when he told a partner she was his “reward” for godly service, he might have been sincere, in an all-too-human, double-minded way.
All idols replace Christ. Idolatry is the primary temptation.
“The heart is deceitful above all things” (Jer. 9:17), and the first person my heart deceives is me. Could Ravi have made an idol out of RZ? (Naming a ministry after himself, or consenting to it, seems unwise in the first place.) Given the convoluted reasoning we tend to indulge in, he may have indulged himself with a clear conscience. He may have atonement for himself as his own high priest in his holy capacity, crowding out the Christ he claimed to serve.
All idols replace Christ. Idolatry is the primary temptation. This sad saga should, if nothing else, serve as a warning to the rest of us: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (I Jn 5:13).
Thank you for your answer, Janie. I find encouragement in your words.
I wonder if God struck Ravi with cancer to bring him to repentance so that he was saved as one “snatched from the fire.” As you say we won’t know on this side of the Jordan.
This has been a rotten year.
In my little town here in East Texas two pastors from two of the largest churches here have had to step down for the same reasons. I think maybe God is purging his church. He will be mocked for only so long.
Blessings!
I sincerely hope Ravi was saved. There may be some sense in which he has to bear some burden for the grief he caused, though–“If any man’s work burn, he shall suffer loss, yet shall himself be saved as though by fire.” I think that’s the verse you’re referring to: I Cor. 3:15.
God is definitely purging his church. Some serious shaking and sifting is necessary, but “those he loves, he disciplines.”
Great commentary. I was devastated when I heard about Ravi Zacharias and it left me with a lot of questions.
Was he a complete sham? I thought that his early sermons or apologetics were spot on. Even without knowing what was going on I found something lacking in his lectures in the past ten years, so that I had stopped listening to the radio messages.
But maybe he was like King Solomon? He started out wise but couldn’t control his appetites?
What do you think? Was Ravi really saved?
The King Solomon analogy is a good one, Sharon. I think that’s very likely the case–I find it doubtful that he was a fake at the beginning, but toward the end he became repetitious, more like he was “dialing it in.”
If he didn’t repent, I don’t see how he could have been saved. Remember what Jesus said about those who call him “Lord, Lord.” It’s possible Ravi could have repented on his deathbed when face to face with the Lord. But we won’t know for sure until we see Jesus ourselves.
Great insights!! They make sense of many scenarios. Thank you!