Vampire stories are popular among young people. I needed to know on a spiritual level, why the big draw? After asking myself that question, I was invited to a party where I had the opportunity to chat with a 15-year-old girl. She filled me in on vampire lore and then the Holy Spirit filled me in on the vampire lure.
In America we’ve been hit with a new and terrifying phenomena—the shootings and murder of school-age kids in public schools. The Holy Spirit reminded me that during pre-teen and teenage years, we search for the big answers to life. We want things to make sense. When they don’t, we keep searching. For young people, the idea of vampires answers some of the basic questions concerning death.
My young friend explained, “Vampires are people who have been killed, but they don’t want to be dead.”
These school children who have been brutally murdered didn’t want to die and didn’t do anything to deserve death. But the idea of vampires, who still have earthly life after they’ve been dead, gives a kind of balm to the uneasy fear of unwarranted and unreasonable death. Someone might think, “Even if I did get shot and died, I would still be able to have a life if I were a vampire.” And the new vampires have wonderful love interests too; what teen doesn’t crave that?
The majority of young people don’t really believe in vampires, but on a subconscious level the idea gives enough false comfort to allow them to go to school day by day and not be overwhelmed by the fear of being shot to death.
The truth, however, is that God and the Lord Jesus and the angels are all available and more than willing to protect us from death. There were many thousands of people who did not show up at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. They felt unusual urgings to go a different way, to stay home that day, to go out for breakfast and be late for work, etc. There are many stories of how the Lord warned people and kept them from death that day.
Another part of vampire lore is that they desire to live, but they need a supply of blood to do so. What I didn’t know is that, according to my friend, they have choices when taking blood. They can take all of a person’s blood or only a portion. Then they take on the personality of the person whose blood they took. For instance, if the person was cruel, they might not take all their blood, but take enough to live until finding a different, more desirable host.
When we first got born again we willingly accepted Jesus Christ into our hearts. He gave us new life with His blood. And we also have a choice as to how much of His personality we want to take on. For some people, believing they get go to Heaven when they die is enough.
Vampires need to replenish their blood supply. We also have the opportunity to replenish our intake. We need constant refreshing, new insight into the things of God, new experiences, new wisdom and new relationships. We need to re-up our information and revelation of what Jesus' blood accomplished for us. (You can read the scriptures and the article I wrote “Jesus Blood was Shed 7 Times On Purpose.”)
God gave me understanding on the lure of vampires for young people and I really enjoyed hearing a 15-year-old's take on vampire lore. It's valuable sometimes to take a look at what's culturally popular and get the Holy Spirit's take on it. It can help us to understand people better and minister more effectually.
Love, Carolyn
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