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.
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!
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| 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.
About the AuthorThe 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:
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:
Now let's look at the second source.
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:
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:
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.
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.
"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_ChersoneseThe 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_ArgyreWhat 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", 2004Tim 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.htmlEven Wikipedia has been bamboozled into accepting them, along with the erroneous citation of Peralta, as legitimate!
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| 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.
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.
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| 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.
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