The Pulse Podcast with Matthew Ruttan

Certain things leave us awestruck—things like gale-force winds, witnessing a baby being born, or young soldiers sacrificing their lives for the freedom of others.

The greatest reason for being awestruck is the Lord God. He spread out the stars, filled the oceans, designed DNA, and leads history forward in hope. Or have we become so used to the idea of God that we have domesticated him? Has our thinking about God become too common, rendering us incapable of standing in awe?

This sermon explores the most famous passage in Ecclesiastes: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…” But this poem isn’t just pretty—it has a purpose. It has to do with (a) who God is (regardless of the season you are experiencing), and (b) who you are (regardless of the season you are experiencing).

Through each and every chapter of life—even the hard ones—the Lord God is sovereign and good. Thomas Scott says we should imitate the sailors who, in their ships, have a port in view, a destination. Through calm waters and through harsh storms, the sailors keep their eye on the destination. So it is with us through every season. How can we reverence God come what may?

For everything there is a season, and for every season there is a Saviour.

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To not believe in the power of prayer is to say, in essence, that God is a liar.

Let us pray:

Almighty God—and when we say almighty,
that’s exactly what we mean, all-mighty.
Almighty God, we stand at your door and knock,
not just because you are almighty, but because you are Father.
Your own Word to us says,
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so do you show compassion to us. (Psalm 103)
Compassion.
We stand, we knock, we trust, with open hands,
and with an honest anticipation like toddlers reaching up
to the only one they know truly knows them.
Lord, in your mercy. All: Hear our prayer.

We don’t pretend to be perfect. We’re not. But you are.
We come to you appealing to your goodness, not ours.
Our sins are higher than our heads.
But nothing his higher than your mercy—
the free charity of a God, a Father,
whose heart pulsates with grace toward his own.
Lord, in your mercy. All: Hear our prayer.

This is a sanctuary. It’s where we worship, learn, and pray.
A sanctuary because it is holy (a sanctum), this space, this place.
A sanctuary because, for a bit of time, we are away from the outside world;
and yes, we will return, we will be sent out renewed as disciples.
But here we are, we pray, asking you to change certain things.
Lord, in your mercy. All: Hear our prayer.

What do we want to change?
To the person who feels like hope is slipping through their fingers.
To the person whose mind keeps racing, even in directions that make no sense to them.
To the person who can’t sleep and for whom nighttime is a time of invisible battle.
To the person about to make a big change, a leap of faith,
and the leap seems bigger and higher than they thought.
Do a miracle. Today.
Do a miracle. Today.
Do a miracle. Today.
Lord, in your mercy. All: Hear our prayer.

What else do we ask of you?
And yes, we will ask because Jesus said
that in you all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26)
To the person who needs a job, or a different job,
so that day by day they are better aligned
with your kingdom work in the rhythms of their life.
To the person who has been pushed aside—
and not only are they lonely, but in their heart they feel injured.
To the person who is surrounded by people who say they love them,
but still feel misunderstood. And the days are taking their toll.
Reach your hand into these vexations and do something profound.
Reach your hand into these vexations and do something profound.
Lord, in your mercy. All: Hear our prayer.

We continue to ask because we are limited, but you are not.
To the person who is sick, and they don’t know what is going on, or why.
And sometimes that question is just as big—Why!
To the person who is confused about who they are,
can you just look them in the face,
and tell them that they are wonderful and beautiful
just as you made them to be?
To the person whose faith is about as flimsy as a paper plane right now:
breathe into the lungs of their soul the confidence and clarity of a warrior
who can smile even in the face of battle.
To the person who came to you with a question today.
You know who they are. They came with a question. Speak to them.
Speak an answer to them—
that the answer is what Jesus has been saying all along.
Lord, in your mercy; All: Hear our prayer.

To those who fear. They fear a great fear.
Worry is always at the door. But change it’s direction—
that worry be going, not coming.
When the world, and the wars and rumours of wars,
and deceptions and hair-pulling frustrations, want to beat us over the head,
remind those people, and of course all of us, that you are bigger.
Your throne does not tremble.
Your voice does not quiver.
Your knees do not shake.
You are all-mighty,
and you enfold all of us under the shelter of your victorious wing.
May this be our peace,
and may the unyielding love of Christ be our purpose.
Lord, in your mercy; All: Hear our prayer.

These things we pray in the beautiful name of Jesus, Amen.

Good habits, bad habits. We probably all have both. At first you make your habits, and then your habits make you. That’s the part about habits that we often neglect—that they are shaping us and leading us in a certain direction.

Like coordinates.

In this short episode, I provide a definition for habits, explain what is meant by “coordinates,” and provide some practical suggestions for life and faith, not only for those who are already on a good path, but for those who need a mid-course correction.

Note that in addition to the audio (available below or through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc) you can also watch a video version.

It was once described as the most detestable doctrine. However, we need to base our faith not on what we want to be true, but on what actually is.

Jesus loves us too much to lie to us.

This episode debunks some myths and presents several details about hell from Scripture. It is from a sermon in 2019. Hell is a place we should want to avoid, and it should be a place we should want our loved ones to avoid as well.

It was once described as a place where everything sad will come untrue.

This episode is a sermon I delivered in 2019. It was a part of the “Heaven and Hell” teaching series. It sets the stage, debunks some myths, and then describes several details about heaven based on Scripture.

Brothers and sisters, be assured of this: If you’re not hungry for heaven, you’ve been misinformed. Enjoy!

Our culture preaches lies to us every day, and even every hour: “You’re not enough! You don’t have enough! You can’t keep up! There is something missing in your life!”

However, if you are in Christ, you already have what matters most—eternity. This happens when we experience the forgiveness of the King of the Universe. This makes you “blessed”—and this is the kind of blessing that eclipses anything you could accumulate or achieve while here on earth.

This sermon explains Psalm 32, an ancient song penned by King David. He explains some reasons we can be very, very glad. 

“Live your life as it is, not as it was.” And how is it? It is forgiven and blessed. The world can bark like a mad dog all it wants, but we have eternity.

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We’ve become accustomed to rushing, not beholding. Are we better off for it? Join in with this prayer for the worship service at Westminster on July 26, 2026.

Let us pray:
Lord God forever-mighty,
who makes 1000 years seem short,
and the girth of 1000 armies seem weak,
we behold you.
Behold.
That’s a word we don’t use much anymore—behold.
Instead of beholding your grandeur,
we put you in the footnotes of our priorities.
Instead of just beholding your mercy,
we rush past, as if stepping over someone who needs help,
because we have more pressing things to do.
Instead of just beholding your trustworthiness,
we give you five seconds of thought,
as we rush and zag this way and that—
otherwise distracted by a world
that wants our attention while it steps on our hearts.
But no.
Today—right here, right now—we behold you.
Your grandeur.
Your mercy.
Your trustworthiness.
We hold them close in the tangle of our frailty—
while you cut through the ugliness with your beauty.
Forgive our sin—
when we ignore, look away, trivialize, manipulate, shrug,
in the face of all the things that matter most.
Bring us, yet again, to that glorious space of gratitude,
to that internal sunrise of clarity,
where we behold you—
again and again and again.
These things we pray,
like toddlers at the foot of a hero,
in the name of Jesus—
Saviour to sinners,
Teacher to students,
Friend to tired souls—
Amen.

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“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.” As we battle through life, is it just the size of the fight in us, or is there something specific about the nature of that fight that we need to know in order to be successful?

In this sermon, we explore 2 Peter 3:14-18, and then three additional verses which are representative of Peter’s teaching through his letters as a whole. 1 Peter 1:3 is about being born again to a living hope through Jesus’ resurrection. 1 Peter 3:15 tells us to always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that we have. And 2 Peter 3:17 warns us against being carried away with the error of lawless people, losing our stability.

Life can be difficult and unpredictable. But Peter is a faithful fighter who knows how to persevere and have hope. That’s what he wants for us too. Let’s bring this series to a strong finish, and keep fighting!

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Disclosure Day is the latest movie by Steven Spielberg, starring Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, and Eve Hewson.

In short, here’s the plot. The government has had concrete proof of aliens (UFO’s) for over seven decades. Not only do they have piles and piles of documented footage, but they have actually communicated and interacted with aliens face-to-face—and, in some cases, done experiments on them.

The movie tells the story of several individuals who take this top-secret information, defect from their security company (which had been charged with guarding the secret), and attempt to disclose it to everyone else on planet earth—hence “Disclosure Day.” Everyone needs to know the truth! High-paced car (and train) chases, espionage, quirky birds, betrayal, and bombs populate their journey.

Since there has been some online chatter about this movie, I thought I would share some thoughts after having seen it with my 15-year-old son.

Oh, and there are some spoiler alerts ahead. Consider yourself warned.

Let me set the stage with some comments about what is happening in our wider cultural moment which makes our interest in the movie all the more timely.

First, our society has been talking a lot about aliens—although, we don’t tend to call them that anymore, perhaps because the word makes us think of green critters and conspiracy theorists who never leave their parents’ basements.

Today’s word is “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” or UAP for short. It’s more vague and, I think, is meant to sound more objective and cautionary. There have been several news stories about things flying the skies, and no one has been able to provide a definite explanation about what they are or who is causing them. Hence, UAP.

Earlier this year former American President Barack Obama made headlines when in an interview with Brian Tyler Cohen he said that aliens are real, though he hadn’t personally seen them. (He also denied that aliens are kept at Area 51.) After his comments went viral, he made a clarifying comment a few days later to downplay the hype. He basically said that he was only speculating: “the odds are good there’s life out there,” he said.

At other times, the former president has spoken about evidence of objects in the sky that move quickly and are unpredictable, but which can’t be explained. This just adds to the intrigue.

Here in Canada, a national survey released in 2025 by the University of British Columbia found that almost half of Canadians believe in at least one paranormal phenomenon. This could be the idea that people are visited by spirits or ghosts, or that extra-terrestrial life has visited our planet. I think it’s safe to say that a lot of people think there are mysterious things happening all around us, even if we don’t understand them all.

Second, questions about paranormal activity—whether that be aliens, haunted houses, or attempts to contact the dead—always seem to intersect with bigger questions about existence and faith. People ask questions like, ‘Does the Bible address any of this? Does it disprove—or confirm—what we know about God? If any of this is real, how does it influence our faith as modern people who are increasingly shaped by scientific discovery, but who are also open to things we simply can’t explain?’

Disclosure Day intentionally goes out of its way to directly address some of these questions. Other questions are only alluded to. Let’s turn to some of them now. I’m going to address eight points.

Close to the start of the movie, two of the protagonists (Daniel and Jane) find refuge in a convent (where nuns live). Turns out that Jane was at one time in training to be a nun, or at least engaged in a discernment process. She has a close connection with one of the main nuns, and will consult her with questions as the movie goes on.

This initial sequence tells us that the possible relationship between aliens, God and faith is an overt subplot of the movie. We’ll return to this toward the end.

We also come to learn that aliens have given special abilities to two people. One of them is Daniel, played by Josh O’Connor, the other is a weather reporter named Margaret, played by Emily Blunt.

Daniel’s ability is to understand high-level mathematics. There’s more to it than that, but the point is that he’s very intelligent and can understand patterns, code and language in a way that other people can’t.

Margaret can simply look at someone and know things about them—their names, things happening in their life, and even their emotional needs. Again, there’s more to it than that, but you get the idea.

Biblically speaking, this may make us think of “spiritual gifts.” The Bible teaches that every Christian has at least one. There are about nineteen spiritual gifts listed in the New Testament. They include things like teaching, healing, words of knowledge, tongues, discernment of spirits, intercession, mercy, etc. Bruce Bugbee explains how spiritual gifts are “endowments or special gifts given by God that enable us to make our unique contribution. They are not natural talents, but divine abilities that enable us to do ministry.”[1]

The special abilities featured in Disclosure Day are other-worldly abilities which seem to exist for the benefit of the human race as a whole. Is Spielberg intentionally comparing (or contrasting) the gifts that have been given to Daniel and Margaret with how the Holy Spirit uses believers today? It’s hard to be sure.

I also found it curious that cardinals feature prominently in the movie—not the baseball team, but the beautiful red birds. Daniel and Margaret both receive their special abilities after a visit by a cardinal.

In the lore of some Christian traditions, cardinals are sometimes said to represent angels, or at least the messages of angels. ‘When you are visited by a cardinal, it means an angel is trying to comfort you.’ Perhaps Spielberg was picking up on this on this association with these red birds, even if it isn’t grounded in the Bible.

During one of the scenes, Jane is the subject of a “dive.” That’s when someone holds tightly to a grey handle (a piece of technology made possible by the aliens), stares at someone’s picture, and then appears in that person’s location no matter where that person is. When they do this, they seem to be in two places at once.

This happened to Jane when she sat in a safe house. A character named Noah was trying to find her. He used the grey handle and appeared to her at her location, and even spoke with her, despite being miles away. We might call this “bi-locating.”

Interestingly, there are accounts of this in the history of the church. There are a few people from history who are said to have done this, including Saint Francis Xavier, and more recently, Padre Pio. These were men of extreme holiness. Through intense prayer and contemplation, it is said that they physically appeared to people who were miles and miles away—details corroborated by witnesses.

Again, is Spielberg making an intentional connection? I just don’t know, but it sure is a good conversation starter.

When Noah is “diving” on Jane—i.e. when he shows up to speak with her even though she is miles away from him—something else happens which seems very much to be a kind of demonization.

“Demonization” is the New Testament word for when a demon (also called an evil spirit or an unclean spirit) exerts such an influence on someone that they gain influence over that person from the inside, even controlling some of their words or actions. Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians tend to call this “possession.” The process of casting out such a spirit is often called “exorcism.” Protestants tend to call the entire process “deliverance.”

As Noah “dives” on Jane, something else happens. He is able to control her from the inside. Her eyes turn black. (As Jesus says in Matthew 6:22, “The eye is the lamp of the body.”) In this moment, Noah is looking and living through her. Biblically speaking, this is what happens when a person is seriously demonized.

During their first encounter like this, Jane resists. She holds a crucifix in her hand.[2] She tries to resist Noah by squeezing her cross tightly. As she does so, blood drips from her hand as it cuts into her skin. When she focuses on the cross, Noah’s power seems to fade and he disappears. However, when she drops the cross, he reappears.

Again, this experience shares several similarities with what happens during someone’s deliverance. The fact that Jane could resist Noah when she focused on her crucifix (i.e. Christ and his power), may be a commentary on how demonization is a battle for the mind under Christ. The closer and more aligned we are, the more liberated we can be; the further and less aligned we are, the more bondage we can experience.[3]

A few scenes later, Jane almost stabs her friend Daniel while still under Noah’s influence. Only when Daniel makes eye contact with her and reminds her about her true identity does she “snap out of it,” and return to her former personality. This makes me think of the demonized man from Mark 5. After he was liberated by Jesus, the locals found him at peace and in his “right mind” (verse 15).

As the movie continues, we learn more about the aliens who have been—and continue to be—in our midst. However, many of them present as animals, at least at first. This is so they can remain undetected.

It is at this point that I need to highlight something fairly major. For years, Christians who have been engaged in the on-the-ground realities of spiritual warfare have suggested that many “visitations” by supposed aliens—or “visions” of supposed aliens—are actually demonic in nature.

In 2 Corinthians 11:14 the apostle Paul describes how Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light. He and his workers (demons) can appear differently to different people, or can at least manipulate light to make it seem that way.

Since the idea of UFO’s can make people doubt the biblical description of reality, and since demonic beings exist to deceive and harm people by leading them away from Christ who is their only and ultimate source of help and hope, it has been suggested that it’s all a grand act of trickery. This makes some people wonder whether nighttime visits, apparent “experiments” on humans, and even bright mysterious lights in the sky at night, are actually Satanic deception intended to invoke fear and a mistrust of the biblical worldview.

So even though the movie doesn’t make an obvious connection between aliens and demons, the foreign beings in Disclosure Day seem to have some commonalities with what some Christians observe when engaged in overt demonic conflict.

The aliens in the movie are not sinister. They seem to want to help humanity, even if they happen to do experiments on unsuspecting children from time to time!

Closer to the end of the movie, a character named Hugo explains that aliens teach us about empathy. “They regard empathy as an evolutionary advantage,” he says, “as the foremost evolutionary advantage, in fact, the core of animate existence.” The reason humans are going extinct, he says, is because they don’t have enough of it. This seems to be why Margaret’s special giftedness from the aliens enables her to see inside of people and even help them with their emotional needs.

All of this, of course, seems to be modern social commentary coming right from Spielberg’s mouth. Have you noticed how in certain movies it’s as if the plot abruptly stops and you get a short sermon through one of the characters? In Disclosure Day, this seems to be it. To paraphrase, ‘If only we were nicer and held hands, everything would work out in the end.’

Another significant theme in the movie is the pursuit of truth. Aliens-among-us is a truth that needs to be shared. Further, this motivates Jane to keep pursuing the truth, even if it upsets some people, including religious ones.

Again, the theme of truth is an important point of intersection with Christian values. Truth is good. God’s word is truth (John 17:17), Jesus himself is the truth (John 14:6), and the truth about him will set people free (John 8:32). In short, everyone can agree that truth is to be pursued. If God is good, so is the truth that we discover in his world—and, by extension, in his universe.

As I said at the outset, there is a lot of interest in aliens and extra-terrestrial life. When these ideas come up, people tend to ask questions like: ‘Does the Bible address any of this? Does it disprove—or confirm—what we know about God? If any of this is real, how does it influence our faith as modern people who are increasingly shaped by scientific discovery, but who are also open to things we simply can’t explain?’

I think one of the purposes of the movie is to answer some of these questions, at least from Spielberg’s point of view. Why else would he so overtly include a nun, religious symbolism, and outright discussions between the characters about faith?

For quite some time, people have tried to find evidence of aliens in the Bible. For example, when I was young, I remember watching an episode of Unsolved Mysteries where someone claimed that the metallic object in the sky with lights, eyes and living beings from Ezekiel 1 was actually a spaceship with aliens.[4] (By the way, I doubt they’re right.) And as already mentioned, there are people who think that alien sightings are actually demonic deceptions meant to lead humanity further into their own distracted darkness.

Spielberg tries to address this question directly in the movie itself. At one point, Jane calls her friend in the convent with existential concerns. Is it possible that aliens are real? Wouldn’t that disrupt everything the Bible says about God? The nun replies by quoting Genesis. She says that humans are God’s “supreme creation” on the earth. The nun intentionally leaves open the idea that creation is huge and therefore there is no reason to think that God wouldn’t have created creatures for other parts of his universe. In other words, she suggests that humans are supreme “on earth,” but not necessarily elsewhere in the galaxy.

As this scene was unfolding, I started scanning my brain for the verse she may have been referring to. But no, the book of Genesis doesn’t technically say that. What it says is that humans are created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27), and that we have a certain dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:26, 28). Perhaps that is what she (i.e. Spielberg) had in mind.

Either way, the point of the scene is that a belief in aliens and God can co-exist since God is bigger than we realize and his universe is much bigger than the earth.

In closing, I liked it. There were several aspects of the storyline that didn’t sense. But hey, that’s okay, it’s a Spielberg movie, not the Bible. I was there to enjoy an afternoon with my son and have too much overpriced buttery popcorn.

What I value is thoughtful conversations about faith and life. This movie can help facilitate those conversations. But let me also say this.

These days, we are increasingly passive when it comes to forming opinions. Just because “everyone is saying something” on our social media platforms, that doesn’t mean that everyone is actually saying it. Algorithms have a way of skewing our perception about what is truly happening in the world. The same goes for big budget movies produced by people who may not always have our best interests in mind, and who may not be thinking theologically about the big questions we face.

Let’s be proactive—not passive—when it comes to forming our opinions, and when it comes to having a modern, robust faith. Ask big excellent questions. Ask also the ones that kind of embarrass you. Most of all, study the Bible, use the brain God gave you, pray, talk with other wise people, and put your learning into action as the loving hands and feet of Jesus.

So, what happens at the end of Disclosure Day? Did they ever “disclose” all of this information to the world? Well, you’ll have to watch the movie to find out. And yes, there’s a pretty neat surprise at the end.

At one point, someone says: “If you found out we weren’t alone, if… if someone showed you, proved it to you… would that frighten you?” To me, the answer is No. In the spiritual hierarchy of the universe, Christ is at the top.[5] We are not alone. The Lord God is with his people. And with him, there is nothing to fear—ever.

May God bless you as you have proactive and thoughtful conversations about faith, life, and the universe God made.

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[1] As quoted in: Jon Thompson, Convergence (Sanctus Church, 2018), 76.

[2] A crucifix is a cross with Jesus still hanging on it.

[3] There are some exceptions to this, depending on the cause and kind of demonization. But here I am speaking in general terms.

[4] I’m recalling from memory. I’m pretty sure it was Unsolved Mysteries, but it could have been a different show.

[5] One of many passages that speaks to Jesus’ supremacy is Philippians 2:9 where he is bestowed “the name that is above every name.”

When you hear the word “beautiful,” what comes to mind? At first, perhaps you think about someone who is particularly attractive. After a few seconds, perhaps you think about “inner beauty.” But what if the future is beautiful? And what if you had an opportunity to take something from that beautiful future and bring it back into the ugliness of the present?

This sermon explores 2 Peter 3:1-13 and the return of Jesus—an event sometimes called the “second coming.” Something we can forget about Jesus’ return is what happens afterward. He will usher in “the new heavens and the new earth.” It is a place devoid of pain, tears, suffering and sin, and a place where there is only communion with God, peace among people, and glorious joy. Peter says it is a place where “righteousness dwells.” 

As we wait for this day, Peter invites us to live in holiness and godliness. The future is beautiful. As a people of hope who live in a world that much ugliness, we have an opportunity to foreshadow (in the here and now) the true beauty that is to come.

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