The God Culture: 100 Lies: #37: Jose Rizal Thought the Philippines Was the Garden of Eden

Welcome back to 100 lies The God Culture teaches about the Philippines. Today's lie concern Timothy Jay Schwab's claim Dr. Jose Rizal thought the Philippines was the Garden of Eden. 

This claims shows up in his videos.

Solomon's Gold Series - Part 12E: Garden of Eden, Mount of the East Found: Ophir, Philippines

11:22 Another viewer sent us this poem from Jose Rizal "My Last Farewell" written on the eve of his execution in 1896. We show it in its original form in Spanish as well as in English and Tagalog of course we'll read it in English because that's all we really know. "Farewell my adored land, region of the Sun caressed." Imagine that there we go with the Sun reference again. "Pearl of the Orient Sea, our Eden lost. With gladness I give you my life sad and repressed and were it more brilliant, more fresh, and at its best I would still give it to you for your welfare at most." So, not only is bdellium, pearl, found in the Philippines and the most significant in size but the land is even called the Pearl of the Orient. Hmm sounds like Havilah to me. Could it be? Of course it is. "Our Eden lost." So, Rizal knew that the Philippines was Ophir which we covered before according to his writings and he also knew it was the Garden of Eden. Yeah this could be a reference that anyone could make to any country their Eden blah, blah, blah, blah, yeah that's possible. However, we think this actually could be very telling because this man knew something. And by the way who lost Eden though? Actually Adam did. Fascinating.

100 Clues #13: Philippines Is The Ancient Land of PEARL: Havilah - Ophir, Sheba, Tarshish

8:09 The funny thing is even long before these large pearls were produced and then recorded Dr. Jose Rizal in 1896 wrote a poem identifying the Philippines as the Pearl of the Orient. Almost seems like he kind of knew something, huh? Well, you will find his contemporary professor Blumentritt writes that Rizal believed the Philippines was Ophir in fact and he did as well even in 1891.

This claim also shows up in his book The Search for King Solomon's Treasure. 

The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, pg. 296

Did Dr. Jose Rizal know more about the Philippines than we are told? On the eve of his execution, he wrote this poem in which he referred to the Philippines as the “region of the sun” which is important in identifying the land of Chryse/Ophir, “Pearl of the Orient Sea” which is crucial in revealing the land of Ancient Havilah next to the Garden of Eden and “our Eden lost” as if he knew this was in fact the long lost location of the Garden of Eden perhaps.

One must wonder if Rizal had other writings which may have been smuggled out of his prison of exile but no such speculation is needed to locate the Garden of Eden which has actually been recorded since very ancient times and exact directions even. We will delve into this realm though we were hesitant at first. Can we really find the Garden of Eden in the Philippines?

In one of his videos Tim says he previously covered writings where Dr. Rizal "knew the Philippines was Ophir." While they get a passing glance he does not cover those writings in his book The Search for King Solomon's Treasure in any meaningful way so they must not be very important.

The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, pg 102

Even in 1890, Philippine Former Prime Minister Pedro A. Paterno recorded Ophir as the Philippines and many allude Professor Fernando Blumentritt, contemporary and friend of Dr. Jose Rizal, knew as well.

However, Rizal's poem is very important. Tim even uses it in his conferences. 

So, what does this poem mean? Is Dr. Jose Rizal actually calling the Philippines the Garden of Eden? Of course not. It's a poem. It's the last poem he ever wrote before facing the firing squad.

It's not a geography lesson or a history course. It's 14 stanzas of thoughts about his country, the Philippines. Funny that Tim does not talk about the other stanzas or even attempt to relate the actual message of the poem. Instead he latches onto the phrases "pearl of the orient" and "our Eden lost" and says, "Oh, look see Rizal thought the Philippines was the Garden of Eden!"

In the fourth stanza Rizal writes:

My dreams, when scarcely a lad adolescent, 

My dreams when already a youth, full of vigor to attain, 

Were to see you, Gem of the Sea of the Orient, 

Your dark eyes dry, smooth brow held to a high plane,

Without frown, without wrinkles and of shame without stain.

According to Tim that would mean Rizal is not being poetic but is talking about the many precious gem stones that are to be found in the Philippines. Likewise in the 13th stanza Rizal writes:

My idolized Country, for whom I most gravely pine, 

Dear Philippines, to my last goodbye, oh, harken 

There I leave all: my parents, loves of mine, 

I'll go where there are no slaves, tyrants or hangmen 

Where faith does not kill and where God alone does reign.

Oh no! Is the Philippines now an idol to be worshipped? If we follow Tim's literal approach that is what we would have to say. 

Dr. Jose Rizal was not the first to call the Philippines Pearl of the Orient. Fr. Juan P. Delgado in his book Historia de Filipinas can claim that honor.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951002101076g&seq=47&q1=perla

In a short time the name of Nueva Castilla was forgotten and that of Manila prevailed by the election of the same Adelantado; for in this place he founded the city, which he spoke of as being the court and pearl of the East.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951002101076g&seq=97&q1=perla

Having described the island of Luzon, with all the provinces it contains, only the city of Manila, capital and court of the Philippines, remains before beginning the description of the other islands in particular. Because although it has already been outlined by other erudite pens, as all things have their beginnings, increases and decline, so has this capital, subject to changes, like other human things. In times past, according to the ancient historians, when trade with Japan flourished, Manila was the wonder and pearl of the East, as well in its neighborhood, as in buildings and riches, which, in exchange for the goods of the land, came in abundance; Now it can be said that it is only a canal, because there remains in it only the sign of the great deal of silver that comes from Spain having passed to other kingdoms, enriching them with it, without anything remaining in Manila but the sound that attracts the neighbors, bloodsuckers, Moors and heretics of Batavia to sweep it, leaving in it the infinite poverty and misery that its inhabitants experience, except for one or another neighbor who has some wealth, which, in these times, are counted.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951002101076g&seq=281&q1=perla

Having already written elsewhere about the material nature of the city of Manila, we will put in this chapter its formal aspects, in which it can compete with the most famous in Europe. It is located in the best, most pleasant, leafy and abundant site of the island of Luzon, head and core of the Philippine Archipelago. It very justly deserves the name of pearl of the east, a distinguished and very loyal city; and as such, it enjoys all the honors, franchises and privileges of those who are heads of kingdom, granted by our Catholic kings in the decrees of November 19, 1595, and March 20, 1596, in the latter of which it was granted a particular coat of arms.

Each one of these mentions of the Pearl of the East is a reference to the City of Manila and not the entire nation and has nothing to do with actual pearls. Very obviously Rizal has taken this sobriquet and applied it to the nation as a whole. For Rizal the Philippines, his homeland, is beautiful and precious above all else. 

In 1911 The Manila Merchants Association published a pamphlet titled "The Philippines, Treasure House of the Tropics, Manila, Pearl of the Orient."

Are they claiming the Philippines is Ophir and the Garden of Eden by calling Manila Pearl of the Orient? No, they are indicating the beauty of the city. The point is Pearl of the Orient is a common name applied to the Philippines and has to do with the beauty of the nation and not its status as Ophir or The Garden of Eden.  

Tim's claim that Dr. Jose Rizal thought the Philippines was the Garden of Eden based on this poem is total nonsense and wrests it from its true meaning. It is simply one more lie about the Philippines being taught by Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture. 

The God Culture: 100 Lies About the Philippines: #36: Adam Sacrificed Philippine Gold as an Atonement

Welcome back to 100 lies The God Culture teaches about the Philippines. Today's lie concerns Tim's claim that God is sentimental for Philippine gold.

Tim says this twice in his videos. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP5zxlXysIk&t=5513s

47:27 This gold of Ophir was the fine gold or pure gold of that day not because it was necessarily of higher quality than other gold but because it had meaning to Yahuah from Adam's very first sacrifice once exiled from the Garden of Eden. It mattered then and it still matters now

The Estate of Adam: Solomon's Gold 2i. 100 Clues#50.

48:50 See this resource matters all the way to the end because it is sentimental to Yahuah God. Why is this so important? Well Yahuah certainly is sentimental. Adam used the gold of Havilah the land of Eve where he lived. Which became known as Ophir,  Sheba, and Tarshish after the flood. Which is now known as the Philippines in modern times or the same pattern of three Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao: Ophir,  Sheba, Tarshish.

Tim reiterates this claim in his book The Search for King Solomon's Treasure.

The Search For King Solomon's Treasure, pg. 71

This is the Genesis 2 gold Adam used in the first sacrifice of atonement when exiled from the Garden. It is precious to Yahuah and this is why Solomon knew to fetch it for the Temple project from this primordial estate.

Tim says God places a sentimental value on the gold of the Philippines, Ophir, because Adam placed it in a cave as an atonement. Where are we told in the Bible God is sentimental and places value on gold or any other commodity? The Bible certainly never says or indicates or infers such a thing. To say something like this is to turn God into a man with human emotions. Only one who has no idea who God is could say a thing like this. Of course Tim's denial of the Trinity saying the Holy Spirit is likely a creation along with his denial of the eternal sonship of Jesus Christ means he has no idea who God is. 

Where does Tim get the idea Adam sacrificed gold to God as an atonement? Not from the Bible. From The Cave of Treasures.

The Estate of Adam: Solomon's Gold 2i. 100 Clues#50.

16:22 We found a source a bit more specific and this is amazing as Adam actually offered gold, frankincense, and myrrh on that day in the first atonement sacrifice to Yahuah. This is why these have so much value. It's not about money.

Tim mentions The Cave of Treasures several times in his book The Search for  Solomon's Treasure. He calls it a historic source.

The Search For King Solomon's Treasure, pg. 79

There are historic sources..

Then he admits The Cave of Treasures is NOT SCRIPTURE.

The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, pgs. 97-98

Finally, there is a book called the Cave of Treasures that we do not use as and reject as scripture but we glean a fact from. It actually makes the claim that upon leaving the Garden of Eden which means Adam was in Havilah, Philippines, he was able to find gold on the sides of the Mount of the East where he then made the first sacrifice of atonement.

The Search For King Solomon's Treasure, pg. 303

We will use an historic reference outside of the Bible to further support this not for scripture but geography to better understand. This is not scripture. 

Adam offered the first atonement and there is no passage to indicate he ever sinned again in his entire 930 years. He retrieved gold, frankincense and myrrh from the sides of the mountain meaning they grow there natively and all three are native to the Philippines.

What exactly is The Cave of Treasures?

The Cave of Treasures, sometimes referred to simply as The Treasure, is an apocryphal and pseudoepigraphical work, that contains various narratives related to the Christian Bible. It was written in the Syriac language, approximately at the end of the 6th, or at the beginning of the 7th century. Its authorship was traditionally attributed to Ephrem of Edessa (d. 373), but modern scholarly analyses have shown that the true author was some other person, who also lived in Upper Mesopotamia, but much later (c. 600).

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

It is an apocryphal book full of fictitious stories that Tim does not understand and which he misquotes. Adam does indeed place gold, myrrh, and frankincense inside a cave but the reason is not to atone for his sins. It is a kind of prerequisite for sleeping with his wife. 

Now Adam and Eve were virgins, and Adam wished to know Eve his wife. And Adam took from the skirts of the mountain of Paradise, gold, and myrrh, and frankincense, and he placed them in the cave, and he blessed the cave, and consecrated it that it might be the house of prayer for himself and his sons

So Adam and Eve went down from that holy mountain [of Eden] to the slopes which were below it, and there Adam knew Eve his wife. 

https://sacred-texts.com/chr/bct/bct04.htm

Those bolded parts are not quoted by Tim. He purposely omits them. That is kind of odd seeing as the whole paragraph shows up highlighted in his sourcebook.

Solomon's Treasure Sourcebook, pg. 91

According to The Cave of Treasures the three Magi retrieved those treasures to give to Christ. 

And straightway, according to what they had received from the tradition which had been handed down to them by their fathers, they left the East, and went up to the mountains of Nôdh, which lie inside the entrances to the East from the lands on the skirts of the North, and they took from them gold, and myrrh, and frankincense.

https://sacred-texts.com/chr/bct/bct09.htm

The book is called the Cave of Treasures because the cave in which the gold, myrrh, and frankincense were placed connects Adam and Christ. That is the framework for the entire book.

Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures, pg. 531

Cave of treasures essentially takes Its name from a awe near paradise in which Adam is said to have deposited a number of items taken from paradise. These are called Treasures and later on will be carried by the magi to Bethlehem in order to be presented to the new-born Christ. This basic plot serves the author to construct a panoramic view of Christian salvation history spanning from creation to Pentecost. 

The narration therefore starts in the same way as the first book of the Bible, describing the creation-week in tabular form, and then passes on to a lengthy account of Adam and Eve's creation and stay in paradise, their temptation, fall, expulsion and settlement at the outskirts of paradise, where the Cave of Treasures is introduced for the first time. On occasion of their first sexual act Adam and Eve deposit within the cave gold, myrrh and incense, that is, those items which were presented to Christ by the magi according to the Gospel narrative.

The gold, frankincense, and myrrh have nothing to do with an atonement sacrifice nor is it called or even alluded to as such. Tim is fundamentally wrong.

Timothy Jay Schwab's foundational story as to why the gold of the Philippines is Biblically important has no basis in fact. Not even according to his source The Cave of Treasures did Adam sacrifice gold as an atonement. It is simply one more lie about the Philippines being taught by Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture.