Ask The God Culture: Who Translated the Septuagint?

Welcome back to Ask The God Culture, the place where Timothy Jay Schwab will answer any question you may have. Our first question this week comes from Randy Claywell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp7gPSua-Yo&lc=UgwvVS17D_3xuW9G8o94AaABAg

Randy Claywell: It's my understanding that the Septuagint was translated by a group of Jews not Greeks.

The God Culture: There were NO Hebrews in Egypt at that time. The Bible is clear all the Southern Kingdom that was in Egypt either returned or died. The Hebrews who could do such with authority were in the Temple and we find their library in Qumran where they were exiled. No other library has such credibility as that one as they are the Biblical keepers of scripture since Moses. Anyone else, is not. Yah Bless.

Randy says it is his understanding that the Septuagint was translated by a group of Jews and not Greeks. Tim says there were no Hebrews in Egypt at the time the Septuagint was translated. 

This is an incredibly illiterate and ignorant answer coming from Mr. Schwab. The fact is Alexandria had a numerous population of Jews from the time of Alexander the Great and history attests to the fact that Jewish scholars were commissioned to translate the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. Our primary source for this information is the letter of Aristeas.

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

While many consider the letter to be pseudepigrapha the basic outline of the letter remains true.

In detail, the work relates how the king of Egypt, presumably Ptolemy II Philadelphus, is urged by his chief librarian Demetrios of Phaleron to have the Hebrew Law translated into Greek, and so add the knowledge of the Hebrews to the vast collection of books the empire had already collected. The king responds favorably, including giving freedom to Jews who had been taken into captivity by his predecessors, and sending lavish gifts (which are described in great detail) to the Temple in Jerusalem along with his envoys. The high priest chooses exactly six men from each of the twelve tribes, giving 72 in all; he gives a long sermon in praise of the Law. When the translators arrive in Alexandria the king weeps for joy and for the next seven days puts philosophical questions to the translators, the wise answers to which are related in full. The 72 translators then complete their task in exactly 72 days. The Jews of Alexandria, on hearing the Law read in Greek, request copies and lay a curse on anyone who would change the translation. The king then rewards the translators lavishly and they return home. Elements of this narrative are re-told in the Babylonian Talmud in Tractate Megillah.

The fact is that, contrary to what Timothy Jay Schwab claims, there was a sizable Jewish population in Alexandria and it is they who translated the Septuagint. 

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

If one is going to base their canon of scripture by what is found in the Dead Sea Scrolls as Timothy Jay Schwab does there is no reason to reject the Septuagint as some Hebrew fragments found there agree with the Septuagint more than the Masoretic text. It is simply a fact of history that the Septuagint was widely used by the Jews, read by Jesus, cited by the Apostles, and continues to this day as the Scripture of the Eastern Orthodox Churches. The reason the Jews ended up rejecting it is because the Christians adopted it as their own. 

Our second question this week comes from Joe Boakie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnf85Z_gVFI&lc=UgxBHaXx6_BY5u8j6OV4AaABAg 

JoeBokaie:  Another great video. I have a question regarding 2 Cor 12. Jesus said that no man except he has ascended to Heaven. In 2 Cor Chapter 12 when Paul speaks of his stoning, was he just given a vision of heaven? Did he go to paradise/Abraham's bosom?

The God Culture: All souls go into the chambers upon death including Messiah. He resurrected from there and is the first to ascend to Heaven indeed but that is where He went when He died not Heaven. Paul is certainly in Abraham's bosom. Enoch and Elijah did not die. Yah Bless.

Joe wants to know where Paul went when he spoke of his heavenly vision in 2 Corinthian 12.

https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/2-Corinthians-Chapter-12/

Tim responds by refusing to answer the question and by bringing up the impertinent subject of Enoch and Elijah whom Joe never mentioned. Absolutely incredible. To quote the 1995 classic film Billy Madison:

Mr. Schwab, what you have just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hfYJsQAhl0

That's all for this time on Ask The God Culture. See you next time!

The God Culture: Ancient Greek Armor Found In Mindanao

Timothy Jay Schwab of The God Culture bolsters his claims that the Philippines is the ancient source of Greek gold, as if there were no gold mines in ancient Greece, by claiming that ancient Greek armor has been found in Mindanao.

https://youtu.be/kWjFtcV_6Nc

Beginning at 5:27 Timothy Schwab says:

"When we visited Butuan, Philippines in May we were actually able to see this Greek armor which was found in 2018 in the Philippines. The thing is these are indisputably Greek from the symbols and the structure and they are dated all the way back to 800 B.C. up to about 480 B.C. "

Now that is indeed rather interesting don't you think? Ancient Greek armor was found in Mindanao and dated between 800 and 480 B.C.? That would be a huge archaeological discovery seeing as Alexander did not even reach India until 326 B.C.! It would mean Greek soldiers marched or sailed to the Philippines BEFORE the Peloponnesian War. What can one do in the face of such overwhelming evidence that the Greeks were in the Philippines possibly only 300 years after the Trojan War? Question it and tear it apart of course.

I don't doubt that Timothy saw this armor. It obviously exists. Just look at the pictures. But where did he see it? A museum? Somewhere else? A search for news about this discovery leads to one and only one source which is a Youtube video posted by Kasaysayan Hunters on April 30th 2019.

As to the provenance of this discovery I think you will not be shocked to hear that these artifacts appeared suddenly out of nowhere.  From the video:

"In 2018 locals in Mindanao were surprised to find armor of a type they have never seen before complete with helmets and weapons, soon sold in the Philippine antiquities market. We were fortunate enough to track down two sets of these amours which may give us important insight into our ancient past." 

That is some stunning documentation right there. Unnamed locals found armor of a kind they had never seen before at an undisclosed location and quickly sold it on the Philippine antiquities market. What is this Philippine antiquities market anyway? Sounds like there is a thriving trade in antiquities on the black market in the Philippines.

The video offers no clue as to the origin of the armor. Rather than question its authenticity the narrator assumes it as a fact and goes on to describe all the details like the lions heads and anemones and gorgon heads carved into the armor as being genuinely Greek. They even expect us to believe that ancient Greeks wore helmets decorated with tokay geckos which are native to the Philippines and not Greece! Did the Greeks manufacture these helmets while in the Philippines?

The axe decorated with a lion's head we are told is a battle axe. Because when you want to kill someone in battle you definitely don't want an gigantic axe with a huge smooth, sharp edged double head.  You want a short and stylish decorative piece.

Here is a picture of the set in full.

Lots of questions need answering.

Where and how was this armor found?

How many more sets were found and where are they now?

What other artifacts were found in the vicinity?

Did any archaeologists visit the site where this armor was found?

Why is the armor in relatively good condition?

Who dated the armor to between 800 - 400 B.C. and what method did they use?
Has Greece been notified of this discovery?

Have any experts in Greek antiquities examined these artifacts?
What kind of tests have been run on this armor?  Metallurgical?

Where are these artifacts now and why does it look they are sitting on a house porch?

Is this the "Philippine antiquities market?"

Safe at home on the porch?

As Indiana Jones would say:

Apparently Tim and the God Culture did not think to ask any of these questions but accept these pieces as genuine ancient Greek armor with zero proof except that they look like Greek armor. One thing to note is that the pieces lying on the table are of a darker color than in the photo showing the full set.  That brings up a few more questions.

Where these pieces cleaned?
What were they cleaned with?
Were any kind of tests run on this armor before they were cleaned?

An image search for "Greek muscle cuirass" and "ancient Greek battle axe" gives results that look nothing like the armor above. There is armor with fake abs but not with lion heads and celestial wheels for nipples. Maybe such did exist but they are not coming up in any search online. And believe it or not those Greek battle axes have more of a Tibetan design than Grecian.

It's obvious that Tim does not believe these artifacts are genuine ancient Greek armor because they have been rigorously and thoroughly tested by experts and found to be so. He believes because it confirms his thesis that the Philippines is the ancient land of Ophir. He ignores what is so obviously gives away the fraud which is the tokay gecko on the helmet! But this would not be the first fact that Tim ignores.

To prove that the Greeks visited the Philippines Time produces a map, made in 1898 mind you, and points to two little islands labelled Chryse and Argyre and says this is Luzon and Mindanao!  Pray tell what happened to the Visayas?  You know, Negros, Iloilo, Bohol, Cebu, Leyte, and all the rest which lie in between Luzon and Mindanao! His map and his assertions cannot account for them. Here is the map he shows.

What is the source of this map anyway? Well if you're not paying attention you will miss the reference which is in VERY TINY PRINT in the bottom left corner.  Let me show you.

Contrary to what the God Culture has claimed that is NOT 30 point font!

He even claims our sources are in very tiny print yet there are a 30 point font thus rather disingenuous as we have come to expect from this communist-style agitator. If you are viewing it on a cell phone screen perhaps it is small but plenty big when we create our slides and all right there to review which this writer has done with their confirmation bias.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-god-culture-100-clues-philippines.html?showComment=1580698889368#c5406023618075777202

I am viewing this on a 13-inch Macbook Pro and it's barely legible!! You have to zoom in to read it properly. It also doesn't help that there is a God Culture watermark superimposed over the map which they took from another source!! The source is atlantisjavasea.com. Specifically it is this page: https://atlantisjavasea.com/2015/09/26/taprobana-is-not-sri-lanka-nor-sumatera-but-kalimantan/. This is a web page dedicated to proving that Atlantis was located in Southeast Asia. Goodness knows how Tim ended up on this page but it should be noted that the map is an 1898 reconstruction of Mela by Konrad Miller. Mela himself never drew a map!

It should also be noted that Tim ignores all the scholarship regarding the identification of Chryse, Argyre, and the Golden Chersonesus which he encounters. In the book by Thomas Suarez which he cites the islands are identified as Malaya and Burma while the Golden Chersonesus is identified as the Malaya Peninsula. Has he read this book by Paul Wheatley?

https://www.fulcrum.org/concern/monographs/v692t6367

While the book is not available online the table of contents are and there is no hint of the Philippines. The subtitle also gives the game away.  "Studies in the Historical Geography of the Malay Peninsula before A.D. 1500."

There is simply no credible evidence that the Philippines are the islands Tim says they are or that the Greeks were ever here. However there is an article that makes this assertion which Tim has likely come across.

The Visayan Islands had earlier encounter with the Greek traders in 21 A.D. 2  (Felix Regalado and Quentin  B. Franco, History of Panay  (Ilo-ilo City  Central Philippines University , 1973) ed.,  Eliza B. Grimo, p. 78.)

http://cebu-online.com/swum/html/exhibits.html

Over at a message board about history this question of Greek traders in the Philippines was raised and the book cited as the source of this information, History of Panay, was located and the appropriate section quoted.

Professor Austin Craig, eminent student of Philippine history, said that the ancient traders of the Philippines exported sinamay cloth to Greece in A.D. 21 and Strabo, a Roman geographer of the First Century, referred to the commodity as "Ta see sika", or 'flex combed from the trees'. Manila hemp was well known to the Caesars of Rome, and sinamay cloth was once sold to the museum of Dresden, Germany for its antiquity.

https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/46708/did-greek-traders-visit-the-philippines-in-the-1st-century-ad

If you cross check the reference from Professor Austin Craig which is found in "A Thousand Years of Philippine History Before the Arrival of the Spanish" you find this subject of ancient Greek contact with the Philippines on the very first page.

The Philippine History of which one is apt to think when that subject is mentioned covers hardly a fourth of the Islands' book-recorded history.  

These records are not the romantic dream of a Paterno that under the name Ophir the Philippines with their gold enriched Solomon (l0th century B. C). They are solider ground than any plausible explanations that Manila hemp (abaka) was Strabo's (A. D. 21) "ta seerika," the cloth made of "a kind of flax combed from certain barks of trees." The shadowy identification of the Manilas with Ptolemy's Maniolas (c. A. D. 130) is not in their class. Nor, to accept them, is recourse needed to farfetched deductions like Zuniga's that the American Continent received Israel's ten lost tribes, and thence, through Easter Island, Magellan's archipelago was peopled. Their existence saves us from having to accept such references as how Sinbad the sailorman (Burton: The Arabian Nights, Night 538 et seq.) evidently made some of his voyages in this region, though it would not be uninteresting to note that the great Roc is a bird used in Moro ornament, the “ghoul" of the Thousand and One Nights is the Filipino Asuang and that the palm-covered island which was believed to be a colossal tortoise because it shook might well have been located where the Philippine maps indicate that earthquakes are most frequent.  

The records herein after to be cited are for the most part of the prosaic kind, all the more reliable and valuable because they are inclined to be dry and matter-of-fact. They make no such demand upon imagination as Europe’s pioneer traveller's tales, for instance the- sixteenth century chart which depicted America as inhabited by headless people with eyes, nose and mouth located in the chest. 

https://archive.org/stream/thousandyearsofp00crairich#page/n7/mode/2up

Read that carefully and see that the authors of the "History of Panay" misrepresent what Austin Craig writes.

Professor Austin Craig rejects the "romantic dream" of the Philippines being Ophir and Greeks trading in these islands. Instead He focuses his scholarship on written records and calls them "more reliable and valuable."  On the other end of the spectrum Timothy Jay Schwab and the God Culture latch on to every kind of myth and legend and reject what scholars have to say in order to promulgate their doctrine. Men like Professor Austin Craig and Thomas Suarez do history while Tim and his bunch engage in pseudo-history.

Let's say these are real ancient Greek artifacts and not just fakes manufactured by locals in Mindanao. That would change so much of what we know about history. It would mean that the Greeks were either sailing around Africa long before Bartolomeu Dias did in 1488 or marching overland to the East hundreds of years before Alexander. In short it would be a groundbreaking archeological discovery and the area where the armor was found would certainly be excavated for more artifacts. But since the source of our knowledge of these antiques is only one Youtube video and there are no scholarly references to this find in reputable journals and no news reports either it is a safe bet that this ancient Greek armor is a modern-day fraud. The Philippines may be the ancient land of Gold according to The God Culture but today it is most certainly the land of frauds, cheats, and thieves.

The God Culture: 100 Clues the Philippines is the Ancient Land of Gold Known as Ophir

"Welcome to 100 Clues the Philippines is the Ancient Land of Gold known as Ophir!"  So begins the first video in The God Culture's video series, "100 Clues the Philippines is the Ancient Land of Gold known as Ophir."

Thankfully these videos are short and to the point. They can be watched while eating a breakfast of rice and eggs or a lunch of rice and lechon or a dinner of rice and lumpia. That's a lot of rice! Rice for every meal! Is the abundance of rice in the Philippines one of the "100 Clues the Philippines is the Ancient Land of Gold known as Ophir?" Read on dear readers. If you have not read my previous exposé of The God Culture be sure to check it out.

Before we get to the clues we must take into account what Timothy Jay Schwab, CEO of Ocean Life Agency and head researcher at the God Culture, has to say about the purpose of these videos. 

"Welcome to 100 Clues the Philippines is the Ancient Land of Gold known as Ophir in the Bible and history. No, it's no fable and this has already been proven in full in The God Culture's Solomon's Gold series in such a definitive way that no historian, scholar, theologian has been able to disprove their findings in over two years. The few that have tried to debate have failed. 

"We've pulled out 100 clues from this research in which we will highlight briefs of the most compelling points and yes there are over 100! These videos are for those who have not had the time to watch Solomon's Gold series and a five minute or so video cannot replace that entire 50 video in-depth series nor prove the way that it does. But this will still be very effective nonetheless. So go there for full evidence but now our series 100 Clues the Philippines is Ophir...one clue at a time."

https://youtu.be/7vDhLkHrrLc

These 100 videos, only 50 as of this writing, are distillations of the much longer series Solomon's Gold.  While these videos are not a substitute for that in-depth series they serve as an effective means of getting the main message, that the Philippines is the land of Ophir, across to an audience who does not have time to watch the longer series. It's the Cliff Notes version if you will.

If you want to watch this series here is the playlist which is thankfully not a total mess like the Solomon's Gold series playlist. Tim should clean up his Youtube channel and only have the relevant videos in each playlist. The Solomon's Gold playlist has videos which do not belong in it.

On with the clues which I hope to sum up in a sentence or two. 

Clue #1

The Philippines is the number one land of gold in all of history. There is a lot of gold which has been mined over thousands of years and much more remains to be mined. This video was published on August 15, 2019 which means Tim was not aware of the approval of golden rice!  That's right golden rice! 

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2228793-gm-golden-rice-gets-landmark-safety-approval-in-the-philippines/

The Philippines has become the first country with a serious vitamin A deficiency problem to approve golden rice – which is genetically modified to prevent the deficiency – as safe for humans and animals to eat. According to a government report, it is as safe as conventional rice varieties. 

“This is a victory for science, agriculture and all Filipinos,” member of congress Sharon Garin said in a statement. 

Golden rice has been altered produce the orange pigment beta-carotene, which the body can turn into vitamin A. Because rice is a major part of the diet in the Philippines, if children eat golden rice instead of normal rice, it should substantially reduce vitamin A deficiency.

Wow!! Truly the Philippines is the land of gold and rice and now golden rice!

Clue #2

The Philippines is the ancient source of Greek gold. The Greeks mention an island of gold known as Chryse and an island of silver known as Argyre. These islands are located east of the Ganges River. That means....the Philippines! Tim identifies Chryse as Luzon and Argyre as Mindanao. Who knew the Greeks circumnavigated Africa on a regular basis just to visit the Philippines!? Tim gets his information from a book titled "Early Mapping of Southeast Asia" by Thomas Suarez. 

Mr. Suarez is an expert in interpreting early cartography. He knows all there is to know about maps and geography from ancient times.

Thomas Suarez is a well-known authority on early maps whose previous books include Early Mapping of Southeast Asia (Periplus, 2000), which has become a standard work in the field. He has served as curator and advisor for collections and exhibitions dealing with the history of cartography, and has been an important source for early maps for the past twenty-five years.

About the Author

The book Tim quotes "has become a standard work in the field." That means what it says has authority.  Let us quote at length from the section of Suarez's book to which Timothy jay Schwab refers.

Chryse and Argyre 

Gold and silver, in fact, characterize the earliest extant specific Western Reference to Southeast Asia. Pomponius Mela (37 - 43 A.D.), a Roman geographer and native os Southern Spain, largely carried on the Greek tradition about the East, perpetuating stories about Amazons, people without heads, griffins, and other such characters, but adds two lands which lay to the east of India. One was Chryse, said to boast soil of gold, the other, Argyre, said to have soil of silver: 

In the vicinity of Tamus is the island of Chryse, in the vicinity of the Ganges that of Argyre, According to olden writers, the soil of the former consists of gold, that of the latter is of silver and it seems very probable that either the name arises from this fact or the legend derives from the name.

Mela was quoting earlier, unknown sources and he goes on to vaguely mention the possibility of a Southeast Asian peninsula: 

Between Colis [southeastern tip of Asia] and Tamus [China?] the coast runs straight. It is inhabited by retiring peoples who garner rich harvests from the sea. 

Pliny also alludes to a Southeast Asian peninsula. Noting that the Seres [Chinese] wait for trade to come to them, he lists three rivers of China, which are followed by “the promontory of Chryse” and then a bay. Elsewhere in his Natural history, however, Pliny refers to Chryse as an island. This discrepancy probably results from his having compiled news of the “land of gold” from contact via land (peninsula) and sea (island). It was more often mapped as an island in medieval mappaemundi. 

Chryse most likely represented Malaya, while Argyre was probably Burma, perhaps Arakan. Both are seen as islands in the world map after Mela, Chryse being the island off to the east Asian coast, and Argyre the island at the Ganges delta next to Taprobana. On the twelfth-century “Turin” world map they appear as a single island in the easternmost ocean sea, the right-hand isle of the two immediately above Adam and Eve (the left-hand isle is simply designated isult and this may have been for either Chryse or Argyre). 

Mention of Chryse is also made in the Periplus of the Erythean Sea, which describes Chryse as “the last part of the inhabited world toward the east, under the rising sun itself,”a land from which comes “the best tortoise-shell of all the places on the Erythean Sea.” The work’s anonymous author then described the land of This (China)  and Thinae, from which raw silk, silk yarn, and silk cloth, acquired through silent barter, were brought overland to India. Isidorus Hispalensis (Isidore of Seville, ca. 560-636 A.D.), in his Etymologiae, one of the most popular cosmographies of the Middle Ages, also placed the lands of Chryse and Argyre in the southeastern extreme of the world, along with the Taprobana and Tyle (Tile, an island near India.) 

Interestingly, Chryse and Argyre are reminiscent of some aspects of Buddhist cosmology where the waters that pour forth from Sumeru flow into four canals separated by four mountains, of which one is gold, another silver, and the other two, precious stones and crystal. The image of four canals separating four landmasses, can also be compared with a view of the Arctic region found in a medieval European text and used in later world maps by Renaissance cartographers Ruysch, Fine, and Mercator.

The search for gold also promoted intra-Asian maritime trade in the Indian Ocean during the first century A.D. As a result of the disruption by internal disorders of the traditional route through the steps of Central Asia to Siberian gold reserves, new sources for the metal, a medium of exchange between various Asian peoples, were sought. Rome decreased the gold content of its coins and introduces measures to halt their exportation. At the same time, new ocean-going vessels and navigational techniques made it more feasible for Indian merchants to pursue the “Islands of Gold” to their east.

The association of Southeast Asia with gold was so strong that Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews (second half of the first century), wrote that Ophir, the land fro which King Solomon had fetched gold, is now known as Aurea Chersoneus (Golden Peninsula, i.e. Malaya.) Josephus thus began the recurring idea that the Ophir of the Bible was in Southeast Asia, a belief that can be found in earnest through the latter nineteenth century. Various places were believed to have been the site of Ophir, from Malaya to Indochina, Sumatra, and the Pacific Ocean.

Early Mapping of Southeast Asia: The Epic Story of Seafarers, Adventurers, and Cartographers Who First Mapped the Regions between China and India, Thomas Suarez, Pg 62-63

Mr. Schwab is fond of quoting Wikipedia. He even says in this video at 15:16:

"Greek history confirms exactly what Wikipedia had confirmed and so does Josephus. They don't speculate as to a possible location of Chryse/Ophir but they give exact directions and they map it. That map did not lead to Ethiopia did it? Nor Yemen, nor India. It leads to the Philippines." 

Actually Wikipedia says the opposite of what Timothy Jay Schwab is spouting and identifies the Aurea Chersoneus as the Malay peninsula.

The Golden Chersonese or Golden Khersonese (Ancient Greek: Χρυσῆ Χερσόνησος, Chrysḗ Chersónēsos; Latin: Chersonesus Aurea), meaning the Golden Peninsula, was the name used for the Malay Peninsula by Greek and Roman geographers in classical antiquity, most famously in Claudius Ptolemy's 2nd-century Geography.

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

The Wikipedia entry on Chryse and Argyre says nothing about the Philippines and relegates these two islands to legend.

Chryse and Argyre were a pair of legendary islands, located in the Indian Ocean and said to be made of gold (chrysos in Greek) and silver (argyros).

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

What you have here is a classic case of confirmation bias. Rather than taking the source he quotes by Mr. Suarez in full and at face value, Tim picks and chooses what he will and then interprets that data in a manner that is totally opposite to the way it is presented in the book he references. At no time does Mr. Suarez hint that the islands of Chryse and Argyre could be the Philippines. Wikipedia also disagrees with Tim's conclusions as to the identity of the Aurea Chersonesus. Tim has messed up majorly by being dishonest with his sources. Cleary Tim has an agenda and the facts be damned! All the scholars are wrong and Tim, a man who studied business, marketing, and media and not languages or history, is right. The only real interesting thing in this video is that Tim tells us ancient Greek armor was found in Mindanao in 2018 but that deserves its own blog post. Let us press on.

Clue #3

Philippine gold has been found in first century Egypt. How did it get there? The Philippines ruled the seas and brought their gold all over the world in their junks and other large ships. The Philippines is the ancient land of gold exporters.  Allow me to point out that while he does list his sources they are all on the bottom of the screen in VERY TINY PRINT! He also does not show you the pages he is quoting from. That is bad form especially as many of these sources are not easily available. I wonder if he has actually read these sources or is quoting them secondhand. Let's find out.

This slide is the only time Philippine gold found in Egypt is mentioned. Tim neither shows us pictures of the gold nor tells us where the gold was found or anything else about the gold. In fact this video is about the ancient Philippine flotilla and not Philippine gold being found in first century Egypt. It's the ol' bait and switch! His sources are as follows:

1. Laszlo Legeza, "Tantric Elements in pre-Hispanic Philippines Gold Art," Arts of Asia, July-Aug, 1988, pp 129-136 

2. J.T. Peralta, "Prehistoric gold ornaments from the Central Bank of the Philippines," Arts of Asia 1981, no.4, p 54 

3. Ramon N. Villegas, "Ginto: History Wrought in Gold", Manila: Bangko Central ng Pilipinas", 2004

Tim tells his listeners to prove and test all things.

"This is from three very credible sources. You'll note the sources on every slide all the way through this series making it easier for you to confirm. So go ahead prove all things, confirm everything we say. We hope that you will."

How is one supposed to do that when these sources are unavailable to check so easily? Let's take the first source.  It's only available on backorder from Arts of Asia. For $15 they will airmail you a photocopy of the article.

https://www.artsofasianet.com/back_issues/back_issue.php?issue_code=1988_jul_aug

If you search the internet for this source you will come across many instances of this exact citation: 

"Legeza, Laszlo. "Tantric Elements in pre-Hispanic Philippines Gold Art," Arts of Asia, July-Aug. 1988, pp.129-136. (Mentions gold jewelry of Philippine origin in first century CE Egypt)" 

For example the book "Quests of the Dragon Clan and Bird Clan" has this citation. No publication with this citation actually quotes the relevant material but only asserts that this article mentions Philippine gold has been found in Egypt. Tim removes the part in parentheses but appeals to the article as being credible without telling us anything about what the article actually says about Philippine gold being found in Egypt.

Now let's look at the second source.  

J.T. Peralta, "Prehistoric gold ornaments from the Central Bank of the Philippines," Arts of Asia 1981, no. 4, p. 54 

A Google search will pull up many hits for that EXACT citation. Quests of the Dragon Clan and Bird Clan cites it. But every one of those citations is WRONG! This article does in fact exist but not in Arts of Asia 1981, no. 4, p. 54 but rather in Arts of Asia 1983, no. 4 p. 51! This article can also be ordered for $15.

https://www.artsofasianet.com/back_issues/back_issue.php?issue_code=1983_jul_aug

The fact that Timothy Jay Schwab  did not properly cite Peralta is a huge clue that he did not read the three sources he quotes. He doesn't even show us the sources themselves. That is because he is quoting them secondhand from people who are simply copy-pasting what everyone else has posted without checking the sources to read what they say. In fact these three sources in this same order are quoted on other pages discussing the Philippines as Ophir such as the following:

http://ancientphilippines.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-lost-tribe-of-israel-is-found.html 

https://mythworld.fandom.com/wiki/Chryse 

https://sightedmoon.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/The-Philippines-is-the-ancient-Ophir.pdf 

http://moments-salamera.blogspot.com/2013/02/philippines-old-name-is-it-ophir.html

Even Wikipedia has been bamboozled into accepting them, along with the erroneous citation of Peralta, as legitimate!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chryse_(placename)

Is it merely a coincidence that Tim and these other pages quote these same three sources in the same order including the erroneous citation of Peralta? A more likely explanation is that all these writers are copy-pasting from each other and ultimately have their origin in one corrupt source.

Tim tells us to confirm everything he says and I have just confirmed to you in Clues #2 and #3 that Timothy Jay Schwab is a liar who misrepresents his sources and sometimes does not even read them! He can prove me wrong by showing the relevant pages from each of the three sources he has cited about Philippine gold being found in first century Egypt.

Clue #4

The Boxer Codex. It is in the University of Indiana and is essentially buried because SOMEONE does not want us to know this history! The Philippines is the ancient land of gold and this fact began to "truly get suppressed on a massive scale" in 1891. The Boxer Codex shows Pinoys decked out in bling! Tim also quotes Guido de Lavezaris as saying:

"There are so many of these chiefs [decked out in gold] that they are innumerable."

Tim comments on this by saying:

"There are so many of these chiefs that they are innumerable!!  They cannot be numbered! Really? That's many thousands! So what is he describing here? The ancient form of government of the Philippines was the barangay system of many thousands of leaders which sound an awful lot like the very same system instituted by Moses in the Bible." 

Who knew that Moses set up the Philippine form of tribal government back at Mt. Sinai! Wow! But did Tim also realize that the manna which fell from heaven was white and rice, the staple of the Filipino diet, is also white? Coincidence!?

Clue #5

More of the Boxer Codex.  Pinoys wearing heavy gold chains.

Clue #6

The land of Ophir is critical to end time prophecy! King Solomon and Ophir are really real. This block with Hebrew writing proves it! 

To his critics Timothy Jay Schwab says:

"For those of you who say "Why don't you focus on salvation!?" Well there's an entire Bible out there and we aim to know it especially early Genesis. That is our calling and that is what we will focus on and that is what the Holy Spirit has had us do. Don't tell us otherwise." 

The fact that Tim does not prioritize salvation but compartmentalizes it to a side issue makes me wonder if he is a heretic. And I mean a real actual heretic who denies certain doctrines about Jesus Christ and not just that we don't agree on some points. Just what does he believe and teach about Jesus Christ? Tim says "the bible teaches relationship not religion" which is a hallmark of modern day emergent church gobbledygook. Fact is it teaches both.

That he separates history and salvation is very troubling. All the lost tribes talk I have ever listened to has focused on God directing history in order to preserve and save His people. Though they may be lost to history they are not lost to Him. Even in the Old Testament the history of Israel is part of the drama of salvation. That is the point of all the festivals like Passover and Tabernacles. For Tim to separate history and salvation makes his message meaningless. What is the point of the Philippines being Ophir or Filipinos being members of the lost tribes apart from their salvation? There is none! It becomes merely a neat historical fact and nothing more.

This blog post is already very long so I will stop here. There really is no reason to continue anyway.  Timothy misrepresents his sources, has not read some of them, and he does not have any theological grounding for his assertions about history. He misuses the Bible and other texts to confirm what he already believes about the Philippines. While many Lost Tribes proponents will talk about God's sovereignty and how history is controlled by Him we are six videos into this series and Tim has not mentioned God or His plan of salvation for His people once and in fact discounts any such talk saying the Holy Spirit has not called him to do so! Maybe Tim does not realize that the Bible, while replete with history, is not a history book but a religious text which deals primarily with the salvation of man and the Holy Spirit testifies of Jesus not the location of the land of Ophir.

Sadly enough two filmmakers have been duped by this shoddy "research" to the point that Tim and his wife have both signed a deal with them to work on a film about the Philippines being the land of Ophir.

https://www.facebook.com/ophirthelosttribe/posts/breaking-newsthree-years-ago-two-dedicated-researchers-timothy-schwab-and-his-wi/1138587833015269/

Three years ago, two dedicated researchers, Timothy Schwab and his wife, Anna Rose Zamoranos, released a very successful series entitled "The God Culture". This series currently appears on YouTube with over approximately 40 videos of content regarding the accurate locations of Ophir, Sheba, Tarshish, the Garden of Eden, Rivers from Eden, Land of Creation, and the Lost Tribes of Israel - which The God Culture traces to the Philippines.  

On June 12, 2019 (Independence Day), they signed a deal to work with the Ophir and The Lost Tribe Movie creators, Virgilio Abes Bote and award-winning Director Will Harper to give accurate accounts stated in the Bible about Ophir.  

We are excited and honored to have them on our team in making the Philippines and its people proud. The movie will be released internationally, stay tuned!!!!!!

Dedicated researchers!? What a joke! Neither Tim nor his wife even picked up on the fact that they have erroneously cited Peralta! That is some real lazy research!

Since there are 100 Clues maybe I will pick this back up in the future. But for now I think this is enough to show how ridiculous The God Culture and Timothy Jay Schwab are. I can just hear Tim now excoriating me for watching only 6 videos in the 100 Clues series rather then the whole Solomon's Gold series and saying I am uninformed, a hack, and a fraud. Such would be pure deflection on Tim's part as I have already demonstrated his research is incredibly biased, faulty, and downright dishonest. If he cannot deal honestly with his sources here he won't be dealing honestly with them there either.

The God Culture: Ask The God Culture: Which Language is the Original Philippine Dialect?

Welcome back to Ask The God Culture, the place where Timothy Jay Schwab will answer any question you may have. Our first question this week comes from Lisa Galindez. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIWsgUPuwUQ&lc=Ugzlz_Q2dxZrdn7UIO54AaABAg

Lisa Galindez: What language was the original Phillipine dialect, without all the other language mixed in. They are LEVI. our Priests and Priestesses.

The God Culture: Baybayin which has similarities to Ancient Hebrew. Yah Bless.

Lisa wants to know what the original Philippine dialect was before it was mixed with any other languages. Tim responds by saying it is Baybayin.

That is an incredibly wrong answer. Baybayin is not a  dialect. It is a script used to write the words of a dialect. Baybayin was used primarily by speakers of Tagalog but is found elsewhere within the Philippines. 

Baybayin  is a Philippine script. The script is an alphasyllabary belonging to the family of the Brahmic scripts. It was widely used in Luzon and other parts of the Philippines prior to and during the 16th and 17th centuries before being replaced by the Latin alphabet during the period of Spanish colonization. It was used in Tagalog and to a lesser extent Kapampangan speaking areas; its use spread to Ilokanos in the early 17th century. In the 19th and 20th centuries, baybayin survived and evolved into multiple forms—the Tagbanwa script of Palawan, and the Hanuno'o and Buhid scripts of Mindoro—and was used to create the constructed modern Kulitan script of the Kapampangan and the Ibalnan script of the Palawan tribe.

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

Much the same way as the Latin script can be used to write Latin, Spanish, French, and English so Baybayin can be used to write Tagalog, Illocano, and Visayan.

This script also bears no relation to Hebrew. It originates from a completely different family of scripts known as Brahmic Scripts. 

Brahmi is a writing system of ancient South Asia that appeared as a fully developed script in the third century BCE. Its descendants, the Brahmic scripts, continue to be used today across South and Southeast Asia.

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

The real answer to Lisa's question is that there is no original Philippine dialect. That is because the Philippines is an archipelago composed of 7,000 islands and 134 ethnic groups. By some counts there are between 120 to 187 native languages spoken in the Philippines. 

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

The Philippines had contact with India, Indonesia, China, as well as the Lequois who hail from what are now known as the Ryukyu Islands. Thus there are many loan words in all Philippine dialects, especially Tagalog. It is the same for all languages.

Our second question comes from Ric Jamlig.

Answers in First Enoch Part 9: Enoch's Journey to the Garden of Eden in the Philippines 

Ric Jamlig: Flat earth? So how is it that it's morning here in manila with the Sun shining and there America is night?

Timothy Jay Schwab answers:

Oh, I'm sorry Ric. Timothy Jay Schwab deleted your question. Remember as Tim always says,

Don't try to comment in ignorance or you'll be muted.  Our channel, our rules.

Ric, it appears you have commented in ignorance and have been muted. Better luck in the future. 

That's all for this time on Ask The God Culture. See you next time!

The God Culture: 2nd Esdras: The Hidden Book of Prophecy Book Review Part 2

Having examined Timothy Jay Schwab's "Torah Test" for 1st and 2nd Esdras and finding it weighed in the balance and wanting let us now pour over the marginal notes he has added to the text. Like his edition of Jubilees Tim has has annotated the text in an attempt to clarify its meaning and give his unique interpretation. The result is a mishmash of historical errors and heresy.

Take note that Tim declares in the book's description on both Shopee and Amazon:

We are not scholars and this is an educated layman's view of 1st and 2nd Esdras which many will find more valuable than most scholarly approaches. This work will teach and draw conclusions. 

https://shopee.ph/2nd-Esdras-The-Hidden-Book-of-Prophecy-i.345342921.11520349945?position=5

Before diving into the text itself it is necessary to point out that Tim has altered it just as he did the text of Jubilees. Except this time instead of simply inserting his alleged Hebrew name for God, Yahuah, Tim has also taken every proper name that begins with a "J" and replaced it with "Y." Here is an example.

1 Esdras 5:5 The Priests the sons of Phinehas, the son of Aaron: Yahusha the son of Yozadak, the son of Seraiah, and Yoakim the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel of the house of David, out of the kindred of Phares, of the tribe of Yahudah;

Replacing God with Yahuah here is even more egregious than in Jubilees becasue there are no Hebrew texts available for these works which he can compare. His replacement is disingenuous and can in nowise be called accurate. It reflects his biases about  the usage of the divine name, biases for which the Dead Sea Scroll Community would have him excommunicated. His replacing of Y for J in every instance of a proper name reeks of Hebrew Roots, a movement to which Tim is no stranger. It comes off as pretentious. If he wants to speak Hebrew then he should stop speaking English and not mix the two. Stop pretending already. Likewise, if he wants to translate the document a particular way he should do that rather than amend an already existing translation. He is standing on the shoulders of men whom he despises.

Timothy has also retained the marginal notes from the original King James translation. That means for the verse cited above, 1 Esdras 5:5, we learn that the text is corrupt.

Yoachim and Zorobabel. This place is corrupt: For Yoachim was the son of Yosedech, Neh.12:10 and not Zorobabel, who was of the tribe of Yahudah. 

Here Tim tacitly admits that the book of 1st Esdras contains corruptions in the text. So why continue to use it? How is a corrupt text inspired scripture?

One note Tim has sprinkled throughout the text is "Messiah quoted 2 Esdras." This is actually not true. The most disingenuous instance of this lie is found at 2nd Esdras 1:30:

Cf. Mt.23:37- 38. Messiah quoted 2 Esdras. Note: This is the 1611 Original Authorized KJV Footnote both in 2 Esd. and M 

This is a lie. The footnotes at 2nd Esdras 1:30 and Matt. 23:37 in the original 1611 KJV are as follows:

https://archive.org/details/1611TheAuthorizedKingJamesBible/page/n1023/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/1611TheAuthorizedKingJamesBible/page/n1247/mode/2up

Neither at this verse nor the corresponding verse in Matthew do the translators indicate that Jesus Christ cited from 2nd Esdras. It is merely a referent because both verses are similar. In fact, there are three verses referenced at Matthew 23:37. Interestingly Luke 13:34, which is similar to Matthew 23:37 and 2nd Esdras 1:30, does not have a reference to Esdras.

https://archive.org/details/1611TheAuthorizedKingJamesBible/page/n1301/mode/2up

Why is this? Was Jesus quoting 2nd Esdras in Matthew but not in Luke? Tim does not discuss or acknowledge this anomaly. Luke 13:34 does not even show up in the book! This just goes to show that Tim's research is not exhaustive. He misses so many things.

We know that Jesus never cited 2nd Esdras or Jubilees or any other apocryphal book because Jesus always begins his scripture citations with, "It is written" or, "you have heard it is said." When Jesus is quoting scripture he lets his hearers know. This is important because He came to fulfill the scriptures and when he cites scriptures he is letting us know that he is fulfilling them. At no point do His alleged citations of 2nd Esdras follow that pattern.

At 2nd Esdras 7:28 there is an alleged prophecy of Jesus' birth and resurrection. Tim's note reads:

Messianic Prophecy: The only exact prophecy of Messiah’s birth by His name Yahusha and around 0 BC. Messianic Prophecy: Yahusha’s death predicted. 

If this book was written by Ezra around 400 B.C. and not after the destruction of the temple then why is this prophecy never brought up in the Gospels? Tim does not say. He has no answer. He does not bring it up in his introduction or Torah Test except to assume its genuineness without actually proving it. There are many prophecies of the birth and origin of the Messiah brought up in the Gospels but this one from 2nd Esdras is missing. It is not mentioned in Matthew 2:4 when Herod inquired about where the Christ would be born. Instead of looking for a child with a specific name as given in 2nd Esdras, Herod slaughters all the children under the age of two. This is an indication of its late date and Christian interpolation. This interpolation is also what explains 2nd Esdras 1:30 and the other passages similar to the Gospels.

This passage is also never used in any apologetic work from the early church or indeed any period of the church. Its absence is another testimony to its spuriousness and inauthenticity.

Three of Timothy's notes on the text are blatantly heretical and blasphemous.

2nd Esdras 3:2 

Yahuah and Yahusha created. Though we leave this insertion, it was not clear to the translators and this cannot overturn precedence. There were 2 Creators as Genesis refers to them as “Us” and “Our” and John 1 is clear Messiah  created too. Elohim is plural. Elohim made not  just El. 

This note is a denial of the divinity of the Holy Spirt, His role in creation, and the Trinity. It is also polytheistic as Tim says here "there were 2 Creators." There was only one creator who is God. But God is triune and all His works are done from the Father, through the Son, and in the Spirit. That is the doctrine of the Trinity in a nutshell, i.e. three divine persons sharing one divine nature and working in concert. That Tim says there are 2 Creators shows he simply has no idea who Jesus and the Father are or what their proper relationship is.

2nd Esdras 7:1 

Elohim is a classification of heavenly being not exclusive to Yahuah and is plural. 

The blasphemous idea that God is one of a class of heavenly beings comes from Dr. Micheal Heiser who teaches: 

The God of the Old Testament was part of an assembly - a pantheon - of other gods. 

The Unseen Realm, pg. 11

The fact is God is neither a member of a class of beings or part of a pantheon of other gods. He is the creator of all being and stands outside all being because all things live and move and have their being in Him. This doctrine equates God with His creatures and embraces polytheism. It is absolutely heretical.

2nd Esdras 15:23 

In all of scripture Hell is an immediate burning with eternal fire. Esdras clarifies this is and  [sic] immediate burning and their spirits are gone forever. Straw burns quickly and disappears 

This is the heretical doctrine of annihilationism. That means Tim denies there is an eternal punishment for sinners in a lake of fire as the Bible teaches. Instead their spirits burn up and "are gone forever." Tim further elaborates on this in the comments section of his videos by saying that hell is an event and not an eternal torture.

I AM vs. YHWH. His Name in the End Times. The Name of God Series 10

Hell is an event not an eternal torture. Agreed. We have not entered the Flat Earth debate. Yah Bless.

It is not true that Timothy Jay Schwab and The God Culture "have not entered the Flat Earth Debate." They say much about it espousing the view that a flat earth is the correct biblical perspective.

2nd Esdras 6:1 Or, circle of the earth. Note: A circle is 2- dimensional. The ancient perspective was not that of a sphere. 

I have written elsewhere at length about Timothy's flat earth teachings. 

In 2nd Esdras 11 Tim interprets the final world empire which will rule the world as being the Holy Roman Empire.

pg. 131

It would be too much to discuss point-by-point Tim's interpretation of this prophecy but I do want to focus on what he has to say about the Holy Roman Empire. It appears that Timothy Jay Schwab has no idea what the Holy Roman Empire is. In his introduction he says that Constantine is the origin, founder essentially, of the Holy Roman Empire.

“They established such pattern from the beginning when Constantine essentially declared Turkey as the seat of the new Roman Empire. He is the origin of the Holy Roman Empire (Final Empire) as he established the control religion that remains the largest in the world to this day.” 

P. 54

Whether origin or founder Constantine had nothing at all to do with the Holy Roman Empire which was founded in 800 A.D. by Charlemagne. It appears that Tim thinks the Vatican is the Holy Roman Empire. Tim's diagram says the Vatican remains to the end and in his videos he has talked about Constantine founding the Catholic Church. In one video he claims Constantine founded the Roman Empire.

1:15:07 ...Constantine the Great, you know the guy that founded the Roman Empire.

Gog of Magog Attacks 2: FRESH REVELATION: Lost Tribes Series 5B: Who is Gog?

This is a statement that beggars belief in its astounding depth of ignorance. It also does not appear to be misspoken.

In another video he says the Catholic Church founded the Holy Roman Empire.

1:02:36 Yes, the Catholic Church founded the Holy Roman Empire. That's a pretty serious thing for a church to claim in history. For a Pope to really be the power behind an entire empire which killed, stole, and destroyed from many. 

Gog of Magog Attacks: FRESH REVELATION: Lost Tribes Series 5: Who is Gog?

In that same video he claims that Josephus founded the Catholic Church which logically would mean that Josephus is the founder and origin of the Holy Roman Empire and not Constantine.

47:38 So, yes Josephus founded that, what became the Catholic Church. 

Gog of Magog Attacks: FRESH REVELATION: Lost Tribes Series 5: Who is Gog?

Whatever the case Tim is wrong on all three points. Constantine did not found the Roman Empire or the Holy Roman Empire, the Catholic Church did not found the Holy Roman Empire, and Josephus did not found the Catholic Church.  

Tim appears to have a simplistic view of the complexeties of the Middle Ages and the roles of church and state. I would wager that he has never heard of the Investiture Controversy. To think the Pope has any considerable political power today is laughable. The powers that control world finance, the media, politics, science, education, and all the rest are part of a many armed creature. There is no single group controlling it all. There are many groups and they all collude with one another. Tim hits on this idea by noting that communism was financed by the West. That is very true yet most people are unaware of this fact. 

Now let's look at Tim's progression of world empires. Funny enough he ignores the Ottoman and Mongol empires and places emphasis on the West. It appears that the Holy Roman Empire was first. The British Empire came second. Next comes the USA which will eventually be "devoured by the Vatican" so that only the Holy Roman Empire will remain standing. But what happened to the British Empire? The USA took over her duties.

2nd Esdras 11:34 Britain essentially transferred its empire into the "New Atlantis" of the U.S.

There is a lot packed into that note many might not understand. Francis Bacon wrote a book about a utopian society called The New Atlantis. Occultists such as Manly P. Hall have referred to the USA as The New Atlantis. As the sun was setting on the British Empire the Milner Group, particularly Lionel Curtis, advocated that the U.S. must rejoin the British Commonwealth and that the Commonwealth must evolve into a World Government. That is all true and well documented in Caroll Quigley's Anglo-American Establishment as well as Tragedy and Hope. Likewise, The Pilgrim's Society sought to strengthen ties between the USA and the United Kingdom in the name of clandestine global hegemony. But I am not quite sure that is what Tim means because in his book "The Search for King Solomon's Treasure" he writes:

However, even in the Treaty of Paris of 1783, the United States is defined as part of the Holy Roman Empire to which the King of England remained Prince Elector and the Americans signed it too confirming such but under their British titles still servants of the crown. One cannot separate the two powers regardless of what narratives we have accepted.

The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, pg 212

I will not waste time breaking down all the errors in this passage. Suffice to say the USA was never part of the Holy Roman Empire nor did Americans remain "servants of the crown." What is important to note here is that Tim thinks the USA was never independent but that it was all for show. According to him the USA has been part of the Holy Roman Empire ever since 1783. Since Tim believes the Holy Roman Empire is the Vatican that makes the following note nonsensical.

2nd Esdras 11:35. The U.S. will be devoured by the Vatican

If the USA was declared part of the Holy Roman Empire in the Treaty of Paris in 1783 then this has already happened. Tim's prophetic chronology is thus not in sync and this is because of the historical errors he makes especially in his misidentification of the Holy Roman Empire.

Vatican II has steadily eroded the power and legitimacy of the Catholic Church for the past 50 years now. It is an ecumenical and immoral mess at the moment with an outright heretic, Pope Francis, currently leading her. Aside from that the current destruction and dismantling the USA is undergoing is the same as that of Western Europe and it has nothing to do with the Vatican and everything to do with Jews in academia and the government who have created the current cultural climate over decades using the media which they control. See The Culture of Critique by Kevin MacDonald for more information on that point.

The major reason Timothy Jay Schwab teaches 2nd Esdras is scripture is because he thinks it proves his pre-flood cosmology and the route of the Lost Tribes to the Philippines. 

Throughout the text, we expound on the antediluvian cosmology including the Rivers from Eden, chart the vision of the Eagle Empire with our interpretation, and most especially, we provide a foundation in creating maps using 2nd Esdras along with other scripture and history to locate the Lost Tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. If this book was written between 70 A.D. and 218 A.D. as some scholars assert, it still remains an incredibly valuable tool in these respects though we will prove that date wrong. This restored knowledge is full of revelation – too full to ignore and too accurate to minimize.

pg. 12

Let's briefly take a look at that cosmology and the route of the Lost Tribes.

On page 103 Tim has this picture:

p. 103

"The World Ocean was formed by the flood" is such a nonsensical statement that does not explain the diversity of fresh and salt water marine life on the planet. Also if the Rivers from Eden are now ocean trenches then identifying them in the Bible as if the people were familiar with them would be unintelligible. I have written about this at length in another article where I disprove Tim's claim that Daniel was ever in Susa.  

From pages 139-145 Tim has maps to show the alleged migratory routes of the Lost Tribes. There is absolutely nothing new here as he has mapped all this out in his videos and in his previous book "The Search of King Solomon's Treasure." If he thinks Israelites devolved into Negroes, Kurds, and Filipinos that is all fine and dandy. Many people have attempted to track the Lost Tribes but no one has ever found them. Tim thinks that there are residual traces of ancient Hebrew in Philippine place names which proves that there are Lost Tribes here but I have quashed that supposition in another article.

It's really the same old misinterpretations going on with Ferrisol, Pomponius Mela, Dinoysius the Tourist, and the Periplus of the Erythean Sea being touted and twisted to prove Tim's case. As I have proved elsewhere by actually citing him, something Timothy does not do, Abraham Farrisol does not locate the Lost Tribes anywhere near the Philippines. However in this book Tim gives us something new by labeling the Behaim Map of 1492.

pg. 143

In his sourcebook Tim did label a few of the scattered islands on this map as various Philippine Islands but he did not label the two peninsulas as he does here. These peninsulas are both mislabeled. Burma is actually the "aurea chersonese" or Golden Peninsula which is the Malay Peninsula. What Tim has labeled the Malay Peninsula is known as the Dragon's Tail.

The Dragon's Tail is a modern name for the phantom peninsula in southeast Asia which appeared in medieval Arabian and Renaissance European world maps. It formed the eastern shore of the Great Gulf (Gulf of Thailand) east of the Golden Chersonese (Malaysia), replacing the "unknown lands" which Ptolemy and others had thought surrounded the "Indian Sea".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon%27s_Tail_(peninsula) 

If Tim had actually put in the research he claims he has then he would not have made this colossal boner. Thomas Suarez discusses the Dragon's Tail at length in the eighth chapter of "Early Mapping of Southeast Asia" which is a book Tim has cited in his research. Has he even read that book or just cherry picked a few paragraphs to support his claims? I have pointed this out to him several times in my articles so he cannot be ignorant about the Dragon's Tail. He likely just ignored this fact. If so, that is not merely bad scholarship but total dishonesty. 

Timothy Jay Schwab's research is not reliable at all. This close look at his new book over two articles has revealed error after error. No wonder Tim admits, "We are not scholars." However, there is nothing educated about this layman's view of 1st and 2nd Esdras. The fact is Timothy Jay Schwab is not a trained historian or geographer or linguist or an expert in any field concerning the Bible or ancient history. He is first and foremost an adman with his college degree being in marketing. Tim is basically Don Draper and only a fool would seriously receive a theological education from Don Draper.

To end this review I want to take a look at Tim's new website to promote this book. Just like all his other websites he has my blog name concealed beneath a picture of him and his second wife.

https://www.2esdras.org/about

Why is this? Does he really think that people search for my blog by name or that it will redirect traffic to him? The fact is Tim is very paranoid about me and my blog. He is so paranoid that he is even rude to commenters on his videos because he thinks anyone contrarian must be me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8MyNjBZld4&lc=UgwEQ0EtFCPMJiUUFe14AaABAg

We take such hits every hour and usually just delete them because we know it's the same blogger and his associates. We did not delete you. Your opinion is welcomed but if ever we have a sense one is that blogger, we do not allow him to pollute our stream. He has connections inside YT and FB and they censor our regular subs not even notifying them nor posting their comments at times yet they always allow those trolls in. You may raise questions just don't get offended if we sense you are one of those trolls because we don't roll over for them. Yah Bless.

What associates is he talking about? The man really thinks I make sock puppet accounts to comment on his videos and that I have connections inside Facebook and Youtube. That is ludicrous. What else is ludicrous is how Tim goes on and on about Youtube censoring him for not notifying his subscribers. Many people have this problem. Here is a Youtube video on how to fix it. It has nothing to do with censorship.

Though I have not received any papers yet I am aware that Tim has filed a case against me for libel and is hoping to see me in jail soon.

The Hanukkah HOAX? Is This Biblical? Time to test.

NOTE: Some have actually come in claiming March is not Winter. This is likely an illiterate blogger who just can't read and understands very little of anything yet still writes illiterate and illegal trash which is all he appears capable. He will likely be in jail soon anyway as he is a criminal.

Imagine an American calling someone a criminal because of their opinions! He says that in order to dismiss rather than engage with me. When advertising his books Tim claims that in four years no one has made a single dent in his case. That is not true as for the past year and a half I have systematically broken down his videos and books, revealing Tim to be a man who misinterprets, twists, and ignores information. In short I have definitively and repeatedly proven Timothy Jay Schwab to be a heretic and a liar. He does not like that so in order to silence me he has threatened me with a lawsuit and jail time. If Tim ever does see me in court he will quickly realize the mistake he has made as I am nothing like the phantom over whom he obsesses.