"Just as we are each concerned about our own physical health, we must be concerned about the health
of the body of Christ. The spirit of vampirism in the Church is a spreading
cancer that must not be ignored. It must be destroyed!"
- Keith
The Scripture says that we should not
be ignorant of satan's devices, "Lest Satan should get an
advantage over us." (2 Corinthians 2:11) In that light, it is our desire to expose a
major demonic device that is afflicting many in the church today: vampirism. One does not have to look far to see that
vampires and vampirism have become popular phenomena in modern society. In the past ten years, there has been a
significant increase in the number of prime time television programs and major
motion pictures that use vampires as their main theme. Similarly, many metropolitan police
departments and other law enforcement agencies are reporting a staggering rise
in vampire cult activity.
Now, it is crucial to
realize that the popular portrayal of vampirism, the folklore, and
superstitions regarding it are all part of satan's scheme, because these hide
the true nature of this very destructive and seductive weapon in his arsenal. Vampirism truly is one of satan's most
divisive tools against the body of Christ.
The idea that a vampire is some colorful little character with fangs and
a cape is as wrong as thinking that the Devil runs around in a red suit carrying
a pitch-folk. Make no mistake, vampirism is very real.
So, what is a vampire? The Webster’s dictionary defines a vampire as “an
unscrupulous person who preys ruthlessly on others, as a blackmailer or usurer.” Webster’s also defines vampirism as “the act
or practice of preying ruthlessly on other people.” The Lord Jesus Christ defines it thusly: “The thief cometh
not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” (John 10:10a) The thief comes to steal, kill,
and destroy. A vampire is simply one
kind of thief according to the Lord.
It is also quite important
to note the context of the Lord’s remark. He continued by contrasting the works of the
thief, including vampires, with His own, “I am come that
they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10b) Jesus brings life and that in abundance for
His people. Vampires come to destroy
that Abundant Life by stealing time and energy.
No matter how much they take, they are never satisfied.
A vampire is a human
parasite; a human leech often times influenced by a demonic accomplice; someone
who is focused solely on themselves to the point of depleting or draining
others of the resources and life within them to achieve or satisfy their own selfish
objectives or cravings. Another way of describing
this is out-of-control selfishness. A
person who has succumbed to the spirit of vampirism would simply be one who is
leading a misguided life of tearing down or using others in an attempt to exalt
themselves. We are dealing with wicked
spirits seeking to fulfill the devil’s missions: steal, kill, and destroy the
person who gives it place in their life and anyone who becomes involved with
that person.
Now, while vampirism can
involve both human and demonic activity, this is not always the case. Unclean spirits must look for humans to
influence, because that is how satan’s work of killing, stealing and destroying
is ultimately accomplished. He must have
a willing host body in order to do his bidding in the natural realm. However, people can be vampires without any
help or prodding from unclean spirits.
Observe also that there is
a vast difference between a person who has become overtaken by a spirit of
vampirism and someone who genuinely hungers for the things of God. People who truly hunger for God and are being
transformed into the image of Christ, eventually enter the place where they die
to their own selfish wants and desires in order to become an asset to those around
them. On the other hand, someone who is
operating as a vampire is always on the take.
Consider these verses in
Proverbs: “There is a generation that curses their
father, and doth not bless their mother. There is a generation that are pure in
their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. There is a
generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up. There
is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour
the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men. The horseleech hath
two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never
satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough: The grave; and the barren
womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It
is enough. The eye that mocketh at his father, and despises to obey his
mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall
eat it.” (Proverbs 30:11-17)
The apostle Paul warns us
about this, as well: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall
come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection,
truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that
are good, Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of
God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn
away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly
women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never
able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (2 Timothy 1:7)
This passage says that in the
last days, these days that we are in, society would succumb to vampirism. This is coming to pass in our day and the
Church is right in the middle of it. We
are in perilous times, and the Church needs to deal with that kind of person by
applying discipline as commanded by Jesus. “Moreover if thy brother
shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him
alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not
hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or
three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear
them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be
unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.” (Matthew 18:15-17)
For example, in the days of
the Apostles, Paul was told that the Church at Corinth would not discipline a
member who was living openly with his father’s wife (1 Corinthians 5). In 1st Corinthians, Paul
wrote that the Church was not to fellowship with the unrepentant brother, but
they were to put him out of the Church, delivering him over to satan for the
destruction of the flesh that his soul might be delivered. He said, “Your
glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Purge
out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened.” (1 Corinthians 2:6-7) The
Church had to put the man out or the whole Church would be poisoned and the man’s
soul would not be delivered. They
obeyed. This worked and the man
repented. The problem now for this poor
fellow was that the Church wouldn’t accept him back!
So, Paul wrote, "Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was
inflicted of many. So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and
comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch
sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.” (2 Corinthians 2:6) And he concluded with, “To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave
any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of
Christ; Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of
his devices.” (2 Corinthians 2:10-11)
Note that in the case of
those who do not repent of the wrong behavior, the Church is commanded by the
Lord to turn our backs on them. This is
a difficult thing to understand, and even more difficult to do. Failure to properly apply Biblical discipline
has crippled the Church. When Pastors
don’t do it, they are drained dry by the parasites in the Church. And, when you and I don’t do it, we are
drained dry as well. Most importantly,
the sin that is allowed to remain in the camp will fester and spread to others
in the Church: the leaven will inevitably
leaven the whole lump.
The objection can be raised
that we’re supposed to love everybody, and we’re not supposed to judge anyone. However, true love is not blind to sin. True love, God’s love, covers the sin by
dealing with the sin at the Mercy Seat. It
is not love to ignore sin; we must deal with sin according to the Lord’s commandments. We have a responsibility as the Scripture
plainly puts it that, if we see our brother taken in a fault, to go to that one
and restore him in a spirit of meekness. This is true love! The scripture clearly states that we must
first die to our own selfish desires before we can be effectively used of God
to help reach and meet the needs of others.
Now we have reached the
very heart of the matter. It is impossible
to correctly discipline another until we have disciplined ourselves by first
submitting to the Lord’s discipline. As
Jesus said, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye
mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that
is in thy brother’s eye, but consider not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or
how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye;
and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the
beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote
out of thy brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:1-5)
Jesus said do not judge,
but he did not say to not deal with the mote in your brother’s eye. Elsewhere, the Lord commands us to, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous
judgment.” (John 7:24) By combining this verse with the passage from
Matthew, we can see that we must deal with the beam in our own eyes so that we
can be able to help our brother with the mote in his. If we attempt to correct our brother for the
mote in his eye without first having dealt with our own hearts, then we are hypocrites.
It is sin to deal
improperly with a brother who is in sin. It is also sin to do nothing about it. When a brother or a sister in the church sees
an unclean spirit working through the life of a fellow church member, then the
matter should be brought to the attention of the leadership of the Church. The worst thing that can be done is to “share”
the information with another member of the Church under the guise of a “prayer
request”. This is called gossip and
backbiting in the Scripture.
This is not about fault
finding, nit-picking, and idle, hurtful talk. If you engage in that kind of behavior, you’re
playing right into satan’s hands! Do not
underestimate the importance of this. It is a life and death matter! The Church is a body, a living body: the body
of Christ. Just as each of us is
concerned about our own physical health, we must be concerned about the health
of the body of Christ. The spirit of
vampirism in the Church is a spreading cancer that must not be ignored. It must be destroyed!
We are convinced that we
are in the last days and it is time now more than ever for each of us to
examine our own hearts and motives to make doubly sure that we are not giving
place to the self-seeking spirit of vampirism to work through our lives to
bring harm to others. We pray that this
message would serve as a spiritual mirror to help you see, deal with, and evict
any unclean spirits that you may have given place to in your life. It must be our life’s goal to be an asset and
not a deficit to everyone we come in contact with.
We can’t stress enough the
importance of getting understanding where this topic is concerned. Also, please understand that it is our hearts’
deepest desire to expose the deadly work that this spirit has been inflicting
on the Church, and that this is not, in any way, an attempt to promote
animosity towards those among us who may be overtaken by this spirit of
vampirism. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
(Ephesians 6:12)
1 Thessalonians
5:4-10 says, “But ye, brethren, are not in
darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children
of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For
they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the
night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith
and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed
us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us,
that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.” I pray that you will make
it your goal to always be an asset and a giver of life to all you come in
contact with each day. The apostle Paul
said, “I have showed you all things, how that so
laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord
Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35)
By
the way, you must realize that you are either part of the solution, or part of
the problem. If you stand in front of
the mirror of this teaching and can see your yourself in it, you are well on
your way to becoming an asset to the body of Christ. However, if you stand in front of the mirror
of this teaching and cannot see yourself, we suggest that you read it
repeatedly until you can! In either
case, you will recognize the truth concerning this, which is far better than
being blind to it.
Find this message, along with 11 others, in Keith's book, "XII Smooth Stones" available on
our website TowardTheMark.com.
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