Monday, August 11, 2025

The God Culture: Horsing Around

Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture continues to trot along in his vain attempts to prove the Lequios Islands are the Philippines. Specifically he claims Northern Luzon and the Batanes Islands are the Lequios Islands and thus the place where Fernando Pinto shipwrecked. During his time on Lequios Island Pinto mentioned that horsemen were among the inhabitants. So, where are the horses on Batanes Island and Northern Luzon? Tim claims to have the answer. They were covered-up and forgotten because of  racism. 

🐎 The Forgotten Horses of the Philippines 

Most people assume the horse arrived in the Philippines riding alongside the Spanish conquistadors. After all, kabayo — the Tagalog word for horse — sounds a lot like caballo, the Spanish term. Maybe. Such banter and wordplay is not academic forgetting prior history and other local names of horses 

But what if that assumption is dead wrong? 

What if horses had been in the Philippines long before Legazpi’s ships ever touched shore and before Pinto's famous shipwreck on the Isles of Lequios, Philippines? 

That’s exactly what David B. Mackie, an American agricultural officer in the early 1900s, uncovered — and the evidence he compiled isn’t just interesting... it’s paradigm-shifting. This century-old reference is ignored by many from the Jesuit paradigm such as Dr. Austin Craig who clearly came to manipulate the history of the Philippines. It is time to recognize this Colonial bias for what it is... racism.  

🧭 A Four-Part Horse History 

In a forgotten gem published in The Journal of Heredity in 1916, Mackie outlines four major eras in the history of horses in the Philippines:

  1. Pre-horse era — Horses were unknown. 

  1. Malay Muslim introduction — Horses came via Sumatra and Malaysia, especially to the Sulu archipelago. 

  1. Spanish period — Horses arrived not from Spain, but from China and Japan. 

  1. American breeding era — Western breeds introduced for improvement. 

But the most important — and suppressed — is the second era: the Muslim-led arrival of horses long before Spain.

This is Tim's introduction and already he is off to a bad start. First of all he writes:

After all, kabayo — the Tagalog word for horse — sounds a lot like caballo, the Spanish term. Maybe. Such banter and wordplay is not academic forgetting prior history and other local names of horses

Banter and wordplay between similar words is not academic? But that is Tim's exact etymological methodology when attempting to derive Hebrew words from Tagalog. Tim brushes off the connection between those words but the fact is Tagalog has many Spanish loanwords which is only natural seeing as the Spanish occupied  the Philippines for 400 years. 

Borrowed from Spanish caballo, from Latin caballus.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kabayo

Tim's source for the claims in this article is David B. Mackie who writes about the introduction of horses into Mindanao, specifically Sulu. That is not Northern Luzon and the Batanes. Where are the horses in Northern Luzon and Batanes which pre-date the arrival of the Spanish? That's what Tim needs to focus on and prove. 

🕌 The Malay Muslims Brought Horses First 

According to Mackie’s research, horses were already present in Mindanao and Sulu before Magellan’s arrival. The Sulu and Maguindanao peoples didn’t just have horses — they had their own indigenous words for them: 

  • Kuda (Sulu)

  • Kura (Maguindanao) 

These are not borrowed from the Spanish caballo. In contrast, upland tribes unfamiliar with horses before colonization use kabayo — a clear Spanish loanword. 

That linguistic distinction alone is a red flag to any real researcher: horses didn’t come from Spain — they came earlier. 

🐘 Royal Gifts, Trade Routes, and a Pre-Spanish Powerhouse 

Mackie traces horse arrival to the Malayan Islamic expansion of the 14th century. The arrival of figures like MakdumRajah Baginda, and Abu Bakr — princes and scholars from Sumatra — brought with them not only religion and law, but animals for war, trade, and prestige. 

These weren't isolated events. The Sulu Sultanate was in contact with:

  • Sumatra

  • Brunei

  • Java

  • China

  • Japan 

And they weren’t just trading spices and silk. 

They were trading horses 

Spanish records confirm this: 

In 1578, Don Esteban Rodriguez de Figueroa warned Governor Sande that: 

“These Moros are most dangerous people, being familiar with all manner of firearms and with horses.”
(Mackie, 1916, p. 375) 

So yes — before Spanish colonization, the south had horses. Likely for centuries. Records suggest they came through Sumatra and let us not forget at the time of Magellan, the King of Zebu was originally from Sumatra. Ignoring the Muslim record only citing the newer account is not academic.

It's hilarious how Tim declares a thing is not academic when his whole project is unacademic pseudo-history. What we learn in this section is the Moros had horses before the Spanish arrived and even had their own names for horses. Tim says that is proof that kabayo is not derived from cabello. 

There are several things wrong here. First of all, Tagalog is not the same language as Tausug which is the language spoken in Sulu. Second of all, and most importantly, the Spanish NEVER subdued Mindanao completely. 

In the Philippines: 

  • Spain conquers portions of Mindanao and Jolo and imposes protectorate status over the Moros of Sulu.
  • Spain failed to completely subjugate Moros.
  • While Spain conquered portions of Mindanao, the Sulu Sultanate of Sulu submitted to protectorate status through Spain's extensive use of military resources.
  • Moro resistance against Spanish colonial authorities continue until the 1898 US capture of the Philippines.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish–Moro_conflict

There was not the same level of interaction between the Spanish and Mindanao as there was with the Visayas and Luzon. 

So, the Southern Philippines had horses. Great. What about the north? What about Tim's alleged location of the Lequios Islands, Batanes and Northern Luzon?

🐉 China and Japan: Not Spain 

When horses finally appeared in northern Luzon, it wasn’t Spanish stallions that disembarked. 

It was Chinese and Japanese horses. 

Mackie records that: 

  • In 1583, King Philip II ordered large shipments of horses from China.

  • In 1587, thirty Chinese ships arrived in Manila — with horses.

  • The Nambu horse from Japan was introduced into Cagayan and Ilocos Norte. 

Even the Spanish historian Antonio de Morga wrote in 1604: 

“There were no horses, mares or asses in the islands until the Spaniards had them brought from China and Japan.”
(Mackie, p. 378) 

Morga was wrong on this. Perhaps he did not spend any time in North Luzon, which is Lequios, where he should have been seeking horses according to Pinto. Anyone quoting Morga as fact on this, is not offering an honest record.  

That alone shatters the colonial myth. 

🐎 The Native Breeds: More Than Just Ponies 

Through fieldwork across every province, Mackie identified five distinct native horse types, including: 

  • The Sulu pony — stocky and ancient, descended from Sumatra.

  • The Chinese horse — thickset, powerful, short-legged.

  • The Nambu type — long-bodied, large-hooved, found in northern Luzon.

  • A breed with Arab-like features — refined and muscular, likely through Indian or Persian trade.

  • A widespread rural “scrub” type — undersized due to poor breeding and neglect. 

These were real, viable animals — not myth. Some areas like Catanduaneshad over 3,000 horses in the early 1900s alone, with over 55% showing dun or buckskin coloring, a trait tied to ancient Eurasian breeds. 

In researching this fully, one will find a narrative where horses were claimed in a Chinese shipwreck which turned out to be donkeys. That is then formed in propaganda that it means there were no horses in the Philippines. This kind of insane propaganda persists in academia and it is time to smash through the Colonial ceiling and correct this once and for all. It may well be valid they were donkeys but that account is not the position of ancient horses in the Philippines.  

This is the same for the word which derives from Spain which is not the only word for horse used locally, yet, that singular point is posited by many to claim they were not here. The statement is meaningless and born in ignorance. Grow up Colonial propagandists. 

In this section Tim admits that King Philip II imported horses from China and Japan. He writes that as if it's a revelation. Why would the Spanish ship horses all the way from Spain? They would likely not survive the arduous trip. importing horses from Japan and China would be much more practical.

Tim then cites Antonio Morga who writes:

“There were no horses, mares or asses in the islands until the Spaniards had them brought from China and Japan.”

According to Tim, Morga is wrong.

Morga was wrong on this. Perhaps he did not spend any time in North Luzon, which is Lequios, where he should have been seeking horses according to Pinto. Anyone quoting Morga as fact on this, is not offering an honest record.  

"Anyone quoting Morga as fact on this, is not offering an honest record?" But the citation comes from Mackie and Tim is relying upon him for this entire article! Is Mackie not honest? Then why uses him as a source? As for Morga, Tim has quoted him many times yet now all of a sudden he is a liar. 

But riddle me this: If Northern Luzon had native horses why did the Spanish need to import them from China and Japan? 

That is the end of Tim's analysis and so far he has not proven there was a native horse culture in Northern Luzon and Batanes. Here is what Pinto wrote concerning horsemen on Lequios Island:

While we were all locked in this painful trance, six horsemen rode up to us, and at the sight of us there on our knees, naked and unarmed, with two dead women in our midst, they took such pity on us that four of them promptly headed back to the people following them on foot and kept them in check where they were, without permitting anyone to do us any harm. Then they returned, bringing with them six of the men on foot who appeared to be ministers of justice, or at least, the kind of justice that we thought God had in store for us at the time.

At the command of the men on horseback, these six tied us all up in groups of three. Showing signs of compassion, they told us not to be afraid because the king of the Ryukyus was a God-fearing man, well inclined by nature to the poor, to whom he was always very charitable, and they gave us their word, swearing by their faith, that he would do us no harm. These words of consolation, however pious they appeared to be on the surface, did not satisfy us in the least, for by then we had lost all hope of life so that even if we had been told this by someone we trusted completely, we still would have found it hard to believe, much less a group of cruel, tyrannical heathens who had neither religion nor any knowledge of God.

Pinto's Travels, pg. 288-289

It was past three in the afternoon when a courier on horseback came riding into town in great haste and delivered a letter to the xivalem, who was their local military commander. As soon as he read it, he immediately ordered two drums to be beaten by way of summoning the townspeople, who responded to the call by assembling in a large temple of their worship. There, framed in a window, he addressed them, informing them of the orders he had received from the broquem, governor of the kingdom, to the effect that they were to take us to the city of Pongor, seven leagues from there.

The majority of the people protested, voicing their objections to this order six or seven times, and a heated argument ensued, as a result of which nothing was agreed on that day except to send the courier back to the broquem with an explanation of what was happening. Consequently, they were forced to keep us confined there until eight o'clock the following day when two peretandas—who are like magistrates—arrived, accompanied by a crowd of people from the city, including twenty men on horseback. After taking us into custody with detailed documents drawn up by notaries public, they departed immediately. Late in the afternoon of the same day we reached a town called Gundexilau, where they put us into an underground dungeon, in which we spent the night, suffering unbearable hardship, in a pool of water swarming with leeches that left us all quite bloody.

pg. 290

From these passages in Pinto's journal it's pretty clear that the horsemen were part of the military. So, where is the Filipino calvary in Northern Luzon and Batanes? That is what Tim has to prove and he has failed to do so. 

This article exhibits every bad trait of The God Culture. There are half-truths, there is unwarranted extrapolation, and there is the disdain for real history and name calling for those who do not tow Tim's line. It is illogical to say Sulu had horses therefore there was a unified horse culture throughout the Philippine archipelago including Batanes and Northern Luzon. Tim is making assumptions rather than offering hard proof.  This is not just bad history, it's bad horse-story! To that I say, Grow up Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture. 

Thursday, July 31, 2025

The God Culture: 100 Lies About the Philippines: Lie #48: Maharlika Is A Hebrew Word

Welcome back to 100 lies The God Culture teaches about the Philippines. Today's lie concerns Timothy Jay Schwab's claim that Maharlika is a Hebrew word. As we shall see that is simply not true. 



Tim teaches this lie in his videos. 


Maharlika Origin. Is the Philippines Changing it's Name? Solomon's Gold Series - Part 6B  

1:06:01  The real  complete history of the Philippines as the land of Ophir and a Lost Tribes location demonstrates a direct Hebrew etymology. Maharlika is Bride of Messiah as some may term the Bride of Christ and the land of the Lost Tribes of Israel. Yes, we do prove all of that. 

Tim also makes this claim in his book The Search for King Solomon's Treasure. 

The Search for Solomon's Treasure, pgs. 192-193


Maharlika:

Former Name Associated with the Philippines
Hebrew: mahar: מהר: to acquire by paying a purchase price, endow, surely, to bargain (for a wife), i.e. To wed. [238]
Hebrew: lecha: l’cha: lekha: לך: to/for/of you (indicating possession). ]239[
Our Interpretation: His Bride Purchased With A Price

We all know this as a reference to His ekklesia in the last days. Very interesting. There are linguists who represent the general academic position on this word originating in the Sanskrit as Mahardhika. No doubt it seems sort of close, but here is the challenge to that thinking. They have not followed the word’s migrations and evolution which requires one skipping and going back a generation and then changing the word and somehow we are supposed to believe that is logical etymologically.

This word migrated in use to Indonesia and Malaysia as Merdeka not Mahardhika. That word then travelled into Mindanao and was in use as Merdeka but not Mahardhika. However, we are then told we must believe that it is logical to say that the Filipinos took this word back to it’s origin in Sanskrit and made it longer back to Mahardhika and then, transformed it into Maharlika with no historical basis in the slightest yet it is a direct Hebrew word when one audits it. We find it far more logical to acknowledge the connection to Israel and the Hebrew origin of Ophir than to execute such gymnastics which never relate.

How is it that Maharlika and Guimaras both lead in Hebrew to the Bride of Messiah? We will cover this in the prophecy chapter and then, all will come into focus. Yah’s people are indeed in the Philippines. Some of these words have the same meaning in Philippine languages and Hebrew.

Tim claims Maharlika is a compound word composed of the Hebrew words "mahar" and "lecha." Mahar is Strongs #4117.


Solomon's Treasure Sourcebook, pg. 190

Oddly enough H4117 is only used in the Bible twice in a single verse! However, there is another "mahar" which is Strong's #4116.


https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h4116/kjv/wlc/0-1/

This word is used 64 times in 60 verses. It has nothing to do with marriage but means hastily and is translated in that manner every single time albeit using different synonyms. Is Tim unaware of this?  Or did he simply pass it over as not convenient for his thesis that Filipinos are Hebrews?

If Maharlika is a Hebrew compound word how is he sure mahar is Strong's H4117 and not H4116? He does not tell us. He doesn't even mention this word. That is dishonest. 

Tim's interpretation of Maharlika as Bride of Messiah is also theologically unsound. The only Bride of Christ is the church, those united to Jesus Christ through faith, not the Lost Tribes of Israel. And what sense does it make that a single class of people was named The Bride of Christ? None.

The fact is Maharlika is not a Hebrew word. It is a native Filipino word derived from Sanskrit. Crucial to understanding the etymology of Maharlika is how that word has been used to describe a class of people in the Philippines. 

Fransiscan missionary Juan de Plascencia is the first to mention the maharlika class. He does so in his book On The Customs of the Taglogs. Tim mentions him in his video but brushes him off as being an untrustworthy Jesuit. 


No, the Jesuits are not "the origin of the narrative." Juan de Plascencia was a Franciscan who wrote about the customs of native Filipinos. Native Filipinos are the origin of the narrative. But Tim does not care about accuracy. What is his point anyway? Are we supposed to believe Juan de Plascencia  made up the word and the definition? Here is what he wrote concerning the Maharlika. 


The Philippines Islands 1493-1803, vol. 7. pgs. 174, 177-178

In addition to the chiefs, who corresponded to our knights, there were three castes: nobles, commoners, and slaves. The nobles were the free-born whom they call maharlica. They did not pay tax or tribute to the dato, but must accompany him in war, at their own expense.

In these three classes, those who are maharlicas on both the father's and mother's side continue to be so forever; and if it happens that they should become slaves, it is through marriage, as I shall soon explain. If these maharlicas had children among their slaves, the children and their mothers became free; if one of them had children by the slave-woman of another, she was compelled, when pregnant, to give her master half of a gold tael, because of her risk of death, and for her inability to labor during the pregnancy. In such a case half of the child was free—namely, the half belonging to the father, who supplied the child with food. If he did not do this, he showed that he did not recognize him as his child, in which case the latter was wholly a slave. If a free woman had children by a slave, they were all free, provided he were not her husband.

If two persons married, of whom one was a maharlica and the other a slave, whether namamahay or sa guiguilir, the children were divided: the first, whether male or female, belonged to the father, as did the third and fifth; the second, the fourth, and the sixth fell to the mother, and so on. In this manner, if the father were free, all those who belonged to him were free; if he were a slave, all those who belonged to him were slaves; and the same applied to the mother. If there should not be more than one child he was half free and half slave. The only question here concerned the division, whether the child were male or female. Those who became slaves fell under the category of servitude which was their parent's, either namamahay or sa guiguilir. If there were an odd number of children, the odd one was half free and half slave. I have not been able to ascertain with any certainty when or at what age the division of children was made, for each one suited himself in this respect. Of these two kinds of slaves the sa guiguilir could be sold, but not the namamahay and their children, nor could they be transferred. However, they could be transferred from the barangay by inheritance, provided they remained in the same village.

In Juan de Plascencia's narrative Maharlika means a free-born noble. That contradicts Tim's claim  Juan de Plascencia said they were not nobles. He also writes that this status was inherited through birth and marriage which contradicts Tim's claims. Did he even read what Juan de Plascencia wrote? It seems not. How does that correspond to Tim's alleged etymology of Maharlika meaning The Bride of Messiah? Why would free-born nobles be called Bride of Messiah? Oh, I know. Filipinos forgot their Hebrew heritage and this name is lost to time only for Timothy Jay Schwab to restore this lost knowledge.

The fact is Tim has not proven anything. He has asserted a false etymology based on his false history of the Philippines being a location of The Lost Tribes of Israel. But it turns out "mahar" has two meanings. The one Tim employs is used rarely and he does not even consider the more common word. It is evident he did not read what Juan de Plascencia wrote about the Maharlika. His etymology does not explain why the Maharlika were described as free nobles. Maharlika as a Hebrew word is simply one more lie taught by Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture. 

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

The God culture: You Can't Prove It Otherwise

Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture has been busy as of late. He has been publishing new videos, writing new blogs, traveling the Philippines for speaking engagements, and he did an interview with Lisa George. Tim is on her show usually once a month discussing his fraudulent research and whining about how persecuted he is when he is called out for his many lies. Needless to say Lisa is uncritically sympathetic having Filipino familial connections and being generally not a very discerning person. She also co-hosts with Zen Garcia when Tim appears on his livestream. It's essentially a Judaizing  echo chamber with each group spouting their own unique heresies rooted in a rejection of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and an exaltation of the law. 

In the latest interview which streamed on July 13th, 2025 Tim said something very interesting. 

Biblical Hebrew Class Volume 136

1:22:03 Tim: So, many say that Barbosa is the origin of, nobody ever heard the word Lequios before that. That's not true. Number one. Actually it goes back further than that because it goes back to 600 AD. The Chinese first used the word, uh, Lequios to describe a people uh that come from an area with tropical goods, uh, uh, to the southeast of China. Uh, and again they say, "Oh, well that was the that was Ryuku, therefore Ryuku is the Lequios when that was never Ryuku." Not in that narrative either. It doesn't fit. Uh, they have a local history, uh in Ryuku. Uh, I I'm not going to remember it. It's the Rome, uh, Kadai or something like that. 

But anyway, this written history, uh, was supposedly passed down for, for generations, uh, orally. I'm sure it was. I don't doubt that they had a history. I think many lands did and it got erased or changed. But here's the thing. It miraculously, well, it disappeared from history and then it reappeared under the Jesuits. 

Lisa: Oh, there we go.  

Tim: A Jesuit school. 

Lisa: That's the culprit. That is the culprit. I actually got accepted to go to a Jesuit high school, but praise yah, I decided not to go even though my dad was pushing that very heavily. Praise. Okay. 

Tim: I didn't know many people who survived it. But the reality is, uh, the, the, the Lequios turned out to be the Philippines still in that case. Uh, and the history was faked. Uh, then during World War II, the history was destroyed by fire. No copies were left. None. So, at a Jesuit school, they recreated it once again. 

Lisa: Yeah.

Tim: So what did they do? Well, they rewrote it. And you can't prove otherwise. You you can't prove that they did not rewrite it. You can't prove that the history is valid because we don't have it. So that is it.

That is convoluted nonsense. What is he talking about? Tim is saying that there is a history of the Ryukyu Kingdom  that was passed down orally as well as being written. However, it was destroyed during World War 2 but was rewritten by the Jesuits. For those who object Tim says, you can't prove they did not rewrite the history of the Ryukyu Kingdom. But can Tim prove they did rewrite it? He says a Jesuit school was involved, so which one was it? How did they get away with their deception for so long and no one was able to discover it except for Tim the magazine publisher? This is a logical fallacy of shifting the burden of proof. It is Tim who must prove his case. He has not. Instead he makes a claim and says it cannot be proven otherwise. Lisa George does not pushback. She agrees completely with what Tim has said, even laughing and providing an anecdote about almost attending a Jesuit school.

The Ryukuyan history Tim is referring to appears to be the Rekidai Hōan. While original copies were destroyed in Shuri Castle on Okinawa during World War 2, many other copies survived in Tokyo and Taiwan.  


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rekidai_Hōan

The Rekidai Hōan (歴代宝案), Precious Documents of Successive Generations, is an official compilation of diplomatic documents of the royal government of the Ryūkyū Kingdom. Covering the period from 1424 to 1867, it contains records, written entirely in Chinese, of communications between Ryukyu and ten different trading partners in this period, detailing as well the gifts given in tribute. The ten countries or trading ports are ChinaKoreaSiamMalaccaPalembangJavaSumatraPattani, and Sunda Kelapa. There are 242 volumes in total, including four lists, and an extra four sections.

It is believed that the documents were first formally compiled in 1697 from documents kept at the Naha Tempi Palace. Some documents were already lost at this time, and copies contained errors. It is not known whether the documents had been kept separately or bound prior to this.

The compilation first became known to the public, and put on display, in 1932, when it was moved from the Tenson Shrine in Naha to the Okinawa Prefectural Library. This "First Series" compiled in 1697 contained 49 volumes, but by 1932 a number were missing or severely damaged. All were destroyed in the 1945 battle of Okinawa

Copies in Taiwan University and Tokyo University survived, and form the basis for scholarship of these documents; unfortunately, further copying errors were introduced in the 1930s-1940s when these versions were created.

Tim is wrong in his description of these historical documents. They didn't completely disappear only to miraculously reappear having been rewritten by the Jesuits. They survived in Taiwan and Tokyo. I suppose he will latch onto copying errors as his proof the text was rewritten but he will have to prove that, not just assert it. Copying errors do not equal a total rewrite. This article says there were copying errors and lost documents as far back as 1697. The fact is we have very reliable history about both the Ryukyu Kingdom and the Philippines dating from centuries ago from various sources both Chinese and European. The problem is Tim does not accept the facts so he has pulled out every trick in the book to dismiss them. 

As for the reference to Chinese history starting in 600 AD Tim is likely referring to The Book of Sui. While that book is not available in English translation the 13th century book  Zhu Fan Zhi is available. Being a later book it is reasonable to assume it has updated information and that Marco Polo would have had access to its knowledge base whether by reading it or conversing with merchants, court officials, and others familiar with it when writing in his journal. That book mentions Liuqiu and the Philippines separately. It also mentions Zipangu as a place separate from the Philippines. The Chinese name Liuqiu is the origin of the European Lequios and all its variants. I have written about that at length in a separate article.

Another problem with this interview is Tim consistently pronounces the name Lequios wrong. He is confusing it with Luçoes. Lequios has a hard sound with "qu" while Luçoes has a soft sound with the "ç." What he does is pronounce Luçoes with a hard "c" and use that as the default name for both areas. He is doing this on purpose to confuse his listeners and because he himself is confused about these two names. In his mind they are equated so they must sound the same. But they are not the same. Luçones, Luçon, Luzon, Luson, Lusong are Spanish and Portuguese designations of Luzon Island and its people. Lequios is never used to refer to Luzon. Spanish and Portuguese documents put a difference between those regions both geographically and linguistically. I have already written about them at length and will not reprint that here. There are many articles on this blog disproving Tim's erroneous claims about the Lequios being Luçon. This one is quite detailed.

What we see here is more of Tim's convoluted and misguided method. He makes a claim and says, "you can't prove otherwise." That is not how proper discourse or reaearch works. If Tim believes the Jesuits rewrote the history of the Ryukyu Kingdom then he should prove that claim. But he can't because it didn't happen. The history of the Lequios and Luçoes is out in the open for all to see but Tim does not care. It's just more nonsense from Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture.

Sunday, July 13, 2025

The God Culture: Misinterpreting Mendoza - Lechios Is Not Luzon

Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture has been producing a series of videos about how the Lequios Islands are the Philippines. That subject has been dealt with in great detail on this blog because the videos are all based on Tim's The Smoking Quill series of articles and I have demonstrated how those articles are filled with half-truths and outright lies. In the third video of this series Tim discusses the work of Juan Gonzalez de Mendoza. This is based on an article I did not examine so let's take a look at it. 

https://thegodculturephilippines.com/spanish-government-document-98-confirmed-lequios-is-the-philippines/

🎓 Mendoza Confirms It All 

In a separate document, Juan Gonzales de Mendoza writes: 

[From Java] "...and the kingdom of the Lechios: and in equal distance, are the Japones." 

He clearly places the Lechios halfway between Java and Japan — i.e., the Philippines. Not Japan. Not Ryukyu. Again, this matches the same progression: 

Java ➔ Luzon ➔ Japan, Equal distance from Java to Lequios and then, Lequios to Japan, manifests Lequios as about half way in the journey.  

Not: 

Java ➔ Ryukyu ➔ Japan [That would distort the map completely.]

🔨 END OF DEBATE!  

An Amazing Visual. The Final Nail 

Mendoza defines Lequios as approximately halfway between Java and Japan. That’s definitive. 

This confirms Lequios is Luzon—recognized not just by Mendoza, but also Mafra, Spanish Document #98, Barbosa, Pinto, Pigafetta, Magellan, and every credible source of the era.

There are two things to note here. 

1. Tim does not give the source for the quote in this article or in his video. He also does not give the title of the book in the article or the video. The title is The History of the Great and Mighty Kingdom of China.

2. Tim cites only a brief portion of a much longer section. In the video he cites a longer section starting with the word betwixt but he still ignores the context of Mendoza's book. 


https://archive.org/details/historyofgreatmi14151gonz/page/6/mode/2up

This great and miglitie kingdome of China, which we do meane to treat of in this Historie, hath beene discouered by cleere and true notice, within this tenne yeares, by Spanyards that were dwellers in the Hands Philippinas, that are three hundreth leagues distant from the said kingdome : Notwithstanding, that long time before, there was relation giuen, by way of the Portingall Indias, by such as dwelt in Macao, and did traiike to Canton, a citie of the same kingdome of China. But this was by relation so, that the one nor the other could satisfie, for that there was founde varietie in that which was true, till the yeere of 1577. Frier Martin de Gorrada, prouincial of the Augustine friers, who were the first discouerers of the said Ilands Philippinas, and ministred first the holy baptisme amongst them, with his companions, frier Hieronimo Martin, Pedro Sarmiento, and Myghell de Loarcha, cheefe officers of the citie of Marrila in the said Ilands, by the order and commandement of Guido de Labassares, gouernour thereof, did enter into the saide kingdome of China, led and gouerned by a captaine belonging to the king of the said kingdome, called Omoncon.

Of the comming of this Omoncon vnto the Ilands Philippinas, and of his hardines to carrie the aforesaid vnto the firme land, he being commanded to the contrarie vpon paine of death, and how he was receiued, and great courtesie shewed, and of other things verie curious, you shall finde in the second part of this historic, where as is the substance and whole relation of all that was brought vnto the king of Spaine.

You shall vnderstande that this mightie kingdome is the Orientalest part of all Asia, and his next neighbour towards the Ponent is the kingdome of Quachinchina, whereas they doo obserue in whole all the customes and rites of China. The greatest part of this kingdome is watred with the great Orientall Ocean sea, beginning at the Iland Aynan, which is hard by Quachinchina, which is 19 degrees towards the North, and compassing towards the South, whereas their course is northeast. And beyond Quachinchina towards the North, the Bragmanes do confine, which are much people, and verie rich, of golde, siluer, and pretious stones, but in especiall, rubies : for there are infinit. They are proude and hawtie men, of great corage, wel made, but of browne colour : they haue had (but few times) warre with them of China, in respect for that betwixt both the kingdomes, there are great and mightie mountaines and rockes that doth disturbe them. And harde vnto this nation ioyneth the Patanes and Mogore which is a great kingdome, and warlike people, whose head is the Gran Saniarzan : They are the true Scythas or Massagetas, of whom it is affirmed that they were neuer ouercome by any other nation : they are a people well proportioned and white : by reason they dwel in a cold countrie. Betwixt the West and the South is the Trapobana, or Samatra, a kingdome very rich of gold, pretious stones, & pearles : and more towards the South, are the two lauas, the great and the lesse, and the kingdome of the Lechios  and in equall distance, are the lapones 

pgs. 7-9 

In this full section Mendoza mentions the discovery of the Philippines. Then he mentions the nations surrounding China which include Sumatra, Java, Lechios, and Japan. If the Lechios is Luzon as Tim contends why does Mendoza refer to it by two different names? In volume 2 of his book Mendoza does not mention the kingdom of the Lechios but he mentions Luzon many times. Again, if they are the same place why is he not consistent with the names he uses?

The answer is because Lechios and Luzon are not the same. Let's look closely at the relevant portion of the sentence. 

and more towards the South, are the two lauas, the great and the lesse, and the kingdome of the Lechios and in equall distance, are the lapones 

Remember, Mendoza is naming all the nations surrounding China. So, to the south means south of China. Mendoza says Java is to the south of China. Then he mentions the kingdome of the Lechios. Is that supposed to be in the south? Luzon is southeast of China so it could be. But don't forget Mendoza has already mentioned the discovery of the Philippines. The Philippines would be part of the kingdom of Spain. That rules out Luzon as being Lechios. What about "in equal distance?" That is "in equal distance" from China. China is the measure of all these places. Lechios and Japan are both equidistant from China. That means Lechios is what we know today as the Ryukyu Islands. It's not hard to figure out if one reads the entire context of the book instead of seizing on part of a sentence as Tim does. 

Lechios is mentioned three times in Mendoza's book. This raises a problem. Either Tim did not bother to look at those references or he did and simply ignored them because they were too problematic. The fact is none of the three references to Lechios point to Luzon. Let's look at the remaining two.

Then the king perceiuing the request and petition of his kingdome and subiects, and being fully satisfied that this perswasion was requisite to be put in execution : he straight wayes set it a worke, and commanded vpon great penalties, that al his subiects and vassals naturall that were in any strange countries, that in a time limited, they should returne home to their owne country and houses : and likewise to the gouernours of the same countries, that they should in his name abandon and leaue the dominion and possession that he had of them : excepting such as would of their owne good will acknowledge vassalage, and giue him tribute, and remaine friends, as vnto this day the Lechios and other nations do.

pg. 93-94

This passage says unambiguously that the Lechios pay tribute and acknowledge vassalage to the king of China. That is not a description of the Philippines. Luzon was never a Chinese vassal state. But the Ryukyu Islands were. 

In the spring of 1609, the Ryukyu kingdom 琉球王国 was defeated by an invasion by the Satsuma domain of Japan, ruled by the Shimazu 島津 family. King Shō Nei 尚寧 and major Ryukyuan officials were marched off to Satsuma as prisoners of war. In response to the daimyo’s report on the invasion, the Tokugawa bakufu recognized Satsuma’s control over Ryukyu. The Tokugawa authorities, thus, brought Ryukyu, a kingdom that had maintained tributary relations with Ming China since the latter half of the fourteenth century, within the political orbit of Tokugawa Japan. From then until 1879, when the Meiji government abolished the kingdom and annexed Ryukyu into Japan as Okinawa Prefecture, the Ryukyu kingdom accepted both Chinese and Japanese claims of suzerainty.

 The Tokugawa World, pg. 420

Here is the third and final mention of Lechios that disproves Tim's claim it is Luzon.

It is not from our purpose (now after that we haue told you of the gouernement of this mightie kingdome) to giue you to vnderstand how that there be great and famous philosophers, as well naturall as morall, and other things of great pollicie and curiosity : to tel you now of their characters, and the manner they haue in writing, and then of the colledges and schooles. Now vnto the first. You shall finde verie fewe in this kingdome but can both write and reade, yet haue they not the alphabet of letters as we haue, but all that they doe write is by figures, and they are long in learning of it, and with great difiicultie, for that almost every word hath his character. They do signifie the heauen, which they do call Guant, by one character alone, which is this (Chinese character) the king, whom they doo call Bontay, by this (Chinese character), and by consequent the earth, the sea, and the rest of the elements. They do vse more than sixe thousand characters , different the one from the other, and they doo write them verie swiftly (as it hath beene scene many times at the Philippinas, by manie Chinos that are there, and come thither daily) ; it is a kinde of language that is better vnderstood in writing then in speaking (as the Hebrue toonge), by reason of the certaine distinction of points that is in euery character differing one from the other, which in speaking cannot be distinguished so easilie. Their order of writing is cleane contrarie vnto ours, for that they doo beginne their lines from aboue downewards, but in verie good order : likewise they begin their lines at the right hande and write towards tlie left, contrarie vnto vs. They keepe the verie same order in their printing, as you shall vnderstande, and as may he seene this day at Rome in the librarie of the sacred pallace. And likewise in that which King Philip hath caused to be erected in the monasterie of Saint Laurence the royall, and also in other places ; in this order as I haue saide, and of their characters to the which I referre me, it is an admirable thing to consider how that in that kingdome they doo speake manie languages, the one differing from the other : yet generallie in writing they doo vnderstand one the other, and in speaking not. The occasion is, for y one figure or character vnto them all doth signifie one thing, although in the pronouncing there is difference in the vowels. The character that doth signifie a citie is this (Chinese character) and in their language some doo call it Leombi, and others Fu, yet both the one and the other doo vnderstande it to bee citie; the like is in all other names. And in this order doo communicate with them the Japones, Lechios, those of Samatra, and those of the kingdome of Quachinchina and other borderers vnto them : whereas in their speech or language, there is no more vnderstanding then is betwixt Greekes and Tuskanes.

pgs. 120-122

In this section Mendoza discusses the written Chinese language. He says the language is seen being used by Chinese who visit the Philippines. Then he says this written language is how the Chinese communicate with the Lechios. Why is that? Because they were a tributary of China unlike Luzon. By distinguishing between Chinese visiting the Philippines and Chinese communicating with the Lechios Mendoza again treats the Lechios as separate from the Philippines.

With these two sections, Tim's assertion that the kingdom of the Lechios is Luzon is revealed to be a total lie. Again, Tim's disregard of these two passages which overturn his theory reveal he is either an ignorant and poor researcher or he is being duplicitous. Neither of which is a good look for Tim. Remember, Tim has said to even suggest he is not familiar with the sources he cites is to be untruthful.

One claiming we do not even read these sources, and did not even try to prove, when we quote and explain them in a massive number of pages, is clearly not one representing the truth.

https://thegodculturephilippines.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-god-culture-thegodculturephilippine.html

That being the case I say with full confidence that Tim is a mendacious, duplicitous, liar. He is familiar with Mendoza's book, or at least with the three places Lechios is mentioned, and has willfully twisted it to say what it does not. 

There is one other thing in the video that is worth mentioning. Apparently Tim has been meeting with Phds and other academics to discuss his theories. He claims he has gotten no pushback. 

9:50 In this age, a spotlight will be placed on this mindset exposing it and many academics will likely buck the system. We are not finding anyone so far, not a single one, who has pushed back to that degree. They have been willing to listen and they are enthralled with the information that is just plain not being taught in academia today. But it should be and they agree.

Lequios is Luzon: Bishop Mendoza Confirms It All! Return of the Lequios 3

It would be interesting to know exactly who Tim is speaking with and how he is presenting his information. What exactly are their qualifications? Have they read his books? Are they saying they will look at the information thoroughly and to get back to them after they have had time to examine Tim's claims? Because there is no way anyone who has meticulously examined Tim's claims will find them to be truthful. The lies jump off every single page he writes and appear in every single video he produces. The above lie about Mendoza is just one example of hundreds. It sounds good but when put under a microscope it falls apart.

If Tim had bothered to read the context of Mendoza's book he would have found that Lechios as Luzon does not hold up. The kingdom of Lechios was a tributary state and vassal of China unlike Luzon. But Tim is quite fond of half-truths, half-quotes, footnotes, and anything else he can twist to fit his pseudo-historical project of proving the Lequios islands are Luzon. That is the method of Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture. 

The God Culture: Horsing Around

Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture continues to trot along in his vain attempts to prove the Lequios Islands are the Philippines. Spe...