The God Culture: Ancient Prophecy Philippines: MARCOS Prophesied! The Life of Lam-Ang

Timothy Jay Schwab of The God Culture claims that an ancient Illocano epic poem, The Life of Lam-Ang, is a prophecy about the Philippines. In this epic the Philippines dies and an old man named Marcos brings him back to life. According to Tim that story is most certainly a prophecy about the most corrupt political dynasty in the nation, the Marcoses.

Ancient Prophecy Philippines: MARCOS Prophesied! The Life of Lam-Ang. Solomon's Gold Series 15B

Before Tim even begins to break down the prophetic significance of The Life of Lam-Ang he gives this disclaimer:

1:43 Sure we can't prove it. Not like we do, uh, geography this is prophecy and in a veiled form in fact as they were likely hiding it from the Spanish, uh, but ancient filipinos likely knew the meaning of this poem.

Well, if he can't prove it then why should anyone care? Everything he is going to say will be conjecture and rest on the assumption that Lam-Ang is not just a singular man but represents the Philippines. This can be seen from a map from 1154 where the Philippines is labeled Al Namang (Lamang.)

13:27 This map is from 1151 AD. Wow! 400 years or so before the Spanish whoa! And what was the Philippines called on this map? Lamang. Wow! I mean that is incredible. So this is not an individual's name folks this is a nation. The life of Lam-Ang is the life of the Philippines and let's review what happened and what happens prophetically to the Philippines. Let's be clear we already proved the location in history and this restores prophecy in which messiah in Matthew 12:42 and Luke 11:30 tells us the Philippines will rise in the last days. Oh this is going to go there too, imagine that. Ezekiel 38 and Isaiah 60 verse 9 tell us the same and these appear the basis of this prophetic story for the ancient Filipino knew far more than we even realize.

This is a portion of a much larger map drawn up by Konrad Miller in 1929. It is based on a description of the known world "compiled by the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi in 1154."

The Nuzhat al-mushtāq fī ikhtirāq al-āfāq (Arabic: نزهة المشتاق في اختراق الآفاق, lit. "The Excursion of One Eager to Penetrate the Horizons"), commonly known in the West as the Tabula Rogeriana (lit. "The Map of Roger" in Latin), is a description of the world and world map compiled by the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi in 1154. Al-Idrisi worked on the commentaries and illustrations of the map for fifteen years at the court of the Norman King Roger II of Sicily, who commissioned the work around 1138.

To produce the work, al-Idrisi interviewed experienced travelers individually and in groups on their knowledge of the world and compiled "only that part... on which there was complete agreement and seemed credible, excluding what was contradictory."

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

This map in full looks like this.

The map is oriented with south at the top so I have flipped it to make it readable. What Tim alleges is the Philippines is to the far right of the map. It does not look so different from Pompoinus Mela's map which also features two island, Chryse and Argyre, close to the Ganges river delta.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-god-culture-finding-chryse-dont.html 

Once again we have two islands, or in this case just one island, representing all 7,000 islands of the Philippine archipelago. It's just more mendacious nonsense from a man who has proved again and again he either cannot read maps or he willfully misinterprets them. He makes no mention of the island named Al Sabara and he offers no proof that Al Namang is the Philippines or what that name means in Arabic. In the 11th video in his Enoch series he also discusses this map but fails to give the actual Arabic meaning of this word instead focusing on what Lamang means in Tagalog.  That is completely disingenuous and does not take this map seriously. It was written in Arabic and not Tagalog. But Tim does not care. He does not care about accurate linguistics nor does he care about truth. And why bother? He has already informed us he cannot prove anything he is going to say in this video. He might as well make it up as he goes. So, let's move on to the text of the poem itself.

According to Timothy Jay Schwab the Bible tells us that in the end times the Philippines will rise again. Specifically in the books of Ezekiel and Isaiah. Tim posits that those books appear to be the sources for this epic poem.

14:19 Ezekiel 38 and Isaiah 60 verse 9 tell us the same and these appear the basis of this prophetic story for the ancient Filipino knew far more than we even realize.

Again, he offers no proof for this. Not a single shred of evidence is offered. How exactly does this narrative poem have its roots in ancient Hebrew prophecy? How would ancient Filipinos have access to the Bible? Tim does not say. He also does not tell us how this epic survived the burning of the books.

3:19 But this writing has been retained. However, the Jesuits likely did not even notice that this may very well be prophecy slipped right under their noses. 

Yeah sure. The Spanish were so sneaky and crafty but did not realize The Life of Lam-Ang was actually a prophecy. Again, this is all ad hoc conjecture which can by no means be proven. 

Tim spends a great deal explaining that Lam-Ang represents the Philippines. Never mind the fact there was no unified Philippines until the arrival of the Spanish. Before that the islands were divided into various tribal groups.

Even then the Spanish never conquered Mindanao. That was left for the Americans to do and is the reason why it remains such a problematic area. The inhabitants of the BARMM do not consider themselves Filipinos.

Drilon successfully moved for the inclusion of a provision reiterating “that the Bangsamoro people are citizens of the Republic of the Philippines.” Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, the bill sponsor, said this was opposed by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2019/03/martial-law-rumblings.html 

It is simply not possible for Lam-Ang to represent the entire Philippine archipelago when these islands were never united.

The end of the epic is where the alleged prophecy about Marcos comes in. Lam-Ang had a dream that he would be eaten by a shark while hunting for shells. Indeed he was eaten and he died. His wife called the old diver Marcos who brought up his bones, put them together, and God brought him back to life. Prophetically interpreted Lam-Ang is the Philippines, the shark is the Spanish, and Marcos is a member of the Marcos family who will resurrect the Philippines. Marcos is even given a reward of gold by Lam-Ang. 

Keeping in line with Tim's interpretation that would mean the Philippines gave Marcos all the gold he has as a reward for resurrecting the nation! But Tim says otherwise. He claims Marcos had billions in gold before he even became president because he was a lawyer working on the case of the Vatican returning gold to the Philippines. When did this happen? Tim offers no proof. There are many, many stories about Marcos' gold but there are no confirmed stories about the Vatican returning gold to the Philippines and Tim offers no proof that it ever happened.

I wrote a review of Marcos Legacy Revisited: Raiders of the Lost Gold which discusses all the stories about Marcos' alleged gold stash. It is a book worth reading. 

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2022/02/book-review-marcos-legacy-revisited.html 

What this book ultimately reveals is that no one knows the truth about Marcos' gold. There are too many conflicting reports, eyewitness accounts, and documents. The majority of the stories in this book are based on unproven and unprovable speculation.

Again, Tim's theory rests on the interpretation of Lam-Ang as not a singular man but as the nation of the Philippines. So, let's go through the poem and see if such an interpretation is sustainable. It should first be noted that the translation Tim uses is rather bare bones and lacking in the detail of the translation compiled by Leopolodo Yabes. Compare these two stanzas near the end:

“The old man, the diver.

My wife Cannoyan,

Give him a pile of coins taller than he is.”

https://cupdf.com/document/life-of-lam-ang-translated-by-angelito-santos.html

And when they arrived
Lam-ang said:
We should reward
This old skilled man
Load him with money,
My wife Cannoyan.
We should love
The yellow-legged hen
Also the rooster
And the hairy dog
Because if not for them
I would be lost forever.

https://www.kapitbisig.com/philippines/english-version-of-epics-mga-epiko-complete-text-of-lam-ang-an-iloko-epic-english-version_1177.html/page/0/15

See how much more detail there is in this version? Yabes' translation is a compilation of all known versions of this poem.

The edition of the poem used here from which the English translation was made, is based primarily on the Parayno Hermance version, 1927 edition, with the three other existing versions diligently compared. The Parayno Hermanos version was used, and not the Medina or the Isabelo de los Reyes version, which are much older, because copies of the latter versions secured by the writer were not legible in some portions. Since the four versions, like the four Gospels, contain, as we have said in the previous chapter, not exactly similar accounts of the story, one version, for example, recording an incident which the others do not record, the writer thought it best to include all the different incidents in the four versions in one composite edition to make the story more complete. So, although each of the four versions contains not more than 294 stanzas, the present edition contains 305 stanzas because of the writer's attempt for completeness. There are, as we shall see in the next chapter, many incidents of the story not recorded in any of the four versions, but since such incidents are embodied only in legend, the writer decided not to include them in the present edition. 

The Illocano Epic: A Critical Study of the "Life of Lam-Ang," Leopoldo Yabes

If Tim had been using Yabes' translation he would have seen that it was not Marcos or God who brought Lam-Ang back to life. It was his pet rooster, hen, and dog who used their magic to resurrect their master.

The rooster crowed
The hen flapped its wings
The bones moved.
Then the spotted dog
Took its turn
It barked twice
Then pawed
All the bones.
And as the rooster foretold
The bones of Lam-ang
Surely came back to life
And he arose!

The character of the diver Marcos does not appear only at the end of this poem. He also appears at the beginning as one who was called to assist in the birth of Lam-Ang.

Meanwhile Namongan lay
to give birth
Nobody within call
To help her deliver
Neither old Marcos, the driver
Nor Alisot nor Pas-ho the rich
Were able to succeed.
Then they thought
Of the old bent woman
She whose fingers were strong.

Marcos here is called the driver but checking with the original this is a mispelling.

If Tim is correct that Lam-Ang represents the Philippines and Marcos represents a prophetic Marcos that will save the nation then why is Marcos unable to help give birth to the Philippines? How does this make any sense? What prophetic role exactly Marcos plays in the beginning Tim does not say but in order for his interpretation to be coherent he must be the same character and play the same role throught the poem. But here we see he is inutile. And what about Alisot and Pasho the rich man? Of what prophetic significance are they? Tim does not say. 

Lam-Ang is born with the gift of speech and immediately speaks of being baptized telling his mother to name him Lam-Ang.

When she succeeded in helping
The woman Namongan
The boy was born
And the baby then started to talk:
Ay mother Namongan
When you have me baptized
Please name me Lam-ang
And have as my godfather the old Gibuan.

Right away we see the Catholic elements in this poem. If Lam-Ang represents the Philippines and wishes to be baptized then that would mean the Philippines willingly accepted the Roman Catholic faith. This would destroy Tim's teaching that the Philippines was actually held captive by Roman Catholicism. The marriage of Lam-Ang's mother and father is referred to as a sacrament in the second stanza. Later on his marriage to Cannoyan will take place in a church and a mass will be said. Of what prophetic significance can that be except that Filipinos willingly accepted the mass? These elements do not necessarily prove the epic is not ancient but shows its syncretic nature.

At only nine months old Lam-Ang goes looking for his father in the mountains where he went to fight the Igorots. Finding his father's skull on a pike he challenges the Igorots and kills all of them except one with one fell swoop. He is able to do this through the aid of four magic stones he placed in his pocket.

He went to the forest
To the Igorot country
He went searching
For his father beholden.
He pocketed a stone of sagang
Also that of tangraban
A stone too of lawlawigan
And a stone of musang. 

He went through thick foliage

Also through bamboo clumps

He went through with such speed

Because of the centipede stone.

The footnote here says the following:

Magic stones endowing Lam-ang with magic powers from these particular birds and animals.

Of what prophetic significance are these stones? How is the use of magic stones consistent with a prophecy from the Hebrew God? Tim does not say and when he discusses this event he makes no mention of these magic stones which endowed Lam-Ang with the power of animals.

The sole survivor of Lam-Ang's vengeance was shown no pity.

He made fun of him
And took hold
Of the tattoed Igorot
And told him:
Now is your end!
He removed his teeth
And then his eyes
Next he cut off his ears
And also his hands.
Then he let go
The tattoed Igorot
And did not show any pity
Making sport of him.

What is this prophesying? That Filipinos are very cruel? Tim does not say. But the many news stories of people of all kinds being assassinated by unknown gunmen shows just how cruel and unforgiving Filipinos can be.

https://mb.com.ph/2022/05/21/minor-shot-several-times-his-neck-slashed-too-by-unidentified-assailants/

Afterwards Lam-Ang bathes with either 18 or 81 young maidens who wash his hair from all the dirt and blood of the Igorots. Instantly all the life in the river is killed. 

Ay dear mother Namongan,
Now please sound the gong
To inform
My young lady friends
Numbering twice nine
And nine times nine
That they can go and wash
In Amburayan River
My long, thick hair
Dirtied in the battle
All day long yesterday.

Then Lam-ang said:
Ay my young friends,
Please take 
The coconut dipper
And fetch water
Then wash my hair
In the middle of the river.
And when they had washed the hair
Of the man Lam-ang
Small shrimps died
Lobsters went ashore
Also small crabs
And small fishes floated
Also many eels.

How is that exactly a prophecy of the Philippines? Is it because Filipinos litter and many of the waterways in this nation are polluted? And what do the women symbolize? Perhaps the licentiousness of Filipinos? Duterte said his only job now is to look at pretty women. And remember when he said as long as there are beautiful women there will always be rape?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/08/31/philippine-president-says-so-long-women-are-beautiful-there-will-be-cases-rape/

Lam-Ang next goes to seek the hand of Cannoyan with the help of his hairy dog and talking rooster who speaks for him.

This is what
The yellow-legged cock
The white rooster
The rooster of Lam-ang said:
We came, apo, to pay our respects
To your daughter Cannoyan.
Apo, with your permission
We came to pay court.
This is what 
The yellow-legged cock said.

Tim pretty much covers everything from here on out. Lam-Ang is shown lots of gold and given tasks to perform which he does and is given the hand of Cannoyan in return. Then he dies and is resurrected.

But how is any of this a prophecy of the Philippines? In what consistent way can it be shown that Lam-Ang represents the Philippines? And how exactly is this based on Ezekiel and Isaiah? To call this epic poem a prophecy is to say it was inspired by God. What proof is there that this poem was inspired by God the same way Isaiah was who saw God face to face?

There is only one part at the end about Lam-Ang being restored by Marcos and Tim does not take into consideration that it is actually his pets who bring him back to life. The rest is a common fantasy. A young man endowed with superhuman strength avenges his father and wins the hand of the most beautiful woman in the land along with the help of enchanted objects in this case a talking rooster and magic stones. This is typical Hero's Journey stuff.

Let's not forget that before he even began Tim admitted he cannot prove any of this. I agree wholeheartedly. He absolutely cannot prove it, not because it's prophecy which is open to interpretation, but because it's not a prophecy at all. The role of Lam-Ang as representing the Philippines does not fit especially in the world view Tim paints because here we have Lam-Ang fully accepting Roman Catholicism. Not to mention there was no unified Philippines from Luzon to Mindanao until the Americans came. 

Thankfully not all of Tim's audience is buying his wares. The following response to a comment on this video is quite telling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIWsgUPuwUQ&lc=UgwbXcbdRaX7N4OzYGd4AaABAg

Melaine Tacud: But they Steal 10 Billion dollars from Philippine Government and the late President Marcos declare Martial Law that put many people in jail, torture, kill, many people who oppose to his rule... He has many Cronies rich family who becomes much richer during his Dictatorship and Presidency for 20 years. Philippines was not in Golden Age but in Bankruptcy, Peso currency to Dollar from 3 pesos it became 28 pesos and he lend millions dollars when he step down during EDSA PEOPLE POWER they doesn't admit it and say sorry for all of that and return the money they steal...

The God Culture: We don't care about politics and control lines. The Philippines is rising. Get ready or be left behind. Yah Bless.

Timothy Jay Schwab of The God Culture does not care about the truth. What a disingenuous piece of filth and rot. And he has no right to spew that, "We don't care about politics," line when clearly he is teaching that all truth about Marcos which can be found in news articles, books, and most important of all court documents is a CIA fabrication.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIWsgUPuwUQ&lc=UgyIjP51Z4pMZYcahSJ4AaABAg

Spidey Speaks: probably the funniest video TGC ever uploaded. Sir Tim you never lived in the Philippines during the time of Marcos, never felt the fear the police and military arouse among who sees them. cannot sing those funny songs which are critical to Marcos in fear your neighbors might snitch on you and you disappear -- forever. 

Maybe you got your info from a former IMF whistle-blower who says Marcos was the lawyer of a certain unknown, physically handicapped relative of British Queen Elizabeth who paid Marcos with gold shares. Marcos, along with a priest who supposedly was Jose Rizal in hiding his identity, were hired as caretakers of this British royalty's wealth. That is why Marcos was rich before becoming president. Am I right? 

Regardless I do believe that this Marcos family is one of God's curses upon the Philippines.

The God Culture: First that is false as some on the team most certainly did live during the time of Marcos and they do not agree with that sorted CIA-written narrative at all. However, The Life of Lam-Ang says what it says and we could care less about politics. You seem very jaded and uninformed and don't ever try to pull us into politics which we don't cover here. Yah Bless.

This video from The God Culture is not unexpected but it is troubling. Timothy Jay Schwab remains fully entrenched in his ignorance. He repeats many times in this video, and with a loud voice, that he has never been disproven despite I having done just that many times. The fact that he continues to spout off like a cry-baby wailing, "Nu-uh you didn't disprove me you illiterate blogger," at the top of his lungs rather than deal with the arguments I have presented is evidence of how bereft Tim is of both intelligence and honesty. No matter how loud he shouts his books and videos will never be true. Everything he has to say about the Philippines is a lie which makes him a liar par excellence. And now we have him condoning the evils of Ferdinand Marcos and his family because Marcos is allegedly prophesied as a savior in an ancient Filipino epic. What a crock! 

The God Culture: The Rivers From Eden Are Not Ocean Trenches

Timothy Jay Schwab of The God culture has a theory about the rivers from Eden mentioned in Genesis 2. He says the Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Euphrates rivers are deep sea ocean trenches. As a result of the flood they were covered up by the newly formed world ocean and now remain hidden. Before the flood they were a mega river system that watered the whole earth. Is this true? Let's take a look at the evidence he offers in his book Solomon's Treasure. Along the way I will offer some insights from his videos but I will primarily be sticking to his book which he claims is "the monumental case for the Philippines no one can disprove."

Here is a map of Tim's system which can be found in his annotated Book of Jubilees.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-god-culture-daniel-was-never-in.html

According to Tim no one in the past five years has ever been able to prove this theory wrong which means it is true. That is the logical fallacy known as the appeal to ignorance. 

Argument from ignorance (from Latin: argumentum ad ignorantiam), also known as appeal to ignorance (in which ignorance represents "a lack of contrary evidence"), is a fallacy in informal logic. It asserts that a proposition is true because it has not yet been proven false or a proposition is false because it has not yet been proven true. This represents a type of false dichotomy in that it excludes the possibility that there may have been an insufficient investigation to prove that the proposition is either true or false. It also does not allow for the possibility that the answer is unknowable, only knowable in the future, or neither completely true nor completely false. In debates, appealing to ignorance is sometimes an attempt to shift the burden of proof. 

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

Tim employs this argument quite often which goes to show he is not acquainted with basic logic.

This article will put his theory to the test. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer I shall drive a sharp stake into the heart of this theory turning it into dust and ashes.

Because this chapter is so long and involves a lot of intricacies I am going to focus on several key errors that bring this theory crashing down. The long and short of it is the rivers from Eden cannot be rivers formed by snow melt and rain because there was no rain until the flood and also no ocean. There are actually five rivers and not four. The main river starts in Eden, which Tim claims is the North Pole, flows down the middle of The Atlantic and breaks off into four branches. As with all of his other theories Tim's case rests on wrong etymology, wrong bible interpretation, assumptions, and a lack of understanding the source material he is appropriating. In this case that is the map showing what the earth would look like if the oceans were drained and the nature of ocean trenches and ridges.

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Solomon's Treasure, pg. 273

The River From Eden initiates in the North Pole which we identify as Eden not to be confused with the Garden of Eden planted in the East which we will cover in detail later. The river, then, operates continually across the Earth down between the Americas and Europe, then under Africa into the Indian Ocean and all the way under Australia into the Pacific Ocean until it reaches the coast of Mexico. Therefore, these must be downhill in slope which is a challenge for other theories. As the source river for the other four mega-rivers, scientifically, it must essentially be larger in volume than the other four branches which flow from it and that concurs. It has an average depth of 2.5 km (1.55 mi.) and an average width of 100 km (62.5 mi.). This is massive.

Solomon's Treasure, pg. 274

The Mid-Atlantic ridge does not begin at the North Pole. It is in fact a boundary line for the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. The ridge actually runs through the Arctic Ocean becoming the Gakkel Ridge, the Laptev Sea Ridge, finally connecting with the Chersky Range in Siberia. This fact alone destroys Tim's entire case which rests on his assumption that the Mid-Atlantic ridge is a sunken river with the headwaters in the North Pole.

This ridge also runs through Iceland and is a popular tourist destination.

https://www.amusingplanet.com/2014/09/the-mid-atlantic-ridge-in-iceland.html

That is not an ancient river bed, it's the meeting of two continents. Now, it's true you can go swimming in a part of the ridge called the Silfra fissure but that water originates in snow and not any underwater fountain.

Silfra is spring fed by groundwater originating as meltwater from Langjökull, Iceland's second largest glacier, about fifty kilometres north of the Þingvallavatn Lake.

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

Did Tim even bother to research the path of the mid Atlantic ridge? It goes through Siberia and continues until it meets the Philippine plate and then it diverges.  Here is a map of all the tectonic plates showing just that.

https://www.thoughtco.com/map-of-tectonic-plates-and-their-boundaries-1441098

Pison River

In Chapter 5 on Havilah, Land of Eve, we found that the Philippines leads the world in these three resources which define it as Ancient Havilah – gold, pearl and the onyx stone. To date, it maintains a leadership position in all three as it is the historic forerunner in gold abundance, has no rival in largest pearls on Earth and possesses the strongest onyx and marble from Romblon. Therefore, the Pison River must surround this whole land of the Philippines.

You can observe the culmination of the 65,000 kilometer Mid-Ocean Ridge off the coast of Mexico essentially. At that point begins a series of Oceanic Trenches which travel all the way up the coast of America to Alaska, then, over to Russia, down to Japan and splits and surrounds the whole land of the Philippines especially. This is the ancient Pison River, the first River From Eden that branches from the main source river. It is positioned at the end of the entire Eden River System yet it is ranked first. This is because Hebrew writing initiates from right to left or East to West in direction. Therefore, the Eastern-most river would be first.

Solomon's Treasure, pg. 275

The Pison river is listed first because its the last in the Eden River system and the Eastern-most river because Hebrew is read "right to left or East to West in direction." That is pretty ridiculous. I don't think even Origen could squeeze that out of the text and he was a master at the allegorical technique. But there is more hilarity to come.

The map to the adjacent top left identifies numerous trenches by name which were linked prior to the Flood as one river. Science, unaware, labels these by many names but they constituted one continuous river in antiquity.

Solomon's Treasure, pg. 276-277

Here is a clearer map of the ocean trenches surrounding the Philippines.

https://www.air-worldwide.com/blog/posts/2019/4/the-philippines-is-shaking-again/

What proof does Tim offer that these trenches were once all connected? He says that some trenches were filled in with sediment.

Understand, however, some of the areas of these trench systems have been filled in places due to sediment from modern rivers dumping into them over the continental shelves and some from the Flood. Therefore, they may not all still appear contiguous but once were and still there.

“A few trenches are partially filled with sediments derived from the bordering continents.” 

“Trenches that are partially infilled are known as “troughs” and sometimes they are completely buried and lack bathymetric expression.”

Solomon's Treasure, pg. 275

What proof does Tim give that all the trenches surrounding the Philippines were once connected and now filled with sediment? None. Not a single shred of proof just an assumption. Did he research the trenches that surround the Philippines?

Immediately to the north of the Philippine Trench is the East Luzon Trench. They are separated, with their continuity interrupted and displaced, by Benham Plateau on the Philippine Sea Plate.

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

The Philippine and East Luzon trenches are separated by Benham Rise which is an extinct volcano ridge and home to the world's largest caldera, the Apolaki Caldera.  It looks like this:

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

The trenches surrounding the Philippines are not currently connected and by all accounts never were connected. Tim makes the assumption they were but offers no proof except his previous statement that some trenches are now filled with sediment. The status of the Philippine Trench and the East Luzon Trench being interrupted and displaced by Benham Rise proves that his theory is wrong. 

Gihon River

Genesis 2:13 KJV

And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth (cabab: סבב)the whole land of Ethiopia (Kuwsh: כוש )

Compasseth: Hebrew: cabab: סבב: to turn, turn about or around or aside or back or towards, go about or around, surround, encircle, change direction.

We are seeking a river that surrounds all of Ethiopia as “compasseth” means surrounds or encircles essentially. Genesis then says the whole land which affirms the meaning. The challenge with this is most in modern times do not know where Ethiopia was considered when the Bible was written? They are confused by modern Ethiopia being named such because in history until the 1800’s, it was always identified as Abysinia. Their name is appropriate as they were part of ancient Ethiopia but a very small sliver. In order to understand where this river is located, we must understand this because there is no modern river surrounding the whole land of modern Ethiopia (Abysinia).

Solomon's Treasure, pg. 278

As you can see in the definition Tim gives the word translated does not only mean surround or encircle. Modern translations reflect this.

NIV: The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.

Berean Study Bible: The name of the second river is Gihon; it winds through the whole land of Cush.

CSB: The name of the second river is Gihon, which flows through the entire land of Cush.

HCSB: The name of the second river is Gihon, which flows through the entire land of Cush. 

https://biblehub.com/genesis/2-13.htm

Tim goes on to prove that historically Africa has been called Ethiopia. Therefore the Gihon River must surround the entire continent of Africa.

Even as late as 1611 when the King James was first published, those translators did not see Ethiopia as any less than all of Central Africa from East to West coast.

Therefore if this third Gihon River from Eden must surround the whole land of ancient Ethiopia, then it must surround the entire continent of Africa. It is not a tributary running through it and even the Nile does not fit especially since it’s source is rainfall which did not exist in Genesis 2 in verse 5. It must surround the whole land which places it on the bottom of the ocean floor. We have never seen a coherent theory on this one in the slightest. However, connecting to the Mid-Ocean Ridge leads to a Trench system which just so happens to surround the whole land of Africa or ancient Ethiopia. Later in this chapter, we provide a map of this as well as the trenches and basins that surround Africa so you can visualize.

Solomon's Treasure, pg. 280

According to Tim the Gihon River looks like this:

Solomon's Treasure, pg. 277

The problem here is that the picture Tim has drawn, that the African continental shelf is the banks of a river, does not match reality. Here is a map of The Atlantic Ocean floor:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiversity/en/2/2e/Atlantic-Ocean-Floor-Map.jpg

Tim does not offer any more about the Gihon river surrounding Africa by pointing out the trenches of which it is supposedly composed. As can be seen from this map there are no ocean trenches surrounding Africa. I guess they are covered in sediment?

3. Hiddekel River

The third river once again is accompanied by a description that one cannot ignore yet they do. In fact, they even replace the Hebrew word on this one with a modern river – the Tigris. That is erroneous.

Genesis 2:14a KJV

And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria.

East of Assyria means East of Assyria. That seems simplistic yet the traditional theory on this is far from reading the Bible. For one, there are some translations which insert the Tigris River spuriously and it misleads many. The logic almost seems reasonable. However, it is a complete misrepresentation of occult origin.

Solomon's Treasure, pg. 282

Tim offers two proofs in this section that the Hiddekel is not the Tigris as the Septuagint says. The second one is that Daniel mentions he had a vision while standing near the Hiddekel. I thoroughly dismantled that argument in an article which can be read here. 

The other argument is etymological.

First, before consulting Daniel who never lived on the Tigris River and never mentions the Tigris by it’s Hebrew name for obvious reason, we should consult a Lost Tribe of the Northern Kingdom as they were taken to Nineveh and surrounding areas right by the Tigris River which Daniel never lived. In the Book of Tobit, he literally comes out in Tobit 6:1 and identifies the Tigris River as TYGRYS(תיגרין) in Hebrew. That is not Hiddekel. However, there is a Hebrew name for the Tigris.

1 Kings 14:15 KJV

For the LORD shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the LORD to anger.

Isaiah 7:20 KJV

In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard.

The Lost Tribes of the Northern Kingdom were taken captive into Assyria beyond the Tigris River. The Southern Kingdom was later taken to Babylon which is on the Euphrates River mostly especially the palace where Daniel lived on or near. “The River” in Hebrew is the Tigris River. Why? It is to the Hebrews, the river of abomination where the occult was birthed as their legends begin there at Babel. There is a Hebrew word Euphrates used several times but the Tigris is only referred to as “The River” in Hebrew mentioned 26 times or so in scripture, usually referring to Northern Lost Tribes. Judaea from which Daniel originates never lived in Assyria. Here is a list of the mentions of the Hebrew Name for Tigris as The River in the King James Version twenty-six times for your consumption:

Ha Nahar. “The River” (הנהר) 

2 Chronicles 9:26; 1 Kings 14:15; Ezra 4:10, 4:11, 4:16, 4:17, 4:20, 4:23, 5:3, 5:6, 6:6, 6:8, 6:13, 7:21, 7:25, 8:36; Nehemiah: 2:7, 2:9, 3:7; Isaiah 7:20, 8:7, 11:15, 19:5, 23:3, 27:12; and Jeremiah 2:18.

Solomon's Treasure, pg. 284-285

Tim's argument is that the Hebrew name for the Hiddekel is not the same as the word for Tigris. It is Ha Nahar, "The River."  

First of all the reference to Tobit comes from Sefaria.org. At the link it can be seen that this edition of Tobit is from 1878. It can be found at the web archive. Reading the introduction spills a lot of light on this text.

We publish the Hebrew text from the first edition printed at Constantinople in 1516, which Sebastian Munster reproduced in 1542, and which is hence usually but wrongly called the Munster text, as if he had been the first who published it.

https://archive.org/details/booktobitachald00neubgoog/page/n16/mode/2up

Further research reveals that Munster translated Tobit into Hebrew from Greek!

Sebastian Münster, originally trained in Biblical languages as a Franciscan friar and later a leading Protestant, took one of them, retranslated it into Latin and simultaneously created a new Hebrew version as a veritable recreation of the Hebrew text that had been lost.

https://www.newberry.org/historia-tobiae?page=0%2C1

Even further research shows that two very old texts of Tobit in Hebrew, one of which dates back to the 11th century, were published in 1897. This text which the translator refers to as H.L has the word Hiddekel in Tobit 6:1.

https://archive.org/details/TwoUnknownHebrewVersionsOfTobitMosesGaster1897/page/n27/mode/2up?q=century

Tim did not even bother to research the Hebrew text used by Sefaria. He did not think to check its origin. If he had he would have learned that it is a relatively new text translated from the Greek. That makes it worthless for his purpose of proving that the Tigris and Hiddekel are not the same river. The 11th century Hebrew text does retain the word Hiddekel and gives more weight to its identity being the Tigris.

In Tim's next etymological foray we are to believe that the proper Hebrew name for the Tigris was "The River." He says this word is "Ha Nahar." However if you go search that out you will find the word "ha nahar" is used many times not just in reference to the Tigris. For example Genesis 15:18.

In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram,saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/gen/15/18/p0/t_conc_15018

"Ha Nahar" simply means the river. 

The proper Hebrew name for the Tigris is the Hiddekel as linguistic evidence shows.

The Ancient Greek form Tigris (Τίγρις) meaning "tiger" (if treated as Greek), was adapted from Old Persian Tigrā, itself from Elamite Tigra, itself from Sumerian Idigna or Idigina (probably derived from *id (i)gina "running water"). The Sumerian term, which can be interpreted as "the swift river", contrasts the Tigris to its neighbour, the Euphrates, whose leisurely pace caused it to deposit more silt and build up a higher bed than the Tigris. The Sumerian form was borrowed into Akkadian as Idiqlat and from there into the other Semitic languages (compare Hebrew Ḥîddeqel, Syriac Deqlaṯ, Arabic Dijlah)

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

And the name of the third river is the, Hiddekel, or "the darting," from חַד and דֶּקֶל, a sharp and swift arrow, referring to its rapidity. It is unanimously agreed that this must be identified with the Tigris; in the present language of the Persians designated tir, which signifies an arrow. It is styled in Aramaic diglath or diglah. That is it which goeth towards the east of Assyria. Its identity is thus placed beyond a question. 

https://biblehub.com/commentaries/genesis/2-14.htm

Euphrates River

Finally, the last river is the Euphrates or Parat in Hebrew but it cannot be the modern Euphrates which originates in rain and snow melt. It would have to flow backwards to work and there is no River From Eden feeding it nor connecting it to the three other branches at the same time. None of the narrative makes sense. However, we find the fourth and final branch of the Mid-Ocean Ridge (River From Eden) next to South America running up it’s coast (Map on bottom right). Oddly, Parat is rendered in Tagalog as well meaning “salty” and with the fountains of the great deep within, this whole system is salty. This is the fourth position where the Mid-Ocean Ridge veers into another leg. Exactly four and a perfect balance conforming to every detail of Genesis 2. You will find no other theory which does.

Solomon's Treasure, pg. 289-290

By process of elimination Tim concludes that the Parat, Euphrates River, is an ocean trench off the coast of South America. Do I really need to rebut this? Parat is translated Euphrates 18 times in the Bible and always means the river running through Iraq and not an ocean trench off the coast of South America. So now there are two Euphrates? How did that happen? Tim does not say. He's not finished though.

One thing we find extremely interesting is that the Filipino word “Tagalog” breaks down as “taga” and “ilog” meaning “People of the River.” Yet, we do not find a significant modern river in the whole Philippines that would define the inhabitants of the thousands of islands. No common denominator found in modern times. Should they not be referenced as the “People of the Ocean” instead. Here we have yet another clue that reveals this theory as they are the “People of The River” – the Pison River from Eden. Now it makes sense and no surprise in the land of Havilah.

Solomon's Treasure, pg. 289

For as much as Timothy Jay Schwab loves the Philippines one would think he would know that the Tagalogs are one people group among many and they all hail from Luzon. 

The word “Tagalog” is believed to have been derived from either one or both sets of contractions: “taga-ilog” and/or “taga-alog”. The prefix “taga” means “coming from” or “originating from” referring to a place of birth or residence. The word “ilog” means river. The word “alog” means a shallow place in a stream where people could wade to cross to the other side. The first word “taga-ilog” is the version in the explanation of the name of the Tagalog that they were river people.

The second word “taga-alog” is related to the first concept and was first articulated by H.O. Beyer who said that the ancient Tagalogs were people of the lowland areas where the “alog” was found.

The Tagalog culture was essentially a river and water-based culture. Fishing and agriculture were predominant means of livelihood. Most of the ancient cultural centers of the Tagalog regions were founded on river banks, specifically near the delta and the “wawa” or the mouth of the river, where the river meets the sea.

Riverine communities, especially those by the delta and river-mouth became centers of trade and commerce. In pre-Hispanic Philippines, some of these trade centers were Maynila, Tondo, Sapa, Pasig through the Pasig River; Talim, Bay, Pila, Lumbang through the Laguna de Bai; Balayan though Pansipit River; Lipa and Taal through Bonbon or Taal Lake.

https://ncca.gov.ph/about-ncca-3/subcommissions/subcommission-on-cultural-communities-and-traditional-arts-sccta/northern-cultural-communities/lowland-cultural-group-of-the-tagalogs/

That is enough for Tim's book. Now I want to show you how inconsistent he is. In his worldview there was no ocean before the flood, only these 5 rivers which are now ocean trenches. Listen to what he says in his Answers in Enoch series.

Answers in First Enoch Part 18: Enoch's Seven Antediluvian Rivers and the Rivers From Eden

25:43 One of them coming from the west pours its waters into the Great Sea. Now, Enoch is also identifying the Pison river here. How do we know? Well, look at it it flows from the coast of the americas west to Asia and the Great Sea here is the Pacific ocean. That is the greatest or largest of oceans today. Then we have two more rivers. Two and three we'll label them. Verse six, and these two come from the north to the sea and pour their waters into the Erythraean Sea. We know that is the Indian Ocean in all of history no doubt. And especially in this book of Enoch we've already covered that.

How can the Pison River be flowing into the Pacific Ocean when Tim teaches elsewhere there were no oceans until after the flood? For this theory to work the Pacific Ocean would have to be LOWER THAN these ocean trenches. That does not make any sense. Not to mention he teaches Cain walked all the way to Mexico from the Philippines!

36:04  He could have settled anywhere, in the Pacific perhaps founding maybe even the fabled Lemuria which is a nephilim kingdom because the nephilim took it over which is no surprise because Cain's lineage did in fact mate with nephilim, well, with angels to create and procreate the nephilim. But we find it far more likely he traveled even further east to higher ground. Why? Well, Cain would have known that the earth was going to be flooded. See, Adam knew this prophecy according to several accounts. We actually do cover that. We are not going to go into detail on this because this is an educated guess and no more because no one has found the road sign yet saying "Cain lived here." Just hasn't happened. 

If you follow the 10th parallel to the east from the Philippines specifically from the Garden of Eden area above ground through the Pacific you end up in south Mexico. Well, that's odd because there is an ancient city there built on top of a more ancient city, no one really knows how old it is so we don't have any data to prove it's exactly that old and this is definitely Cain's, we don't, we are speculated, speculating in an educated manner here. Here's what we find odd though and we've even heard Steve Quayle and others I believe mentioning this if I have that right. Tenochtitlan actually has the name of Cain's son and that's right there in south Mexico. Enoch the magician not the good one and that just happens to fit Cain naming his first city after Enoch. Can you fully prove that out? Well maybe you can we cannot, not right now but it is an interesting thought.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-god-culture-atlantis-lemuria.html 

How would Cain have walked to Mexico if there was a Pacific Ocean? He would not have been able to do so. Timothy Jay Schwab cannot even keep up with his own system. 

This is the first in-depth look I have given to Tim's entire Rivers From Eden theory. None of his theory fits with the reality that those boundaries he claims are trenches are actually tectonic plates. In the case of trenches they don't all connect. It's bad etymology, bad geography, and bad bible interpretation like everything else he does. To quote the God Culture:

Answers in First Enoch Part 14: Land of the Righteous Duidain, Philippines

That's a rather extreme view. Not one worth consideration. Yah Bless.

Tim loves to crow about no one being able to refute his theory but now I have done exactly that. He might ask me, "So where are the rivers?" The answer is I don't know. The Euphrates and Tigris are well documented. I am not going to speculate nor do I need to. The problem is Tim thinks he can know everything and that gets him to concoct extreme theories that he claims are eternal verities which he can't even keep up with as we see in his Answers in Enoch video.