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Christianity Today magazine reports that Judy Dabler protected Ravi Zacharias and attacked Ruth Malhotra. Is this true?
Good question. Christianity Today’s journalist Daniel Silliman published an explosive article on Judy Dabler. I gave the link below. You can read it for a better understanding of what I am going to say here.Silliman wrote that Judy Dabler abused her authority to protect those in power. She often belittled and threatened the victims. First, who is this Judy Dabler?
She is a Christian conciliator. She handled abuse allegations at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, Mars Hill Church, and many other ministries. She founded two counseling organizations named Live at Peace Ministries (LAPM) and Creative Conciliation. She uses a technique called ‘Specks and logs’ based on Matthew 7:1-5. First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye’
The investigation shows that Mrs.Dabler consistently sided with people who have been paying big money to her. During conciliation, she did not support the victims. She supported the powerful men who abused those victims. She was abusive towards her staff. More shocking is the news that she also sexually abused two men she supervised. She presents herself as someone who helps abuse victims of sexual violation, but alas, behind the screens, she has been sexually abusing her own staff. This is sickening. How did she get caught?
Back in February 2021, David French wrote about her role at RZIM. When Ravi Zacharias was charged with sexual abuse by Lori Anne Thompson, RZIM hired Dabler to help the organization navigate through tough times. Michael Ramsden and Sarah Davis sought her help to bring order inside RZIM.
So, Judy Dabler goes to Atlanta. Enters into the RZIM building. Calls every staff member to stand before her. Points her finger at Ruth Malhotra, the public relations manager for Ravi’s ministry. ‘Ruth, you are the problem. First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother Ravi’s eye.’
Ruth Malhotra was shocked by this angry rant at her. Judy Dabler identified Ruth Malhotra as the problem person at RZIM. She made Ruth look like a crazy person who is not living in reality. ‘Ruth is insane and crazy and throw her out’. That is what happened to Ruth. She was thrown out of RZIM.
More details are going to come from this investigation. In the meantime, what can we learn from this?
- Sin is contagious: After King David sinned, many others in his family started to commit sins like him. Amnon sinned, Absalom sinned, and soon King David lost control over his family. Judy has been witnessing abuse in the lives of many Christian leaders. Instead of learning to put her life in order, she herself turned into an abuser.
Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:27, ‘I discipline my body and keep it under control. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified’.
St.Paul put his finger on the root of the problem. It is easy to preach to others while not disciplining our own bodies and minds. Judy Dabler did yell at Ruth Malhotra, and then went to her office to abuse her male staff. She did not discipline her own body while preaching to others.
- Don’t take the scripture out of context. Jesus Christ our Lord put the highest ethical standards before us. He told us that looking lustfully at a woman is equal to committing adultery with her. Jesus’ message is, ‘Don’t abuse someone even in your looks’. When we do sexting on our phones, that is nothing but sin and abuse. Mrs. Dabler’s ‘specks and logs’ therapy is a joke. Our blessed Savior told that illustration to help us look at our own sins before pointing to the sins of other people. He did not suggest that sins of the religious leaders should be ignored. Most of his anger was directed at the hypocritical lives of religious leaders of his day.
- Deal with the sin in the local church. The tragedy in evangelicalism today is we appropriated the worldly methods to deal with sins of Christian leaders. God did not establish organizations. God established the church to deal with the sins of Christian leaders. Apostle Paul wrote pastoral epistles in the New Testament to deal with the problems that arise among Christians. Let us read 1 Timothy 5:19,20
Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.
Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.1 Timothy 5:19,20
If there is an accusation against a Christian leader, the pastor must be involved. Every Christian should have a local church. We are never too spiritual to have no accountability in our lives. Every Christian leader should be affiliated to a local church. When someone accuses him or her of sin, that must be brought to the local church to be discussed before two or three witnesses. Paul is saying, ‘first establish the facts’. After establishing the facts, rebuke the leader. Verse 20,
Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear
Once sin is established, when the facts are verified, rebuke that leader before all people so that others may also fear. There should be a public reprimand but not a private deal to cover up the sin. That is God’s way of dealing with sin. Conciliation is a good thing. But that should start in the local assembly. None of this happened in RZIM. Instead of taking this issue to the local church, it was given to Judy Dabler. Don’t take money from powerful men and women: Another big mistake is Judy Dabler accepting big checks from powerful men and women who are accused of sexual sins. That itself corrupts the whole process. Imagine someone committed a crime against you. A prosecutor showed up and filed charges against your abuser. Then you learnt that the prosecutor has been taking money from your abuser. How does that feel? When you are negotiating between a victim and her abuser, you should never accept money or any other gifts from the accused or even from the victim. This is less likely to happen in a local church. The elders of a church sit together. They give a disclaimer that they received no money or gifts from anyone and then they deal with the issue.
4. Don’t abuse men: Everybody talks about men abusing women. Noone talks about women abusing men. Judy Dabler was hugging these men for too long, rubbing them without their consent, touching them all over their bodies, while demanding complete silence from them. There should be a Metoo movement for men also. Innocent men need protection from evil women just like innocent women need protection from evil men.
RZIM should release the documents on Judy Dabler and Ravi Zacharias interactions. They we will have a better idea of what happened behind the scenes. We should know how much money she received from this organization. Judy Dabler also should give an explanation on this matter. Ruth Malhotra should also disclose her role in these events.
So, that is my answer to your question. Please subscribe to my channel, like this video and share your comments. God bless you.