Ravi Zacharias - A Great Evangelist

Frederick Antony Ravi Kumar Zacharias (born 1946) is an Indian-born, Canadian-American evangelical Christian apologist. Zacharias is the author of numerous Christian books, including Gold Medallion Book Award winner Can Man Live Without God? and bestsellers Light in the Shadow of Jihad and The Grand Weaver. He is the founder and chairman of the board of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, host of the radio programs Let My People Think and Just Thinking, and visiting professor at Wycliffe Hall of Oxford, where he teaches apologetics and evangelism. Zacharias studied as a visiting scholar at Cambridge University and held the chair in Evangelism and Contemporary Thought at Alliance Theological Seminary from 1981 to 1984. Commentator Chuck Colson referred to Zacharias as "the great apologist of our time.

Early life
Zacharias was born in Madras, India. Zacharias claims descent from a woman of the Nambudiri Brahmin caste and a low caste Boatman. Swiss German missionaries spoke to one of his ancestors about Christianity and his family was converted. Zacharias grew up in a nominal Anglican household, and was an atheist until the age of 17, when he unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide by swallowing poison. While in the hospital, a local Christian worker brought him a Bible and told his mother to read to him out of John 14. Zacharias says that it was John 14:19 that touched him and caused him to commit his life to Christ.
He immigrated with his family to Canada in 1966, earning his undergraduate degree from Ontario Bible College in 1972 (now Tyndale University College & Seminary) and his M. Div. from Trinity International University. In May 1972, Zacharias married Margaret ("Margie") Reynolds, whom he met at his church's youth group. They have three children, Sarah, Naomi and Nathan. He was later ordained by the Christian and Missionary Alliance and commissioned as an international evangelist. He founded Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in 1984 to pursue his calling as a "classical evangelist in the arena of the intellectually resistant."

Ministry
Zacharias was invited to spend the summer of 1971 in Vietnam, where he evangelized to the American soldiers, as well as to POWs and Viet Cong. After graduating from Ontario Bible College, he began an itinerant ministry with the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada. In 1974 the C&MA sent him to Cambodia, where he preached only a short time before its fall to the Khmer Rouge. In 1977, after graduating from Trinity, Zacharias was commissioned to preach worldwide.
In 1983, Zacharias was invited to speak in Amsterdam at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association's annual evangelists' conference. It was here that he first noticed a lack of ministry in the area of Christian apologetics. After Amsterdam, Zacharias spent the summer evangelizing in India, where he continued to see the need for apologetics ministry, both to lead people to Christ and to train Christian leaders. In August 1984 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries was founded in Toronto, Canada. Today its headquarters is located in Atlanta, Georgia, and has offices in Canada, England, India, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.
In 1989, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Zacharias was invited to speak in Moscow. While there he spoke to students at the Lenin Military Academy as well as political leaders at the Center for Geopolitical Strategy. This was the first of many evangelism opportunities towards the political world. Future events included an invitation to Bogota, Colombia in 1993, where he spoke to the judiciary committee on the importance of having a solid moral foundation.
Zacharias took a sabbatical in 1990 and spent part of that year as a visiting scholar at Cambridge University. There he heard lectures by men such as Stephen Hawking and studied under professors such as John Polkinghorne and Don Cupitt. He also wrote his first book, A Shattered Visage: The Real Face of Atheism. In 1993 Zacharias was invited to speak at his first Veritas Forum at Harvard University, and later that year was one of the keynote speakers at Urbana. Zacharias continues to be a frequent guest at these forums, both giving lectures and answering students in question and answer sessions at academic institutions such as the University of Georgia, the University of Michigan, and Penn State.
Zacharias attracted media attention when in 2004 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) opened its signature pulpit at the Salt Lake Tabernacle to him for a series of messages. Zacharias delivered a sermon on "Who Is the Truth? Defending Jesus Christ as The Way, The Truth and The Life" to some 7,000 lay-persons and scholars from both LDS and Protestant camps in an initiatory move towards open dialog between the camps.
Some evangelicals criticized Zacharias' decision not to use this opportunity to directly address the "deep and foundational" differences between the historic Christian faith and that of the LDS church. He responded by asserting that Christians should not immediately condemn Mormonism's theological differences but "graciously build one step at a time in communicating our faith with clarity and conviction". He said this is just as effective as showing someone the faults of their faith. The speaking engagement was nearly sabotaged by a claim by event organizer Greg Johnson, president of Standing Together, that Zacharias had nothing to do with editing the book The Kingdom of the Cults and had only loaned his name to the latest edition. Johnson later apologized for his comment.
Zacharias is a frequent keynote lecturer within the evangelical community at events such as the Future of Truth conference in 2004, the National Religious Broadcasters' Convention and Exposition in 2005, the National Conference on Christian Apologetics in 2006. On successive nights in October 2007, he addressed first the students and faculty of Virginia Tech, then the community of Blacksburg, Virginia, on the topic of evil and suffering in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre. Zacharias has represented the evangelical community at occasions such as the National Day of Prayer in Washington, DC, the Annual Prayer Breakfast at the United Nations, and the African Union Prayer Breakfast in Maputo, Mozambique, and was named honorary chairman of the 2008 National Day of Prayer task force.
Zacharias was interviewed in Focus on the Family's Truth Project. In November 2009, Zacharias signed an ecumenical statement known as the Manhattan Declaration calling on Evangelicals, Catholics and Orthodox to engage in civil disobedience with regard to laws which the declaration claims would force them to accept abortion, same-sex marriage or other matters that go against their religious consciences.
Philosophy
Zacharias states that a coherent worldview must be able to satisfactorily answer four questions: that of origin, meaning of life, morality and destiny. He says that while every major religion makes exclusive claims about truth, the Christian faith is unique in its ability to answer all four of these questions. He routinely speaks on the coherency of the Christian worldview, saying that Christianity is capable of withstanding the toughest philosophical attacks. Zacharias believes that the apologist must argue from three levels: the theoretical, to line up the logic of the argument; the arts, to illustrate; and "kitchen table talk", to conclude and apply.
Zacharias's style of apologetic focuses predominantly on Christianity's answers to life's great existential questions, with logical and scientifically inclined defense of God. In some discussion Zacharias appropriates to scientific matters, he answers the question of human origin. He has voiced skepticism over what he believes to be inadequate empirical evidence in the fossil records for an honest endorsement of the theory of evolution. He believes that evolution is incompatible with the second law of thermodynamics, saying that the two are inconsistent and irreconcilable. This view is not shared by the scientific community.
Zacharias also believes that in Christianity homosexual acts are an “aberration” and “violation” of human sexuality and that though some people may have a homosexual “disposition,” they are not justified in expressing that disposition.

Works
A Shattered Visage: The Real Face of Atheism (1994, 2004) ISBN 0-8010-6511-9
Can Man Live Without God? (1994, 1996) ISBN 0-8499-3943-7
Deliver Us From Evil (1996, 1998) ISBN 0-8499-3950-X
Cries of the Heart (1998, 2002) ISBN 0-8499-4387-6
The Merchant and the Thief (1999) (Children’s) ISBN 0-7814-3296-0
The Broken Promise (2000) (Children's) ISBN 0-7814-3451-3
Jesus Among Other Gods (2000, 2002) ISBN 0-8499-4327-2
Jesus Among Other Gods (Youth Edition) (2000) ISBN 0-8499-4217-9
The Lotus and the Cross: Jesus Talks with Buddha (2001) ISBN 1-57673-854-X
Sense and Sensuality: Jesus Talks with Oscar Wilde (2002) ISBN 1-59052-014-9
Light in the Shadow of Jihad: The Struggle For Truth (2002) ISBN 1-57673-989-9
Recapture the Wonder (2003) ISBN 1-59145-276-7
Is Your Church Ready?: Motivating Leaders to Live an Apologetic Life (2003) (Editor, with Norman Geisler) ISBN 0-310-25061-7
Who Made God? And Answers to Over 100 Other Tough Questions of Faith (2003) (General Editor, with Norman Geisler) ISBN 0-310-24710-1
The Kingdom of the Cults (2003) (Editor) ISBN 0-7642-2821-8
I, Isaac Take Thee, Rebekah: Moving From Romance to Lasting Love (2004) ISBN 0-8499-0822-1
The Prince and the Prophet: Jesus Talks With Mohammed (Copyright 2004, to be released posthumously) ISBN 1-59052-319-9
The Lamb and the Führer: Jesus Talks with Hitler (2005) ISBN 1-59052-394-6
Walking From East to West: God in the Shadows (With R.S.B. Sawyer) (2006) ISBN 0-310-25915-0
The Grand Weaver: How God Shapes Us Through the Events of Our Lives (2007) ISBN 0-310-26952-0
Beyond Opinion: Living the Faith We Defend (2008) ISBN 0-8499-1968-1
The End of Reason: A Response to the New Atheists (2008) ISBN 0-310-28251-9
Is There Not a Cause (2008) (National Day of Prayer Feature Book)
New Birth or Rebirth: Jesus Talks with Krishna (2008) ISBN 1-59052-725-9
There is a Plan (2009) (excerpts from The Grand Weaver) ISBN 0-310-31849-1
Has Christianity Failed You? (2010) ISBN 0-310-26955-5
The Lotus and the Cross: Jesus Talks with Buddha (2010) ISBN 1-60142-318-7
Why Jesus? Rediscovering His Truth in an Age of Mass Marketed Spirituality (2012) ISBN 978-0-89296-319-5

Is This The Last Generation: How Close Are We To The Rapture Of The Church?

Oftentimes, I will have readers ask me why I believe this is the last generation.  One thing that I find fascinating is, as far back as 2500 years ago, the Bible predicted many of the prophecies that we are experiencing in this very hour.  Many of these prophecies began when Israel once again became a nation (1948).  In fact, I believe the Bible is pretty clear, once Israel became a nation, a generation would not pass away before we would see the Second Coming of Christ (Matthew 24:4-34). 
I find it fascinating that the Bible would predict, 2500 years in advance, the starting point and the ending point of the last generation.  The starting point being the rebirth of Israel and the ending point being the Second Coming of Christ. 
 Many prophecies that are slated to be a part of this last generation have come to pass.  I believe a generation is between 70-80 years as stated in Psalm 90:10.  It amazes me that out of the last 2500 years it is within this 70-80 year time span that these prophecies have begun to take shape.  Below is a list of the prophecies that have come about within this last generation:
* The re-gathering of the Jews into their homeland (Ezekiel 37:11-13) after thousands of years of God ordained exile.  Another amazing fact, after thousands of years living in other nations, there Jewish culture has remained intact.
 * The rebirth of Israel as a nation in 1948 (Ezekiel 37:10-14; Isaiah 43:5, 6; 66:7-8) in one day.  Israel literally became a nation again in one day.  Following their declaration of statehood, the next day, five Arab nations attacked Israel.  But Israel defeated them and has grown into a major world military power.  This prophecy of rebirth essentially kicked off the beginning of the last generation.
 * The Arab world will claim they are rightful owners of the land of Israel (Ezekiel 35:5, 10; 36:2, 5).  It wasn't until the Jews began migrating back to Palestine in hopes of declaring Israeli statehood that the Arab world laid claim to the land.  Before that, it was of no value to them. 
 * The desert land of Israel will bloom again during this last generation (Luke 21:29-31; Isaiah 41:18-21).
 * The city of Jerusalem recaptured by Israel 19 years later in 1967 (Zechariah 8:7-8; 12:3).  Jerusalem couldn't be a stumbling block to peace with Israel if it wasn't back in their hands.
 * A Middle East peace plan with Israel, where Jerusalem is considered a major stumbling block will develop in the last days (Daniel 9:27; Zechariah 12:3).
 * This peace plan with Israel will ultimately have a seven-year time limit (Daniel 9:27).  Virtually every Middle East peace plan calls for a timeline for which peace must be established. The splitting of Jerusalem will be the final jewel of the peace accord.
 * The ruins of Israel will be rebuilt (Amos 9:11 &13).  This has kicked into high gear since Israel became a nation (1948).
 * An eastern nation capable of fielding a 200 million man army (Revelation 9:16) will arise during the tribulation period.  No nation has ever been able to field an army of this magnitude until this generation.
 * The Euphrates River will be dried up to enable a great army to cross (Revelation 16:12).  This could not be done until 1990 without the help of modern day technology.
 * During this generation, man will obtain the ability to view an event simultaneously all over the world (Revelation 11:9-10).  Certainly, this was impossible until satellite technology was invented during this generation.
 * Russia, Iran, a host of northern African nations, and the surrounding Islamic world will forge an alliance and attack Israel (Ezekiel 38 & 39).  Today, most of these nations (listed in Ezekiel 38) are already in an alliance with each other.
 * World leaders will begin talking abut world governance as a necessary evil.  This will eventually lead to a one world government led by the Antichrist (Revelation 13).  If you are a frequent reader of mine, you know that this is happening as I write.  The first significant world body called the United Nations was created in 1945 to encourage global cooperation.  Today, they have more power global power than anytime in their history.
 * The temple will be rebuilt (Revelation 11:1, 2; Daniel 9:27).  This is yet future, but it is a foregone conclusion that various temple organizations, once the okay to rebuild is given, will have it completed within months.
 * The Antichrist will rise up out of the New Roman Empire known today as the European Union (Daniel 9:27).
 * In the last days, knowledge will increase dramatically (Daniel 12:4).  There is no debating the fact that knowledge has increased in leaps and bounds over the last 100 years, but particularly during the last 70-80 years.  Medicine and technological discoveries have exploded in this last generation.
 *  Earthquakes will increase in strength and intensity as we head toward the rapture of the church and the beginning of the tribulation period (Mark 13:8).  Just in the last few years we have seen major earthquakes in Chile, Haiti, New Zealand, Indonesia, and Japan that have claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.  The years 2000-2010 was named the most deadly and destructive decade for global natural disasters in history and earthquakes claimed the most lives of all the natural disasters.  Even secular world news reports acknowledge that we have had an increase in freakish natural disasters over the last ten years.
 * In the days unrest among the nations will breakout (Mark 13:8) with troubles.  This trouble and unrest is currently spreading throughout the Middle East (April 2, 2011) and is a sign of the nearest of the coming of the Lord.  
It is during this narrow block of time that all these prophecies are beginning to or already have come to past.  Are we close to the rapture and the start of the tribulation period?  I believe we are, but only the Lord knows for sure.
If a Biblical generation is indeed as Psalm 90:10 states, between 70-80 years, we are in the final years of this last generation.  Most prophecy experts believe the last generation began in 1948 when Israel became a nation.  If we add 70 years (2018) or 80 years (2028) to our proposed starting date and subtract 7 years for the tribulation period we come up with a date between 2011 and 2021.  It is also likely that there will be a gap of time between the rapture of the church and the start of the tribulation period.
Are you ready for the rapture of the church?  Are you sure you are going when the Lord calls Christians home?  There's only one way you will be taken in the rapture and it's the same way you can know that you are going to heaven when you die.  You must be born again (John 3:3).  Just having knowledge or a belief in God is not enough.  You must have a personal relationship with the Lord.  That all starts with a complete surrender of your life to the Lord from this day forward.  Repent of your sins, believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay your sin penalty, and that He rose again.  Trust in the Lord from this day forward and live for Him.

Watch this video - Warring against the flesh by Creflo Dollar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Viyd3rZKrco