The God Culture: Does Timothy Jay Schwab Have A Missionary Visa?

I did not want to write about the God Culture again so soon but here I am writing about the God Culture again so soon. The impetus is a comment Anna Rose Lipshy or Timothy Schwab or Justin Hester or whoever left on the last entry about Philippine gold jewelry allegedly being found in first century Egypt.

In your attempt to create doubt you further entrench this 1 point you attempt to attack. Foolish. So, not only did the Philippines trade with Egypt 2000 years ago which was our only point on this 1 slide of about 1 minute but so did West Asia/Persia. Wow! That’s even better. This point becomes even stronger in a timeline of concurrent gold trading in the Philippines. The assumptions in these articles that India had to be a mediator between the Philippines and Egypt is illogical and unfounded even by their own admission. That is the exact scholarly false paradigm we have crushed and you are going to have to deal with whether you like it or not. For one to mention the Philippines trading with Egypt and West Asia even recognizing they had the large balangay ships at least (some 80’ long according to Pigafetta and actual archaeology in Butuan some dated as early as 320 AD), is willing ignorance. Professor Adrian Horridge even documents those balangay in operation going to Sri Lanka and India back in 200 BC at least. Wikipedia stakes a claim of Philippines mining gold since 1000 BC and we test that.

http://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-god-culture-philippine-gold-jewelry.html?showComment=1584100051224#c4938809290190470428

Responding to this comment will also give me space to write about another and more important aspect of the God Culture pertaining personally to Timothy Jay Schwab. As Tim says, "We'll get to that."

First of all the commenter says the Philippines traded with Egypt 2,000 years ago as if that is an established fact but that is not what the three sources I looked at claim. While they mention trade contacts between Southeast Asia and Africa they do not say the Philippines traded directly with Egypt or that Filipino balangays sailed to Africa or Egypt. However the content of those sources do not matter to the God Culture because they say the conclusions of those scholars are illogical and unfounded and that they have crushed this "scholarly false paradigm." It's another instance of Tim and the God Culture discarding what a source actually says and substituting their own opinions and inferences despite citing the source as proof of their claims.

Secondly the commenter cites Professor Adrian Horridge as documenting Philippine balangays "going to Sri Lanka and India back in 200 BC at least." This claim is cited in their video "Solomon's Gold Series Part 1D: Testing the RESOURCES of Ancient Ophir, Tarshish, Sheba" beginning at 44:55.

https://youtu.be/gG39WFEYfiU?t=2695

"Now, Professor Adrian Horridge believes that by 200 BC, now we're way back to the same date we gave you for being able to firmly establish that gold was being traded, mined and traded from the Philippines and here you have Austronesian sailors were regularly carrying cloves and cinnamon to India and Sri Lanka. Funny because everybody says Sri Lanka is the origin of cinnamon. Yeah because that's where the Filipinos took their cinnamon.  Does it have a lot still? Yes. Do they grow it there? Yes. No doubt. But does it only come from Sri Lanka? It's another one of those things. No it does not. It may today for instance but it cerintaly did not in ancient times. 

And perhaps even as far as the coast of Africa in sailboats with outriggers he says. I know he must be crazy too except they have built replicas of these ships now and actually this balangay has been sailed all the way around the world. So they most certainly could have taken that journey." 

The source for this quote from Professor Horridge comes from a document titled "The South China Sea Dispute: Philippine Sovereign Rights and Jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea," by Antonio T. Carpio.

Prof. Adrian Horridge believes that by 200 BCE, Austronesian sailors were regularly carrying cloves and cinnamon to India and Sri Lanka, and perhaps even as far as the coast of Africa in sailboats with outriggers.

The South China Sea Dispute: Philippine Sovereign Rights and Jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea," pg.3 

This is another instance of secondhand quoting from Tim instead of using primary sources. If he had followed the footnotes he would have found that Carpio's source for this quote comes from a book titled "The Austronesians: Historical and Comparative Perspectives." A copy of that book can be downloaded here.  On page 146 we read the following:

Although influences from the Indian Ocean were too late to influence the Pacific Austronesians, Sanskrit words and possibly some rigging techniques could have started to spread east of Peninsular Malaysia by 200 BC. Trade routes were also open between Vietnam and eastern Indonesia about 200 BC, as shown by the distribution of the Dong Son bronze drums along the natural sea route dictated by the monsoons in the South China and Java Seas. Recent excavations at Sembiran in Bali have also revealed evidence of drum casting and deposits of South Asian rouletted ware pottery, most likely dated before AD 200 (Ardika and Bellwood 1991). Annual trade between China and India through the Malacca Straits had opened by about 200 BC. Perhaps by that time Austronesian sailors were regularly carrying cloves and cinnamon to India and Sri Lanka, and perhaps even as far as the coast of Africa in boats with outriggers. Certainly they have left numerous traces in canoe design, rigs, outriggers and fishing techniques, and a mention in Greek literature (Christie 1957).

Both Carpio and Tim cite Horridge wrong.  Professor Horridge does not say that Austronesian sailors were regularly sailing to India. What he says is perhaps they were. That word perhaps is very important and Carpio and Tim both omit it. Perhaps is very different than I believe. Professor Horridge is speculating and not stating a fact. Horridge's reference to Christie is also very important because it leads to a discussion of the Periplus which is a central text to Tim's thesis.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/610248?seq=1

The obscure passage in question is the following:

60.   Among the market-towns of these countries, and the harbors where the ships put in from Damirica [=Limyrike] and from the north, the most important are, in order as they lie, first Camara, then Poduca, then Sopatma; in which there are ships of the country coasting along the shore as far as Damirica; and other very large vessels made of single logs bound together, called sangara: but those which make the voyage to Chryse and to the Ganges are called colandia, and are very large. There are imported into these places everything made in Damirica, and the greatest part of what is brought at any time from Egypt comes here, together with most kinds of all the things that are brought from Damirica and of those that are carried through Paralia.

https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/periplus/periplus.html

This brief paper says that some consider this passage in the Periplus to be corrupt. The problem lies in the interpretation of the word highlighted above, colandia. Anthony Christie spends nine pages identifying what kind of ship a colandia is even investigating Chinese documents concerning these ships.  Needless to say he does not identify it as a balangay or anything Filipino. In fact both Horridge and Christie use the all encompassing term Austronesian which could mean any number of people groups and not necessarily Filipinos.

It is interesting to note that the commenter says Professor Horridge documents Filipino balangays as making trips to India and Sri Lanka in 200 BC when he does not mention balangays at all. That is an addition the commenter makes because Tim makes the connection with his slide. Now in the mind of the commenter, as well as the mind of anyone who watched the video, Professor Horridge is saying that Filipino balangays made the trip to India in 200 BC. It's a very subtle trick Tim has played on his unsuspecting audience to associate the balangay with the quote from Professor Horridge. It's an instance of personal biases and inferences becoming fact.

It's the same kind of trick Tim played in his video Clue #3 where he says Philippine gold jewelry was found in Egypt, asks how did it get there, and then proceeds to talk about Philippine ships. Anyone watching that video would think Filipinos sailed to Egypt even though Tim never says that.

Taken as a whole along with the paper by Anthony Christie Professor Horridge does not support Tim's thesis that balangays were making ports of call to India by 200 BC. Tim is also wrong when he says that a balangay has sailed around the world. The Balangay Voyage project did build a balangay but they only sailed to China and around Southeast Asia.  They did not circumnavigate the globe.

Thirdly the commenter says "Wikipedia stakes a claim of Philippines mining gold since 1000 BC." Here is the reference:

Mining in the Philippines began around 1000 BC. The early Filipinos worked various mines of gold, silver, copper and iron. Jewels, gold ingots, chains, calombigas and earrings were handed down from antiquity and inherited from their ancestors. Gold dagger handles, gold dishes, tooth plating, and huge gold ornaments were also used. In Laszlo Legeza's "Tantric elements in pre-Hispanic Philippines Gold Art", he mentioned that gold jewelry of Philippine origin was found in Ancient Egypt. According to Antonio Pigafetta, the people of Mindoro possessed great skill in mixing gold with other metals and gave it a natural and perfect appearance that could deceive even the best of silversmiths. The natives were also known for the pieces of jewelry made of other precious stones such as carnelian, agate and pearl. Some outstanding examples of Philippine jewelry included necklaces, belts, armlets and rings placed around the waist.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining#Classical_Philippine_civilization

Right away this reference is suspect because it also includes the false claim that Legeza mentions Philippine gold jewelry being found in ancient Egypt. He does not. He says it appears this is so and he does not source his claim. The source for the claim that mining in the Philippines began in 1,000 BC is traced to a defunct Geocities page. 

Mines dating back to at least 1,000 B.C. have been found in the Philippines. When the Spanish arrived the Filipinos worked various mines of gold, silver, copper and iron. They also seemed to have worked in brass using tin that was likely imported from the Malay Peninsula. The iron work in particular was said to be of very high quality in some cases, and occassionaly in some areas, even better than that found in Europe. 

https://web.archive.org/web/20071201054321/http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Temple/9845/tech.htm#jew

This website appears to be the personal blog of Paul Sekai Manansala who is the author of "Quests of the Dragon and Bird Clan" which is a revisionist history about the Nusantao. This guy even believes Prester John was a real king! Seeing as this page was first captured in the internet archive back in 1999 it would seem likely that it is the source of the erroneous citation of Peralta which is among the three sources cited to prove that Philippine gold was found in ancient Egypt.

Paul neglects to provide a source for his claim that mines dating to 1,000 BC have been found in the Philippines. Who discovered these mines and where are they located? The Wikipedia page also does not quote Paul correctly. Wikipedia says mining in the Philippines began around 1,000 BC while Paul only says mines dating to 1,000 BC have been found in the Philippines.

If mining began in the Philippines in 1,000 BC that would not be enough time for Filipinos to become miners of international renown whose gold King Solomon coveted.  King Solomon's dates are 990-931. Yet Tim takes this Wikipedia article as Gospel even mapping it out on a timeline.

https://youtu.be/gG39WFEYfiU?t=1371

"Again Wikipedia says the Philippines has been mining gold since 1000 BC..." 

I am not going to deny that Filipinos were mining gold back in 1,000 BC but Tim needs a better source to prove his claims than what Wikipedia is "staking." As it stands a date of 1,000 BC for the beginning of mining in the Philippines is too late for the Philippines to have been recognized as the land of gold to where King Solomon sent his ships. For the Philippines to be the premier land of gold in the way Tim claims it is the mining industry needs to be much, much older. Tim offers no proof or suggestion that this is the case but sticks with the date 1,000 BC.

I can imagine the commenter reading all that and thinking its a big nothing burger and that I am a fool who is nitpicking and being a libeling communist agitator yada, yada, yada. But getting your sources right is very crucial and time and again we see that Tim gets his sources wrong. In this same video Tim says:

https://youtu.be/gG39WFEYfiU

This is why gold jewelry of Philippine origin was found in a dig in Egypt dating first century AD.

I have already looked at the three sources cited to make this claim and shown it to be vastly overstated. It's funny that Tim adds the detail about the jewelry being found in a dig. None of those sources mention such a thing. It is very clear that Tim has not even read these three sources but is citing them secondhand just as he uses some sources but twists what they say to fit his paradigm. Thomas Suarez, Charles Nowell, and Rev. Thomas Stackhouse are three examples of men from whose writings he "gleans" what supports his thesis and ignores the rest. I have made it abundantly clear in these posts about the God Culture that Tim is not an honest or objective researcher. He has an agenda and shoehorns in the facts to support it. As they say, "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story."

Now let's talk about Timothy Jay Schwab. He claims he is challenging tradition and is not part of any organization or denomination.

We are The God Culture, a group of independent researchers with no affiliation to any denomination nor organization whatsoever. 

The God Culture is a group of independent researchers not affiliated with any denomination nor organization. This team focuses solely on relationship with the Father through His Son testing all things using scripture as it’s foundation.

https://www.thegodculture.com

Yet he also claims he is here in the Philippines conducting conferences as part of an evangelistic ministry.

They chose the platform of YouTube to share their research initially in order to gather a following and after 2 years and over 5 million views from 214 countries on a teaching channel, The God Culture now re-enters the evangelistic ministry in conducting conferences beginning in the Philippines as much of the geography the Holy Spirit has restored leads to that land. Married to a Filipina, Timothy desires to spend much more time in the Philippines, the land of Ophir and the Garden of Eden (try to disprove it) and on their first tour, The God Culture already has over 15 conferences booked in their first month in May 2019 alone from North Luzon to Visayas to Mindanao

https://www.thegodculture.com

(EDIT and UPDATE) The God Culture has deleted this passage from their website.  Here is the original:

Anna Rose Lipshy even says that she and Tim were evangelists touring the USA.

We used to be evangelist touring the US for a number of years conducting altar calls consistently (oh forgot, we don't have any ministry experience according to this ignorant blog) and our experience in follow up was a whole lot of people who did not continue in relationship. 

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-god-culture-100-clues-philippines.html?showComment=1580699091074#c7458184243698567772

If Tim is doing the work of an evangelist in the Philippines surely he has a missionary visa, right? I don't think so.  He has said he is not part of any organization, not part of any denomination. That means no one sent him to do religious work in the Philippines. By his own admission he stands completely outside of the Church.

Here are the requirements of a missionary visa. I admit this is not the Bureau of Immigration's webpage but it is from a company who specializes in assisting people to obtain Philippine visas and is more forthright and clear than the information on the BI's webpage.

This visa is issued to a foreigner who: 

1. is a member of a religious denomination that is a bonafide non-profit organization in the Philippines  

2. is a minister or a religious worker of a non-profit religious denomination 

3. is requested by his religious organization to carry out a religious occupation in the Philippines 

4. is going to study a fixed curriculum in order to accomplish and undergo a proper formation training

http://dbmsconsultancy.com/missionaryvisa

Do any of those four qualifications apply to Timothy Schwab? Not according to what he says about himself. He is a foreigner having no affiliation with any religious organization yet he is in the Philippines acting as a missionary. His webpage shows him posing with Bishop Rod and Ruth Cubos at a conference in Davao.

In fact it appears that all of his conferences are held in tandem with a local church as this video shows:

The God Culture deleted the video above in order to cover their tracks. Clearly they do not want people to know that they are doing missionary work in this country. But someone uploaded it on Facebook so here it is:

 

Despite the fact that Tim is obviously involved in missionary work it is very doubtful he has a missionary visa. If he does have one that would mean he either belongs to a religious organization, which he admits he does not, or someone invited him to the Philippines which seems unlikely because his ministry is that of a wandering evangelist and he is interacting with a wide variety of Filipino churches and pastors. The only way to be sure is to actually see his missionary visa. I dare him to post it if he has one. I dare him to tell us what organization he belongs to and sent him here or who requested that he come to the Philippines to evangelize. If he doesn't have a missionary visa then he is in flagrant violation of Philippine immigration law for doing the work of a missionary without the proper and necessary credentials.

That's is it for the God Culture. I don't want to bore my regular readers with this "cult" and I don't want to harp on these guys either. I have said basically everything that needs saying about them. The only things left to do in regards to the God Culture are to review their book when it is published and to post a write-up after attending a conference. Hopefully the coronavirus pandemic doesn't cancel any of their upcoming conferences.