There’s a Gothic spin-off based on vampirism. Just to set the record straight, true vampirism isn’t the Count Dracula thing we’re all familiar with, thanks to Hollywood. It’s a blood and flesh fetish. Some Nazis during World War II used to take the flesh off their victims and make lampshades out of it, that was vampirism. However, for the sake of this article, I’m going to stick to the vampirism that we’ve all come to know and love.

If you’ve seen “Interview with a Vampire” you’ll realize that there are three ways in which a vampire can die (we’re not counting the stake through the heart routine). First, a vampire will die if they do not receive fresh blood. They need it to survive. Second, a vampire will die if exposed to the rays of the Sun. And third, a vampire will die if it drinks the blood of a dead person. Let’s look at these and see if there aren’t some Biblical truths being taught here.

First, the need for fresh blood to survive. The Bible says many times in the Torah, the books of Moses, “the live is in the blood”. It would seem necessary, therefore for vampires to require blood to live. In fact it would seem logical that we would all need blood to live. There is a truth here, but it’s mixed in with some twisted thinking. Since my mind is a bit twisted, maybe I can straighten it out a bit. Vampires are dead creatures, or to be more specific, the “undead”, rather than living. The living have no need to drink blood to live, but those who are “undead” and yet not really living do. In other words, it is the evil person who needs blood to gratify their cravings. The good have no such need. Yet, we all need blood. You and I have a heart that creates, circulates and cleans blood in our bodies. That is why we do not need blood from others to live. (The AIDS epidemic has shown us that contact with blood from an infected person may actually cause death). Yet, spiritually, we all need a blood transfusion. Christians look to Jesus who shed His blood for us that we might live. A person sold out to evil (I’m not saying they are lost forever, just that this is their position at the moment) finds that the blood of Jesus brings them death. I’ll get to that later. Nevertheless, OUR life is in HIS blood.

Second, we all need Sunlight. All living things need light, especially Sunlight. Not only is it warming and shows the way before us, but it is has healing qualities in it. The vampire cannot take this. To them it is death. Why? Because it is to give up that façade of life they have. It shows who they really are. When God shines upon us we see ourselves as we really are. We have two choices at this point. We can shrivel up and die, or we can embrace the light, let it kill off the old person and begin a healing within us, making us a brand new creation. Let us walk in the light as He, that is Jesus, walks in the light.

Third, the putrid blood of a dead person has no life within itself; therefore it brings about death to the living. Worse yet for the undead, for they are not really living to begin with, they are simply not yet dead. That is why the blood of Jesus is death to them. In the same way as light is death to them so also is the blood of Jesus death to them, and to us. You see, we must die if we are to become truly alive. The blood of Jesus is not the stagnant blood of the dead, however, but the life-giving, life-filled blood that kills the bad and replaces it with God’s good. When a person is dying of some blood-born disease they can receive a transfusion of good, living blood, to replace the poisonous, deadly blood. We are like that. We have sin coursing through our veins and we need a transfusion. That means we need to, in that sense, die to ourselves that we might receive the life of another. In this case, eternal life from Jesus Christ. It is death to us, and the vampires, that it may be life to us.

Jesus taught a parable about a seed. ^“And Jesus answered them, saying, ‘The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.’ " (John 12;23-25) I heard a saying once that I’d like to share because it brings out this truth really well. “If you are born once, you will die twice, but if you are born twice you will only die once.” Think about it. That “corn of wheat”, that tiny seed, if it doesn’t die to itself it will both be counted as dead and will surely end up dead forever. Yet, if it dies to itself it is reborn into a plant that produces much fruit. You and I were born into death, still born you might say. The curse of sin is upon us. Yet, there is a way to escape that curse. It is through death.

Yes, the vampire will die if it is refused blood, as we shall. Yes, the vampire will die if the Sun’s rays strike him, just as we shall die if our deeds are brought before the Father in heaven, which they most surely will. Yes, the vampire will die if he drinks the blood of the dead. Yet, in each instance it is through death that life is found. Those choosing to remain vampires choose death. They will die twice, for they have only been born once. Yet to those of us who refuse to feed our own blood, so that we might die (I’m speaking spiritually here folks), and allow themselves to be exposed the God’s Son that they might die, and they drink of the cup of Christ, of the blood of the cross that they might die, THESE shall be raised up in newness of life. They shall be “born again”. They shall begin a journey with God in which He will mold them into the image of His Only Beloved Son, even Jesus. And these, of which I am a member, shall inherit eternal life; for those who die twice shall only die once. Their flesh may fail them one day, but they shall find themselves with God forever.