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. 11:35

Jesus 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. 5:16

God 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.