Allegations Mount in 2017 Deceased Christian Apologist Ravi Zacharias Illicit Online Relationship Scandal – He May Have Been Sexually Harassing Women Staff at a Spa He Owned
….Updates Below…
Zacharias died a year or two ago. He was a well-known Christian apologist. He used to have a television program on the Christian network TBN years ago.
In the last few years, all sorts of allegations of sexual abuse have arisen around this guy. Here’s a new link about it below.
I do believe he was married.
So many Christians keep promoting marriage and “family values,” yet so many keep getting caught out in clergy sex abuse scandals or extra-marital affairs. I’m not yet seeing how being married is making any of these guys more “godly” or ethical than singles.
I think I remember reading an article saying that Zacharias sexually harassed women who worked at a spa he owns.
I found a few links about that; here’s the first one:
(Link): Christian Apologist Ravi Zacharias owned two health spas in Georgia
Three business colleagues say he sexually abused the female therapists
…It would appear that Ravi Zacharias invested in two health and massage spas in Georgia in the 2000’s.
Based on interviews in recent weeks with his male business partner and two women who worked with him in the spas, Zacharias was sexually out of control with the female therapists, over whom he had professional power.
All three of the witnesses Baughman interviewed for this report have also shared their evidence and testimony with a Christian leader (who asked not to be identified).
…Zacharias’s business partner at the Jivan spa confirmed to Baughman in a phone call that they brought women in from India and Thailand.
This new health spa evidence confirms that the apologist had a dark side that was not merely sexual, but abusive. RZIM continues to raise money as if none of this ever happened.
…Zacharias was now in a health spa and massage business where one on one massages took place with women massaging Zacharias himself.
Based on Baughman’s recent interviews with one of his male business partners and with two women who worked in the spas, what he did in those massage rooms was not just sexual, but sexually abusive. The following dialogue took place between Baughman and Zacharias’s business partner and three witnesses.
“I had a close relationship with Ravi. He was a sexual pervert. I know of many women he molested,” said one of the women. During a particular kind of treatment that did not involve the client removing their lower-body clothing, Ravi exposed himself and “asked me to massage around there.”
Excerpts:
By Brandon Showalter
New information has been publicly released regarding the late apologist Ravi Zacharias and an alleged online sexual relationship that was (Link): first reported in 2017.
In a three-part (Link): installment last week from The Roys Report, the website of independent investigative journalist Julie Roys, new testimonies and emails were released suggesting an alternative version of events than those that were represented nearly three years ago when allegations emerged that Zacharias had been involved in an illicit online sexual relationship with a Canadian woman.
Around this same time, the famed apologist’s academic credentials and resume were also scrutinized amid questions he had inflated and misrepresented them.
Zacharias, who died in May after a battle with cancer, said in a Christianity Today (Link): article published in December 2017 that the woman had sent him unwanted, racy photos of herself and that it was part of a plot to extract millions of dollars from him and his ministry.
….According to Boz Tchividjian, an attorney and founder of Godly Response to Abuse in a Christian Environment (G.R.A.C.E), who represented the Thompsons, his clients “made the very difficult decision to abide by the legally binding agreement even though Zacharias had apparently decided to do otherwise.”
Christian counselors Jerry and Denise Basel, who helped Thompson in October 2016, spoke to Roys about the emails exchanged between Zacharias and Lori Anne. They believe the online communication reveals an abusive power dynamic given the 30-year age difference between the two and that it was tantamount to grooming.
“In many ways, she was kind of like a child in regard to him because of his age,” Jerry Basel told The Roys Report in part 1 of her series, which was published on Sept. 14.
You can read the rest of that very long article (Link): here
Edit: (Link): After the Allegations Against Ravi Zacharias
(Link): Ravi Zacharias’s Ministry Investigates Claims of Sexual Misconduct at Spas
by Daniel Silliman
Three women have come forward with additional allegations against the late Christian apologist.
…Zacharias was kind and took interest in their lives, according to the people who worked there. But over time, in the small private treatment rooms, Zacharias would make unwanted sexual advances, the three women each said independently.
At first, they tried to ignore it, too embarrassed to call out a famous Christian minister. By their accounts, his inappropriate behavior only escalated.
“He would expose himself every time, and he would touch himself every time,” one of the women told CT. “It was where he went to get what he wanted sexually.”
Zacharias masturbated in front of one of the women more than 50 times, according to her recollection. He told her he was burdened by the demands of the ministry, and he needed this “therapy.” He also asked her to have sex with him twice, she said, and requested explicit photos of her.
CT has verified the identities and job histories of the three women.
….When the women didn’t say anything, the sexual harassment escalated. The three separately allege Zacharias began pulling off the covering sheet during treatments and exposing himself. One woman said Zacharias showed her his erection at least 15 times in a few months.
“In school they taught us proper draping,” she said. “There’s a way you pull the sheet up so you can get to certain areas like the lower back. You wrap the sheet around almost like it’s a baby diaper. Nobody’s easily exposed. It was made to look like an accident. But it was on purpose.”
One woman said Zacharias was completely silent when he exposed himself. Another said he made “inappropriate noises.”
…Zacharias asked her to have sex with him. Both times, she refused because he was married. He told her that he dreamed of being able to leave his ministry and his life as an apologist behind to live a normal, private life. But he couldn’t because this was his “burden,” the woman recalled.
…But the women didn’t speak out. They were afraid they wouldn’t be believed, or they would be blamed and could lose their jobs.
…Zacharias maintained a license in the denomination, which says it disciplines Christian workers for “moral failure involving sexual misconduct.”
The CMA holds that people are disqualified from leadership if their behavior causes “imminent harm to others or to the testimony of Christ.”
….When the harm is done by a trusted Christian minister, psychologists say victims often suffer additional shame, feelings of personal guilt, and extended periods of spiritual confusion.
One of the women said she stopped believing in God for a while after her encounter with Zacharias but has returned to faith after extensive counseling. Another said she has not been to church since and can’t trust religious institutions.
On You Tube:
(Link): BREAKING! Ravi Zacharias Owned 2 Health Spas. THREE Colleagues say he Sexually Harassed Therapists.
Update(s):
(Link): Interim Report Finds Ravi Zacharias “Engaged in Sexual Misconduct Over Many Years”
Related:
(Link): Women in Perry Stone’s Ministry Allege Sexual Misconduct, Say FBI is Investigating Televangelist
(Link): Carl Lentz’s Alleged Mistress Speaks Out in Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed Trailer: ‘Toxic’
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