Timothy Jay Schwab who is the God Culture, as of this writing no concrete evidence for a God Culture team has surfaced, has given another interview with Zen Garcia. Let's see what Tim has to say to defend his false teachings.
The title alone is enough to indicate that everything about to follow is going to be pure bunk. There are no "hidden truths" when it comes to the Scriptures or the truth of Christianity. Jesus Christ has come and all things have been revealed. The mystery of the ages finds it revelation in Him. To say otherwise is to make Christ a liar who promised He would build His Church and the gates of hell would not overcome it and that He would send the Holy Spirit who would guide the Church into all truth. The title of this video is a rejection of the promises of Jesus Christ and of the guidance by the Holy Spirt of his Body the Church.
We see this rejection in the main subject of this interview which is Tim's Levite Bible project. From the description:
Embark on a groundbreaking journey with author Zen Garcia and cohost Tim from The God Culture as we unveil the Levite Bible Series, a revolutionary exploration that challenges established paradigms and sheds light on the biblical treasures hidden in the sands of Qumran.
The gist of it is that modern Bibles are corrupt and Tim is going to restore the Bible based on the Dead Sea Scrolls. However Tim does not talk about that project specifically until the end of the video.
1:51:17 We have ten books published now in the last three years uh and we're just just getting started. We have got a lot more to test. We're testing all of the Dead Sea Scrolls, uh, we're not just taking them at face value just because, uh, the temple priests lived in Qumran and that's where Bible Cannon was kept because something could be thrown in so we need to test everyone but we are so the legitimacy of this when we do publish a Levite Bible because this what this is uh with all of these texts in one it it will be credible um and then we're going to move to eventually we'd love to tackle publishing a full Bible with all of these texts in proper chronological order uh with Hebrew yeah with Hebrew keywords in the margins and all of that it just it it so begs it we need it in this day and age because so many things in our King James uh and other versions the other versions are even worse uh they're just not accurate.
Note that Tim makes a distinction between "a Levite Bible" and "a full Bible." That likely means the Levite Bible will be only the Old Testament. This project is called the Levite Bible because the Levites, specifically those tasked with carrying the Ark of the Covenant, were the custodians of Bible Canon.
49:55 So, how do you determine Bible Cannon? Who kept it? Who were the custodians of Bible Canon? Well, Moses determined that, uh, and he said that, you know, after he was done writing Torah he gave it to who? To the Levites, to the priests and which priests specifically?The priests who bore the Ark of the Covenant and that, you know, is where they placed it. Uh, they were the custodians of scriptures says the Bible.
Tim bases this claim on Deuteronomy 31.
It is a wildly ridiculous claim seeing as the point of the Book of the Law being placed inside the Ark of the Covenant was purely symbolic being placed alongside Aaron's rod and a piece of manna. It's not as if that were the only copy and the Levites would not be opening the Ark to take out the law and read. In fact God told the entire nation to write these statutes on their foreheads and right arms.
Deuteronomy 6:6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
Paul says quite plainly that the oracles of God were entrusted to the Jews meaning the entire nation of Israel and not just a subgroup of the Levites.
Romans 3:1 What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?
2 Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God
This claim that only a subgroup of the Levites are the custodians of scripture is an integral part of Tim's system. This means the history of the Septuagint is really Pharisee propaganda since there were no members of this group on the translation team and none of the other tribes were responsible for translating Scripture.
53:22 Now, the Septuagint though has this fake story that is made up uh actually way back in the first century uh it's from a letter, letter to, uh, Atrayus or something like that, uh, and basically it makes the claim that six of each of the 12 tribes of Israel were sent to Alexandria, to the occult Library of Alexandria, to work for them, to be employed by them, to translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek. Old Testament. Now, there's one big major massive problem with that. The tribe of Judah, the tribe of Ephraim, the tribes of Israel are not translators. They are not responsible for scripture. There's only one tribe that is the Levites. That's it. So, if the story were true and had any basis in reality, and it doesn't we've vetted it completely in a full video which you see on screen. Um can you see my screen Zen?
Yes, uhuh.
Oh good so that'll share that's good.
Oh, um Justin has been live streaming it but um yeah we he, he is live streaming it as well.
Okay cool that's cool yeah that's just for the live stream folks but uh so if anybody isn't watching this you know on the live stream uh you could check it out there uh we we have the support. I'm about to show you some maps and so you'll see them uh on screen. So we, we exposed this as a fake Pharisee history uh this story is contrived it's made up it doesn't mean that the Septuagint is false no it's it's actually a pretty good Greek translation the Septuagint is fine.
Newsflash to Tim but nobody takes the legend of the Septuagint literally. It is indeed a fantastical story and likely not true at all except in the kernel which is that Israelites translated the Torah into Greek for Ptolemy. He is giving us nothing new here except for his reasoning which is that those who translated it were not responsible for Scripture. How is the Septuagint a fine translation if, according to Tim, those who "are not translators they are not responsible for scripture" are the ones who translated it? Tim does not say. He rejects the history of the Septuagint but embraces the translation because he can use it for his nefarious purposes.
Tim also claims that way out in the desert temple sacrifices were ongoing by the Qumran Community.
1:07:45 So, they call it the Dead Sea Scrolls. The reality is it's the Bethabara Scrolls. They are found in Bethabara and this was a community where the temple priests lived and continued the temple rituals, the temple sacrifices, all of that continued in this community. Just read their writings and it's very clear they were all about the law they were all about Covenant. They were all about keeping the Commandments and teaching it.
Again Tim, the self-proclaimed expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls who claims he has done more research than anyone else especially scholars, is wrong. There were NO sacrifices taking place in Qumran. The community itself was the sacrifice. Sacrifices were spiritualized. In his introduction to the Complete Dead Sea Scrolls Geza Vermes writes the following:
The second issue has to do with the sect’s attitude towards the Temple and Temple sacrifice. While some Essenes, notwithstanding their vow of total fidelity to the Law of Moses, rejected the validity of the Sanctuary and refused to participate (temporarily) in its rites (cf. Philo, Omnis probus 75; Josephus, Antiquities XVIII, 19), they evaded the theological dilemma in which this stand might have placed them by contending that until the rededication of the Temple, the only true worship of God was to be offered in their establishment. The Council of the Community was to be the ‘Most Holy Dwelling for Aaron’ where, ‘without the flesh of holocausts and the fat of sacrifice‘, a ‘sweet fragrance’ was to be sent up to God, and where prayer was to serve ‘as an acceptable fragrance of righteousness’ (IQS VIII, 8-9; IX, 4-5). The Community itself was to be the sacrifice offered to God in atonement for Israel’s sins (IQS VIII, 4-5; 4Q265 fr. 7 ii).
The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls, Gaza Vermes, pg. 83
The Community Rule says:
In the Council of the Community there shall be twelve men and three Priests, perfectly versed in all that is revealed of the Law, whose works shall be truth, righteousness, justice, loving-kindness and humility. They shall preserve the faith in the Land with steadfastness and meekness and shall atone for sin by the practice of justice and by suffering the sorrows of affliction.
Vermes, pg. 108-109
When these become members of the Community in Israel according to all these rules, they shall establish the spirit of holiness according to everlasting truth. They shall atone for guilty rebellion and for sins of unfaithfulness, that they may obtain loving-kindness for the Land without the flesh of holocausts and the fat of sacrifice. And prayer rightly offered shall be as an acceptable fragrance of righteousness, and perfection of way as a delectable free-will offering.
Vermes, pg 110
The second citation is more than plain that no animal scarifices were happening in the Qumran Community.
How could Tim get this so wrong? It's because he is blinded by his own false paradigm. He has magnified the Qumran Community into something it is not. According to Tim they did not abscond to the wilderness merely because the temple was defiled but also to prepare the way for Christ.
1:31:48 There's another Prophecy in the Community Rule, uh, and it says when these become members of the community in Israel according to all these rules they shall separate from the habitation of unjust men and shall go into the Wilderness to do what? What are they doing?They're fulfilling Isaiah uh 50 verse 3 or no 40 verse 3 okay so they shall go into the Wilderness to prepare there the way of him as it is written prepare in the wilderness the way of blah blah blah blah make straight in the desert a path for our Elohim.
The fulfillment of that prophecy falls squarely on the shoulders of John the Baptist. The Gospels are clear on that. It was not a community preparing the way for Jesus, it was his cousin John the Baptist. It is the voice of ONE calling not the voice of a community calling out. Again, he gets everything wrong because of his false notions about the Qumran Community.
Tim takes it a step further and claims that Jesus was not baptized at the temple in Jerusalem because the real temple practice was taking place near the Dead Sea.
1:42:38 Genesis 10 actually puts these together as a people group and they're the same people group that attacked the temple in 165 BC and took over the whole paradigm which is why, notice this, Yahusha did not launch his ministry at the temple. Now that's weird. Why, why wouldn't he have John the Baptist baptize him there? Why did he start his ministry in Bethabara? Because that is where the temple practice remained. That's where the canon was kept and that's what we have to follow through history.
Why exactly would Jesus need to be baptized in the temple? Tim does not say. Where exactly would John have baptized Jesus in the temple? Remember thousands of people were flocking to him in the wilderness. Where would he have gotten all that water? And what is meant by "launching his ministry?" Tim seems to think that entails baptism only but Jesus did not even begin to preach until after his 40 days of temptation in Capernaum which is not Bethabara!
Matthew 4:13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:
14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;
16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
It is amazing how this man who has been in the ministry for 30 years continually gets EVERYTHING wrong!
The truth is at no time in his ministry does Jesus ever call the temple priests impostors or the temple ceremonies corrupt or instruct people to go into the wilderness in order to participate in true temple worship. In fact he tells people he heals to go offer the proper sacrifices at the temple.
Luke 5:12 And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
13 And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him
14 And he charged him to tell no man: but go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
Lest Tim cavil that this verse does not say go to the temple I ask where else were they going to show themselves to a priest and offer up a sacrifice? Not into the wilderness of the Qumran Community who were not sacrificing that's for sure.
One final thing to note in this interview is that Tim says point blank Jesus did not finish his work on the cross.
33:12 There's only one day of judgment and that's when all souls are judged. All of them. Billions. Uh, Messiah's greatest work is to come. Uh, the cross was wonderful and very significant no doubt but he did not complete his work on the cross and no scripture actually says he does. That comes out of our pulpits but actually his greatest works are to come.
What a lot of nonsense. Jesus himself said IT IS FINISHED.
John 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost
God incarnated as a man, kept and fulfilled the law, and defeated sin, hell, death, and the devil. There is nothing more for him to do. To say the last judgement has not come therefore "he did not complete his work on the cross" is unbiblical and blasphemous.
This interview is a lot of the same stuff Tim says elsewhere but compacted into two hours. It's really not much of an interview though as Zen rarely interrupts Tim to ask pertinent questions or put him on the spot by asking anything challenging. But then again Zen Garcia is mostly ideologically aligned with Tim so why would he do that?
Let's conclude by taking a look at some of the comments. First up is this doozy:
@RestoringReality: Tim is soo proud of being soo wrong about soo many things that I had to drop his channel because I just couldn't stomach the arrogance and insults any longer.
Funny that Tim had no response to this commenter.
However, he did have a response for the next one.
@fartnoisesloud: Tim’s channel is clear that he loves to ban people, threaten to ban people, accuse everyone of being illiterate and also like to ban people. Other than that he’s quite charming
@TheGodCulture: Your fart noises are far more offensive than a YouTube Channel that actually moderates it's comments which is called responsible. Their giving you a warning so you understand when you are banned. You however, are not a real commenter nor viewer. You are an illiterate, because you prove you can't read, who deserves far worse including prison for your law breaking offense, TGC addresses this exact kind of stupid many times because you are exactly that.
Tim deleted this comment but did leave a reply to the person claiming he was "ranting about us flat earthers."
@sarafenton9288 You are a liar. Anyone who has actually watched TGC, knows we do not rant against Flat Earthers. They are welcome in our format and anyone watching our Restoring Creation Series knows we do not teach a ball earth cosmology. Of course, let us not pretend we do not know this fake account is another by the same illiterate blogger who is too poor to pay attention. So obvious.
Ah, there it is! Tim assumes both of these accounts, @fartnoisesloud and @sarafenton9288, are mine. He added the following comment a few days later.
@timlandegent3536 Indeed, we love, or is it like, to ban people with a username "fart noises loud." Clearly a fallacious agitator and not a serious commenter on anything vomiting on screen to attempt to place stumbling blocks in the way of viewers. Understand this is the same guy or group who came in under different usernames they make up such as the one above, now removed, which created the username the day before his comment as if we do not all know what that is. This name is a joke to ever be taken seriously. A clear liar. They do it on our book reviews even illegally and in fraud, on our channel regularly and even write the dumbest blogs one could ever read telling you a sentence doesn't say what it clearly says for those who can read of course, a map they don't know how to read doesn't point to what a child can recognize, a book with 1,000 scriptures doesn't have enough Biblical evidence, the land with the most gold in all of history somehow does not have enough gold, and one of our favorites is their admission they read only the eBook of our first book and they accused Amazon, who prints the book, of poor quality that pages fell out when it was delivered except it was an eBook, duh!, etc.They simply don't care how stupid they look as they are anonymous and paid to agitate in any way they can. Losers. Yah Bless.
As I have pointed out before
Tim is very, very paranoid about this blog. I don't have a myriad of sock accounts and the comment I posted on this interview was never posted which means I have been banned from that channel from the get-go probably on Tim's advice to Zen. But it is good to see I am not the only one who recognizes Tim is an incredibly rude liar.
This next comment is probably typical of how many of Tim's viewers think about criticism of The God Culture.
@alx42013 Tim is phenomenal and just by all the fake backlash and stupid fraudulent remarks and false things you see on Google and YouTube,that are trying to soil his name ,his biblical facts,awesome research and deep studies and remarkable work, proves that Satan and the wicked woke powers that be, they're trying to silence him and soil or delegitimize the word of God and his Unbreakable research and studies . For me... that just totally legitimizes and cements him as one of the number one teachers deciphers and smart researchers of this era, and I will continue to support,learn and back his work and promote and show all my friends and family all his awesome discoveries and points of scripture
Following this person's logic, being met with opposition means someone is actually in the right, one would have to conclude that the Pharisees were right and Jesus was wrong and that every false prophet who had his critics, from Joseph Smith to William Branham, was actually on the side of truth. That is, of course, quite ridiculous. Being opposed does not mean one is in the right.
There is simply no winning with these people. How can anyone hope to make them see Tim's lies when they are thoroughly steeped in ignorance? Given how uncritical his audience is it is no wonder that Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture has a channel that continues to grow.
