A few days ago, someone forwarded the following message to me with the picture to the right attached:
Cara Winship sent this out it is called: God’s hands.
I took this picture on Hwy 30, traveling to London City, KY. It has given me strength in the times of trouble. I feel I should share it with the rest of the world. I hope it is an inspiration to you. It just goes to show what we already know…. We have a God and he’s watching over us.
I e-mailed this picture to News Chanel [sic] 36. I was contacted by Meteorologist John James. He said that this picture of the sky is
showing up, in all states, around the world. He wanted to know where I was from and where I took it. He saw a similar picture taken in Texas He said this is amazing to him!
The picture is obviously faked, of course. It would be quite easy to do in Photoshop or GIMP. In fact, someone on the Urban Legends Reference Pages claims to have done it. And although hoaxes such as this usually don’t contain references to actual people’s names, the fact that there is no London City, KY, should be a clue as well.1 But I didn’t want to focus on the picture or the hoax. Instead, I want to focus on the interpretation.
If one of us were to see such a vision in the clouds, we would be inclined to interpret it the way the forwarded e-mail does. Here are God’s hands reaching out to help us or comfort us.
But why should we immediately interpret it that way? Other interpretations are possible. Perhaps it is a sign that God is angry with us and is reaching down to punish us. The hands are here to crush us. It could be that the hands are holding a bowl of God’s wrath as in Revelation 16. When such a bowl is poured it, it certainly will not bring comfort.
I am not offering these interpretations because I am a pessimist. Instead, I am trying to follow the pattern set forth in the Bible. When prophets saw signs, they were just as likely — and perhaps more likely — to be signs of punishment than signs of promise. Think of Amos 7:7-9, where God showed Amos a plumb line. Amos could have looked at it an piously interpreted it as God’s building tool that indicated God was going to build something wonderful for Israel. Instead, it was a sign of judgment. Israel was found to be off-plumb, and therefore God was going to make Israel desolate.
Or take Jeremiah 1:13-19. When Jeremiah saw a boiling pot tipping over from the north, he could have interpreted it as a sign that God was providing food for his people. Surely a cooking pot has something to do with food! But God told him that the pot was a sign that God was going to bring an enemy against Judah from the north.
Certainly, there are signs of promise as well. I don’t mean to imply that those are not found in the Bible. But it seems to me that before we go interpreting something as a sign from God, we better take into account the fact that signs are just as likely to be negative. If we take everything as a sign of God’s love and comfort, all we are doing is stroking our spiritual egos.
- There is a London, KY, but no London City. Highway 30 does run near London, and Lexington, KY, does have a Channel 36, although I could not find a John James on staff. This particular incarnation of this hoax appears to be tailored to a particular region. [back]
On May 21st, 2007 at 9:16 am
Amen!
On May 29th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Why are you lying?…I found a London Kentucky and a one John James, Chief Meteorologist at ch 36 in Lexington.
I live in jefferson City Missouri, often referred to as the “City Of Jefferson”.
Upon looking at London Kentucky’s official website, one sees it listed as the “city of London”.
You should not mioslead people so!
On May 29th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
As I said, there is a city of London, but not a London City. The capital ‘C’ before the state abbreviation implies that it is part of the name.
But as I mentioned, the fact that the names of places and actual people are used is unusual for hoaxes like this. Even if the people and places mentioned are real, the picture is still faked.
On May 30th, 2007 at 11:20 am
I’m don’t know how you can be so adament in saying, “The picture is obviously faked…” Did you examine the original? Are you an expert witness in such techniques? Yes, “It would be quite easy to do in Photoshop or GIMP”—and perhaps it was, but that does not make it “obvious”, ‘oh ye of little faith.’
Many localities are referred to by ‘locals’ as “town name City”, especially in rural areas. Get a revelation!
“And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:”
Joel 2:30 (NKJV)
“Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence”
Isaiah 64:1 (NKJV)
Blessings.
On May 30th, 2007 at 11:48 am
There are several reasons for being very sure it is faked:
1. The picture has some standard tell-tale signs that point to it being faked, such as the texture of the hands. Anyone who has worked with digital imagery software can recognize these easily.
2. The person who did the forgery has claimed it. He did it as a spoof and placed it on his web page.
3. The same picture is circulating with a number of different people claiming to have been the one who took the picture. They say they took the picture in different locations, but all have the same cars in the foreground and the same scenery in the background.
I am not sure why you think that my refusal to accept a forged picture means that I have little faith. Could God make hands appear in the clouds? Certainly. Is this a picture of such an event? No. I have great faith in God but little faith in Internet hoaxes.
On June 7th, 2007 at 9:46 am
Philippians 1:18 NIV
“But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.”
I think it is good to take into consideration that this could be a false image, but to keep in mind that all things are possible with God. If by any chance this caused any to put their faith in God, so be it, I rejoice with Paul.
On June 7th, 2007 at 11:06 am
Paul was questioning the motives of those who preached. I am questioning the methods.
It is true that someone who is very gullible might put their faith in God because of this. But I think what is more likely is that people will see this and think “Wow, Christians must be really stupid if they think this is real. Why would I want to follow their religion?”
Ultimately, I think this kind of thing does more harm than good.
On June 8th, 2007 at 11:54 am
I agree with Kevin Wilson.
I received this hoax in an email from someone whom I love and respect and feel bad that she unknowingly perpetuated this myth to everyone on her mailing list.
The picture I received in the email was of lower quality and could indeed have been genuine (at first glance) without looking at the higher resolution version that you provide in this blog (which is only available when clicking on the smaller thumbnail at the top of this page–that could have led to some confusion in one of the comments above). Everyone needs to closely examine the fingers. There is a very clear perfectly uniform radial transparency gradient that extends from the base of the fingers to their tips. Even though I have spent many years working off and on with computer graphics, I don’t believe it takes much skill to identify this as a hoax. A little experience with the radial gradient tool in any computer graphics program will give this hoax away.
Secondly, I personally remember this same exact picture in another email three years ago with a completely different story attached to it! According to the Urban Legends article mentioned above (which I also remember reading three years ago and has the exact same picture), this image has been circulating even before then with different stories.
There are many extremely awesome and profoundly genuine reasons to believe in God and regularly interact with Him on a daily basis. However, as much as I hate to admit it, the truth is that too many Christians seem to be of the kind that put their faith in God because of gullible reasons like this and don’t know how to allow their faith to be tested and take hard looks at what their faith is based upon. When something inspires our faith, we reflexly refuse to critically examine it for fear that we find ourselves in opposition to what we truly hold dear. But what we must realize is that the very opposite is true and that we are missing out on so much by failing to be critical of these things! If we identify our “sources of faith” that are false, then that will put us into a much stronger position to identify our “sources of faith” that are genuine!
In the end, I find it very ironic and excellent that God uses all of this to fulfill His words: “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” (1 Cor. 1:27) All of the things that make Christians look really stupid to the world:
1. Places Christians in a position of tremendous weakness in the world’s theater of wisdom and knowledge.
2. Forces the “wise ones” of the world to practice deep humility in order to discover God’s truth in Christianity.
Whenever God uses His people to crack heavenly doors open on the earth (the performance of dramatic miracles, etc), right in the middle of their position of tremendous weakness according to the world’s standards, that’s 1 Cor. 1:27 in action! YES!
David
On June 13th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
The Jew seeketh after a sign but the Greek seek after knowledge. An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign.
Read the King James Bible. The next man to come on the scene with signs and wonders is the antichrist……..Rev. 13
Yours truly, Steve Dunk
On June 21st, 2007 at 11:40 am
On my research, there is a Jon James @ Channel 36 in KY. Get your facts first before saying that things are a hoax. It doesn’t matter to me that the picture is not real, God is, and this can happen in the skies. We are all looking for signs and wonders, and I think this is one to remind us of how great God really is.
On June 21st, 2007 at 1:48 pm
[…] post a few weeks ago on God’s Hands generated quite a bit of discussion. I wanted to address some of the things that people have […]
On July 7th, 2007 at 11:07 am
We all know if this photo were real, our world would be a different place now. If it triggers something in your mind or heart to make you a stronger person or be of stronger faith, so be it. Perhaps God was using the originator to make us all think? Perhaps He is insulted? When our Lord comes back, there will be no question what’s going on.
On August 12th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
I am of strong faith in God, and believe He works in many ways…but truly, at first glance this photo looks to be a hoax. Would God really send a message to His children through a lie? I think not. This is not even a message from God to remind us…its deceitful!
On September 18th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
First off, the way I found this site was looking for hands for an art assignment…and I can tell that those aren’t the ‘hands of God’…if they were, they wouldn’t be called a hoax, and they wouldn’t look like that.
The hand of God is used through ordinary people doing ordinary things that, when looking at it really, are the things that God wants us to do.
Yes, I do think that they are fake. But God made the person who created that fake picture, making us realize that even though the picture is fake, it symbolizes something real and something different for all of us-like drawing a fish in the dirt…
On September 28th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
As someone who’s used Photoshop quite a bit over the years I can say with 100 percent certainty it is a fake, and a bad one at that. The hoaxster didn’t even bother to change brush sizes when he applied the Burn tool, and he’s not very good at drawing hands. I have to believe God would be a better artist than this, and just in general I think He’d have better things to do with his time than doodling pictures in the sky and burning the likeness of Jesus into tortilla shells.
On November 26th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
I believe in God and that he can do anything. Even if this is fake having God in your heart and knowing what he is capable of is the only thing that matters.
On January 6th, 2008 at 9:19 am
It’s funny that everyone arguing over if it’s fake or not doesn’t make the connection that no one can see what God’s hands look like. At first glance it appears to be holding the sky up but looking closer it does appear to be opening something up. But whether it’s fake or not, just because the picture is done, it has made me think more about this world.
On January 16th, 2008 at 11:07 am
How did the forge the open heavens light?
Just interested….
On March 27th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
The only thingthat I can see when I look at this picture is the permanently burned into my mind image of…. goatse.cx….look it up. and sorry bout this in advance…its just funny
On May 26th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
This is a hoax that has been circulating the web for some time now. You can find the original picture, (which is amazing in itself and you can briefly see what might have inspired the hoaxer to define the hands in such a way) and the story as well as the link from the hoaxer himself ~ all at snopes.com…a simple search of “gods hands” should bring it up…
On May 26th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
p.s. goatse.cx is correct!