Body: | Could convicted mass murder Jeffrey Dahmer get to heaven before you?
Jeffrey Dahmer will definitely go down in history as a very wicked man.
Being a deviant sex practitioner who abducted, raped, tortured, murdered
and cannibalized his many victims, he is ranked among the worlds worst men
in the minds of most. Now I want you imagine a difficult thing; that Dahmer
went straight into the arms of Jesus the moment he died. "Impossible", you
might snort with indignation! "Why this guy was a real sicko, an evil
savage. The Devil incarnate! This boy will surely burn in hell for
eternity!"
Well, I would like to tell you a true story about Dahmer which was reported
in the "Christian Chronicle" and "The Daily Oklahoman" newspapers. A
Christian lady named Mary Mott saw Dahmer on a TV show discussing his need
for inner peace. Mott mailed a series of Bible lessons to Dahmer which he
completed and mailed back to Mott. He thanked Mott and said he wanted to
become a Christian. Through a series of events a Christian minister, Roy
Ratcliff, went into the prison and studied the Bible with Dahmer. He was
immersed in water for the remission of his sins on May 10, 1994. He
continued to study the Bible every week in prison until the day of his
murder, Nov 28, 1994. One TV report quoted Dahmer as saying that he was at
peace with himself and God, just two weeks prior to his murder.
Now I am not playing down the horrendous sins that Dahmer committed. But
the real qustion is; could Dahmer go to heaven? Could God forgive him for
what he did? I must admit that when I first heard this bizarre twist of
events, that I had no problem believing God could forgive. My problem was
believing that someone like Dahmer could truly repent of his sins.
The Jews on Pentecost asked Apostle Peter after he convicted them of
murdering Jesus Christ, "What shall we do?" Peter replied to them, "Repent
and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of your sins" Acts
2:37-38. Which sin was worse? Dahmer's or the murder of the sinless Christ?
God forgave 3000 souls of their sin of murdering Christ. "So then, those
who had received Peter's word were baptized; and there were added that day
about three thousand souls." Acts 2:41 The critical question is not whether
God could forgive Dahmer, but whether Dahmer truly repented.
Apostle Paul was also guilty of murdering the innocent. He was primarily
responsible for the stoning of Stephen in Acts 8. Later, after Paul was
converted, he wrote of himself, "It is a trustworthy statement, deserving
full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
among whom I am foremost of all. And yet for this reason I found mercy, in
order that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His
perfect patience, as an example for those who would believe in Him for
eternal life." 1 Tim 1:15-16 Paul was acutely aware that he had committed a
terrible crime by murdering Stephen.
Will Dahmer go to heaven? No one knows except God. It will be based upon
the genuiness of Dahmer's repentance and conversion. But I would personally
like to think he is. In fact I would like God to use Jeffery Dahmer as an
example of His divine forgiveness. Perhaps God picks one notorious sinner
who repented from each generation and holds him up and says, "If I can
forgive Jeffery Dahmer, I can forgive anyone of any sin."
Imagine you have two men. One is a vile sinner, murderer and thief. The
second was awarded the citizen of the year award and only has a little sin
in his life. Which one is closer to God? Neither! They are both equally far
away because it is the first sin that sends us to hell, not the number of
sins or how bad the sins are we commit.
If Dahmer is saved, it only illustrates that God is not a respector of
persons, that God sees all sins as equal. Yet for many people they cannot
even consider that Dahmer could be saved. That is because they mistakenly
think that our salvation is based upon our good works rather than the
unmerited favor of God. I call this misconception, "balance scale
salvation". They think that as long as the good outweighs the bad that they
will go to heaven. Well, not in God's eyes! For unless the citizen of the
year truely repents of his one and only sin he ever committed and believes
in Jesus as the eternal divine savior, it is he who will go to hell and
Jeffery Dahmer (with true repentance), will go to heaven!
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