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Originally Posted by bearbear
I also used to look up to Ravi Zacharias and I believe God used him greatly to bring many to salvation. People refused to believe in the accusations against him at first because they seemed so out of character...
Interestingly there are actually similarities between Ravi and Nee in Wang’s diaries. Ravi was a very private person and those closest to him didn’t really know him or know what he was up to. According to Wang’s diary, Nee got annoyed at Wang when he tried to get close to him and Nee appears to have valued his privacy.
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There are striking similarities. Both were withdrawn persons, with a strong aura of spirituality which in retrospect was their cloak. Both had clear warning signs during tge peak of their ministries, but we were so taken by their personal charisma and apparent brilliance that our perception was dulled.
In the case of Nee, he travelled with a female "co-worker" not his wife. Yet he was the Spiritual Man, whose behaviour was somehow beyond mere NT considerations. The conceit was of a higher law at work which we soulish could only look towards, but Nee was supposedly solidly beyond the veil.
What did Witness Lee call it? "The divine and mystical realm". When the Shanghai elders objected to Nee being with a woman not his wife, they were too low, natural, said Lee. They couldn't see the reality.
If you look in the WN collected works, published by LSM, how often a female travel companion pops up in the writing. "I was waiting at the boat for Miss Fiscbacher", his muse (she transcribed his speeches at Keswick). Even if nothing was going on, it looks bad. Unless, of course, you are the "spiritual man, discerned by no one". Then you are exempt from such trifling considerations. Then, apparently nothing looks bad.
In the case of RZ, I remember seeing a news conference, after the stories came to public eye. In this news conference, RZ was standing with the governor of Georgia, as he opened his new massage parlour, or day spa, as the more convenient term went. Brilliant. Charismatic. "I was mesmerized" said the co-owner, who put up all the money, and eventually lost it. We can't say that the warning signs were not there already, long before the downfall. We just lost our discernment.