The God Culture: Obsessive Paranoia Leads Timothy Jay Schwab to Commit Fraud

Timothy Jay Schwab of The God Culture is obsessed with this blog. In fact he is down right paranoid thinking that all I have written about him and his teachings poses an existential threat to his project. On his websites, in his books, and in his videos he refers to this blog sometimes directly and other times in oblique terms never naming me but warning people to stay away from here and accusing me of various crimes. Let's take a look at this obsession of his and see where it has led him. Spoiler alert: it's led him to commit fraud as the title says.

First of all let's look over his biography which is spread across several websites.

https://www.thegodculture.com/our-founder

After extensive prayer and vetting by the large church in which they ministered, they were married in that church by those pastors following Biblical and civil laws. Do not entertain libelous fake news sites and channels on any topic when they are inept in understanding Matthew 5 and Matthew 19 actually affirming the Law of Moses' interpretation of reasons for divorce from Deuteronomy 24 of which this couple has been vetted and approved by appropriate, Biblical authorities including Jesus in His own words.  Anyone who cannot read the word "except" and understand it, is not one who should be listened to on any topic as they clearly have no desire to understand the Bible and when they change the words of Messiah and His meaning He explains, they are frauds. Steer clear.

This little blurb is to be found on Tim's Facebook page, Amazon page, Bookofjubilees.org, and TimothySchwab.com. Though he does not name me this is a clear and unambiguous reference to my Biography of Timothy Jay Schwab.  In that biography I revealed that Tim is married to a divorced woman. He is her third husband and she his second wife. Whatever the circumstances of their respective divorces the command of Jesus to not marry a divorced woman is crystal clear.

Matthew 5:32  But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

Matthew 19:8 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery. 

Mark 10:12 And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.

We need not have a long Bible study here comparing the Old and New Testaments. Whatever Tim and Anna's reasoning for ending their former marriages may be the fact is Jesus prohibits their union because Anna is a divorcée. He calls such an union adultery. Jesus says Tim and Anna are adulterers.

This is important to know because Tim preaches a legalist doctrine that, "the law is what redeems us." Keeping the law is what engrafts us into Christ. Relationship with God means keeping the law. He has recently begun a new series of videos about the commandments of the New Testament! 

https://youtu.be/UJW97hu29Cc

But all the while he is teaching this doctrine about keeping the law he is breaking the law by hypocritically being in an active state of adultery which is condemned by Jesus Christ Himself.

Tim is so hysterical that I revealed this fact he thought it seemed fit to announce to the world that his marriage to Anna is sound, being properly vetted by the Presbyterian Church they formerly attended. Of course it's not like they believe anything that Church teaches like the Trinity or the Five Points so why would they trust the Church's judgement about their marriage? It's just more hypocrisy.

The second reference to me to take note of is also on the God Culture's website.

Their team works on a volunteer basis to assist Timothy and Anna in their aims and they will remain anonymous because they do not desire credit – just the restoration of truth. Besides, they will all allow Timothy to be pictured with libelous clown faces, nasty names, racist Indian headdresses, outright lies, and all of the Cyber Libel and illegal behavior that has followed. They expected ridicule but not from these illiterate children posing as adults whose only intent is to libel, disparage, slander, deceive, marginalize, and ultimately polarize because what they cannot do is disprove. The Philippines will rise against this corruption and throw it out on its ear because Messiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel said so. 

https://www.thegodculture.com/crew

This is a reference to at least two articles I wrote about The God Culture. The first with the clown faces refers to "Flat Earthers and Pharisees From Clown World" where I analyzed what Tim has to say about the flat-earth. He does teach the earth is flat. Just read through what I wrote and fact check it in his videos. He repeatedly brings up the flat earth even in his new books "Solomon's Treasure" and his annotated version of Jubilees. The article ends with this picture:

Tim thinks this photoshop is illegal!  Here is his complaint to Google.

1. Picture of me illegally defaced with a world photoshopped onto my shirt in fraudulent representation. 2. Picture of me illegally defaced with a world pasted over my face. 3. My photo illegally defaced with clown face imposed on top. Harassment, Cyber Libel, fraud and infringing my personal image.

https://www.lumendatabase.org/notices/21101800

If photoshopping is illegal then the whole internet is going to have to be shut down. Just search for any celebrity or politician and Photoshop. Try Donald Trump and you get hundreds of what Tim claims are illegal images infringing on Trump's personal image. Has he sued anyone for making those images? No. That's because photoshopping is not illegal. It's fair use.

The part about the Indian Headdress concerns an article titled "More Stuff the God Culture Says." In that article I commented on Tim claiming to be part Native American. It's a ridiculous claim seeing as he is clearly a white man. To highlight the absurdity of this claim I included a picture similar to the following which The God Culture calls racist.

What is racist about that? They don't say. I suppose they ought to go after the website whose filter I used to make this photo.

The page that all this is mentioned on is a biography of The God Culture's Research Crew. One would think that the space would be used to tell us all about the team. Who's on it, what are their qualifications, and other relevant information. Instead we get this:

Their members are former ministers mostly with non-denominational mega-churches of varied educational backgrounds and business experience who have watched what they view as the degradation of Yahuah's concept of ekklesia mixed and infused with several occult principles.

What does business experience have to do with The God Culture's research project? What's preferable, a CEO or a Phd who is familiar with ancient texts and who could actually contribute something relevant? In his bio Tim tells us that he is working on a project to "restore Dead Sea Scrolls understanding." Are there actual Dead Sea Scroll scholars on the team? People who are familiar with the ancient languages and cultures of the Middle East? What qualifies this team to work on such a project? Tim should have used this space to tell us more about the team especially their educational attainments and qualifications. But instead he tells us nothing and rants against me. What a waste.

The next reference to this blog is a little more oblique and is on the back cover of Tim's annotated The Book of Jubilees.

Examine the Book of Jubilees with The Torah Test.

Many of us have been programmed with an immediate fort in response to books like Jubilees found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. However, this book never disappeared but remained inspired scripture over the centuries. In the beginning of this book, we will put the Book of Jubilees to the Torah Test. Let us no longer rely on a blogpost from a disingenuous Pharisee to determine scripture but prove it out directly as we are told in 1 Thessalonians 5:21: Prove all things hold fast that which is good. Torah Test inside. 

What is "an immediate fort in response?"

Given how much Tim has railed against me in his biography I am certain that this a reference to my article about Jubilees. In that article I laid the text bare and demolished Tim's arguments for it being scripture. Why Tim would waste space mentioning me, or whatever blog he might be referring to, is not clear. My article did not spring from my head all alone as I extensively used VanderKam's commentary. If anyone can completely devastate Tim's arguments for Jubilees it is him. Yet Tim mentions his commentary positively on page 282 of his version of Jubilees as a "Source of Note." It is therefore irrational to call me and my blog disingenuous when it appears Tim approves of the source for all I wrote.

I recently wrote a second article about the Book of Jubilees where I trashed Tim's annotated version and exposed it for being the unscholarly and unhistorical piece of garbage it is. The man literally thinks Noah was referring to FAIRBANKS, ALASKA when he was dividing the Earth among his sons. Two weeks later he published a preview video for a new series he is working on called, "Answers in Jubilees." I suppose that is a clever send-up of Ken Ham's Answers in Genesis. In the description he warns people to stay away from my blog.

https://youtu.be/lgasF1-6vi0

Get ready for a New Series, Answers In Jubilees. A 52-Week YouTube exploration of The Book of Jubilees. WARNING: This requires mature believers who are capable of discerning for themselves without being swayed by a Pharisee blog of false paradigms that our published already exposed.

Will he address the criticisms I laid out in my second article about Jubilees? Will he insist that Noah was referring to FAIRBANKS, ALASKA or will he retract that nonsense? (It turns out he gaslighted his audience by denying he ever affirmed that Noah was referring to Fairbanks, Alaska.) Will he discuss some of the bizarre stories like Eve being shut out of the Garden of Eden for 80 days because she was impure after being created? Will he discuss the contradictions between Jubilees and Genesis/Exodus such as in Exodus God Himself kills the firstborn while in Jubilees it is "all the powers of Mastema" also known as Satan? On his note for Jubilees 49:2 Timothy actually says Exodus is inconsistent while Jubilees is consistent!!!

Cf. Ex. 12:27 says Yahuah struck the households and delivered at the same time but that is not consistent. Jubilees is

Is Tim aware there is a book that discusses some of the many contradictions within the text of Jubilees?

The Book of Jubilees: Rewritten Bible, Redaction, Ideology and Theology 

Likely he would brush off such a learned tome from an expert on the subject as "pure ignorance from a false paradigm."

What is the reason for including this WARNING? Who is relying on my blog posts to determine for them whether or not Jubilees is scripture? There are many blogs and videos and books that discuss Jubilees. I am not the only one talking about it. Why single me out? Is Tim so stupid that he does not understand that his statement can be equally applied to him or to any other group? What he really means is, "Don't be swayed by all the scholars who have spent their lives studying Jubilees and have different conclusions than us." 

The fourth reference to me is in "Solomon's Treasure" on page 137.

The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, pg. 137

We had one question the "belief" of Adrian Horridge yet his "belief" is clear here and Justice Carpio was accurate in his rendering of such. In our Sourcebook we offer that detail for your review.

Unless anyone else has debated with the God Culture concerning what Professor Horridge wrote about the Austronesians then this is a reference to me.  But why refer to that exchange here? It really has no place in the book. I emailed professor Horridge pages 135-137 of Tim's book in order to get his opinion on Tim's use of his work. He called both Justice Carpio and Timothy Schwab's interpretation rubbish. 

The fifth reference The God Culture makes about this blog stems from a letter Tim has been sending to everyone who buys books directly from him.  

Four years ago, we set out to educate especially the Philippines restoring their history and most importantly the understanding of prophecy. We realize this revelation sets off major fire alarms among the colonialists and all who have been trained to oppose the rising of the Philippines. Of course, they cannot overcome the words of Messiah and they will fail. You may have noticed however, that our YouTube Channel has been greatly attacked by YouTube itself refusing to notify subscriber which has been reported to them many times and never have we received even an acknowledgment from YouTube. In time we will address this even in court if needed. Facebook is guilty of the same in which we have well documented. Google is also complicit even placing a Facebook post 8 months old with no likes on a site with 80 followers above over four websites with our own bio newly released of many thousands of views and even our own Facebook posts with over 500 likes, hundreds of comments, thousands of engagements and thousands of views on the same. That is not natural nor is there a remote possibility for any algorithm to do such yet they do.

That is a reference to my back-up Facebook page Philippinesfails. If you Google "Timothy Jay Schwab Philippines" it is actually the third hit. "Timothy Schwab Philippines" brings it up a slot to number two. The God Culture wrote a long missive against me on their Facebook page which contains the following:

He uses our name and logo to attempt to get views because we have a real following and he manipulates Google even in fraud.

In fact, he has to fraud Google to come up #2, 3 and 4 in a search under Tim's name. Imagine an international author releasing 3 books with bios on Amazon Author Central, Author's Den and other very credible sources along with 4 credible websites with credible bios for Tim and yet this idiot's 9-month old FB post with 1 like and no comments is preferred by Google as #2, then his blog and then, #4 his tweet to 21 people saying nothing. Whomever idiot he has inside Google is making Google look like a fool and exposing them to serious consequences.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=702613830298637&id=376627072897316&comment_id=703308466895840

That entire post is full of ignorant and even libelous claims against me. None of what they write about me is true and the things they get close to being true are still false especially the claim that I stole Tim's Social Security number which  may or may not be 21*-6*-****. As if I could possibly do such a thing as steal his SSN. All the information I have gathered about Timothy Jay Schwab is derived from public sources available online. There is quite a lot out there of which he is most certainly unaware.

The most bizarre claim they make is that I am both conspiring with and defrauding Google to get my page up in the rankings. Of course they never lay bare the nature of this fraud. Instead they fling the accusation and thus libel me. I am most certainly not defrauding Google nor do I have an inside man in Google nor am I a Communist which they also allege. Do they even know what Communism is? A typical Communist tactic is to accuse your opponent of that which you are guilty. In this case that is exactly what Timothy Jay Schwab and his second wife Anna Rose Gacayan Zamoranos are doing. It is they who are defrauding Google to get their webpages up in the rankings.

Just take a look at their websites and see for yourself.

https://www.thegodculture.com/our-founder

https://www.ophirinstitute.com/bio

Timothy Jay Schwab Philippines

Timothy Schwab.   Ophir Philippines

Biography of Timothy Jay Schwab

Biography of Timothy Schwab

Biography of Timothy Schwab Philippines

Biography of Timothy Jay Schwab Philippines

PhilippinesFails.     

Ophirian Heritage Conservatory

That is called hidden text and it is not something of which Google approves. In order to see this text just go to the link and type Ctrl-A. That will select all the elements on the page and it will reveal what is hidden. The next bit of hidden text is even more sneaky.

https://www.timothyschwab.com

"Timothy Jay Schwab and Anna Zamoranos-Schwab The God Culture The Levite Bible Ophir Institute Author, The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, Ophir is Philippines, Philippines is Ophir, Ophirian Heritage, PhilippineFails The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea  Antonio Pigafetta’s Journal  The Cambridge Ancient History  The Smithsonian Institute  Yale University  The Israel Museum  The Louvre Museum  British Museum  Pomponius Mela, Chorographia  Flavius Josephus  The surueye of the vvorld... Dionysius Periegetes  The Voyages and Adventures of Fernando Mendez Pinto, The Portuguese (Cogan)  Pliny the Elder (Historia Naturalis)  The Philippine Islands (Blair, Robertson)  ​Europe and the Far East (Sir Robert K. Douglas, Cambridge University Press, 1904)  The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology  ​The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology  The Institute for Maritime and Ocean Affairs  History of the Philippine Islands (Antonio de Morga, 1609)  ArcheoSciences Journal  The Carpenter R"

This hidden text is concealed behind an image of Tim and Anna. In fact this same text is concealed beneath other pictures on his site as well.

https://www.timothyschwab.com

His website Book of Jubilees dot org also has hidden text.

https://www.bookofjubilees.org

ANSWERS IN JUBILEES 52 Week Study Timothy Schwab Philippines Biography PhilippinesFails PhilippineFails Ophirian Heritage Butch Belgica

It is interesting that this set of hidden text has "Butch Belgica." Is Tim trying to divert traffic from Butch's website? That would be pretty rude seeing as Butch wrote the "Foreward" to Tim's book.

The only way to see it is to right click on the picture and select "inspect element." Even though the user cannot see the hidden text on these three pages Google can and they don't like it. In fact it is a classic tactic to manipulate search engines in order push your website to the top. It is nothing more or less than spam and placing hidden text on your website could result in penalties from Google.

https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/guidelines/hidden-text-links

Hiding text or links in your content to manipulate Google's search rankings can be seen as deceptive and is a violation of Google's Webmaster Guidelines. Text (such as excessive keywords) can be hidden in several ways, including:

• Using white text on a white background
• Locating text behind an image

What can we learn from all this? What we learn is Timothy Jay Schwab and the God Culture are obsessive and paranoid about this blog. So much so that now they have engaged in fraud by using hidden text in an attempt to redirect Google searches to their webpage. They are literally doing what they have accused me of doing. As a result it is possible their websites could go down in the rankings. Let's not forget about Bing, Yahoo, Duck Duck Go, and other search engines. Am I defrauding them too? 

Bing

Duckduckgo

Yahoo

Is that a conspiracy or is it the algorithm? Tim knows it's the algorithm and that's why he's attempting to manipulate it. But he better watch out. Those search engines could also penalize The God Culture's websites for using hidden text and push them down in the rankings.

This is all because they are scared that someone has tested them and shown everything they teach to be outright lies.  It's too bad that I appear to be the only one taking Timothy Jay Schwab and the God Culture seriously by fact checking their claims. It's really amazing how many people have been deceived by this guy but it should not be so surprising. After all there are two million members of Iglesia Ni Cristo.

The God Culture: 100 Lies About the Philippines: Lie #16: Duarte Barbosa Places the Lequios in the Philippines

Welcome back to 100 lies The God Culture teaches about the Philippines. Today's lie once again concerns the identification of the Lequios Islands. Timothy Jay Schwab claims that Duarte Barbosa's description of the Lequios Islands is the Philippines. As we shall see this is simply another lie.

In his videos Tim says:

The Lequios of Luzon: Key to Finding Ophir and Chryse. Clue #52 

9:08 Now then, quotes Barbosa. "Facing this great land of China," oh, is Malaysia facing China? No. "There are many islands in the sea beyond which on the other side of the sea there is a very large land which they say is mainland," in other words a large island, "from which there come to Malacca every year three or four ships like those of the Chins." You mean Chinese junks? Right. Exactly. The Philippines is documented by Pigafetta to have several by the way. Now, "belonging to white men," we will explain this, "who are said to be great and rich merchants. They bring much gold and silver in bars, silk rich cloth, and much very good wheat, beautiful porcelains and many other merchandises. All merchandises found in the Philippines.

In his book The Search for King Solomon's Treasure Tim says mostly the same thing. 

The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, pg. 37

Exploring Malaysia, the Portuguese Duarte Barbosa observed a people known as the “Lequios” or “Lequii” or in some sources, “Lucoes.” This people is later specified even by Pigafetta as originating in the Philippines as we will cover in the history chapter. The Lequios were described as:

“From Malaca they take the same goods as the Chins [Chinese] take. These islands are called Lequios [in one version ‘Liquii’]. The Malaca people say that they are better men, and richer and more eminent merchants than the Chins.” –Duarte Barbosa, 1516 [148]

Nowhere in his book or videos does Tim actually cite from Duarte Barbosa's book. The above quote which looks like it is from Barbosa is actually from Charles E. Nowell's introduction to his book Magellan's Voyage Around the World: Three Contemporary Accounts. 

Something else was on his agenda of discovery, and he thought he knew where to find it. 

That something was the island cluster composed of Formosa and the Ryukyus, the latter known to the Portuguese, who had not yet visited them, as Lequios. Duarte Barbosa, who wrote a geographical account of the countries bordering on the Indian Ocean and those within range of the ocean, has this to say of the Ryukyu inhabitants: 

From Malaca they take the same goods as the Chins [Chinese) take. These islands are called Lequios [in one version ‘Liquii']. The Malaca people say that they are better men, and richer and more eminent merchants than the Chins. Of these folk we as yet know but little, as they have not yet come to Malaca since it has been under the King our Lord.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822013755558&view=1up&seq=34

As you can see from the bolded part Tim cites word for word Nowell's text about Barbosa's description of the Lequios Islands which means he has not read Barbosa's book. That will prove to be his undoing. 

Tim is very adamant that the Lequios cannot be the Ryukyu Islands because the Lequios are not Japanese. 

The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, pg. 163

Some attempt an etymology of the Liu Kiu in the Ryukyu Islands of Japan yet Lequios are not Japanese, these are not Southeast of China and never found there but in the Philippines which boasts a much more direct etymology and several. It is no surprise that the Lequios, Lequii or Lucoes equate to Iloconos of Ilocos.

Of course the Lequios are not Japanese but neither are the Ryukyu Islands Japan! It's all a lying canard. A closer look at the itinerary in Barbosa's book shows that the Lequios Islands cannot be the Philippines, specifically Luzon. 

Starting at the Cape of Good Hope Barbosa describes 127 locations. He ends with the Lequios Islands. Just looking at the itinerary shows it is not possible for the Lequios Islands to be the Philippines. Location 113 is Sumatra.

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.47303/page/n19/mode/2up

Continuing Eastward 115 is Java Major, 116 is Java Minor, 120 is the Maloucca Islands. That would be the Spice Islands where Magellan was headed. 121 is Celebes and 123 is Solor which is the Sulu Archipelago.

Solor here evidently refers to the Sulu Archipelago and not to the Island of Solor in the Lesser Sunda Islands. The name includes not only the chain of islands between Borneo and Mindanao, but also the north-eastern part of Borneo itself, which still bears the name Sulu. The expression "very large island" can only refer to this tract. The islands were skirted by the Spanish expedition on their way to the Moluccas after leaving Borneo, and are called Zolo by Pigafetta. Colo (i.e. Colo) appears in Ribero's map of 1529. 

124 is Borneo, 125 is Champa which is Vietnam, 126 is China, and finally 127 is the Lequios Islands. See how the progression from Sumatra has gone east and then north? If Barbosa had wanted to describe the Lucoes he would have done that after describing Borneo. But instead he goes from Borneo to Vietnam and then to China. Why would he deviate his course and return south? He would not. The Lequios Islands are not the Philippines. They are the Ryukyu Islands and Formosa also known as Taiwan. His description is as follows:

FACING this great land of China there are many islands In the Sea, beyond which stretch a very great land which they say is the mainland. Hence every year come to Malaca three or four ships like those of the Chins belonging to certain white folk, who they say are great and rich merchants. 

They bring a great quantity of gold, silver in bars, silk and rich cloths, a great deal of good wheat, fine porcelains, and many other goods. From Malaca they take the same goods as the Chins take. [These people are called Liquii. Rinnasio. These islands are called Lequeos. Spanish version.] The Malaca people say that they are better men, and richer and more eminent merchants than the Chins. Of these folk we as yet know but little, as they have not yet come to Malaca since it has been under the King our Lord. 

That last sentence is very important. Barbosa composed his book in 1516 which was a year before the Lequios Islands were visited by the Portuguese in 1517 by Jorge de Mascarenhas with the help of Chinese pilots. He says they had not yet come to Malaca. But Tome Pires, who completed his Summa Oriental in 1515, says the Lucoes were trading in Malaca.

The Lucoes are about ten days' sail beyond Borneo. They are nearly all heathen; they have no king, but they are ruled by groups of elders. They are a robust people, little thought of in Malacca. They have two or three junks, at the most. They take the merchandise to Borneo and from there they come to Malacca.

Pires, pg. 133

The Lequios were not trading in Malaca in 1516 but the Lucoes were. That means they are not the same people. If Tim had done actual research he would have known that fact. 

It is quite simple to follow Barbosa's course from South Africa to China. There is no question that the Lequios Islands are not the Philippines. But Timothy Jay Schwab did not bother to actually read Barbosa or Tome Pires or Ferdinand Pinto. Instead he relies on second hand sources and he gets everything wrong. As I have said before this shoddy research is not the work of a team but is more evidence The God Culture is the work of Timothy Jay Schwab alone. Duarte Barbosa did not identify the Lequios Islands with the Philippines.

The God Culture: 100 Lies About the Philippines: Lie #15: Magellan Thought the Philippines Was Ophir and the Lequios Islands

Welcome back to 100 lies The God Culture teaches about the Philippines. Today's lie once again concerns the identification of the Lequios Islands. Timothy Jay Schwab claims that Ferdinand Magellan thought the Philippines were both the Lequios Islands and Ophir. But as with all of his other claims we shall see this is a lie. 

This lie is based on a single sentence in Charles Nowell's introduction to his book Magellan's Voyage Around the World: Three Contemporary Accounts.

The Lequios of Luzon: Key to Finding Ophir and Chryse. Clue #52 

12:44 Now continues. This is the key. Magellan's version substitutes for Barbosa's Lequios, Lucoes, the words Tarsis and Ofir. The biblical Tarshish and Ophir associated with Solomon. This is from Barbosa's journal while in Malaysia. While there Magellin found out where Ophir was and it was not Malaysia. There is no overcoming this for any land and there is no debate, period. Magellan found Ophir. Done

The conclusion here, that Magellan found Ophir and Tarshish because he subsititued those names for Lequios, and it is Lequios not Lucoes, absolutely does not follow. Let us not forget that Columbus thought he found Japan. It should also not be forgotten from the previous articles that the Lequios Islands are not the Philippines. Tome Pires differentiates between the Lucoes and Lequios islands.  Ferdinand Pinto was shipwrecked in the Lequios Islands and located them at 29 North Latitude. Magellan died in the Philippines and his ships never made it north to the Lequios Islands. So, everything Tim has just said is proven by those few facts to be a complete and total fabrication.

Nevertheless it will be necessary to dig a little deeper on this matter which is why this subject of the Lequios Islands has covered several articles. Tim writes the following in his book The Search for King Solomon's Treasure:

The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, pg. 37

Magellan, who also explored under Portugal in Malaysia before embarking on his voyage to return to Southeast Asia for the Spanish crown, is recorded by author Charles E. Nowell as rewriting a portion of his copy of Barbosa’s journal. In regards to the inhabitants of the Philippines, the Lequios, he substitutes “Tarsis” and “Ofir” or Tarshish and Ophir. He knew where he was headed and he knew Malaysia did not meet the criteria for Ophir or Chryse though close in proximity, it was East of the Malay Peninsula which he found in the Philippines.

“Magellan’s version substitutes for Barbosa’s “Lequios” the words “Tarsis” and “Ofir” “...the Biblical Tarshish and Ophir associated with Solomon...” – Charles E. Nowell [148]

Nowell's source for this information is an article in the Bulletin de la Societé Belge de Geographie from 1907. Let's take a look at exactly what this article says. I have translated it from the French. 

https://books.google.com.ph/books?id=gS4yAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA435&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false

Barbosa's report, written before 1516, summarizes the knowledge acquired at this time in Portugal, about India and Oceania; the author is led there to speak of the Lequios, at the end of his description of the South Asian kingdoms and islands, a description all the more precious as it comes from an intelligent traveler, who has actually visited most of the places he cited; wanting to end this general overview with some information on the countries not yet discovered, he could not help reproducing certain half-fantastic, half-authentic notions which circulated at that time about the countries and archipelagos of the Ptolemaic Magnus Sinus.

Barbosa's book summarizes all the knowledge the Portuguese had about the East and ends with a description of the Lequios Islands. It should be noted this book was written before the Lequios Islands were discovered by the Portuguese in 1517 so the knowledge Barbosa had of them was based on hearsay. I will discuss this book in a future article. 

In the General Archive of the Indies in Seville, we found in a bundle of the Patronato which contains one of the rare documents from the hand of Magellan, from the year 1519, a document which has the title "List of places, islands and main ports from the Cape of Good Hope to the Lequios, which are not yet discovered, besides other information that we have in Portugal."

We did not find the author's name; on the back of the parchment we find with difficulty deciphering a few words (et no hic unum homum aassim in quo?) which vaguely recall Magellan's firm declaration at the end of the other piece "no one knows these geographical situations (of South America South and East Asia) as well as me!." The address is better read "Muy magn' Senior, por mandao suo— A suy Senora"; it seems to indicate that the piece was presented to the young king Charles, the future Charles 5th, through the intermediary of the president of the consul of the Indies, the bishop of Burgos, Juan de Fonseca, whose characteristic title was: "Su Senior.”

The author of the archive inventory assigns the document the date of 1520-1530, without examining whether there could be any direct relationship between the different pieces contained in the bundle, among others with the Magellan manuscript. Now, the anonymous memoir is nothing more than a fragment of the book of Oduarte Barbosa, relating to the Far East. The arrangement that the author has adopted in his description differs slightly from that which we have given above according to the edition of the "Book published by the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon:

Sumatra, Cumda. Java major, Java minor, Timor, Vandam, Meluq, China, Tarsis, Ofir.

The author of this article says they found an ANONYMOUS document amongst a bundle of other documents attributed to Magellan. The author of this article does not know for sure if the documents belonged to Magellan and he himself actually substituted Tarsis and Ofir for Lequios. However he believes that is a logical assumption.

From the fact that the manuscript is joined to the remarkable document of Magellan, it seems to us that we can draw the conclusion that the navigator presented to the king the rectified report of his friend Barbosa, the day before his departure for the Moluccas, accompanying it with the formal declaration relative to the astronomical determination of several points of the globe, of which the right of taking possession by Portugal had been disputed by Spain.

But take a look at the progression of lands. We start in Sumatra, pass Java, reach China, and then arrive at the Lequios islands. There is no possible way that is the Philippines when the whole progression goes north. This will be made abundantly clear when I discuss Barbosa's book.

Further on the author of this article writes:

It took more than half a century to see a non-Portuguese geographer, our Mercator, mark on a printed work the discovery of the Lequios in the year 1517. Barbosa and Magellan may very well have been informed of the results of the Perestrello's trip, but they probably ignored the details of Mascarenhas' expedition.

Mercator's 1569 map shows both the Lequios Islands and the Philippines.

https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b7200344k/f9.item.zoom

 

See how the Lequios Islands are located near Japan? That's because, as the author of this article writes:

The greater number of geographers, following Pigafetta, ignored the islands of the Lequios, and only understood under this name the inhabitants of a part of the coast of China

The Lequios Islands were not unknown to the Portuguese who first encountered them in 1517 with the help of the Chinese. 

It was not until the second half of the sixteenth century that the configuration of these islands began to be defined, thanks to a better knowledge of the Lusitanian cartography of eastern Asia; Portugal had therefore succeeded in keeping secret the results of its discoveries, accomplished since 1517, the year in which the Lequios had been recognized by Jorge de Mascarenhas with the help of Chinese pilots;

Given all that information there is absolutely no way Magellan could have thought that the Philippines was the Lequios Islands. From Barbosa's account he would have known beyond doubt that the Lequios Islands lay to the north between China and Japan. 

As for Barbosa and Magellan identifying the Lequios Islands with Ophir and Tarshish the author of this article discusses at length the search for Ophir and concludes:

The confusion of Ophir with the Lequios islands, by Barbosa and Magellan, constitutes only one more episode in the long series of hypotheses, concerning the existence of the country of gold of the Bible, hypotheses based on rumors more or less waves of unknown lands. 

It was just another hypothesis based on rumor. It's unsurprising that Timothy Jay Schwab did not seek out this article and quote from it to make his case because, as we have seen, he is a very poor researcher. The fact is no one in the 1500's or today knows the location of Ophir. India and the Malaysian Peninsula are the likely candidates as ancient Greek and Roman knowledge of the world went no further than the Malaysian Peninsula. As for Magellan's substituting Tarsis and Ofir for Lequios, we have seen that is based not on fact but a logical guess rather than hard and definitive documentation. Based on all available information Magellan also would have known that the Lequios Islands were much further to the north than the Philippines. So all in all it's simply a lie that Magellan thought the Philippines were the Lequios Islands as well as Ophir. 

The God Culture: 100 Lies About the Philippines: #14 Tome Pires Equates the Lequios and Lucoes

Welcome back to 100 lies the God Culture teaches about the Philippines. Today's lie once again concerns the identification of the Lequios and Lucoes. Last time we looked at Timothy Jay Schwab's misunderstanding of Pigafetta's journal.  Today we will look at his ignorance of Tome Pires' Summa Oriental.

Even though Tim does use Tome Pires as a source he does not have much to say about what he writes. 

The Lequios of Luzon: Key to Finding Ophir and Chryse. Clue #52

18:31 Tome Pires writes The Leqouis bring swords worth thirty cruzados each  and many of these. Many. Cool. It appears a cruzado is equal to that of a Spanish ducat. 30 ducats in today's value in gold would be about 4,500 US dollars. This is a serious sword and a serious amount of money and they had many of them? Wow. One must wonder if maybe these swords are gold plated perhaps like the daggers of the Ophirians.

The Lequios of Luzon: Key to Finding Ophir and Chryse. Clue #52

19:35 The island of Japan according to what all the Chinese say is larger than that of the LUCOES. Japan's largest island by the way, Honshu, is more  than twice as large as Luzon the largest island in the Philippines so that does fit. They do not often  trade in China because it is far off and they have no junks. What? They have no junks. Doesn't mean they don't have ships but they don't have junk ships but that's a key because junk ships are associated with the LUCOES  often in these quotes in court even Pigafetta as we shared  already. Nor are they seafaring men. See Lequois have junks and they are seafaring men. Japan is not. The Leqouis, LUCOES, go to Japan in seven or eight days and take the said merchandise and trade it  for copper, gold and copper. Now, again, two resources that fit the Philippines and also the trip in days also fits the trip from the Philippines. So very reasonable that all of this comes together and this just affirms everything else we've covered.

When Tim is reading from Tome Pires several times he says Lucoes instead of Lequios. He is reading his own interpretation into the text. In his book Solomon's Treasure Tim only cites Pires twice. 

The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, pg. 162

In fact, Japan is recorded as having “no junks” and are not Lequios according to Tome Pires [166]

The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, pg. 165-166

This word Lequios or Lucoes became a general term used by many for Luzon Island thus, not a mystery to history in the slightest but only to the British it appears as Portugal, France and India certainly knew.

“Called Philippines “Lucoes” from its largest and north western-most island–Luzon.” – Pyrard De Laval, French (1578-1623) [166] Indians referred to the biggest island as “Lucon.” [166]

In 1545, a Portuguese, Pero Fidalgo referred to Philippines as “Lucoes” [166] –Tome Pires

It's not true that Lequios became a general term for Luzon Island. As I have established in the article about Ferdinand Pinto the Lequios islands were known and charted at 29 North. The problem is Tim continues to conflate the two words and people groups Lequios and Lucoes. These two citations are the only references to Tome Pires in Tim's book. Here is the exact source he uses.

That is unbelievable. Tim cites from page 131 about Japan and from the footnotes on pages 133-134. Why didn't he cite anything from the chapters on the Lequios and the Lucoes?  Tome Pires has two chapters devoted to each group!

Did Tim flip through this book and miss those chapters or did he decide to not mention them because they destroy his case for the Lequios and Lucoes being the same people group? Here are the two brief chapters in full.

The Lequeos are called Guores-they are known by either of these names. Lequios is the chief one. The king is a heathen and all the people too. He is a tributary vassal of the king of the Chinese. His island is large and has many people; they have small ships of their own type; they have three or four junks which are continuously buying in China, and they have no more. They trade in China and Malacca, and sometimes in company with the Chinese, sometimes on their own. In China they trade in the port of Foqem which is in the land of China near Canton—a day and a night's sail away. The Malays say to the people of Malacca that there is no difference between Portuguese and Llequjos, except that the Portuguese buy women, which the Lequos do not. 

The Lequjos have only wheat in their country, and rice and wines after their fashion, meat, and fish in great abundance. They are great draftsmen and armourers. They make gilt coffers, very rich and well-made fans, swords, many arms of all kinds after their fashion. Just as we in our kingdoms speak of Milan, so do the Chinese and all the other races speak of the Lequjos. They are very truthful men. They do not buy slaves, nor would they sell one of their own men for the whole world, and they would die over this. 

The Lequjos are idolators; if they are sailing and find themselves in danger, they say that if they escape they buy a beautiful maiden to be sacrificed and behead her on the prow of the junk, and other things like these. They are white men, well dressed, better than the Chinese, more dignified. They sail to China and take the merchandise that goes from Malacca to China, and go to Japan, which is an island seven or eight days' sail distant, and take the gold and copper in the said island in exchange for their merchandise. The Leqios are men who sell their merchandise freely for credit, and if they are lied to when they collect payment, they collect it sword in hand.

The chief is gold, copper, and arms of all kinds, coffers, boxes (caxonjas) with gold leaf veneer, fans, wheat, and their things are well made. They bring a great deal of gold. They are truthful men—more so than the Chinese—and feared. They bring a great store of paper and silk in colours; they bring musk, porce-lain, damask; they bring onions and many vegetables. They take the same merchandise as the Chinese take. They leave here in [blank], and one, two or three junks come to Malacca every year, and they take a great deal of Bengal clothing. 

Among the Lequjos Malacca wine is greatly esteemed. They load large quantities of one kind which is like brandy, with which the Malays make themselves [so drunk as to run] amuck. The Lequjos bring swords worth thirty cruzados each, and many of these. 

Pires, pg, 128-131

That is everything Pires has to say about the Lequios. Was Luzon ever a tributary of China? Was there one king of the Ilocanos? Of course not. Here is what Pires has to say about the Lucoes.

The Lucoes are about ten days' sail beyond Borneo. They are nearly all heathen; they have no king, but they are ruled by groups of elders. They are a robust people, little thought of in Malacca. They have two or three junks, at the most. They take the merchandise to Borneo and from there they come to Malacca.

The Borneans go to the lands of the Lucoes to buy gold, and foodstuffs as well, and the gold which they bring to Malacca is from the Lucoes and from the surrounding islands which are countless; and they all have more or less trade with one another. And the gold of these islands where they trade is of a low quality —indeed very low quality. 

The Lucoes have in their country plenty of foodstuffs, and wax and honey; and they take the same merchandise from here as the Borneans take. They are almost one people; and in Malacca there is no division between them. They never used to be in Malacca as they are now; but the Tamaqua whom the Governor of India appointed here was already beginning to gather many of them together, and they were already building many houses and shops. They are a useful people; they are hard-working. 

Of this family there are now the sons of the Tumunguo and his wife in Malacca, as well as his mother-in-law, and Curia Raja and Tuam Brajy who married the Tumunguo's wife. In Minjam there must be five hundred Lucoes, some of them important men and good merchants, who want to come to Malacca, and the people of Mjjm will not grant them permission, because now they have gone over to the side of the former king of Malacca, not very openly. The people of Mjmjam are Malays.

Pires, pg. 133-134

The Lucoes do not have a king while the Lequios do. They also have gold of a very low quality. They also only have two or three junks. How much more clearer could it be that Pires differentiates these peoples? They are not the same. If Tim had bothered to do any research and actually read the Summa Oriental of Tome Pires he would know that. Instead he has used another lie to build his monumental case for the Philippines no one can disprove. 

The God Culture: 100 Lies About the Philippines: #13 Pigafetta Says the Lequios Are From Luzon

Welcome back to 100 lies the God Culture teaches about the Philippines. Today's lie concerns the identification of the Lequios and Lucoes. Because this lie is so intricately weaved I will be breaking it down into several smaller articles. The gist of it is that Timothy Jay Schwab identifies the Lequios and Lucoes people groups as being the same. They are Filipinos from Luzon.

As I showed in lie #2 Ferdinand Pinto visited the Lequios islands and charted them at 29 degrees north. That means the Lequios islands are not the Philippines but the Ryukyu Islands. However Tim teaches something completely different which needs to be broken down. The first aspect of this lie comes from Tim's total misunderstanding of Pigafetta's Journal. 

The Lequios of Luzon: Key to Finding Ophir and Chryse. Clue #52 

13:31 While in Visayas Antonio Pigafetta who traveled with Magellan, historian who chronicled everything, writes from Visayas: Towards the Northwest is the island of Luzon which is at two days distance a large island indeed. To which come to trade every year six or eight junks of the people called Lequii, Lequios, Lucoes same people it's there Pigafetta says they are in Luzon. Not in Taiwan not in Malaysia and Magellan says they are Ophir and Tarshish. Done.

15:19 So, the Lequios are from Luzon. This is settled. Magellan tells us they are Ophir and Tarshish.

Can Tim not read? At no point does Pigafetta say the Lequii or Lequios are FROM Luzon. He says they come to Luzon to trade. 

Tim gets this even more wrong in his book The Search for King Solomon's Treasure. 

However, Antonio Pigafetta tells us where the Lequios originated.

[From Visayas] “Towards the North-west is the island of Lozon, which is at two days’ distance; a large island, to which come to trade every year six or eight junks of the people called Lequii.” “...One of these junks carries as much cargo as our ships.” – Antonio Pigafetta, 1521

This clearly reads that the Lequios, who originate in Luzon, journey to Cebu regularly to trade in their six or more, large junk ships just as Pinto describes.

Solomon's Treasure, pgs. 162-163

This is totally wrong. Read carefully. He says Luzon is a large island TO WHICH the people called Lequii came to trade. He is not saying the Lequii came to Cebu from Luzon to trade. Pigafetta is not even writing from Cebu but from Butuan fifty leagues from Cebu!! He is saying that Northwest of Butuan is an island called Luzon and the Lequii came there every year to trade. Therefore the Lequii are not the Lucoes who actually do inhabit Luzon. How does Tim get this wrong except on purpose?

This is one lie among many concerning the Lequios people that Tim propounds. It is a totally false reading of Pigafetta. How did he get this wrong? Can he not read? It's not a complicated passage.