Past the Point of No Return

Author : Vivian Gordon
Life, since becoming a daughter of the Lord, never ceases
to amaze me in the lessons that I see in every day things
that I was blind to before. Recently I saw the truth in this
when I bought the DVD of the Phantom. I had always loved
this musical and what I was about to see this time really
made me realize how true this fantasy was.The underlying message of this opera is still true today. I
recognized myself this time in the main character of
Christine. It is not because of her youth and beauty or even
her beautiful singing voice, because that is not where my
talents lie. No, I saw myself in her as she was swept away
to the underworld of the Phantom. My Phantom of course
was Satan himself. There are many similarities between the
two. This dark myserious and even sensuous man seduced
Christine by making her believe that he was the "Angel of
Music". Satan was in fact the angel of music, and he
seduces us today through music.The Bible refers to Satan as many different things such as a
"Deceiver"-Rev. 12:9, "Tempter"-Mt. 8:5, "Murder and
Liar"-Jn. 8:44, "Destroyer"-Rev. 9:11 and the "Evil One"-1 Jn.
5:19. In the garden he first came to Eve, deceived and
tempted her. She was actually put under his spell, just as
the Phantom did with Christine. His lies sounded so
enticing. But in the end we know what these lies led up to,
Eve's spiritual death. Don't allow Satan to sweetly seduce
you into your spiritual death. His tactics are still the same
today. He's not very original, just tricky. He first will tempt us
with things that appear to be enticing, seductive, alluring. In
other words, it looks good. Beware of what your eyes tell
you.The Phantom uses his mysterious charm on Christine also.
She falls under his spell. He shows her the beauty of his
dark underworld and then procedes to sing "The Music of
the Night". The words in this song speak of his power over
her and how wonderful it is in the dark. Christine is
mezmerized by him, totally helpless and is soon overcome
to his ploy.This is the scene where Satan captures all of us. He is
nothing but lies. But, as Christine had Raol, we have Christ
to deliver us from his clutches. Raol comes to Christine's
rescue many times through out the show and sometimes
Christ must come to our rescue more than once. Raol gets
Christine away and sings to her a song that opens up her
eyes to the deception of the Phantom. He tells Christine that
she must let him be her "Life and Light". He tells her the
truth. Her eyes are then open to the dark side of the
Phantom. Together she and Raol run off and meanwhile the
Phantom is hiding in the shadow and overhears all that was
said between them. He is not a good loser and neither is
Satan. His immediate reaction is to get revenge. Does this
sound familiar? Unless you have been saved by Christ and
are one of His sheep, you can't hear his voice."All others who came (as such) before Me are theives and
robbers, but the (true) sheep did not listen to and obey
them." Jn. 10:8 (Amplified)For those who succumb to the wiles of this Evil One, in this
case the Phantom will eventually be destroyed. His interest
does not lie in your success, although this is what he
always tells us. He promises us the ends of the world if we
just come to him. This is the trap that captures us in his web
of lies. But, if you can hear the Shepherd's voice, you can
escape. Raol is the shepherd in this case. Christine heard
his voice."The theif comes only in order to steal, and kill and
destroy..." Jn. 10:10 (Amplified)Satan's mission is to trap us, hold us in bondage and kill
us. So the very thought of Christine knowing the truth
caused him to react with vengence in his heart.Then Christine later runs off to the cemetary by herself
where she is alone and unarmed. She still wants to believe
that this is the "Angel of Music" who her father sent to her.
Some of us want to believe this too. It was here he was
waiting for her in the dark corners of her father's tomb and
alluring to come closer. Satan waits for us just like a spider.
We are his victim and soon get caught up in his web. He will
gently taunt us further and all the while he weaves a web of
death and destruction around us. But, it's never passed the
point of no return, because we have a Raol to come to our
rescue.Christine nearly was tangled up again by the Phantom's
attempts to own her, but then just in time, Raol comes
along. Have you ever noticed that Jesus is always on time in
your darkest hour too? Christ is always ready to come to our
rescue because He promises us freedom and life."I Am the Door, anyone who enters in through Me will be
saved (will live) He will come in and he will go out (freely)
and will find pasture".Once again Raol comes just in time to open Christine's
eyes to the truth and fight with the dark enemy. This defeat
leaves the Phantom vowing war on both of them now. Satan
will attack us through the people we love the most. When he
can't have you, he will come after the ones that are closest
to you. God even tells us that our battles are not against the
flesh and blood. (Eph. 6:12)Finally, Christine realizes that that the Phantom is a
murderer and he will stop at nothing. Raol tells her that this
is her battle but he will be at her side. Christ tells us the
same thing today. He says He will never leave us nor
forsake us.The Phantom comes back to Christine and does his best to
allure and entice her again! He sings words to her that
Satan sings to us. He tells us we are persuing our
passions and we have succombed to him and now we are
"Past the Point of No Return". He makes us think that we
have no power to resist him. His lies are very seductive...at
first. Christine tells him that she is with him and is indeed
past the point of no return. Thinking he now has her past the
final threshold, Raol looks on with a tear in his eye."Jesus wept." Jn. 11:35Jesus has such compassion for us, He takes our salvation
personaly because He personaly took His Father's wrath.But, Christine was the one who fooled the Phantom! She
pulled off his mask and exposed his true nature. He
became the monster that he really was. He isn't so
appealing anymore. His first reaction is to lash back with
extreme anger and then he drags her off to his dark abyss.
Again, he tells her that she has given in to her flesh and now
is his. But, once more along comes the hero of the story,
Raol. The Phantom tells Christine that in order to save him,
she must pay for his freedom with her soul. Satan still uses
this lie against us, but we have to know that it's not true!
Christine tells the Phantom that God gave her the courage
to show him that he is not alone. By turning the other cheek
and showing this poor creature compassion, he then tells
them both to leave.In the final scene, the Phantom tells Christine that he loves
her. Now of course Satan doesn't know what love is so this
is a fantasy. But truth is, when we depart from him and go to
Christ, he realizes that all is lost. As Christine and Raol
leave together, the Phantom cried, "It's over now!" and the he
smashed the mirrors.Unfortunately, this doesn't happen either. What does
happen is that the enemy will never give in and leave us
alone. He will never admit to defeat. He will never let us go
in peace even when we belong to Christ. This just makes
him all the irrate. Once we truly belong to Christ, we will
no longer listen to the music of the night and he knows he
can't seduce us anymore.When Satan tells you that you've passed the point of no
return, tell him there's always a point of escape and you
found the door through Christ!Always remember to "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not
fulfill the lust of the flesh." Gal. 5:16God is faithful to always give us the victory, but we must first
be willing to fight!Vivian Gordon writes articles pertaining to God's
instructions and the examples He has given us in order
to grow on this Christian walk with Him. She hopes that
they can inspire the Christian to grow spiritualy and
maturely in their lives.
Keyword : Phantom of the Opera, Liar, Tempter, Satan, Truth, Christ, No Return, Deciever, Fantasy, Spiritual