We Just Want to Know, and Be Known – “A Close Encounter with God?”

Lessons From the Outer Limits:  A Hunger to Know God – Part #3

By Richard Allen – June 30, 2025

As I mentioned in the first two Blogs of this Series: “Lessons From the Outer Limits,” all men struggle with spiritual blindness and denial – caused by our “Reprobate Minds” (Romans 1:28). At the same time we long to know “who made us,” and “why.” We long to know our Maker and to be known by Him. Like a fully functional electric lamp, we have the wire, the socket, the light bulb and a shade, BUT, we are just not plugged into the only life-giving source of power:  God the Holy Spirit!  For most humans, we have an inate sense of our own disconnectedness. We know that we were made to “shine” – we have all the right equipment, but we can’t figure out to which source of power we need to connect. Human struggles over the past 7,000 years can be described as “Looking for God and Meaning in All the Wrong Places!”  Man’s history on this planet records our struggle to plug into something to fill the void we feel. We all try to plug back into that source of power and life – usually with sex, drugs, alcohol, possessions or great human endeavors – just to give our “powerless lives” meaning. So, using this concept as a “springboard,” let me reference a favorite Sci-Fi movie that demonstrates this struggle to know and be known: “Close Encoounters” of A Third Kind!”

It's hard to believe, but this Sci-Fi Classic was released in 1977 from Director Stephen Spielberg and his production group. The movie begins with a series of seemingly unrelated, but mysterious world-wide events:

“In the vast, enigmatic Sonoran Desert, a French scientist, Claude Lacombe, accompanied by his American interpreter and cartographer, David Laughlin, along with a team of researchers, stumbles upon a remarkable discovery: Flight 19, a squadron of United States Navy Grumman TBM Avenger Torpedo Bombers that mysteriously vanished over the Bermuda Triangle on December 5, 1945. The aircraft lie in impeccable condition, yet curiously devoid of any crew. Nearby, an elderly observer recounts a bizarre experience, claiming that “the sun came out at night, and sang to him.” Meanwhile, air traffic controllers in Indianapolis witness two commercial flights narrowly avert a collision with an unidentified flying object (UFO). [ https://www.whatsafterthemovie.com/summary/close-encounters-of-the-third-kind]

These UFOs (what we now call “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” UAPs) are also happening in Midwest America. Brilliant lights and a 5-tone musical scale are common themes world over. In Muncie, Indiana, a 3-year-old boy is abducted by a brilliant light outside his home and UAPs are being reported along with power outages. So, the local Utility sends cableman Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) to investigate:

“Cableman Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) is one of several people who experience a close encounter of the first kind, witnessing UFOs flying through the night sky. He is subsequently haunted by a mountainlike image in his head and becomes obsessed with discovering what it represents, putting severe strain on his marriage. Meanwhile, government agents around the world have a close encounter of the second kind, discovering physical evidence of otherworldly visitors in the form of military vehicles that went missing decades ago suddenly appearing in the middle of nowhere. Roy and the agents both follow the clues they have been given to reach a site where they will have a close encounter of the third kind: contact.” [ https://www.moviemistakes.com/film285/plot]

After his visitation, Roy, our hero, is haunted by a “message,” that is, other-worldly images of a flat top mountain plaguing his mind. After obsessing for days, Roy actually builds a model of this Mountain with dirt from his yard – in his living room – as pictured above. Roy eventually teams up with Jillian Guiler, the mother of the missing 3-year-old Barry Guiler – who is searching for her son. As we learn later, many people across the country have been “encountered” and given much the same mental images of this “flat-topped mountain” as well as musical notes. Turns out, this mountain is called “The Devil’s Tower,” located in a desolate place in Wyoming. Roy then learns from a TV News report, that there had been a train wreck spilling toxic chemicals near this very tower, causing the military to cordon off the entire area, supposedly to keep people safe. In reality, this was done to prevent the prying eyes of unwanted trespassers. As the movie nears a climax, Roy and Jillian travel to Wyoming, and successfully evade a United Nations' military barricade and climb into the enter of the “flat-topped-hollowed-out mountain.” They’re amazed – the entire area is illuminated, covered with UN military vehicles and personnel from around the world – waiting for another encounter. It appears that the simple five-tone musical phrase in a pentatonic scale, gave everyone the geographical coordinates of “Devil’s Tower.” 

As Roy and Jillian approach the scene, the UN Scientists, headed by Frenchman, Claude Lacombe – realize both Roy and Jillian are there for a reason:  Jillian wanted her son back, and Roy was drawn by the Extra Terrestrials!   Roy had hazarded the military barricade, risking the supposed toxic spill because the heavenly visitors “had drawn him.” Then in a beautiful sound and light show, the Extra-Terrestrial visitors in their mother ship hover, then land with heavenly sights and sounds.  As the ramp opens on the spacecraft, dozens of animals and former “abductees” – including Jillian’s son, Barry exit. The airmen abducted in 1945 haven’t aged a day. Then, after interviewing Roy, Claude Lacombe is convinced that it’s Roy – and not another scientist who is the perfect candidate to go back with these Extra-Terrestrials to their heavenly home.

Without getting too deep into the story, what fascinates me most is the character of Roy Neary.  A simple, hard-working and contented family man with a wife and three children – has his life turned upside down after a “heavenly encounter” with beings from another realm. He is consumed with a desire “to know, and to be known” that won’t allow him to return to his middle-class existence. He’s willing to give it all up, just to make contact and understand. Whether Stephen Spielberg or the Screenplay writers knew it, their movie was an updated version of John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress!” 

Like Close Encounters, Bunyan’s classic narrates the story of another man who received a message from this “other realm.” His life too was forever changed. Christian, the hero of Pilgrim’s Progress, ends up leaving his wife and children as well – all in an effort “to know, and to be known!” According to Hebrews 11, for 6,000 years, this longing and desire has compelled men and women to “seek the Lord while He may be found," not allowing them to be content with a plate and a mate. Sadly, many of our fallen race have felt the pull of God’s call to “flee from the wrath to come,” but have been able to appease it with human pleasures.  Roy, our hero in Close Encounters, has been drastically changed by the “effectual call of the message of good news” (Gospel). This is the difference between getting religion, and God’s Effectual Call!  When God the Holy Spirit calls a man or woman, it is “compelling” (Luke 14:23).  I’m not saying that God “drags us to Himself” kicking and screaming!  But the Holy Spirit does work within, first creating a “hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matthew 5:6), then makes us “willing in the day of His power” (Psalm 110:3).  And just like Roy Neary — Christian, the principal character in Pilgrim’s Progress, is ready to run from his home, crying  “Life, life, Eternal Life!”

The symbology in Close Encounters is hard to miss. Whatever else you see, it’s clear that the “Mountain” where these “angelic, godlike” beings are to be encountered, is none other than “The Mountain of the Lord” (Isaiah 2:1-5). Psalm 24:3-6 also explains how being on this mountain is synonymous with being in a relationship with the God of Heaven: 

“Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?  The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, God of Jacob” (Psalm 24:3-6).

There are many references in the Old Testament regarding “The Mountain of the Lord." They make it clear that being on this Mountain represents a Close Encounter, that is, “a restored relationship with God.”  Here’s what the Bible Hub (online) says regarding purpose and meaning of “The Mountain of the Lord:”

“The Mountain of the Lord is a multifaceted symbol in the Bible, representing God's presence, authority, and the hope of future restoration. It serves as a powerful image of divine majesty and the ultimate fulfillment of God's redemptive purposes.” [https://biblehub.com/topical/t/the_mountain_of_the_lord.htm]

Just like the character Christian, in “Pilgrim’s Progress,” Roy Neary longed for that mountain (ironically called Devil’s Tower in Wyoming) where he could finally know these heavenly beings – and be fully satisfied in both “knowing, and being known.” For his friend Jilian – her only longing was to get her son back, and she did. For Roy, his intense longing was met as he alone was chosen to go with these “heavenly beings” back to the “heavenly realm.”  We as believers also have this intense longing to “to know God, and to be known by God.”  We long for the day when we shall once again “dwell with God” in complete fellowship and love, like we did in the Garden of Eden. And like Roy Neary, nothing on earth can keep us from satisfying that desire.  We’re on a “pilgrimage” just like Christian in “Pilgrim’s Progress” – and like Roy Neary, the cableman in “Close Encounters of a Third Kind.” It’s amazing how our Sci-Fi movies reveal the intense spiritual longing of our heart – even when it’s not intended. Let me close with a quote from the New Testament regarding the final consummation, where we’ll dwell with the Most High God, in the “Heavenly Jerusalem!”  

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away”. . . . . . “And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal” (Revelation 21:1-4; 10-11).

Soli Deo Gloria!