God's Incredible Grace

Last week I read a book entitled Dark Journey, Deep Grace, written by Roy Ratcliff with Lindy Adams. The book was subtitled “Jeffrey Dahmer’s Story of Faith.” It is the story of how one of the most infamous serial killers of modern times came to have saving faith in Jesus Christ. Mr. Ratcliff is the one who studied the Bible with Jeffrey Dahmer in prison and baptized him into Christ.

The book is interesting from several different angles. It provides some insight into the thinking of a man who committed some incredibly evil acts and yet came to profoundly regret them. You can read of Dahmer’s immediate family and of the difficult relationships that existed among them, both before and after his crimes. Mr. Ratcliff also shares some of the struggles he experienced as one who reached out to a serial killer. The book reveals that not everyone was convinced that Jeffrey Dahmer was worthy of receiving the grace of God.

As evidence of the last point, Mr.Ratcliff provides the following words: “Once, when I was visiting Jeff, a guard told me about the controversy I had caused in his church as the members were having a hard time accepting the idea of Jeffrey Dahmer as a Christian. Sometime later, I visited a man in the hospital who recognized me from the press coverage. He was a Christian college student at the time of Jeff’s baptism. The thing he remembered most was a comment by one of the instructors in a hallway. It probably captured the sentiments of many: ‘If Jeffrey Dahmer is going to heaven, then I don’t want to be there’” (p. 84).

How can a child of God even entertain such thoughts? If the grace of God can’t reach Jeffrey Dahmer, then what assurance do I have that it can reach me? While it is true that Jeffrey Dahmer doesn’t deserve to go to heaven, the fact is, neither do I. Heaven is a place for the worst of sinners. And it is only by the grace of God that any of us will make it.

God loves you!
Mike