Vince Vitale and his wife Jo Vitale released a video saying we are sorry. They said, we are so sorry that we did not do enough for the victims of Ravi Zacharias. Why didn’t we do enough? They said, “Because Ravi Zacharias told us lies after lies. He told us false narratives. He told us fabricated stories.” They threw Ravi under the bus at the right time. RZIM is closed now. They don’t have a job. It is the perfect time to throw Ravi under the bus. They did not give us the true reasons for their failure to see through Ravi. What are the true reasons for their failure to stop Ravi?
- They worshipped Ravi more than God: someone inside RZIM said, in our organization, you can be a skeptic about Jesus, but you can’t be a skeptic of Ravi Zacharias. Jesus can lie, but Ravi cannot. Jesus can sin, but Ravi cannot. They worshipped Ravi more than Jesus. This is the problem with most Christians today. We worship human beings more than Lord Jesus Christ. We question God more than human beings. You can be excused for questioning Jesus, but it is an unforgivable sin to question Ravi. Vince and his wife like most others at RZIM worshipped Ravi more than God.
- They valued fame more than truth: Ravi craved for fame more than truth. I need to be popular. I should be in the spotlight. Vince and his wife valued popularity and spotlight. Ravi gave them what they wanted and they enjoyed the spotlight. They enjoyed the popularity. When Ravi’s sins were coming to light, Vince and his wife did not speak up because they were enjoying the popularity and salaries Ravi gave them.
- They valued acceptance more than convictions: what is a conviction? A conviction is a firmly held belief. If someone stops you in the street, and asks you a question, and you know the answer, then you should say it firmly. Too many Christians are concerned with acceptance than voicing their convictions.
For example, “How old is the universe?” I asked Ken Ham. He told me without flipping a heart beat, 6000 years. I asked, Kent Hovind, “How old is the universe?”. He immediately replied 6000 years. I asked Hugh Ross, “How old is the universe?” He immediately replied, ‘14 billion years old’. The point here is not who is right, Ken Ham or Hugh Ross. The point is they would tell you what they believe in their heart and mind. They would not worry about whether you would accept them or reject them. This is what we believe. Period.
We asked RZIM speakers, “How old is the universe?” They would not answer. Our boss Ravi told us not to answer that question. Forget about Ravi and RZIM. Tell us Nabeel Qureshi, what do you believe personally?. He did not answer. The strategy was not to make comments on controversial issues. We should attract as many people as we can using as few truths of Christianity as possible. This is the art of deception started under Billy Graham and matured in the hands of Ravi Zacharias. You see you should tell the world what you believe in your heart in unmistakable terms. You should not worry how many Christians would still be your friends tomorrow morning if you say it loud.
I used the age of the universe as an example. But On any given topic, everyone in RZIM parrot out what Ravi told them to say. They would not tell you their individual opinions. They leased out their independent thinking to Ravi Zacharias. Vince and his wife, like many others at RZIM, enslaved their minds to Ravi Zacharias ideology.
In Acts chapter 17, we read about the believers in Berea. Apostle Paul and Silas preached them the scriptures. What did these believers do?
“received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11). You see, they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily. Our problem today is we rarely search the scriptures. We take human opinion as God’s opinion. The Bereans did not take Apostle Paul as the final authority. They took God’s Word as the final authority. In RZIM, Ravi became the final authority, not God.
Rather than identifying their true problems, Vince and his wife distanced themselves from Ravi at the right time when it is no longer inconvenient to do so. Now RZIM is closed, they are not even accepting donations, and Vince and his wife said, this is the perfect time to throw Ravi under the bus!
What a shame. Why harshly judge Jo and Vince Vitale and others at RZIM? Do you somehow know all the details of these lives and RZIM ministries? We should be grieving and praying for all the victims, RZIM staff, and Zacharias family. Does the Kingdom benefit from Christians heaping on judgment from a distance?
I worked at RZIM from 2010 to 2020 & I know a lot of these people you speak about. Just because someone is brilliant (and a lot of these folks are), doesn’t mean they are always infallible intellectually OR spiritually. And flesh never becomes spiritually mature, it just responds to stimuli. And stimuli is Satan’s playground. When we’re objective, we can be an armchair quarterback-counselors with all the scriptures handy. But when you’re in the middle of a situation/conversation which is risky or threatening, we might not be so “objective.” Almost all of these people had their perspective of reality shredded. It was totally disorienting. You can’t say, “Well, if I’d been there I’d’ve said….” More than likely, you have NO IDEA what you would have done – or said. It’s impossible to pick the speck out of all these eyes.