Welcome to Defenders voice. This is Dr.Paul. Thank you for joining us. Please send me your questions to info@doctorpaul.org. Visit my website http://www.doctor paul.org.
Today’s question is Ruth Malhotra says she joked with Ravi while he was on his deathbed. Was that a correct response?
Good question.
Today’s Washington Post has an article on Ravi Zacharias and Ruth Malhotra. I gave the link below and you can read it for yourself. Back in February 2018, speaking to his staff, Ravi Zacharias said, ‘I do all the wrong things – and she makes them look right’. Ruth Malhotra says, then she thought Ravi was joking. Now she realizes the truthfulness of his words: Ravi was using her to clean up his trash.
Then after Ravi’s death, several massage therapists came forward alleging that Zacharias had repeatedly demanded sexual favors. Still Ruth Malhotra did not quit. She says, ‘I did not quit because I wanted to fight for Ravi’s victims’. She went public with her concerns. In July 2021, she drove to RZIM. She got a big blow. RZIM staff did not allow her into the building. They brought her belongings out and told her to get out of the premises.
Then she tells us her story. I looked up to Ravi as a father figure. I went to the same school his children went. I traveled with him around the world. In 2013, I traveled with Ravi to India on a speaking tour. He brought a young woman with him. Whenever they got a break, Ravi and that young woman are leaving to spend time together. It did not look good. I voiced my concerns. But it didn’t go very well. Sweet Grandpa Ravi was above reproach. I just learned to keep my mouth shut.
Then she says, one day she got a call from Ravi in July 2017. He had been accused of spiritual abuse and sexual misconduct by Thompson. He called Ruth and said, ‘Ruth, you’re my gal’. Get me out of this mess. Moving forward, Ravi paid $250000 to Lori Anne Thompson and made her sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement.
Even then, Ruth says, she moved on. Then in early 2020, Ravi was diagnosed with cancer. He was at home in hospice care. Then Ruth went to see Ravi. They both joked a bit, and toward the end of their conversation, Ravi turned serious and told her she’d be sorry she ever met him. She tried to assuage Ravi and told him, ‘working for your ministry is the honor of my life’. Then Ravi told her, ‘No Ruth, you’re going to regret meeting me someday’.
Then, Ravi died. Miller and Martin Report came out. RZIM issued an apology to all alleged victims. Now, Ruth Malhotra says, ‘the leadership chose not to act when the evidence was right in front of their eyes’.
Why did you want to stay with RZIM?
Ruth says, ‘“For so long I was used to advance Ravi’s platform, his megaphone, by his voice. I still lament that”…..“I wanted to use that same platform … to give victims a voice and to point to truth.”
She went on to say, “I have less faith in Christian institutions— particularly when these institutions become breeding grounds for Christian celebrity culture — because I’ve seen firsthand how elements of entitlement, fame and fortune harm our own people and hinder our gospel witness to a watching world.”
So Ruth Malhotra says that she found so much corruption and abuse in Christian institutions that now she is determined to take a stand against them.
Ravi’s son Nathan Zacharias gives us a glimpse of Ruth’s character on his website www.defendingravi.com. Listen to what Nathan wrote Ruth:
“Ruth Malhotra, one of the ones alleging such things, has in no way acted like a person who had concerns about Dad the last few years. She invited herself to many of his events and contrary to what she often indicated, it wasn’t necessary for her to be at so many. She always found a way to be near my Dad at occasions/conversations/interactions she didn’t need to be involved with. She invited her family to any of my Dad’s events that she could, often when other staff family members didn’t take that liberty. She even went as far as pressuring organizers at my Dad’s funeral, telling them multiple times that she needed to sit with the immediate family. We found out about the request(s) after the service. Ruth hadn’t spoken to the family about it, making it clear this desire had very little to do with offering support and more about appearing she had a close relationship with my Dad and the family. That is not the kind of relationship she had with him or us, so the organizers didn’t seat her there. Ruth has given very positive public interviews about him many times since 2017, including after he passed away. These are not the actions of someone who took issue with my Dad or his family.”
So, Nathan says, Ruth Malhotra never behaved in a way that she was concerned about my dad and his behavior. She was pushing herself into Ravi’s presence, often uninvited. She was bribing her family to many events without my dad’s invitation. Even after his death, she was begging to sit with us just to look good to the world. She did not bother to comfort us but wanted to sit near us just for a photo-op.
Nathan says that Ruth Malhotra was always sucking up to his dad. But now Ruth is going around giving a different portrait. So, I really doubt her words.
So, if you read Ruth Malhotra’s interviews and Nathan’s blog, you will see that she is playing a double game. When Ravi was alive, she wanted to cozy up with him. She wanted to please him. Now he is dead, she is trying to please the world.
If you are really concerned about a person who is close to you, you should confront them when they are alive. That is what God wants from his children.
Lorenzo de Medici was a powerful ruler of Florence in Italy. He was deep into corruption, accumulation of ill gotten wealth, and abuse of women. A preacher named Savonarola was living in Florence at the same time. He was concerned about Lorenzo’s corruption and abuse of power.
Ruth Malhotra says when I saw Ravi’s abuses, I kept my mouth shut. But Savonarola did not keep his mouth shut. He called out the sins of Lorenzo and the Medici family. He denounced their abuse of people.
Ruth says that she went to Ravi on his death bed and they joked with each other. That is not what Savonarola did.
Lorenzo got a serious disease. They thought it was gout but recently they exhumed his skeleton and found out that he actually had acromegaly. Lorenzo became seriously sick and was dying. Savonarola went to his home. He did not tell him any jokes. He told him, ‘Lorenzo, you committed so many sins against God. If you die in your sins, you will wake up in hell. Now, repent. Ask God for forgiveness. Let the blood of Jesus wash away sins.’
Listening to Savonarola, Lorenzo cried and prayed to God for forgiveness. Ruth Malhotra tells us that she was so concerned about Ravi’s abuse of power but did not bother to ask him any questions. Even when Ravi was on his deathbed, Ruth says, she spent her time joking with him and praising him. If she were really concerned about Ravi, she should have told Ravi, ‘Ravi, you sinned. Repent of your sins now. Ask Jesus to forgive you’. By her own admission, she did not do that.
She says Ravi looked at her and said, ‘Ruth, you are going to regret meeting me someday’. At that moment, she should have looked at Ravi and said, ‘Ravi, forget about my meeting with you. Are you ready to meet God? If you don’t repent, you regret for an eternity’
She did not do it because, like all her colleagues at RZIM, she loved herself more than she loved Ravi and his soul. If you really love someone and see sin in their life, ask them to repent and get saved by the blood of Jesus. Don’t go around after their death to make yourself look better before society.
That’s my answer to your question to Ruth Malhotra’s interaction with Ravi while he was dying. It was not time for joking. It was time for some serious repentance and forgiveness.
Read Nathan Zacharias’ testimony about Ruth Malhotra on his website https://defendingravi.com/page/2/
The Great Defender will ensure justice. . Ravi’s heartbroken son ,who said he wishes his father did not have to see this ,needs to know he does see all of it.. We wrestle not against flesh and blood… The great cloud of witnesses are watching. Judgement day is the day of justice.