July 22, 1991 was a day when Americans were rudely awakened to the depths of human depravity. On that day Milwaukee Police searched Jeffrey Dahmer’s apartment after one of his potential victims, Tracy Edwards, managed to escape and flag down a squad car. What they found was the stuff of nightmares.
However, this was no nightmare. After all was said and done, police found the remains of eleven bodies in that two bedroom apartment. Some of the remains were found in a 55 gallon drum filled with acid, others were in the refrigerator. There were also severed heads found in the hall closet, and various body parts in jars throughout the apartment. Keeping things simple and without getting too graphic; Dahmer confessed to seventeen counts of murder. But he also admitted to the horrific details of the murders which included cannibalism and necrophilia. It’s no surprise that Dahmer’s heinous deeds earned him the title of the “Milwaukee Monster.” Dahmer’s name will forever be remembered among America’s most renowned serial killers.
Dahmer was murdered by another inmate in November of 1994. But recently there has been a renewed interest in the serial killer due to a new Netflix series entitled, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Personally, I parted ways with Netflix a long time ago. Sexualizing pre-teen girls and cramming a homosexual character into EVERY SINGLE SERIES was enough for me to cancel my subscription. Therefore, I won’t be watching Monster.
The reason that the release of Monster sparked my interest is because years ago when I was in college I had to write a paper on Jeffrey Dahmer. My research led me to a shocking conclusion that I can pretty much guarantee that Netflix won’t mention. My conclusion is that Jeffrey Dahmer became a born-again Christian while in prison and that He is currently in Heaven with the Lord.
Before people from all sides of the issue get out the pitchforks and torches, let me clarify a couple of things. First, it is true that Roy Ratcliff, the man who baptized and discipled Dahmer while in prison, was a Church of Christ minister. Having grown up in the church of Christ prior to my conversion, I know all too well the heretical emphasis that they place on water baptism. While baptism is extremely important for a believer, scripture is incredibly clear that water baptism is “the answer of a good conscience toward God and not the putting away of the filth of the flesh” (I Peter 3:21). Baptism is an outward showing of an inward salvation. It is a public profession that we are with Christ. It’s like a wedding ring. A wedding ring in and of itself doesn’t make someone married, but it shows the world that the person wearing it is married. Baptism may be an evidence of salvation, but it isn’t the vehicle of salvation.
The bottom line is this, if someone is trusting anything other than Christ and His finished work on the cross to make them right with God and get them to Heaven, they are deceived. They aren’t saved and they have placed their trust in a false gospel. This is Paul’s entire point in the book of Galatians. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ apart from works (Eph. 2:8-9). Water baptism, the Catholic Mass, the Mormon ordinances, good works, church membership, giving to charity, etc. cannot make us right with God. Good works can never erase our bad works. This is especially true in a legal setting, and our sin is a legal offense against a Holy God (I John 3:4).
With all of that said, I do not think this was the case with Dahmer. Perhaps the best resource available to better understand Dahmer’s conversion was written by Roy Ratcliff himself in the book entitled Dark Journey, Deep Grace; The Story Behind a Serial Killer’s Journey to Faith. In this book Ratcliff recalls his first hand encounter with Dahmer, which includes their initial meeting, Dahmer’s baptism, and seven months of a weekly bible study before Dahmer was murdered.
Unsurprisingly, Ratcliff includes about a two page long section that puts WAY too much emphasis on water baptism. However, by Ratcliff’s own admission Dahmer came to saving faith in Christ while reading about the gospel in a creation science magazine that his father sent to him while in prison. Upon his conversion, Dahmer requested permission from the prison chaplain to be baptized. The chaplain then contacted a prison ministry that eventually referred Ratcliff to the task.
In the initial meeting between Ratcliff and Dahmer, Ratcliff said some pretty heretical things that could have easily confused a new Christian. But to his credit, he made sure that Dahmer was sincere about His faith in Christ before he would baptize him. With the limited information that we have, I firmly believe that Dahmer was a saved man who wanted to be baptized in an effort to be obedient to God. Was Dahmer confused about some things, sure. Were there some red flags about him that I have seen with countless other young Christians, absolutely. Was he perfect after his conversion, not a chance. But I believe that he was a saved man. Remember that salvation takes place in an instant, but the work of sanctification in our hearts is a lifelong process.
Before I get to the main focus of this article, I want to lay out my case for why I think that Dahmer was a genuine, born-again Christian. I go into this fully understanding that I could get to heaven and be proven wrong, but we could say this same thing about pretty much anyone that we know. Here we go.
First, Dahmer became an incessant student of the Bible. He took Scripture so seriously that it even made him extremely uncomfortable that Ratcliff used an NIV instead of a King James Bible. Please understand that this isn’t a debate about Bible versions (I have already written fairly extensively about that), I only mention it to prove that Dahmer took Scripture very seriously. He wanted to know what the Word of God said, and desired to be obedient to it.
Second, Dahmer had a genuine remorse and repentance over his sin. He never made excuses. He never sought leniency. According to Ratcliff, Dahmer stated that he wished Wisconsin still enforced capital punishment because he deserved death. He also was very distraught that there was nothing that he could do to repay the families of his victims for what he had done. This seems very reminiscent of Zacchaeus in Luke 19. Zacchaeus was a tax collector who offered to repay four times what he had stolen from the people when he came to faith in Christ.
Third, he had clear moral convictions that he gave no thought to prior to his conversion. Apparently there was a steady flow of pornography that made it into the prison where Dahmer was incarcerated. The inmates could tell the dirty magazines by the fact that they came wrapped in brown paper. According to Ratcliff, during one of their Bible studies Dahmer was noticeably distraught. When ratcliff asked him what was wrong, Dahmer responded by letting him know that he was deeply disturbed by the presence of pornography coming in with his other mail. He told Ratcliff that he used to look at porn as a means of getting amped up to go out and hunt down his victims and he wanted no part of it. Upon hearing this, Ratcliff suggested that they ask the chaplain to make sure that no more pornography made it in with Jeffrey’s mail and the problem was solved. This seems to be clear evidence of a regenerate person.
Fourth, according to Ratcliff, there was an obvious joy about Dahmer that far exceeded what one would expect from a serial killer who was serving life in prison. He seemed like a free man inside the prison walls. Whereas prior to his arrest and conversion he lived as a slave of sin.
Fifth, Dahmer had a genuine desire to share the gospel with others. In fact, he risked his life for the sake of the gospel and Christian fellowship. Because of his status as the infamous serial killer, Dahmer had to be kept in solitary for his own safety. One can only imagine the fame that would come to the person who killed Jeffrey Dahmer. But because of his desire to attend chapel, and because of his desire to share the gospel with other inmates, he requested that the guards let him have more access to the general population of inmates. They granted his wish.
Not long before he was murdered, he was assaulted towards the end of a chapel service. An inmate tried to slash his throat with a razor blade that had been taped to the end of a toothbrush. Fortunately for Dahmer, the tape didn’t hold and the ordeal left him with only a scratch. Even this did not deter Dahmer. But in November of 1994 he and a couple of other inmates were cleaning a bathroom when one of them grabbed a barbell and hit Dahmer over the head repeatedly until he died. Is it too far-fetched to say that Dahmer was a martyr for Christ? Maybe so, maybe not. Keep in mind that Dahmer would have never been in that position if he had not requested to be with the other inmates in order to share the gospel.
Lastly, and I'll move on (my church knows that this statement is meaningless). Dahmer was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ or biblical truth even on a big stage. Watch this short clip of an interview that Dahmer and his father did with Stone Phillips from prison. Ironically, this aired the day after Dahmer’s murder. https://youtu.be/ZCuGLC3FABI
I do not expect everyone to agree with me and I’m completely fine with that. Again, I could be wrong. The thrust of this article isn’t to argue with those who say that Dahmer could be in hell. I’m here to argue with those who say that he can’t be in Heaven. The truth is that the situation with Dahmer teaches us a whole lot about the gospel. The mere possibility that such a monster could end up forgiven and in Heaven with God forces us to ask some very important questions. Can somebody like Dahmer be forgiven? What does this say about God? Is he unjust for letting off such a predator? What about his victims? Surely all of them didn’t know Christ. Is it conceivable that some of his victims went to hell and their killer ended up in Heaven? Does this make God unfair? Fortunately, the Bible has the answer to all of these questions.
As humans, how does God see us? Does He look down from Heaven and marvel at our good works; our charitable donations, church attendance or volunteer work? Is he impressed by our careers, education, income or athletic accomplishments? Many may be surprised to find out that the answer is a resounding NO. In fact, He sees us all as criminals, every last one of us (we may have more in common with Dahmer than we thought). Not once in Scripture from the fall of Adam in Genesis three until the end of Revelation does he say a good thing about humankind. Romans three probably gives the Lord’s clearest diagnoses, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes….For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:1-18, 20).
It’s not just that people make mistakes, they do bad things on purpose because they want to. Take an honest walk through the Ten Commandments and see how you fare. If you have ever told a lie (all of us have, and not just white lies) that makes you a liar. If you have lusted in your heart after another person (we all have) that makes you an adulterer at heart. If you have stolen (we all have at some point in our life) that makes you a thief. If you have taken God’s name in vain in any form (we all have) that makes you a blasphemer. I could continue, but I think that the reader gets the point. Our righteousness is a stench in the nostrils of God. If we stood before God and were judged strictly based on the Ten Commandments, all of us would be guilty and on our way to hell.
But wait a second, if we are all condemned sinners in the eyes of God (and we are), then does God see no difference between a Jeffrey Dahmer and say, a Mother Theresa? For all practical purposes, the answer is no. Certainly there are different degrees of sin, but at the end of the day, the wages of sin ultimately leads to death (Romans 6:23). Ratcliff stated that he heard repeatedly through the years that, “If Jeffrey Dahmer is in Heaven then I don’t want to go.” My response to that is, if that’s the way you feel then you don’t have to worry about it.
This is what we absolutely have to get about the holy nature of God. That sick, disgusted, angry feeling that we get from hearing about Dahmer’s heinous crimes; God is a trillion times angrier and more disgusted about our sin, then we are about Dahmer’s. Just because we aren’t disgusted by our own sin doesn’t mean that God isn’t.
This brings us another question. If God is so Holy that He hates and must punish sin, and we’re all sinners, then how does anyone make it to Heaven? How can God pardon any of us without Himself becoming unjust? I mean, judges don’t just let criminals off Scott free do they? No, they don’t. This is where the cross comes in.
God is so Holy that He must punish sin, but He is so loving that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ into the world to pay for our sin. Christ was born of the virgin Mary. Therefore, He walked this earth as fully God and fully man. Christ lived the sinless life that we could never live. He fulfilled the just demands of God’s law. And when Jesus laid down His life on the cross, God the Father placed our sins in Jesus Christ and then poured His wrath out upon Him for that sin (Isaiah 53, I Peter 2:24). In other words, God the Father punished Jesus for the sin that we committed! At the cross God’s justice was satisfied and His love was magnified, so that God can forgive sinners on the basis of Christ and His finished work with Himself becoming unjust. Christ paid the penalty for our sin. Nothing was swept under the rug. He promises to save any and all who repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to cleanse them from sin (John 3:16, Romans 10:9-13).
What Does it Say About God If Jeffrey Dahmer is in Heaven? Let’s just say for the sake of argument that Dahmer is in Heaven. What do the heavenly hosts think as they see him walking the streets of gold? Do they think, “God is such a perverse judge, How in the world could he have let the likes of him in here?” Do they think, “I worked so hard to get here and then someone like him makes it in?” No. If Dahmer is in Heaven (and I think that he is), he is a walking, talking trophy of the grace of God. The Heavenly hosts marvel at such a Savior, the one who wore the sins of such as Dahmer! The one who died for those sins and rose victorious three days later! What a Savior, that He can save even the likes of Jeffrey Dahmer! What does it say about God if Dahmer is in Heaven? It says that He is an almighty Savior who can descend to the lowest hell and save the most depraved of sinners. No one is outside of the reach of God’s grace.
On the Day of Dahmer’s Funeral two sisters of one of Dahmer’s victims came to the service. They were so angry and bitter. They weren’t even sure why they came, maybe to bury their hate, possibly to find answers. During the service Roy Ratcliff rehearsed Dahmer’s conversion and talked of their friendship. After the service the two sisters came up to him and said, “We came here bitter and angry at Jeffrey, but after hearing you talk about him, we believe that God has forgiven him, and we have too.”
“If a person doesn’t think that there is a God to be accountable to, then what’s the point of trying to modify your behavior to keep it within acceptable ranges? That’s how I thought anyway. I always believed the theory of evolution as truth, that we all just came from the slime. When we died, you know, that was it, there is nothing, and I’ve since come to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is truly God, and I believe that I, as well as everyone else, will be accountable to Him.” Jeffrey Dahmer
