Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture has been producing a series of videos about how the Lequios Islands are the Philippines. That subject has been dealt with in great detail on this blog because the videos are all based on Tim's The Smoking Quill series of articles and I have demonstrated how those articles are filled with half-truths and outright lies. In the third video of this series Tim discusses the work of Juan Gonzalez de Mendoza. This is based on an article I did not examine so let's take a look at it.
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| https://thegodculturephilippines.com/spanish-government-document-98-confirmed-lequios-is-the-philippines/ |
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Mendoza Confirms It All
In a separate document, Juan Gonzales de Mendoza writes:
[From Java] "...and the kingdom of the Lechios: and in equal distance, are the Japones."
He clearly places the Lechios halfway between Java and Japan — i.e., the Philippines. Not Japan. Not Ryukyu. Again, this matches the same progression:
Java ➔ Luzon ➔ Japan, Equal distance from Java to Lequios and then, Lequios to Japan, manifests Lequios as about half way in the journey.
Not:
Java ➔ Ryukyu ➔ Japan [That would distort the map completely.]
π¨ END OF DEBATE!
An Amazing Visual. The Final Nail
Mendoza defines Lequios as approximately halfway between Java and Japan. That’s definitive.
This confirms Lequios is Luzon—recognized not just by Mendoza, but also Mafra, Spanish Document #98, Barbosa, Pinto, Pigafetta, Magellan, and every credible source of the era.
There are two things to note here.
1. Tim does not give the source for the quote in this article or in his video. He also does not give the title of the book in the article or the video. The title is The History of the Great and Mighty Kingdom of China.
2. Tim cites only a brief portion of a much longer section. In the video he cites a longer section starting with the word betwixt but he still ignores the context of Mendoza's book.
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| https://archive.org/details/historyofgreatmi14151gonz/page/6/mode/2up |
This great and miglitie kingdome of China, which we do meane to treat of in this Historie, hath beene discouered by cleere and true notice, within this tenne yeares, by Spanyards that were dwellers in the Hands Philippinas, that are three hundreth leagues distant from the said kingdome : Notwithstanding, that long time before, there was relation giuen, by way of the Portingall Indias, by such as dwelt in Macao, and did traiike to Canton, a citie of the same kingdome of China. But this was by relation so, that the one nor the other could satisfie, for that there was founde varietie in that which was true, till the yeere of 1577. Frier Martin de Gorrada, prouincial of the Augustine friers, who were the first discouerers of the said Ilands Philippinas, and ministred first the holy baptisme amongst them, with his companions, frier Hieronimo Martin, Pedro Sarmiento, and Myghell de Loarcha, cheefe officers of the citie of Marrila in the said Ilands, by the order and commandement of Guido de Labassares, gouernour thereof, did enter into the saide kingdome of China, led and gouerned by a captaine belonging to the king of the said kingdome, called Omoncon.
Of the comming of this Omoncon vnto the Ilands Philippinas, and of his hardines to carrie the aforesaid vnto the firme land, he being commanded to the contrarie vpon paine of death, and how he was receiued, and great courtesie shewed, and of other things verie curious, you shall finde in the second part of this historic, where as is the substance and whole relation of all that was brought vnto the king of Spaine.
You shall vnderstande that this mightie kingdome is the Orientalest part of all Asia, and his next neighbour towards the Ponent is the kingdome of Quachinchina, whereas they doo obserue in whole all the customes and rites of China. The greatest part of this kingdome is watred with the great Orientall Ocean sea, beginning at the Iland Aynan, which is hard by Quachinchina, which is 19 degrees towards the North, and compassing towards the South, whereas their course is northeast. And beyond Quachinchina towards the North, the Bragmanes do confine, which are much people, and verie rich, of golde, siluer, and pretious stones, but in especiall, rubies : for there are infinit. They are proude and hawtie men, of great corage, wel made, but of browne colour : they haue had (but few times) warre with them of China, in respect for that betwixt both the kingdomes, there are great and mightie mountaines and rockes that doth disturbe them. And harde vnto this nation ioyneth the Patanes and Mogore which is a great kingdome, and warlike people, whose head is the Gran Saniarzan : They are the true Scythas or Massagetas, of whom it is affirmed that they were neuer ouercome by any other nation : they are a people well proportioned and white : by reason they dwel in a cold countrie. Betwixt the West and the South is the Trapobana, or Samatra, a kingdome very rich of gold, pretious stones, & pearles : and more towards the South, are the two lauas, the great and the lesse, and the kingdome of the Lechios and in equall distance, are the lapones
pgs. 7-9
In this full section Mendoza mentions the discovery of the Philippines. Then he mentions the nations surrounding China which include Sumatra, Java, Lechios, and Japan. If the Lechios is Luzon as Tim contends why does Mendoza refer to it by two different names? In volume 2 of his book Mendoza does not mention the kingdom of the Lechios but he mentions Luzon many times. Again, if they are the same place why is he not consistent with the names he uses?
The answer is because Lechios and Luzon are not the same. Let's look closely at the relevant portion of the sentence.
and more towards the South, are the two lauas, the great and the lesse, and the kingdome of the Lechios and in equall distance, are the lapones
Remember, Mendoza is naming all the nations surrounding China. So, to the south means south of China. Mendoza says Java is to the south of China. Then he mentions the kingdome of the Lechios. Is that supposed to be in the south? Luzon is southeast of China so it could be. But don't forget Mendoza has already mentioned the discovery of the Philippines. The Philippines would be part of the kingdom of Spain. That rules out Luzon as being Lechios. What about "in equal distance?" That is "in equal distance" from China. China is the measure of all these places. Lechios and Japan are both equidistant from China. That means Lechios is what we know today as the Ryukyu Islands. It's not hard to figure out if one reads the entire context of the book instead of seizing on part of a sentence as Tim does.
Lechios is mentioned three times in Mendoza's book. This raises a problem. Either Tim did not bother to look at those references or he did and simply ignored them because they were too problematic. The fact is none of the three references to Lechios point to Luzon. Let's look at the remaining two.
Then the king perceiuing the request and petition of his kingdome and subiects, and being fully satisfied that this perswasion was requisite to be put in execution : he straight wayes set it a worke, and commanded vpon great penalties, that al his subiects and vassals naturall that were in any strange countries, that in a time limited, they should returne home to their owne country and houses : and likewise to the gouernours of the same countries, that they should in his name abandon and leaue the dominion and possession that he had of them : excepting such as would of their owne good will acknowledge vassalage, and giue him tribute, and remaine friends, as vnto this day the Lechios and other nations do.
pg. 93-94
This passage says unambiguously that the Lechios pay tribute and acknowledge vassalage to the king of China. That is not a description of the Philippines. Luzon was never a Chinese vassal state. But the Ryukyu Islands were.
In the spring of 1609, the Ryukyu kingdom ηηηε½ was defeated by an invasion by the Satsuma domain of Japan, ruled by the Shimazu ε³Άζ΄₯ family. King Shō Nei ε°ε―§ and major Ryukyuan officials were marched off to Satsuma as prisoners of war. In response to the daimyo’s report on the invasion, the Tokugawa bakufu recognized Satsuma’s control over Ryukyu. The Tokugawa authorities, thus, brought Ryukyu, a kingdom that had maintained tributary relations with Ming China since the latter half of the fourteenth century, within the political orbit of Tokugawa Japan. From then until 1879, when the Meiji government abolished the kingdom and annexed Ryukyu into Japan as Okinawa Prefecture, the Ryukyu kingdom accepted both Chinese and Japanese claims of suzerainty.
The Tokugawa World, pg. 420
Here is the third and final mention of Lechios that disproves Tim's claim it is Luzon.
It is not from our purpose (now after that we haue told you of the gouernement of this mightie kingdome) to giue you to vnderstand how that there be great and famous philosophers, as well naturall as morall, and other things of great pollicie and curiosity : to tel you now of their characters, and the manner they haue in writing, and then of the colledges and schooles. Now vnto the first. You shall finde verie fewe in this kingdome but can both write and reade, yet haue they not the alphabet of letters as we haue, but all that they doe write is by figures, and they are long in learning of it, and with great difiicultie, for that almost every word hath his character. They do signifie the heauen, which they do call Guant, by one character alone, which is this (Chinese character) the king, whom they doo call Bontay, by this (Chinese character), and by consequent the earth, the sea, and the rest of the elements. They do vse more than sixe thousand characters , different the one from the other, and they doo write them verie swiftly (as it hath beene scene many times at the Philippinas, by manie Chinos that are there, and come thither daily) ; it is a kinde of language that is better vnderstood in writing then in speaking (as the Hebrue toonge), by reason of the certaine distinction of points that is in euery character differing one from the other, which in speaking cannot be distinguished so easilie. Their order of writing is cleane contrarie vnto ours, for that they doo beginne their lines from aboue downewards, but in verie good order : likewise they begin their lines at the right hande and write towards tlie left, contrarie vnto vs. They keepe the verie same order in their printing, as you shall vnderstande, and as may he seene this day at Rome in the librarie of the sacred pallace. And likewise in that which King Philip hath caused to be erected in the monasterie of Saint Laurence the royall, and also in other places ; in this order as I haue saide, and of their characters to the which I referre me, it is an admirable thing to consider how that in that kingdome they doo speake manie languages, the one differing from the other : yet generallie in writing they doo vnderstand one the other, and in speaking not. The occasion is, for y one figure or character vnto them all doth signifie one thing, although in the pronouncing there is difference in the vowels. The character that doth signifie a citie is this (Chinese character) and in their language some doo call it Leombi, and others Fu, yet both the one and the other doo vnderstande it to bee citie; the like is in all other names. And in this order doo communicate with them the Japones, Lechios, those of Samatra, and those of the kingdome of Quachinchina and other borderers vnto them : whereas in their speech or language, there is no more vnderstanding then is betwixt Greekes and Tuskanes.
pgs. 120-122
In this section Mendoza discusses the written Chinese language. He says the language is seen being used by Chinese who visit the Philippines. Then he says this written language is how the Chinese communicate with the Lechios. Why is that? Because they were a tributary of China unlike Luzon. By distinguishing between Chinese visiting the Philippines and Chinese communicating with the Lechios Mendoza again treats the Lechios as separate from the Philippines.
With these two sections, Tim's assertion that the kingdom of the Lechios is Luzon is revealed to be a total lie. Again, Tim's disregard of these two passages which overturn his theory reveal he is either an ignorant and poor researcher or he is being duplicitous. Neither of which is a good look for Tim. Remember, Tim has said to even suggest he is not familiar with the sources he cites is to be untruthful.
One claiming we do not even read these sources, and did not even try to prove, when we quote and explain them in a massive number of pages, is clearly not one representing the truth.
https://thegodculturephilippines.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-god-culture-thegodculturephilippine.html
There is one other thing in the video that is worth mentioning. Apparently Tim has been meeting with Phds and other academics to discuss his theories. He claims he has gotten no pushback.
9:50 In this age, a spotlight will be placed on this mindset exposing it and many academics will likely buck the system. We are not finding anyone so far, not a single one, who has pushed back to that degree. They have been willing to listen and they are enthralled with the information that is just plain not being taught in academia today. But it should be and they agree.
Lequios is Luzon: Bishop Mendoza Confirms It All! Return of the Lequios 3
It would be interesting to know exactly who Tim is speaking with and how he is presenting his information. What exactly are their qualifications? Have they read his books? Are they saying they will look at the information thoroughly and to get back to them after they have had time to examine Tim's claims? Because there is no way anyone who has meticulously examined Tim's claims will find them to be truthful. The lies jump off every single page he writes and appear in every single video he produces. The above lie about Mendoza is just one example of hundreds. It sounds good but when put under a microscope it falls apart.
If Tim had bothered to read the context of Mendoza's book he would have found that Lechios as Luzon does not hold up. The kingdom of Lechios was a tributary state and vassal of China unlike Luzon. But Tim is quite fond of half-truths, half-quotes, footnotes, and anything else he can twist to fit his pseudo-historical project of proving the Lequios islands are Luzon. That is the method of Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture.
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