Christian Apologist Ravi Zacharias Passes Away

Indian-born Canadian-American Christian evangelist and apologist Ravi Zacharias has passed away at the age of 74.

In a statement, his daughter, Sarah Zacharias Davis said: “My dad’s humility, grace, tenderness for people, and above all love for the Lord are forever imprinted on my mind, my heart, and my life. His love for our family will be impossible to replace until we join him in heaven one day.”

Zacharias was born on March 26, 1946, in Madras, India. His family moved to Delhi where he grew up.

His family was Anglican, but Ravi was an atheist until the age of 17 when he tried to commit suicide by swallowing poison. While he was in the hospital, a local Christian worker brought him a Bible and told his mother to read to him from John 14. Zacharias explained that Jesus’ words in John 14:19 touched him deeply and became the defining paradigm for his life. “Because I live, you also will live.”

“This may be my only hope,” he said after hearing this verse, “A new way of living. Life as defined by the Author of Life.” At that moment he committed his life to Christ praying, “Jesus if You are the one who gives life as it is meant to be, I want it. Please get me out of this hospital bed well, and I promise I will leave no stone unturned in my pursuit of truth.”

From that moment forward, it became Zacharias’ goal to share and defend the truth of Christianity for others to find the hope he had found in Jesus. At the age of 19, he won the Asian Youth Preacher Award at the International Youth Congress.

Zacharias was later invited to speak by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association at the inaugural International Conference for Itinerant Evangelists. This was an especially meaningful experience for the young evangelist, who began to ponder the need for apologetics to address the intellectual and existential barriers keeping many from accepting Christ.

In 1966, Zacharias immigrated with his family to Canada, earning his undergraduate degree from the Ontario Bible College in 1972 (now Tyndale University) and his M.Div. from Trinity International University. He founded RZIM in 1984, and spent his time addressing life’s “big” questions of origin, meaning, mortality, and destiny.

As a defender of the Christian Faith, Zacharias was the author of numerous Christian books, including the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association’s Gold Medallion Book Award winner Can Man Live Without God? and bestsellers Light in the Shadow of Jihad and The Grand Weaver.

In March 2020, Zacharias announced he had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer on his sacrum. Three weeks prior to his announcement, the apologist had undergone successful back surgery when he began to experience “very severe pain …” A biopsy resulted in Zacharias’ diagnosis of Sarcoma, a type of cancer that begins in bone and soft tissue.

He began to undergo chemotherapy treatments at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. In early May, despite success in his chemo treatments, Zacharias’ prognosis became grim. Though the cancer on his sacrum had responded to treatments, the area where the cancer had metastasized had worsened.

Sarah Zacharias Davis, Zacharias’ daughter and CEO of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries announced Zacharias would be returning to his home in Atlanta, Georgia for “whatever time the Lord gives us.”

His daughter Sarah released a statement after his death, which said in part: “Soon our family will gather for a graveside service. In the days ahead we will provide details for a public memorial service to be held in Atlanta and streamed around the world.”

She went on to say: “The Gospel of John records these words of Jesus: ‘Because I live, you also will live’ (14:19)—seven words that changed the trajectory of Ravi Zacharias’s life some 57 years ago. It is a verse etched on his grandmother’s gravestone and will be etched on his too. Today my beautiful father is more alive than he has ever been. We thank God for him and recommit our lives to sharing this truth with all who will hear, until He calls us to our eternal home.”

Zacharias is survived by his wife, Margaret, and his three children Sarah, Nathan, and Naomi.

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Read the official Ravi Zacharias obituary at his ministry website.