The God Culture: A Biography of Timothy Jay Schwab

Timothy Jay Schwab is the founder and leader of The God Culture, "a group of independent researchers" dedicated to, among other things, restoring Biblical geography. But who is Timothy Jay Schwab? Where did he come from? What are his credentials? And what about the rest of the team of researchers? Who are they? 

In this post I am going to write a brief biography of Timothy Jay Schwab according to all the available sources online. The purpose is to get a sense of who he is, where he has come from, and more importantly how his past religious affiliations have shaped him into the man he is today. 

https://talbotspy.org/the-shore-life-magazine-marks-first-anniversary-with-expansion-plans/

Timothy Jay Schwab was born on March 13th, 1970 in Cambridge, Maryland. In the late 80's/early 90's Tim attended the College of Notre Dame of Maryland which changed its name to Notre Dame of Maryland University in 2011. NDMU is a private Catholic university located in Baltimore. He graduated with a degree in Business Management and Marketing. No doubt that as a student he imbibed the Roman Catholic religion which permeates campus life.

Tim married his first wife on July 29th, 1995 but ended up divorcing her ten years later in 2005. This divorce was by no means amicable and even as late as 2014 Tim was caught up in the fallout. According to his Linkedin profile Tim was a worship leader at Spanish River Church in Boca Raton, Florida between 2004 - 2008.  It was during this time that he met Anna Rose Zamoranos who became his second wife and he her third husband on August 4th, 2007.

http://oris.co.palm-beach.fl.us/or_web1/details.asp?doc_id=16586006&index=2&file_num=20070385763

Circled in red at the bottom of the marriage certificate is the name of the minister who married the Schwabs and the church they were married at. That would be Spanish River Presbyterian Church (PCA) where Tim was leading worship. According to their website's belief section they teach standard Presbyterian doctrine which includes the 5 Solas of the Reformation.

https://www.spanishriver.com/our-beliefs

A deeper look at their beliefs reveals the following statements:

that worship is our primary response to God’s love: the truth remains the same but our styles of celebration are to be culturally relevant. 

that God calls us to welcome and encourage people at all stages of their spiritual journey.

that God calls us to be in loving, caring and authentic relationships in all areas of our lives. 

that learning, life change, growth, care and ministry occur best in the context of small groups. 

that each member is to view himself as a customer (being served) and also as an employee (serving others).

0. We believe that all people are separated from God because they transgress His laws and none of us can make ourselves acceptable to God by trying our best to live a good life. Being good or being religious cannot take away our sin problem.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b05c6c631d4dfe78c03c922/t/5b7c56b8758d46aec53b4261/1534875322154/SRC%2BBeliefs.pdf

Those statements are very watered down especially the last one about "our sin problem." It would appear that these Presbyterians do not stress the doctrine of total depravity. For four years, 2004 -2008, Tim was a member of this church participating on the worship team as a worship leader.  That means he was involved with the music but not the preaching. As a member of this church surely he believed some of what they were teaching. 

At the same time he was involved with Spanish River PCA he was also the worship leader for New Horizons Church between 2006 - 2009.  What church this is exactly I am not sure and I won't speculate. What's important to see here is that Tim was actively involved in the ministry while living in Florida taking the role of worship leader at two churches.

While living in Florida and leading church worship services Tim was also putting his college degree to good use by working for Florida Design, Inc as a publisher.

FLORIDA DESIGN is dedicated to those who appreciate fine interior design, furnishings, architecture and a luxurious lifestyle. Because of our distribution, advertisers have been rewarded with sales from buyers living in or moving to Florida from all over the United States, North and South America, Europe, The Middle East, and even the tiny island of Guam. 

FloridaDesign.com is an extension of FLORIDA DESIGN Magazines. Not only can you review the many design features from FLORIDA DESIGN’S past issues, but you can also search for sources by name or category, and then connect directly to their web sites for more information.

https://floridadesign.com/about-us/

This company publishes an array of lifestyle magazines. In 2009 Tim left Florida to return to Maryland where he would utilize his experience with Florida Design, Inc. to found his own publishing company, Raffine Media. Tim did not merely have big plans for this company. He had a vision that his new company could enable him to lead to a life of generous philanthropy.

More than a few locals chuckled in December 2010 when a glossy magazine called The Shore Life popped on the scene, sporting a front cover photo of a fashion model with a black net hat and a tiny dog in her purse. “That’s not the Eastern Shore,” locals said with rolling eyes and guffaws. “Who do those people think they are?” 

But jump into the future just 365 days, and The Shore Life Magazine today is not only widely read on Delmarva, but is selling on newsstands from Richmond to Manhattan.  Publisher Tim Schwab tells us – yes, this is the Eastern Shore and it’s all of Delmarva, too. There’s a new level of sophistication here, and a huge influx of affluent families who want and are seeking luxury lifestyle magazines.  And he seems to be right on, because Shore Life’s circulation, advertising, issue size and word of mouth keep increasing. 

After one year of building infrastructure, Schwab says The Shore Life as a product that is viable for years to come, and he’s ready to launch two new ventures in 2012 – Annapolis Lifestyle in March, and Northern Virginia Lifestyle in fall –  two markets that he says are underserved by upscale lifestyle magazines. He was able to attract strong talent for his team such as Randy Haddaway, his new vice-president, with both ad agency and event production experience, and Linda Waterman, the new Shore Life editor. 

Schwab claims that the high standards that he set for The Shore Life – no issue smaller than 124 pages, strong local content, excellent photography, layout and design – proves that with the right niche, a luxury lifestyle magazine can thrive no matter what is happening with the larger economy. Advertisers in The Shore Life magazine tend to be companies that serve the affluent and who don’t advertise anywhere else. 

https://talbotspy.org/the-shore-life-magazine-marks-first-anniversary-with-expansion-plans/

Here is the first cover of The Shore Life which made the locals laugh at Tim.

https://web.archive.org/web/20101231054436/http://theshorelife.net/

This magazine showcased Tim's high standards and professionalism and attracted advertisers catering to the affluent. Tim was so excited about the future of his business that he was sure he had a product that would last for years and he had planned other magazines as well. His ambition of being a great philanthropist was so close.

Schwab recently established a new company, Luxe Style Media, LLC, as an umbrella organization to support the new publications, a high end website design company and eventually – an event production company. But that’s not all he’s doing. 

In its first year, The Shore Life worked with over 40 non-profits, assisting with everything from auction items to event planning, sponsorships and social photos. He anticipates partnering on a larger scale, offering marketing advice and partnering to garner local resources for events. 

Schwab is moved by people who think big and who make a big difference in the lives of others.  Schwab cites Ben Franklin as an inspiration.  He was a writer, an author, an inventor and believed that he could do an infinite number of things well. Full of vision, with a burning desire to create, Schwab, like Franklin, wants to build things that will affect the lives of many. He cites Ken Wood, of Denton, who founded Lifetime Wells for Ghana, and has built over 600 wells in Africa, saving thousands of lives. And Blake Mycoskie, of Tom’s shoes – another businessman Schwab admires – not just because he’s brilliant in business, but because he’s saving lives. For every pair of shoes purchased, the company donates a pair to a child in need, preventing soil-transmitted diseases and enabling kids to attend school. 

Schwab sees The Shore Life as a tool that can attract people to larger community-based projects. He expects to attract a dynamic force of people and businesses that together, can do anything in support of a noble cause. “I want to create an engine that can give financially, can give promotionally and that can reach out to our readers and say, ‘Here’s a need in our community, and here’s how you can give,’” he said. 

As a youth pastor many years ago, Schwab noticed that doing things such as taking a group of teens to a large conference to celebrate positive living had a big effect on those kids – for a few weeks. On fire during and just after the event, the kids would lose steam over time. Schwab says he intends to build something long-lasting – a place for teens, somewhere here on the Shore. He sees nothing around that really goes far enough to grab and engage youth in a new, positive direction. 

Modeled after ESPN Sports Zones and Dave and Busters, Schwab plans to create a large-scale club for teens.  He envisions a space open until 1:00 a.m., where teens are given opportunities to celebrate living a positive life. With no alcohol, no drugs and serious security, he’ll bring in high caliber musical talent, video walls, laser lights, high end sound equipment, and envisions attracting up to 1,000 teens every Saturday night. He’ll bring in speakers to talk about living a positive life, how to make a difference. 

Schwab already has a name for this venue (Club Chill) and a logo. He’s expecting to sell this concept, building the first club in whichever Delmarva market is most open to it. A non-profit venture, he imagines the proceeds generated to support the launching of more clubs in new markets. His ultimate goal is to give teens the motivation and the ability to serve, to reinforce a positive lifestyle that reaches beyond one’s own family and into the larger community. 

Indeed, Tim Schwab has a big vision. In one short year, he’s built the foundation of something big that is new, is growing, and just might change some lives. 

Sadly none of that was to be as Raffine, LLC filed for bankruptcy on April 23rd, 2013. 

While living in Maryland Tim joined up with Real Life Chapel as their worship leader. He was in this position from 2009 - 2012. Unlike Spanish River, Real Life is not Presbyterian. They are associated with the Nazarene Church. In 2011 Tim attended a Nazarene Conference in Dover, Delaware. He is listed as NYI Pres.

https://docplayer.net/104583026-Mid-atlantic-district.html

NYI appears to refer to Nazarene Youth International which means Tim was probably a youth pastor again. The Nazarene Church is quite different from the Presbyterian church. In fact they are they total opposite.  Whereas the PCA teaches the doctrine of total depravity the Nazarene Church stresses the doctrine of holiness.

The Church of the Nazarene is a Protestant Christian church in the Wesleyan, Holiness tradition.

https://nazarene.org

Other than holding to an extreme form of Arminianism and insisting that man can be wholly sanctified through obedience the Nazarenes believe in distinctive Christian doctrines including the Trinity and worshipping on the Lord's Day rather than the Sabbath. They are not so far from the mainstream of Protestant Christianity.

After the bankruptcy of his publishing venture Tim moved back to Florida where he found employment with J.E.S. Publishing in December of 2013. This same month is when Tim registered www.thegodculture.com.

God culture origin

In 2015 Tim filed a trademark for The God Culture.  It appears his intention was to publish brochures and books.

https://www.thegodculture.com/

On Friday, April 17, 2015, a U.S. federal trademark registration was filed for THE GOD CULTURE. The USPTO has given the THE GOD CULTURE trademark serial number of 86601024. The current federal status of this trademark filing is ABANDONED - FAILURE TO RESPOND OR LATE RESPONSE. The correspondent listed for THE GOD CULTURE is TIMOTHY J SCHWAB of PO Box 7101, Delray Beach, FL 33482-7101, . The THE GOD CULTURE trademark is filed in the category of Paper Goods and Printed Material . The description provided to the USPTO for THE GOD CULTURE is Printed publications, namely, brochures, booklets, and teaching materials in the field of religion and culture.

It is not clear if Tim has ever published booklets and teaching materials under the name of The God Culture. It does seem that publishing videos was not his original intention. The God Culture Youtube account lists Feb 9th, 2017 as the day of its creation. That is four years from the registration of thegodculture.com to the publication of the first God Culture video.

By 2013 Tim had been married to Anna Rose Zamoranos for 6 years. Since their marriage began he had accompanied her on trips to the Philippines rather often.  He says that such trips were the inspiration for what would later become The God Culture.

https://youtu.be/ycOWVQ__1ow

Starting at 1:10 in this interview Tim says:

So maybe you can share something about how did you get started in the Solomon's Gold Series and what did you learn along the way what were the surprises, anything you want to share. 

Well you know the amazing thing was is my wife is Filipina and we travel to the Philippines rather often and being here I was looking into different channels on Youtube I believe is where I saw this first.  There was a video "Philippines is Ophir" and I thought wow I know what Ophir is and but I've never seen anybody prove the location of Ophir. So I look at it and of course it's like most videos. It's a good video, it's a great claim but you leave the video thinking, maybe. And we're at a point, because we're a research group it's not just me, and we're at a point in our lives where we want to prove things.  We want to see things proven out completely. And that's what we set out to do. 

Whatever was stewing in Tim's mind and heart in 2013 when he registered the domain name the first batch of the God Culture's Solomon's Gold series were published in rapid succession in 2017. Given the high quality of each video and the amount of information contained therein it is certain Tim had been working on them for quite a while.  The project probably consumed all his free time.

In 2015 Tim again quit his advertising job to venture out on his own this time founding Ocean Life Agency.

OCEAN LIFE Agency is a full service advertising agency specializing in events, printing, design and production, promotional items, custom publishing, web design, social media and anything with your name on it

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-schwab-a44173b5/

Not that being in business for yourself would necessarily free up all your time. But it would give him more control over his schedule.

The first God Culture videos were published two years later in 2017. Tim continues to publish videos attempting to prove that the Philippines is The Garden of Eden, Tarshish, Ophir, Chryse, Argyre, the Golden Chersoneses, Sheba, Seba, and that Filipinos as well as Negroes and Kurds are members of the lost tribes of Israel.

Watching the first video it seems as if the God Culture is already an established group with a logo and a catchphrase (Challenge Tradition). Tim begins his Youtube series by saying:

"Welcome to the God Culture where we urge you to challenge tradition as 1 Thessalonians 5:21 tells us.  Prove all things. Hold fast that which is good. We do not intend to be confrontational but to compare what the Bible really says versus the traditions of men which Jesus himself rebuked."

https://youtu.be/u4xQlVOmRkg

Upon hearing such boldness from a group coming out of nowhere and speaking as if they have any authority one is apt to laugh and guffaw just like those in Easton did.  "That's not history." "Who do these people think they are?"

The videos became such a success that Tim was able to hold his first conferences across the Philippines in 2019.

https://youtu.be/ekPDoC1lySQ

At 11:42 in this video Tim says:

We also want to thank our partner Pastor Paul Medrano who has done so much to make these events a reality. We love you Pastor Paul and Susan.

This is not merely an effort of the God Culture but of so, so many.

Pastor Paul Medrano, if you remember, is the man who introduced Tim to Sefroni Dulay.  That is the man who's house Tim was invited to for an occult ritualistic dinner with the ancestors where he took on the new name of Pedro. 

At some point, likely 2019, Tim and his wife moved to the Philippines.

What can we learn from this brief biography?

We learn that Tim was once involved in the mainstream Protestant church and then at some point he abandoned it. What we don't know is why. We don't see the progression of his spiritual journey. What prompted Tim to make the leap from the Grace Alone and Christ Alone of the Presbyterian Church to legalism? What prompted Tim to drop Lord, God, LORD GOD, and Jesus for Hebrew names?  On a Youtube comment the God Culture mentions they were involved with the Sacred Name movement.

That's why we stay away from movements. When one builds such infrastructure there is a massive need for fuel (money) to feed the monster (infrastructure) and it usually leads to their going off topic or sensationalizing to keep people's interest so they can continue to fuel the infrastructure beast and this many times leads to having to take money from sources that may have an agenda (which is really the plan of entrapment which is why this system is what is taught in seminaries as it's the best way to ensure a ministry folds into the controlled narrative). A perfect example is the Sacred Name Movement which we actually learned the accurate name of God but the movement just didn't stay the course as it really should lead to restoring the entire Bible and they did create a Bible but it's still based on Modern Translations just inserting names which is cool but doesn't really do much in restoring the translation which is so badly needed.

The Name of God Series 6: ORIGIN OF THE WORD JEW. NOT THE BIBLE

That doesn't tell us much though it is a clue of sorts. The clue being that at some point Tim left mainstream Protestantism altogether and jumped head first into the kooky world of radical Protestantism. How many more church teachings has Tim rejected? The Trinity? Penal substitution? The inspiration and inerrancy of the scriptures? Does he believe Jesus is a human person, a divine person, or both?

We also do not see any kind of training that would equip Tim for ministering the Word. Tim has a degree in Business and Marketing and his whole life has been spent publishing magazines. There is nothing to indicate he has been trained to do "deep research" in "history, geography, archeology, science, language" or any other subject. In fact I have shown in several posts that this "deep research" amounts to nothing more than copy/pasting from blogs, Wikipedia, and other places. Often times Tim does not bother to seek out primary sources.

The God Culture claims to be a team. Any truth to that claim can't be verified here. If they are a team of researchers they aren't very good. I demonstrated in a blog post that in one video where Tim discusses Dionysius Periegetes at length he uses a middle school teacher's class outline as his source rather than the actual text of Dionysius. The result is he misinterprets what Dionysius writes. The God Culture responded by commenting:

Tim does not conduct all research himself as we are a team and likely one of us just sent him the link to the source which is support for maps we already had. We represented the reference exactly as it is written and no, we do not require going deeper to confirm something that matches maps we already have for a YouTube video.

http://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-god-culture-finding-chryse-dont.html?showComment=1586669466549#c8528961852138070263

The God Culture team is not big on doing proper research and getting their sources right.

Then there is the issue of what Tim is doing here. How he is able to live in the Philippines and perform the work of an evangelist? It would appear that his American Dream crashed and burned rather spectacularly and he is seeking to carve out a new life with a new (or the same old) vision of helping out others which he thought Raffine Media would enable him to do.

But holding nationwide conferences teaching a false history of both the Philippines and Filipinos is not going to help out anyone. Neither is preaching a false Gospel of keeping the law to stay engrafted into Christ. The good news of the Gospel, as Paul so eloquently explains in Galatians, is freedom and grace in Jesus Christ which is opposed to the bondage of the law. The Evangel is not that man must keep the law but that Christ has conquered sin, death, and hell for us by fulfilling the law. Tim has completely abandoned the Gospel.

I pointed out above that Tim is Anna's third husband and she is his second wife. That is not idle gossip. The fact is Jesus Christ condemned such marriages calling them adultery.  

31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:  

32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery. 

https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-Chapter-5/ 

3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? 

4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 

5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?   

6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 

7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?

8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.

9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it befor fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-Chapter-19/

What you have in Tim is a hypocrite pretending to be doing evangelism by telling people to keep the law when all the while he is in a constant state of lawlessness which no amount of feast keeping or sabbath keeping will rectify.

UPDATE

In response to this biography, which is based on court documents and Tim's own resumé and is in no part a fabrication or libel as is claimed, The God Culture has produced an Auhorized, Official Biography of their Founder.

https://www.thegodculture.com/our-founder

The only salient passage is the following:

At the age of 12, Timothy received a calling to minister to others. He began in a puppet ministry that travelled and they advanced into dramas and teachings. He, then, began leading worship at the age 14 while also teaching Sunday School. By 17 years old, Timothy toured as lead singer and President of a Christian Rock Group as an evangelist for five years. In the meantime, he completed seminary courses through his non-denominational faith and was ordained as a Reverend. Though never taking the path of a Senior Pastor, Timothy became Youth Pastor as well as other positions while ramping up a career in publishing at the same time. His career rose to the rank of a Publisher for one of the top-selling newsstand magazines in the world among others. In the meantime, he led worship for mega-churches and continued in numerous ministry roles including helps ministry at nursing homes, homeless shelters, prisons, etc. while still focused on youth many times. Over all, his ministry experience is over 30 years and his business experience about the same even finding time for college but never living on a campus.

While that information is interesting it still tells nothing about how Tim made the leap from mainstream Protestantism to Sacred Namerism to the place he is today where he rejects the church entirely including her doctrines of the Trinity and salvation through faith and grace apart from the deeds of the law. It does show us that he took the path of a confused Protestant with the puppet and drama shows and the rock n' roll and even becoming a non-denominational Reverend. But that is all inconsequential. What we are interested in here is how Tim got from A to B. That journey is what we are interested in here. How did Tim go from mainstream Protestantism to founding his own religion, The God Culture? Will he ever tell?

It's good to see that this blog has forced their hand to throw a bone however little meat it has. It's also good to hear Tim respond to this blog directly in his videos even going so far as to edit a few of them based on what I have written. It's good to see The God Culture return  again and again to this blog to post nonsense in the comments. It means I am having an effect. They don't like having the light of truth shined upon them so brightly. The God Culture probably thought no one would seriously take up their challenge to prove if what they are saying is true. They never expected me.