Would serial killer Dahmer have been an evangelist?
CHICAGO, Dec 11 (Reuters Life!) - He murdered 17 young men and boys in a sexually driven orgy of necrophilia and cannibalism. Then, in prison, Jeffrey Dahmer found God.
Now the minister who presided over his jailhouse baptism and conversion says Dahmer's 1994 beating death at the hands of a fellow inmate while serving multiple life sentences cut short a faith-spreading mission Dahmer would have carried to others behind bars had he lived.
"He was growing (in faith) and he would have been a great influence on other inmates. He would have had a tremendous impact," said the Rev. Roy Ratcliff, a Church of Christ minister who baptized Dahmer in a prison whirlpool tub in May 1994....
And Jim, what made you such a person to be considered worthy of salvation? What makes you even worthy today to be considered by God? What do you offer to God? Paul even said that he was the worst of all sinners. He persecuted the church and murdered maybe as many or more than he did. Thats not the issue. Seriously, read your Bible. Tell me what you have to say? Go ahead and back up your ungodly view with scripture
This minister should be ashamed to even mention someone like dahmer can find God. After his first murder, i'm sure then he decided his own fate eternally. You dont live a satanically possessed murderous perverted life and think you can be forgiven....... blasphemy against God......God is not mocked.
"Keep in mind that the man who wrote the hymn "Amazing Grace" was I believe a slave trader"
I recall an article on Amazing Grace in which during a heavy storm, the author of the song described, as the ship labored, the crew would throw slaves (men) over the side when they needed to lighten the load.
One man shackled to another. Were I on that ship; would I have refused the order knowing it was to save the ship and my own life?
May God have Mercy on us all.
Thank you all for a wonderful opportunity to meditate on the Grace of God with a fresh perspective!
To Michael from Endicott, NY. Jesus is my Lord and Savior. Only because of his character. There was and is nothing in me that has any right to claim that salvation. After all it was the Holy Spirit who led me to the conviction of my sin, and the need for repentance to restore me to God's intended purpose of his creation. Keep in mind that the man who wrote the hymn "Amazing Grace" was I believe a slave trader. Another sort of "vile" person whose salvation was again dependent on only who God was, and not on anything they themselves brought to the relationship. We then must prasie, honor, and glorify God. For this is the reason God created us! The above is a source of great "Comfort and Joy", and not a matter of pride. All the credit is to God through his son Jesus.
As I read the article I did not see any deep repentence for which God would have surely and deeply convicted him of to bring him to salvation. This would of been made publically known and Dahmer would agree to his punishment which is well deserved.(and More) This repentence unto salvation glorifies God.
Not to comment so much on the accuracy of the story, I hope it is true, but on how it touches "our theology".
Wade Guisbert made a comment, quote The chasm that is between me and God is as functionally broad as Mr. Dahmer's. That God would extend his grace to me through his Son's redemptive work on the cross is as amazing as God extending grace to a canabalizing, homosexual, serial killer. For which God should be honored, praised, and glorified. end of quote
Whoa! Do we really look at God's grace to us as that amazing? God help us to.
And more than that when we see those we would think of as the vilest offenders do we see them as people that Jesus Christ can save and so change their life and existence would be to the very glory of God, despite what they were? God help us.
Wade, I have no idea of where you are in your faith but thank you for your comment. I believe God will use it in my life. Thanks.
The question should not be, would serial killer Dahmer have been an evangelist --
but rather, would the evangelists turn into Jeffrey Dahmers.
The way things are going, this is what we all should be concerned about.
Mel Gibson has a film out now, accurately portraying the depravity man and government will sink to. It's about the Aztecs, how families would happily hand over their precious children to have their hearts ripped out.
How they sacrificed people in groups of 10,000 people.
Remember the Romans how they threw people to the lions and sat there and ate their popcorn and cheered and booed?
Remember the Inquisition, the public burnings and floggings?
Instead of weeping for the monsters, we need to warn about them, and prepare to defend against them, to hide from them, because the Bible says the Tribulation will be the worst time the earth has ever seen.
Look at Abu Ghraib. Depravity is not a rare thing. Look at abortion, as barbaric, cruel and monstrous a deed ever done, and against the most innocent and helpless ones.
We all should be preparing ourselves mentally, physically and spiritually for the evil times we are in and worse to come rather than asking silly and unlearned questions such as this one.
I agree with Kenny and Chris. The post Wade made is one of the best, most loving posts I have seen so far. That is the example of how posts should be. Well done Wade and God Bless!
If Justice were properly served, Dahmer, being a murderer, would not have had much time to evangelize prior to being executed.
Had he not been killed (justly or unjustly), he could very well have been like the Gaderine Demoniac (Luke 8, Mark 5), who became an evangelist following his conversion...and he was in at least as bad of shape as Dahmer.
I heard that J Dahmer had some interesting things to say at his trial - spoke frankly about his demon posession which the judge apparently dismissed as just delusional.
The chasm that is between me and God is as functionally broad as Mr. Dahmer's. That God would extend his grace to me through his Son's redemptive work on the cross is as amazing as God extending grace to a canabalizing, homosexual, serial killer. For which God should be honored, praised, and glorified. From the article, I believe Mr. Dahmer requested baptism, wich is a reasonable thing to desire, if one come's to faith. As there is no foolproof test for the validity of a true conversion, let's hope we see Mr. Dahmer in heaven, and sing our praises of God's character even louder. While we can certainly discern what Mr. Dahmer did was wrong, we can't condem him to hell for it!
"He was growing (in faith) and he would have been a great influence on other inmates. He would have had a tremendous impact," said the Rev. Roy Ratcliff, a Church of Christ minister who baptized Dahmer in a prison whirlpool tub in May 1994. ..."
The Church of Christ believes that baptism saves you, so it adds baptism to salvation. That is putting faith in the power of the tub which takes away from the power of the blood that Jesus shed! Sadly, this is just one of the churches today that are teaching a false doctrine.
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