I remember reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula when I was a young teenager. It scared me. The thought of a conscienceless, fanged creature with an insatiable lust for human blood that hunted for its prey in the darkness of night aided by superhuman and even supernatural abilities caused me many sleepless hours as I lay in bed, covers pulled up over my head, praying that the efficacy of cotton quilts to save me from the powers of the “Undead” would match that of a cross.

As I lay under those quilts, sweat soon dampened my sheets. It was uncomfortable both physically and mentally as my mind drew terrifying pictures before my closed eyes from the words I had read. I swore I would not pick up the book again. But as daylight came I chastised myself for such foolish nocturnal behavior. I found myself drawn to read one more page, one more chapter about this creature that I feared. Such is the seduction of evil. But the greater seduction occurs when evil disguises itself in the clothing of goodness.

Over the last year a fascination with vampires has reached a fevered pitch as books, movies, and TV shows about them have inundated our culture and invaded our schools and homes. Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series is perhaps the best known example. This is a series of four books (two of which have already been made into movies) that tell the story of 18-year-old Isabella “Bella” Swan and her relationship with Edward Cullen, a 104-year-old vampire whose “eternal age” is 17.

I freely admit I have not read any of these books or watched the movies based on them. Nor have I read or watched any of the other vampiric offerings currently flooding the marketplace; nor do I intend to. I realize that admission will cause some to ignore what I am about say, arguing that it is irresponsible to assert that consuming them is dangerous and harmful to one’s spiritual well being. That is their prerogative. Nevertheless, I have read enough reviews on these vampire stories to gain an understanding of the spirit behind them – and it is not the Holy Spirit.

Stoker’s Dracula was portrayed as an evil, murderous creature. He lacked both compassion and a conscience. His life was consumed with a lust for blood which he sated by preying upon innocent people, sucking the blood from their bodies. It is the type of death of which nightmares are made. But what made vampires like Dracula so terrifying was not their victims dying from their bite, but rather the horror of becoming vampires themselves. They would become one of the “Undead”, loathsome and detestable creatures, condemned to a soulless, nocturnal existence, enslaved to a ravenous appetite for blood, and no hope of redemption.

It is not difficult to see the connection between Dracula and Satan. Dracula lives in darkness, avoiding the sunlight because exposure to it would destroy him. Satan lives in darkness, avoiding the “Son”light because exposure to this “consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29) would destroy him as it does all unholiness. Dracula drinks the blood of his victims not only to satisfy his hunger, but to “birth” more vampires – kind bringing forth after its kind (Genesis 1:24). Satan, too, “drinks” the blood of his victims.

Leviticus 17:14 states, “For as for the life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its life. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, 'You are not to eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off’” (NASU). The word “life” used here is the Hebrew nephesh. It literally means soul. Thus, a more literally reading of this verse would be: “For as for the soul of all flesh, its blood is identified with its soul. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, 'You are not to eat the blood of any flesh, for the soul of all flesh is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off.’”

When Adam and Eve sank their teeth into the Forbidden Fruit, Satan, in a very real sense, sank his teeth into their souls. He drank deeply of their “blood” and in the process infected them with his diabolical nature. He had given “birth” after his kind and with contaminated “blood” now flowing through the souls of Adam and Eve they too would give birth after Satan’s kind. Man now found himself living in darkness and shunning the Light.

The connection between Dracula (and vampires in general) and Satan is further established when one considers that which terrifies him and which is capable of destroying him. That thing is a cross. Dracula could not even look at a cross and if it touched him he experienced an intense, burning pain. Why?

It was upon a Cross that Jesus poured out His untainted, sinless blood, thus providing for the redemption of mankind. Mankind, by receiving Jesus’ shed blood (notice Jesus gives blood i.e. life and Dracula takes blood i.e. life) and applying it to his heart experiences a spiritual “blood transfusion”. The sin tainted “blood” that courses through man’s soul at conception because of Satan’s “bite” in the Garden of Eden is replaced with the holy blood of Jesus, freeing him from the domain of darkness to live in the Light. Thus, the Cross was the means of execution the Father used to bring death to Satan’s reign within the heart of man. No wonder Dracula (Satan) turns in horror from it.

This understanding brings a deeper meaning as to why vampires are killed by having a wooden stake driven through their hearts. What was the Cross Jesus sacrificed His life upon by pouring out His blood, but a wooden stake?

The Apostle John tells us, ”The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8 NASU). The heavenly Father accomplished this when He took this wooden stake, this Cross stained by His Son’s blood as He was crucified upon it, and drove it through the heart of Satan. “Dracula” had been defeated. But this triumph would never have come about if Jesus had failed to recognize Satan when he appeared as a “virtuous vampire”.

As Jesus neared the time of His crucifixion “He began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.’ But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's’” (Matthew 16:21-23 NASU, emphasis added).

Peter did not look any different physically when he uttered these satanic words. But Jesus looked beyond the physical to the spiritual and saw Satan. He saw not a friend and disciple, but the enemy He had been sent from Heaven to destroy. Satan had disguised “himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14 NASU) in an attempt to disguise evil as good. But Jesus was not deceived by this “vampire’s” (Satan’s) pretended concern for Him, his pretended virtuous motives.

Unfortunately, this cannot be said of Eve when this same “vampire” engaged her in conversation. This “vampire” had an insatiable appetite to give “birth” after his own kind and set up himself as lord and master over man. But in order to do that he had to find a way to infect man’s spiritual bloodstream with the same evil that coursed through his being.

He found the solution to be quite simple given man’s innate desire for the forbidden. All that was necessary for him to deceive Eve was to disguise his evil nature and intent by exhibiting the virtues of friendship, kindness, and above all, concern that God was unjustly withholding from her something that would satisfy her legitimate needs for food, artistic beauty, and intellectual advancement (Genesis 3:1-6). No doubt Eve perceived the “vampire” to be sincere in his desire to see her reach her full potential and all she had to do was eat a fruit, a fruit in all likelihood not unlike all the other fruits God had provided for her needs. What if the “vampire” were telling the truth? She had eaten all kinds of other fruit with no ill effects. She was a grown woman. No one had the right to tell her what to eat and what not to eat. She took a bite.

Fast forward to the 21st century. Satan is again asking, “Did God really say…” in order to suck the lifeblood from man. But man has become so corrupted by sin that Satan no longer needs to disguise his vampiric nature. He can now appear as a vampire, but a vampire that possesses admirable virtues. Such is the deception offered by Stephenie Meyer in her Twilight series. It may appear innocent or at least suitable for those mature enough to distinguish between fact and fiction. So they read a page – and Satan smiles.

I find it very revealing that Meyer, when questioned about the cover on the book Twilight which pictures a pair of hands holding out an apple, said, “The apple on the cover of Twilight represents ‘forbidden fruit’. I used the scripture from Genesis (located just after the table of contents) because I loved the phrase ‘the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.’”

Satan loves it too.

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight” (Isaiah 5:20-21 NASU)! "Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes” (Matthew 18:7 ESV)!

Is it a sin to read and/or watch these stories that feature virtuous vampires? What has God told you? Or have you asked?