BEWARE OF THE SECRET LIFE

The recent revelations about the secret life of Ravi Zacharias at first makes us gasp and when we start breathing again it causes us a season of deep self-reflection. At least that was what it did for me. Evidence is indisputable that the world-renown apologist who died last May was living a life that in no way comported with the message he publicly advocated and proclaimed. He sexually abused multiple women. Now we must quickly say that we have no idea of the eternal state of Dr. Zacharias’ soul. It is healthy for the world that I am not left to decide such things. Discussions along these lines are a waste of time. What is not a waste of time is for us to see what patterns may have existed in Dr. Zacharias’ life that would have led him down such a dark path and for us to take to heart of those patterns so that we might avoid going down the same path. In other words it would behoove every Christian to study the ways of sin’s deceptive nature and how it aims to subtly lead every Christian into a tunnel of destruction while advertising it as a trip to Disneyland. So I get right to the point.

Listed are six conditions in which sin can most easily overcome us. Dr. Zacharias apparently failed in each one.

First, sin comes into one’s life when one isolates himself. Sin loves it when Christians dwell alone. It attacks those sheep that wander far afield. The Bible says that “whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment” (Proverbs 18:1). Now, of course, people love to be alone for a variety of reasons. Some of them are good and wholesome. But if one desires to be alone all the time he has left himself vulnerable to temptation. In addition the desire to be alone is more often than not a warning sign of a deeper internal issues. Sin latches on to hosts that don’t want to be seen. It grows best in remote hotel rooms, or dark alleys, or 2 am visits to the gym. Sin loves paths that veer off in remote directions. And it most certainly avoids being with those who love truth, for by its very nature sin is falsehood in a veiled disguise. Sin will always choose room service over public restaurants. It shops on line rather than mingle in public markets. It walks out back doors to avoid neighbors and closes shades by 5 pm. Sin is never hospitable. It dines, works and plays in secret. Dr. Zacharias traveled the face of the globe and often traveled alone. Sin found him an easy target. Enough said.

Second, sin is never open about itself. When sin is forced to be in the presence of others (and it often is) it never reveals its true character openly. Sin loves to tell stories that obfuscate what is really going on in the heart. Sin loves to talk about anybody but itself. It will even pray for others as a pious shield. Sin loves to say “everything is going great” when questioned. It dodges probing questions and eagerly changes the subject to neutral or non-obtrusive topics. Sin has accountability to no one. It has no true friends because they are a threat to revealing its identity. Sin makes you a mystery to all around you, even to your family and friends. Sin makes you seem “known” while you are “unknown.” Sin is the essence of the double minded man who lives one way on the outside and another way on the inside. It gladly wears the hypocrite’s mask and finds satisfaction in winning the game of personality concealment. Sin convinces people that lying is okay, telling them that it is uncouth to reveal seedy secrets or burdensome to share needs. In retrospect Dr. Zacharias never told anyone who he was. He traveled the world like Harold Hill, a lonely music salesman who had much deceit but no close friends. He was anything but transparent. And tragically he lived this hidden life right up to the months preceding his death. This ought to frighten us all.

I pause to ask you, my reader. Are you transparent with anyone? When is the last time you confessed with tears some besetting sin or some embarrassing tendency to a close friend? To God? And if you respond by saying you have no such things to confess, you may already be on the path of deceit.

Third. Sin loves darkness. Not only does sin hide, but it loves to hide under the cloak of midnight. Now by darkness we do not mean the absence of light. We define darkness as the Bible defines it, the condition of heart where the Spirit is absent and God is resisted or avoided. All unbelievers dwell in darkness (Eph. 5:8). That is, they have an allergy to anything that illumines, to any place where God is active. When a man begins to strike a peace with the ways of sin he instantly finds himself avoiding certain situations and being attracted to places where he would not have ever dreamed of going. Such a man begins to lose interest in those people down at the church who are always talking about Jesus. He begins to delight in movies and other media that he once found morally offensive. He avoids the place of prayer and prefers the fair. This pattern epitomizes those who are on the verge of a great fall into sin. Were we not all warned? God says in John 3:19, “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” When any professing believer begins to enjoy those places where God’s name, God’s Son, God’s word, God’s ethic is not honored, then that man has moved willingly into the shadows of darkness, and, as John says, into the realm of divine judgment. While ostensibly declaring his love for light and truth, Dr. Zacharias’ heart dwelled in darkness. He lived in a dark corner of a lighted room and no one around him had any idea what darkness lurked in his soul. He evidently had no real love for truth, or perhaps we could say, he had a divided or intellectual love. But in his deepest man he yearned to escape the brightly lit room of truth and flee into the secret haunts of darkness. Look at your life, Christian. Do you see a pattern of loving things you once hated, frequenting places you once avoided, speaking in a way you once detested? This is a warning sign that everyone of us must heed post haste.

Fourth, sin convinces men that it is not a destructive enemy but a divine reward. Never forget that sin is the great deceiver. It operates by convincing its hosts that they deserve its pleasures. Sometimes people think they deserve to sin because they have suffered so much that God would not be upset by a little illicit compensation. Others believe they can sin because they have been righteous so long that a little diversion will not affect the overall character of their life. In Zacharias’ case it seems that he thought his sinful trysts were a reward for his service to God. In providing these excuses, sin conceals its true destructive power. It never admits that any sinful indulgence is a horror to the entire universe. It never teaches that any person who yields to it has unleashed a world of iniquity. Thus, Christians must always be on guard for sin’s subtle rationalizations. Let us remember that the fight against sin is never to be a “give and take” affair but an all or nothing commitment to complete destruction. We do not set our sights to destroy some sin, but ALL sin. The Hebrews had a word “cherem” which meant to destroy ever last living thing. We all stand as Saul, commanded to destroy every last Amalekite. And to spare even one Agag is to open oneself up to great and sometimes permanent loss. There is not one verse in Scripture that allows any man to commit one act of sin. And the only way men will be able to maintain the resolve to kill all sin is by considering the subtle ways of this mortal enemy. No one would allow a trace of arsenic into their drink, thinking “a little poison could not possibly hurt me.” Sin whispers to our souls that it is little and harmless. When those arguments begin to take root in the soul, and men begin to think that its fine to engage a little sin, the battle has already been lost. Zacharias believed that he had, as one man said, an “inflated entitlement.” He believed that He had served God and thus deserved little cordials of sin as a reward. This attitude has not only destroyed his ministry, but has put his soul in jeopardy.

Fifth, sin loves to lure its victims outside safe boundaries. Sin loves to drag men outside their places of safety. In his home, among his pious friends, and in an open place, men are generally safe. Satan’s ploy is not to attack a man when he is in waters he can comfortably swim in. Rather, sin waits for a man to enter deep waters and then pulls him down to the bottom where no one is there to help. Sin’s overtures are enticing when a man is in places that are unfamiliar and in circumstances that are stressful. In this situation Potiphar’s wife found Joseph. When did David sin? Why wasn’t it when he was lounging on the rooftop when he should have been among his troops? What traveling man (or woman) has not experienced the temptation of being alone in a hotel room or vacation spa? In such situations that godly wife may suddenly be overtaken by feelings of discontent and may innocently go into places where young men frequent. Similarly, a man may gravitate toward a table of young ladies while eating dinner in a strange town. A man is safe in his home with his wife and kids. The family provides an invisible shield of protection over him. Who, I might ask, thinks of committing grievous sins while in church? But outside those places of safety, out in that wild and wooly world, protective shields quickly disappear. Dr. Zacharias traveled all the time and to many strange and sinful cities. And he succumbed to unmentionable behavior. Beware, Christian, of places that are unfamiliar and circumstances where there are great life changes. Here is where sin likes to lurk, often waiting for you.

The author knows. He has gone there.

Sixth, sin will allow great feats of Christian service and great preaching so long as the human instrument is destroyed in the end. Sin will allow a man to be a great Christian leader and have an impactful ministry so long as he continues to harbor sin in the heart. Sin endures minor defeats to gain the ultimate victory. Sin knows something that often escape humans. If you can discredit a man’s ministry, you ultimately discredit all that he said and did. He becomes a ghost or a byword to history. Who remembers any message from the apostate preacher Charles Templeton who was groomed to be the next Billy Graham? And in 20 years who will remember anything said by Dr. Zacharias? He may have done a little good while he was living in his double minded world, but the losses to future generations will far overshadow any gains he made while alive. Sin will allow great advances in Christian service as long as the internal man is shamed or damned in the end. To be sure, there are usually warnings before the great fall. But they are often ignored. The problem lies with Christians who are so enamored with their favorite preachers that they will tolerate little peccadillos and subtle inconsistencies in their lives. Dr. Zacharias could preach with passion while thinking about his next tryst at the massage parlor. Yes, there were signs that his heart was not right, as when he lied about his academic credentials. But the church overlooked them. So we issue warnings to Christian teachers and church alike. To the teachers we say, look deeply at any secret sins that dwell in your heart. Ask yourself honestly whether you harbor sins while preaching against them? Seek out godly friends to give you honest evaluations. Be determined to kill every sin in your life.

And to the church I say, “Are you sensitive to warning signs that a man’s ministry may not be all that you think it is?” Are you, Christians, bold enough to ask hard questions of your heroes? If not, there will be many more tragedies like the one that happened to Dr. Zacharias.

We close with two words of Scripture:

“Let not many of you become teachers knowing you will receive a stricter judgment” (James 3:1).

“Test all things, hold fast what is good” (1 Thess. 5:21).

Amen.