You know I went to three trainings at RZIM, including the Emerging Apologist Program. I greatly admired Ravi Zacharias. I made a tribute to him on this blog after he died last year.
I am no fool to think I couldn’t be Ravi. So the playing field is leveled. We all have wicked hearts that desperately need a Savior. We must stay close to the Shepherd. So this blog is not to say “Wow, look at what Ravi did!” I wasn’t shocked by this report of Ravi, as I am not shocked by pastors falling, people walking away from the faith, etc. Not shocked because I know my own heart. I know what I am capable of. I’m one step away from stupid….each and every day.
We gotta keep our own testimony close to our face lest we fall.
It makes me sad though and my fear of the Lord meter goes up a notch making me cling a little tighter to the Lord’s robe when I hear of reports like this.
When we take off our belt of truth and lie in bed with our flesh or the father of lies, we give birth to death 100% of the time. The enemy loves when we take our armor off, especially the belt of truth. Once truth is lost…we are goners.
RZIM’s motto is “Helping the thinker believe, Helping the believer think.”
This blog is for Ruth, the believer who thinks.
The irony of this all is RZIM was an organization that stood for truth and taught you how to discover it, but covered truth in a bodyguard of lies in this case.
That doesn’t make me judge, it makes me get low. It makes me know that the very thing the Lord has gifted you with will be the VERY thing the enemy and your own flesh will war against. We must be alert and be on guard.
Ruth Malhotra was RZIM’s public relations manager and spokeswoman. You can read the article here, but there are several out about what she stood for.
For context, about three years before Ravi died, there were sexting allegations that he received and denied from Lori Anne Thompson. Ravi had Lori sign a non-disclosure agreement. Most didn’t give this a second thought, as a toxic loyalty culture had developed within the organization.
RZIM employees had been assured the board “looked into everything.” They hadn’t.
Ruth Malhotra began to question and experienced internal resistance. You can read her whole letter to the board here in which she describes being “systematically marginalized, maligned, and misrepresented to others by key members of senior leadership” during her time on the Thompson task force.
According to Malhotra and at least one other person present at the task force meetings, RZIM president Michael Ramsden objected to her notetaking. RZIM general counsel Abdu Murray said her lingering questions meant that she had moved from being “skeptical to being cynical.”
When Malhotra continued to ask questions as she learned more about the gaping holes in the original story, Ramsden allegedly called her “tired and emotional” and suggested to the group that “she can’t handle” the stress and pressure of responding to the allegations.
Senior leaders would tell Malhotra and others that they should believe Zacharias because the senior leaders believed Zacharias. As one senior leader allegedly told the task force, “You just don’t know Ravi as well as I know him. If you had spent as much time with him as I have, you wouldn’t have these concerns.”
When Malhotra continued to press for answers she was told to “do the Matthew 18 thing” (referring to a scripture that admonishes believers to first confront a fellow believer personally before addressing their sin with others). At one point RZIM senior vice president Sanj Kalra pressed Ruth with a question, “Whose side are you on?” He allegedly accused her of “plotting to bring the ministry down.”
It’s against this backdrop that RZIM conducted its May 2018 “conciliation.” They brought in a Christian “conciliator” named Judy Dabler to facilitate dialogue. Almost immediately, however, it became clear to Malhotra that the gathering wasn’t intended to bring reconciliation. Instead, it was designed in part to allow the senior leaders to vent at Malhotra. As the tension escalated—and as Malhotra fought back tears in the face of attacks from her more-senior colleagues—Dabler allegedly turned to her and uttered crushing words. Malhotra, she said, was “one step away from complete and total insanity.”
Ultimately, senior leadership forced Malhotra to take a sabbatical in November 2018.
Zacharias’ daughter, Sarah Davis, subsequently asked Malhotra to go to Dabler’s center by herself for a week of “intensive sessions.”
“I don’t want to force my hand on this, but I’m prepared to do so,” Davis reportedly told Malhotra.
Dabler ended up not being able to work with her and she was instead referred to another counselor with knowledge of her approach and the RZIM situation. This other counselor assured Malhotra that she had been “a victim of gaslighting” and that Dabler should not be considered “a safe place.”
You picking up on that? She didn’t give into the toxic loyalty culture as she was doing what any apologist would do in figuring out the truth….and was gaslighted and forced to take a sabbatical.
Why do people always want whistleblowers to take a breather? ~TT
“I came to find out later that the false narrative about me — the idea that I could not be trusted and my motives were cause for concern — had been circulating amongst our wider staff; it was propagated by senior leadership, including during Founders’ Weekend 2018. [RZIM President] Michael Ramsden told several attendees at Founders’ that he and the senior leadership were ‘concerned’ and ‘unsure’ about my intentions, partly because ‘Ruth keeps records of everything,’ and he warned them to ‘be careful’ around me,” Malhotra wrote in her letter to the board.
What are the lessons we can learn? Some are obvious. When family members of founders occupy the controlling heights of an organization, they are placed under immense strain and face an obvious conflict of interest when their father is accused of misconduct. Rigorous, independent investigations should be mandatory when accusers come forward. Compliance with reasonable investigatory requests (such as turning over phones and other communications equipment) must be required. Governing boards should be powerful, independent, and transparent.
I can go on. Nondisclosure agreements—especially in Christian ministries—are poisonous and enable additional abuse. Do not trust instincts over evidence. Never say, “I know this man, and he would never do anything like this.” The goal of any organization facing claims of abuse should be discerning truth, not discrediting accusers. All accusers should be treated immediately—publicly and privately—with dignity and respect.
Thank you Ruth for wearing the belt of truth, through all the persecution for standing for truth in a Christian apologist organization. TT is fanning your flame.
