The wife of the late apologist Ravi Zacharias defended him against the allegations that shocked the Christian world and forced the Ravi Zacharias International Ministry (RZIM) to reorganize.
In an email to her friends, released by her son Nathan, Margie explained that she did not find any evidence to prove that the accusations thrown against her husband are true.
She began by saying that she went through all Ravi's documents, since she was told to move out from the house provided by the RZIM. To make sure "that nothing was left of Ravi that anyone could take and twist and create a story to use against him," she decided to go "through every scrap of paper, all his financial documents, letters, cards he had kept etc," which she described as everything that Ravi "valued and needed in life."
She said that Ravi was not organized, and that his "filing system" was a drawer where he'd "throw everything" in. Inside this drawer, she found old receipts "dating back into the 1980's, including every restaurant he ever ate in, I think."
She also found pictures (including a photo of her and her father when she was 16 and another when she graduated from high school), notes she had written to him, cards "he had bought to give me but never had the chance," money of multiple currencies, medications and other various documents.
She also found pens and good watches, which Ravi did not choose to wear for fear of making the "wrong impression" on people.
Moreover, she found a "bag of crosses" which Ravi gave to the therapists and were used against him. Margie said that she and her children were also given those. She added that Ravi told her how he used the crosses to open a conversation about Christ with anyone he met. She noted that Ravi had "dozens" of those crosses and "gave them out liberally" but "were not intended to convey a special or romantic interest."
"They conveyed no special interest. He gave them to everyone. They were what he said they were, an opportunity for him to open the conversation to be about the Lord," she said.
Further, she found numerous cards from people, including from some therapists, conveying their gratitude to Ravi. Margie also discovered letters from individuals offering Ravi with various advice about his health.
In addition, she said that she and her daughter, Naomi, had received frequent text messages from the therapists, expressing their love and respect for the family.
"All of this is to tell you what I did not find: no suspicious financial documents, no financial or real estate arrangements that I did not know about. No investments that I was not aware of. No suspicious letters or cards of a romantic nature from anyone but me. No suspicious expenditures. No products to treat conditions unknown to me," she continued.
"In short, I want you, his family, to know beyond a shadow of doubt that I found not one suspicious receipt, letter, card, expenditure...absolutely nothing to support the claims being made or the charges against him," Margie added.
She went on by repeating her observation that Ravi was not an organized person and that he is a kind of person that cannot keep a secret as he was alleged with.
"He could never have kept a secret like they are alleging (alleging, I say, as there is not one whit of evidence to support what they are saying). At the very least, with all the medication he was on at the end and his hallucinations something would have come out if something were there."
She recalled that when the late apologist found that his cancer had metastasized, Ravi said he was "ready to meet the Lord" and had no regrets except leaving his family. Towards the end of his life, when he was already "seeing things [they] couldn't and talking to people [they] couldn't see," Ravi was not consumed with any guilt or fear but was discussing about "sharing the Gospel with his unseen visitors."
She also observed that Ravi never mentioned a name of any other woman, even when he was sleeping, but would even thank the Lord every time he woke up during those times. She further said that his Bible was marked up and filled with notes.
Margie noticed the following note written in Ravi's Bible:
"Lord, I renounce my desire for human praise,
For the approval of my peers,
The need for public appreciation;
I deliberately put them aside today,
Content to hear you whisper,
"Well done, my faithful servant." Amen."
She remembered a poem, "Make Me Thy Fuel, Flame of God" by Amy Carmichael that resonates the one written by her husband.
She admitted that Ravi was not perfect but argued that her husband's "failures" were not in the area that he was accused with, noting that he was "self-disciplined in his conduct," "loved [her] completely" and was committed to God, her, their children and others "who looked to him as an example."
She repeated her claim that Ravi "could not be guilty" with what he was accused with, citing lack of evidence to support the allegations.
She declared that as Ravi's wife for 48 years, she knew him "inside and out" and that she continues to trust and believe in him.
"I have written this because I feel it is important that you, his family, know what I know, know what I have found and not found, so that you may have confidence to continue to love and respect the man you knew, and that you may know that he was the man you knew," she also stated.
She closed her statement, expressing her firm "confidence" with her husband.
"With much love, and confidence in Ravi and in the God he knew and loved and served," Margie said.
