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 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 that 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.

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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.