Apologist Ravi Zacharias invited to speak at Mormon Tabernacle

New Delhi – Indian–born apologist Ravi Zacharias has reportedly become the first evangelical invited to speak in the Mormon Tabernacle since Brigham Young extended an invitation to Dwight L. Moody in 1871. His November 14 message will be “Who is the Truth? Defending Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” There’s no word if he will address differences between Mormon and Protestant Christologies.

Zacharias's invitation is particularly noteworthy since he was the general editor of the most recent edition of William Martin's The Kingdom of the Cults, which devotes one if its 20 chapters to Mormonism.
Pastor Greg Johnson, pastor of the evangelical group Standing Together Ministries, told the Deseret Morning News (owned by the Mormon church) he discussed the book with Mormon leaders. "Basically, he agreed to lend his name to it, but he didn't write any of it," Johnson said. The church leaders (called the First Presidency) are "all informed and still moving forward in great confidence," Johnson says.

They may be a bit mis–informed, however. In addition to serving as general editor of The Kingdom of the Cults, Zacharias wrote at least a two–and–a–half page introduction, in which he "applauds" the "extraordinary volume."

Johnson told the paper that the First Presidency probably agreed to his request "because of the press conference and quiet outreach campaign that local evangelicals staged outside the Conference Center last spring during LDS general conference, designed to counter attempts by self–proclaimed Christian preachers who have sought to antagonize Latter–day Saints" (those are the News's words, not Johnson's). Those evangelicals, it should be noted, were organized by Johnson's group.

In any case, says Brigham Young University religion professor Robert Millet, Zacharias's invitation is a huge step for the Mormon church. "It represents tremendous graciousness on the part of the First Presidency in being willing to open the Tabernacle to a man of his stature who is of another faith," he told the News. "It's an effort to build goodwill and bridges of understanding between two vital faith communities."

Ravi Zacharias has spoken in over fifty countries, including the Middle East, Vietnam, and Cambodia (during the military conflict), and in numerous universities worldwide, notably Harvard, Princeton, and Oxford University. He has addressed writers of the peace accord in South Africa, President Fujimori's cabinet and parliament in Peru, and military officers at the Lenin Military Academy and the Center for Geopolitical Strategy in Moscow. He has been privileged to bring the main address at the National Day of Prayer in Washington, DC, an event endorsed and cohosted by President George W. Bush, and at the Pentagon. Additionally, Mr. Zacharias has spoken at the Annual Prayer Breakfast at the United Nations in New York, which marks the beginning of the UN session each year, and at the invitation of the President of Nigeria, he addressed the delegates at the First Annual Prayer Breakfast for African Leaders held in Mozambique.

At the invitation of Billy Graham he was a plenary speaker at the International Conference for Itinerant Evangelists in Amsterdam in 1983, 1986, and 2000. Mr. Zacharias has been a visiting scholar at Cambridge University, where he studied moralist philosophers and literature of the Romantic era. While at Cambridge he also authored his first book, A Shattered Visage: The Real Face of Atheism (Baker Book House, 1994, 2nd ed.). His second book, Can Man Live without God (Word Publishing, 1994), was awarded the Gold Medallion for best book in the category of doctrine and theology, and has been translated into eight languages. Deliver Us from Evil (Word, 1996) followed with an accompanying video series. Cries of the Heart (Word, 1998) was his fourth book. His first children's book, The Merchant and the Thief (Chariot Victor), was released in 1999, followed by The Broken Promise (Chariot Victor, 2000). Jesus Among Other Gods (Word, 2000) was nominated for a Gold Medallion. The first in a series of great conversations, The Lotus and the Cross: Jesus Talks with Buddha was released by Multnomah in 2001, and the second, Sense and Sensuality: Jesus Talks with Oscar Wilde, in 2002. Mr. Zacharias' very personal response to the September 11th tragedy is Light in the Shadow of Jihad (Multnomah, 2002). Recapture the Wonder was released by Integrity Publishers in 2003 and I, Isaac Take Thee, Rebekah, a book on marriage, in February 2004 by the W Publishing Group.