Are Certain Hand Signs Satanic? - Ask Pastor Tim

This one is from (unintelligible).

"In my recent times,

I've been hearing about
certain hand signals/gestures

as being satanic.

For example, in rock music

rock stars stick their hands up in the air

putting both their index finger

and their pinky like Spider Man,

shooting webs.

What I'm asking is that do hand signals

really show satanic things

and that this should be taken seriously?

Or is this really just a dumb superstition

that people are making up about?

I want to know what hand signs

should be taken seriously,

or is it that this whole
hand signals/gestures

really is just something stupid?

Please let me know which one it is

because I'm really confused
about this situation."

Look.

Here's the thing about hand signals.

I can do something with my hand right now

that would be offensive to you all,

and you all could probably
imagine what it is.

I could do this. It communicates
something to you.

I could do this.

Am I satanic?

Am I a rock music guy?

Or am I a UT Austin fan?

But the thing is,

my understanding is people that are Masons

have a secret signal.

One of the things you
have to think about is this:

He's saying are there meanings behind it.

Well, people have said - what is it?

Proves I'm part of the Illuminati

because every once in a while

this happens to come off my gesture?

James: It comes up a
lot more than you realize.

People have taken it from all your sermons

and made a video with tons of clips

with you doing it.

Tim: But here's the thing.

People say, does it have meaning

or is it superstitious?

Well, I would say this,

I mean nothing by it.

Which means, when I do it,

I am not communicating

anything to you.

Now, if you read something into it,

which you might from your background

or from superstitions
you have or something,

but here's the thing.

There's a text in Titus

that I often think about.

It says, "To the pure,
all things are pure."

What does that mean?

Think of something that
could be seen as bad

that for the Christian is actually pure.

Can you think of anything

that even Scripture itself speaks about?

Eating meat offered to idols -

to be even more specific.

Okay, here's meat that's been offered

to a pagan idol.

And you can understand
how a weak Christian

could be affected negatively by that.

But, here comes a strong Christian.

You know what?

God made that cow.

I'm going to sit down.

I'm going to eat that steak,

and I'm going to praise the Lord.

And basically Paul's saying - exactly.

The pagan god it was
offered to isn't even a god.

He's nothing.

There may be demons,

but it's just nothing.

You're free to do it.

You see, to the pure,

all things are pure.

I think we need to apply to our lives.

Now look,

there are hand gestures

that are considered crude and vulgar.

Just about every society

has some kind of gesture you do

with your hands that is totally graphic

and insulting.

And so, can you think about any texts

that talks about your
behavior before the Gentiles?

Keep it honorable.

Look, as a Christian,
if you're in a culture -

and this is something you
want to be sensitive of

when you go to other cultures.

If there's something that you can do,

like our soldiers went over to Iraq

in the beginning.

And Muslim women
would do this to them.

Well, you know what our guys thought.

They're happy we're here.

Uh, you guys look that
one up on the Internet.

You'll find out that's not
what they were saying to them.

So, I mean, you know there's things

that happen with the middle finger here.

That immediately sends a signal.

And if you as a Christian walk around

saying, well, to the pure,
all things are pure,

you're not keeping your conduct

exemplary before the Gentiles

who are walking around doing that.

We want to be sensitive
to cultural propriety.

And you know, I remember -

anybody know Richard Bennett?

Have you ever heard the name?

He for years and years
was a Catholic priest

before he was converted.

What I'm doing with my hand right now -

have you ever seen priests

do that with their hands?

He became so accustomed to doing that

that he had to undo it

because it projected Catholicism,

and he didn't want to do that.

See, it had a meaning,

and he was trying to distance himself

from that meaning.

If I do that in the pulpit,

none of you are going to think anything.

Now you might after today.

I mean, things have meanings

and so it's kind of like eating the meat

offered to the idol.

You know what? If I got saved

out of that pagan religion,

and I'd actually been down there

in that temple with prostitutes.

I had been there.

And now somebody's telling me -

I'm a Christian and somebody

bought meat from there,

and I used to eat that meat,

and it brings back memories

and it was done in devotion to that god

and now somebody slaps that on there

and tells me - it's kind
of like Richard Bennett,

and somebody holding
their hands like that.

That is associated with something

from your background

that you want to run from.

Now to the guy that didn't
come from that background,

it's not that big a deal.

For me to hold my hands like that

is not that big a deal.

It doesn't mean anything to me.

It doesn't mean anything to you

most likely.

To him, it's very significant

and he wants to distance himself.

But see, it's all got to do with meaning.

It's got to do with the meaning

that an individual believes it has

or the meaning that a culture

might project to something.

So, I guess we would just
need to be sensitive there.

But the reality is,

our hands are our hands.

And to do some certain thing with them

doesn't carry these mysterious signs

if I don't mean them to.

Just because my hand happens to

go a certain way, doesn't mean you should

read all sorts of
mysterious signs into it.

That's crazy.

Any other thoughts on that one?

James: So for you, would there be

any application, or meaning,

is there a place to
try to untrain yourself

from doing any hand signs

in view of a lot of people in the culture

taking it a certain way,

just like the Richard Bennett thing?

I'm just asking the question.

Tim: See, the thing is,

even though I come from a background

where I was involved in heavy metal

and rock music, I never did that.

So, it's not like my hands
are used to doing that

because I used to do that.

It's not that.

Here's the thing, if when I preach,

something I do is a stumbling block,

I would rather not do it.

My problem is I don't know when I do that.

I know when I have my pen out.

Sometimes that's even subconscious,

but I've watched myself

and I think my wife said,

"Oh, I can hear you clicking your pen."

Something has happened

and it's like, okay,
don't bring my pen out

because that distracts people.

Or one time when I was first preaching,

I would bang my ring against the pulpit.

Kyle told me, "You know
you bang your ring...?"

Okay. I'm going to stop doing that

because that distracts people.

I didn't know it came up as much
as you're saying it came up.

So, if I could actually think about it,

I'd stop doing it.

But I don't know I'm doing it.

And it's not like pulling
a pen out of my pocket.

I can't even imagine myself ever doing it.

It's all subconscious,

so I don't know how I could
stop myself from doing it,

when I don't even know that I do it.

James: Because you
could say hypothetically

that a new believer -

they may hear a sermon
of yours and be helped,

and while they're YouTubing your name,

they run into these videos

saying you're in the Illuminati.

They could actually believe that

being naive, you know?

They've just gotten saved.

Tim: Do you guys notice me doing that

from the pulpit?

(from the room) I do, only
because I know it's an issue.

We've gotten many emails over the years.

I hear you, unless you
tape your fingers together

for a while so you couldn't...

Wear mittens.

That would be a bigger stumbling block.

Tim: Right. More people would say,

"why is he wearing mittens?"

Summer in Texas -

you hardly want to wear
mittens in the pulpit.

Anyway, there is a place

not to put a stumbling block.

You don't want to put a stumbling block

in the way of people hearing the truth.

So, it wouldn't be like,

oh, people just need to get over it.

No, it really is a kind of thing

where if a preacher is doing something

that is distracting,

he really should stop doing it.

But as far as is there meaning in it,

well, there I would say,

"to the pure, all things are pure."

(incomplete thought)

Whatever hand gestures we do,

if it's not violating some
kind of cultural standard

which I just don't know about that one.

Obviously, the middle finger

is pretty graphic in this [culture].

In other cultures, like in Iraq,

that's bad.

You get different things.

Showing somebody the bottom of your foot

in some of those cultures is really bad.

We don't even think about it here.

But you want to be culturally sensitive.

There's no question about it.

But no, I'm not sending forth any sign.

It doesn't even register.

Okay.

Any other last thoughts?

(from the room)

I guess getting back to her question,

is there anything
that's being communicated

from that group of people to another?

Or is there any sign that's
trying to be communicated

from that group of people?

Something along that line?

Tim: "Is the whole hand signal/gestures

really just something stupid?"

Or, isn't it? Should
it be taken seriously?

(from the room)

We understand that
there are satanic groups.

(unintelligible)

Tim: Well, a lot of it has to do with
what you're communicating.

(from the room)

Are they trying to communicate

something to each other?

Tim: There's a lot of hand signals

where people are definitely trying -

using the middle finger,

you're trying to communicate
something to somebody.

I guess that's the kind of thing -

what is it that something communicates?

And because whatever
I'm doing with my hand

does communicate
something to enough people

that they're actually wondering,

it would be best if I didn't do it.

It's not like, oh, I've
got Christian freedom.

It'd be best just to not do it.

I can't say I'm going to walk away today

and never do it again,

because I don't know I'm doing it.

(from the room)

People have a habit of judging people

by the external.

And that's what the satanic group

is trying to communicate,

and that's what can
be often misinterpreted.

But if the question is like
is all the stuff on YouTube

regarding signals and Illuminati stupid?

The answer is yes.

Tim: Oh, there's a lot of stupidity in it.

There's a lot of people
reading into things

that are not meant.

(unintelligible)

It's not like some craving in myself

to go back to my rock and roll days.

It's not that at all.

That's never crossed my mind.

And I'm not any big UT fan either.

I'm a Michigan fan

and I don't know that they have a sign.

Okay.