US Evangelist Ravi Zacharias dies aged 74 after battling cancer

US evangelist, Ravi Zacharias, has died aged 74.

Ravi, who was a popular Indian-born Canadian-American Christian evangelist known for his role in defending Christianity, died in Atlanta on Tuesday after battling cancer.

He is survived by his wife, Margie, daughters Sarah and Naomi, son, Nathan, and five grandchildren.

Before his death, he was a leading figure among Christian apologists, a branch of Christian theology that defends Christian doctrines against objections, and won the Gold Medallion Book Award for his work, ”Can Man Live Without God?”

He founded Zacharias International Ministries in 1984 and launched a global team of nearly 100 Christian scholars and authors, who speak, train and address the questions of millions of believers and unbelievers around the world. Zacharias was born in Chennai, India, and revealed he was an atheist until he was 17 and tried to commit suicide then a hospital worker brought him a Bible.

He became a born again christian and started his missionary work after he moved to Canada and later the United States.

Michael Ramsden, President of Zacharias International Ministries, in a statement said, “(Ravi) saw the objections and questions of others not as something to be rebuffed, but as a cry of the heart that had to be answered.

“People weren’t logical problems waiting to be solved; they were people who needed the person of Christ. Those who knew him well will remember him first for his kindness, gentleness, and generosity of spirit. The love and kindness he had come to know in and through Jesus Christ was the same love he wanted to share with all he met.”

US Vice President Mike Pence took to Twitter to send his condolences.

”Upon the death of Abner, the Bible tells us David said “do you not know that a prince & a great man has fallen today?. Ravi was such a man & he will be missed. Karen & I send our deepest sympathies to his family and know he heard

“Well done good and faithful servant.” he wrote