More fanatics to match the fanatics...
The Vampire Christ
Jesus Christ (WLD)
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In February 2000, antichrist.com.au writer D Christie Sinton was interviewed by Melbourne underground vampire and gothic magazine, The Fall of Because.
Sinton told the magazine's editor, James McLachlan, that Christianity was the ultimate vampire religion ...
And that Christ was the ultimate vampire ...
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"Almost two billion people on the face of this planet are Christians," he said.
"That means every Sunday you'll find hordes of these creatures lining up to drink the blood of their god in a ritual called communion.
"And what does their god and his church offer them in return?
"Everlasting life ...
"If that is not the promise of a vampire religion, then I don't know what is ..."
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Sinton said Christianity was the only religion that worshiped a corpse and one of a handful still engaged in blood rituals.
"Visit one of their churches and you'll often find a huge statue of their vampire Christ looming over the congregation," he said.
"Instead of blood dripping from fangs, Christ's blood drips from his hands, feet, side and crown.
"1.9 billion people believe this immortal god is their salvation and that his blood can redeem and protect them.
"Listen to some of the hymns they sing," he said, "as they sway hypnotically before this eerie preternatural creature ..."
Are You Washed In The Blood?
Jesus Thy Blood and Righteousness
Nothing But The Blood
Saved By The Blood
The Blood-Washed Throng
The Bloodwashed Pilgrim
There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood
There Is Power In The Blood
"With all this blood imagery," Sinton said, "no wonder the congregation descends like vampires when the priest calls them up for communion ..."
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"Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:54).
By drinking the blood of Jesus and eating his flesh, Christians believe they die and are reborn as immortals.
Compare this to vampires who drink the blood of their victims in the belief that they, too, die and are reborn as immortals ...
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Sinton said it was not just the pew-sitter's fault they have been deceived into thinking Jesus "is the way, the truth and the light".
"Jesus is a very cunning vampire," he said, "He and his vampire church have had 2000 years to perfect their skills at converting unbelievers.
"Their strategy is to fool Christians into believing they have been 'saved' whereas they are, like most vampires, damned.
"After all, do not most self-respecting vampires claim their immortality is a curse and not a blessing ..?"
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In The Last Days of Christ The Vampire, JG Eccarius said Christians gathered new recruits by preying on people they thought were vulnerable or weak.
"Whoever accepts (Christ's) kiss gets sucked into the whole trip and becomes a mindless zombie," he said.
"They wander around trying to suck in the living by saying things like 'Jesus is the answer' ..."
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In his book Vampires or Gods?, William Meyers described Christ as "the actual secondary model, after Vlad the Impaler, for the modern literary vampire ...".
"One only has to turn to the Bible to find parallels between Christ and the contemporary vampire," Sinton said.
"Just as Jesus was resurrected from the dead; so, too, vampires are resurrected beings.
"Jesus rose from a grave or tomb; likewise, vampires are said to rise from graves or tombs."
Sinton said that, in 1968, a group of Christians gathered outside a London theatre to protest the premier of the Hammer film, Dracula Has Risen From The Grave.
"Apparently they had a problem both with the title and the storyline," he said.
The movie saw Dracula emerge Christ-like from a grave before he was eventually killed by a large cross in much the same way the cross killed Jesus.
Sinton said what annoyed Christians the most was the movie's timing.
"Dracula Has Risen From The Grave was launched to coincide with Easter," he said.
"Of course, Easter is a time when Christians want to celebrate their Christ vampire, not some movie star vampire.
"Evidently, the protesters could not handle the competition ..."
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Sinton is not the first commentator to suggest that Christ and Dracula may have been in competition with each other.
In the movie Count Dracula (1978), Jonathan Harker asks Dracula: "Why in God's name did you leave your castle?"
"We must recruit disciples," the Immortal Prince replies.
"Just as your leader has done ..."
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Just as Jesus left his home in Galilee to look for new recruits or disciples; so, too, Dracula leaves his castle in Transylvania in search of new recruits or disciples.
Jesus promised new disciples everlasting or perpetual life.
Likewise, Dracula and other vampires promise new disciples everlasting life.
Both Jesus and vampires are said to have had special or supernatural powers over those they meet.
Jesus in his travels rose Lazarus from the dead; likewise, Dracula in his travels resuscitated Mina.
In Anne Rice's Interview With A Vampire, the vampire Lestat revived Louis to a revivified state of perpetual existence ...
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Just as Jesus has a royal bloodline; Dracula, too, has a royal bloodline.
Just as Jesus had a faithful lunatic servant in Paul; Dracula had a faithful lunatic servant in Renfield.
Just as many Christians believe Jesus actually exists; likewise, some Gothic folk believe vampires are real.
Both often build their lives around these beliefs ...
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Next to physical resurrection, the strongest link between Christ and Dracula, as already mentioned, is blood.
Jesus, Dracula, Lestat and all other vampires traditionally use blood as the instrument for eternal life.
Jesus initiates recruits through physical blood drinking ("communion cup"); likewise, vampires initiate recruits through physical blood drinking ("vampire kiss").
In the Bram Stoker novel, Dracula invites Mina to feed from his own undead body in an act Van Helsing calls, "the vampire's baptism of blood ..."
Similarly, Paul invites followers to feed from the undead body of Christ in an act he calls, "the Lord's blessing of blood ..." (1 Corinthians 10:16).
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In a bizarre example of Christian blood lust, US writer Poppy Dixon cites the case of a Christian candy maker in Indiana.
Dismayed at his lack of opportunity to witness for his Lord and Master, the candy maker asks in a prayer, "What can a humble candy maker do?"
According to Dixon, his answer came in the form of "an inspiration" to create the candy cane as an eternal witness of his faith.
"He started with hard, white candy to symbolise the purity of Jesus' origins," she said.
"He fashioned it into a J for Jesus and if you turned it upside down it could also represent the shepherd's hook, used to rescue lost lambs.
"The small red stripes represent the scourging of Christ and the large red stripe represents his blood shed at Calvary for our sins.
"Tell this story to your children and give them a head start on their eating disorders ..."
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If we compare other symbolism between Christ, blood and vampires, we notice further similarities.
Just as Jesus has been associated with a winged creature (dove); likewise, vampires are associated with a winged creature (bat).
Just as Jesus in Revelation transforms himself into "a lamb of God"; vampires in some traditions transform themselves into wolves.
From 1215, the church taught that Jesus could transubstantiate himself into communion bread or wine.
Likewise, early tradition related that vampires could transform or shapeshift themselves at will.
Dracula, in Romanian, means "son of the devil"; Jesus in the New Testament was accused of "having a devil" (John 7:20; 10:20).
Jesus has been called "Lord both of the dead and living" (Romans 14:9) and the "King Eternal" (1 Timothy 1:17).
Likewise, Dracula has been called "Lord of the Undead" and the "Immortal Prince".
Jesus is said to "come as a thief in the night" (2 Peter 3:10); likewise Dracula and other vampires appear like thieves in the night.
As thieves, the purpose of both Jesus and vampires is, of course, to steal souls ...
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Just as Jesus has been called the "light of the world" (John 9:5); conversely, Dracula and other rival vampires are weakened or destroyed by light ...
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In her book Dracula Meets Jesus, Meg Smith presented a fictional account of Christ and Dracula as friends.
At one point in the story, Jesus and Dracula are on a couch watching television, when Jesus turns to Dracula and asks, "Why don't you like crosses?"
"What?" says Dracula: "Don't they give you the creeps ..?"
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It has long been held that crosses physically destroy vampires.
But as some vampirologists forget, and Smith's analogy illustrates, it was a cross that also physically destroyed Christ.
Since their deaths, of course, both Christ and Dracula have resurrected themselves and continue to live or exist in a "spiritual form" in society ...
Christ lives on through the church and "the blood of the New Testament" (Luke 22:20).
Dracula's lifeblood, on the other hand, is literature and the cinema ...
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In the Bram Stoker novel, Dracula is defeated not by a churchman, as one might expect; but by, of all people, a scientist.
According to The Vampire Encyclopedia, Matthew Bunson said Dr Abraham Van Helsing "is not a servant of the Church" but of good in general.
"(He) leads the forces of light as a man of science, spirituality, and conscience," Bunson said.
Significantly, the greatest enemies of Christ and his church have historically been science, spirituality and conscience ...
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Throughout his life it was said no mortal wound would kill Jesus; indeed, the Bible says "a bone of him shall not be broken" (John 19:36).
Likewise, it has been said no mortal wounds can kill a vampire.
As we have seen, Jesus - like Dracula - met his physical death by the cross.
But as any vampire hunter knows, the cross alone is often not enough to truly destroy a vampire.
So what did the Roman soldier guarding Christ on the cross do?
He drove a stake or spear into Christ's side "until blood and water issued forth" (John 19:34).
Nevertheless, as history reveals - and as any Buffy fan knows - driving a stake through a vampire's side is not sufficient to kill it.
"The Romans tried to kill him," JG Eccarius said in The Last Days Of Christ The Vampire.
"Only they didn't know to drive a stake through his heart ..."
Hence, today, we find modern vampire hunters wearing t-shirts that read:
Jesus lives ...
Vampires never die ...
