The God Culture: The Ophir Institute

After a three month hiatus from publishing new videos on Youtube (the last one was August 15th with the ones published since being merely Tagalog translations of old videos) The God Culture has returned in a big way. This time Timothy Jay Schwab has removed his kid gloves, put on his big boy pants and dinner jacket, and has taken his group in a very, very surprising direction. No longer is The God Culture merely a Youtube channel teaching revisionist history of the "We Wuz Kangz" variety with a Filipino twist. No longer is Timothy Jay Schwab merely a heretic and blasphemer who denies that faith in Christ is enough to save us and says that the Trinity is a "doctrine of men" that he couldn't care less about. Now Timothy Jay Schwab has become the founder of a think tank he calls The Ophir Institute.

https://www.ophirinstitute.com

What is the Ophir Institute all about? Instead of an "about" section this website has a "bio" section. Click that and you will read the following:

https://www.ophirinstitute.com/bio

The Ophir Institute is a think tank in the Philippines that has focused on the mystery of the pre-colonial history of our country. When the Spanish arrived, they recorded a literate people who were found reading and writing but what? Where did these writings go? What did they say? How significant they must have been if they needed to be destroyed or at least suppressed. This people is cataloged numerous times in history with more wealth than any other nation in Asia or really, on Earth. We have reviewed the demands to produce an admission from the Jesuits of their guilt in erasing this history but that is a false expectation creating a paradigm of ignorance we will not placate. The Philippines is ancient Ophir and the Garden of Eden and its significance is far greater than we are taught. It is time everyone knows the truth.

​

Therefore, the Ophir Institute has proudly partnered with author, researcher, singer, former minister, and successful publisher Timothy Schwab and his wife, Anna Zamoranos-Schwab, a Filipina, who lead a team of researchers who tackled this topic. They published their findings on YouTube first with over 10 million views and now, even deeper research is available in book and eBook form. As of recent, this list of publishings includes, The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, INSTRUCTIONAL EDITION: The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, Ophir Philippines Coffee Table Book, and The Book of Jubilees: The Torah Calendar.

 

Though we are a group, these authors' writings largely resemble the core of our mission to educate Filipinos about our lost history.

It is rather odd that instead of getting an about page which details the aims and goals of the Ophir Institute we get a brief biography of Timothy Jay Schwab and The God Culture's research. It is absolutely incorrect for this bio to say that the Ophir Institute has "partnered" with the Schwabs because on Tim's updated bio on The God Culture's website it is explicitly stated that he and his wife founded this organization.

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

Timothy Jay Schwab, with his Filipina wife Anna, is the author of the books The Search for King Solomon's Treasure: The Lost Isles of Gold and the Garden of Eden, Instruction Edition: The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, and Ophir Philippines Coffee Table Book, all supported by a 300-page SOURCEBOOK of very credible sources no one can disprove. They have founded the Ophir Institute in the Philippines to restore this knowledge. Also, Timothy and Anna are Curators for The Book of Jubilees: The Torah Calendar founding The Levite Bible which is a project working to restore Dead Sea Scrolls understanding. This is over 1,400 pages of content and they have produced over 250 YouTube teaching videos as well while conducting over 30 conferences since May 2019 with as many as over 5,500 in attendance. They are the founders of The God Culture Research Team working to restore especially biblical geography and history operating internationally but based in the Philippines.

Why the deception? Why write here that Tim and Anna FOUDNED the Ophir Institute and on the Ophir Institute's page write that they are merely partners? It's sad that they changed this bio. Now no one will know that Tim toured in a Christian rock band and put on puppet shows for the kids or that he is an ordained Reverend!

At the age of 12, Timothy received a calling to minister to others. He began in a puppet ministry that travelled and they advanced into dramas and teachings. He, then, began leading worship at the age 14 while also teaching Sunday School. By 17 years old, Timothy toured as lead singer and President of a Christian Rock Group as an evangelist for five years. In the meantime, he completed seminary courses through his non-denominational faith and was ordained as a Reverend.

https://web.archive.org/web/20200804120634/https://www.thegodculture.com/our-founder

Now that's a bio! The current bio is strangely rambling and defensive and tells us little about the Schwabs expect that they were lawfully married and if you doubt that because Jesus said don't marry a divorced woman then you are a fraud. That is of course a snide attack on the biography I wrote about Tim wherein I disclosed that he is Anna's third husband and she his second wife.

Another strange thing about this bio is that it is, with a few variations, the same bio on the Ophir Institute's page, the Levite Bible's page, and on Tim's own page Timothyschwab.com. Why is that? If the Ophir Institute is a think tank then why is the bio all about Timothy and Anna Schwab? What it boils down to is the Ophir Institute is an entity created by Timothy Schwab to publish all of his God Culture books and related materials.  At least the e-book version of Solomon's Treasure is published by the Ophir Institute.

https://www.amazon.com/Search-King-SOLOMONS-TREASURE-Solomons-ebook/dp/B08M6FNFH9/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

The paperback lists God Culture, The as the publisher.

https://www.amazon.com/Search-King-SOLOMONS-TREASURE-Garden/dp/0578634228/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

If the Ophir Institute was not created to publish Tim's books then perhaps it really is a think tank but that is too horrifying and bizarre a thought to bear. Is Tim or his cohorts really going to write policy papers and draft legislation based on his God Culture research?

A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental organizations, but some are semi-autonomous agencies within government or are associated with particular political parties or businesses. Think-tank funding often includes a combination of millionaire donations and individual contributions, with many also accepting government grants.

Think tanks publish articles, studies or even draft legislation on particular matters of policy or society. This information is then readily used by governments, businesses, media organizations, social movements or other interest groups as part of their goals. Think tanks range from those associated with highly academic or scholarly activities to those that are overtly ideological and pushing for particular policy, with widely differing quality of research among them. Later generations of think tanks have tended to be more ideologically-oriented.

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

Imagine the God Culture accepting grants from the government via their front group the Ophir Institute. I have questioned Tim's visa status before as he is doing religious work in the country but this a whole new level. As part of a think tank he would be meddling in Philippine politics which is forbidden for a foreigner to do. Australian nun Patricia Fox was deported for her meddling in Philippine politics by speaking at rallies. How much more a foreigner who founded a think tank?

Of course unlike Patricia Fox Tim has Duterte's ear as he is friends with Dr. Grepor Butch Belgica whom Duterte appointed as the Presidential Advisor for Religious Affairs. Belgica also wrote the forward to Tim's new book "Solomon's Treasure." He is also friends with Sofronio Dulay who is the Grand Patriarch of the Principalia Hereditary Council of the Philippines. Dulay has indicated that he is in favor of an inevitable world government.

World government's objective is to save the world, save humanity. Don't ask who is behind me, who is orchestrating me. They are irrelevant!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRlBhFRMe9A

Sofronio Dulay is also a Roman Catholic. Timothy has said he has been respectful to the Catholic Church by not doing an exposé video on them.

Now we've been very respectful not to do a video which really breaks down the dogma in the Catholic Church and comparing it to Mithraism. You would find it is an exact match.  

https://youtu.be/JAdyZdkv9ag?t=2892

As Tim would say, "Hmmmmm."

Another new venture launched by Timothy is The Levite Bible.

https://www.levitebible.com

In researching the available Dead Sea Scrolls, we have found the market lacking in high-quality publishing. In order to remedy this, we have formed a team with some members of The God Culture and others who are dedicated to the restoration and understanding of these scriptures. It is our intent to publish these in Bible format, curating the margin notes and providing additional research in order to explain the purpose of these publications, their historical track in use as scripture and we have no issue testing them as scripture. When they pass the test which few scholars have ever bothered to conduct adequately, it is time to take these far more seriously. Enough of dismissing scholars and pastors who know very little of these books yet claim to be experts and many have not studied them in the slightest. Enough control paradigms leading us all back to the Dark Ages. 

Again more deception. The bio on The God Culture's website says that Tim and Anna FOUNDED The Levite Bible group while here it appears that The Levite Bible is completely separate from The God Culture saying that they have formed a team with some of the members of TGC.

This group is going to publish second temple Jewish writings and other apocrypha with their own marginal notes. The Book of Jubilees has already been published online. Ironically enough they are using a translation which was made decades BEFORE the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Strictly speaking The Book of Jubilees is not a book that was hidden away in the caves of Qumran just waiting to be rediscovered. It is a book used by the Ethiopian church and rejected by everyone else.

https://www.paperturn-view.com/the-god-culture/the-book-of-jubilees-the-torah-calendar-ebook?pid=MTI123254&v=1.1

Suffice to say this is far from a scholarly work though it pretends to be one with all its notes, maps and other apparatus. It is filled with pictures like the following:

 

Noah added a curse on anyone stealing their brother's property. That includes all empires, bankers, and churchws! Japheth was never given the right to conquer others. Colonialism and conquest have always been forbidden. Israel was taking it's land back from Canaan and the Nephilim who stole it.

So what is Tim's opinion on the massive third world immigration from Africa and Asia to Europe and North America? Is that stealing? Then there is this picture:

Lot, the nephew of Abraham from whom Israel descends, is a...negro? A Hamite? I thought the family of Abraham all descended from Shem. 

If you want to know about the meaning of Jubilees it would be to better trust yourself to a man who has spent his whole life studying it along with the rest of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

https://b-ok.asia/book/3679705/1ccb48

Jubilees--so called because of its concern with marking forty-nine-year periods (or "jubilees") in Israel's history--is an ancient rewriting of Genesis and the first part of Exodus from the point of view of an anonymous second-century BCE Jewish author. Its distinctive perspective--as well as its apparent popularity at Qumran--make it particularly important for any reconstruction of early Judaism. James C. VanderKam, the world's foremost authority on Jubilees, offers a new translation based on his own critical editions of all the available textual evidence, including the Hebrew fragments preserved at Qumran (which he first published in Discoveries in the Judean Desert, vol. 13), as well as the first full running commentary on the book in the English language. Jubilees approaches the book as a rewriting of scripture but also as a literary work in its own right. The commentary explains the text and the teachings of the author with comprehensive coverage of the modern scholarship devoted to them. The introduction sets the book in its second-century BCE context, traces its sources in the Bible and in other early Jewish texts, and describes its influence on Jewish and Christian writers.

I have also written at length about Tim's misconceptions concerning the Book of Jubilees, such as Mosaic authorship, as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls and the formation of the Biblical canon.

The future seems pretty bright for The God Culture. Timothy has two new organizations and several books on the way including a coffee table book and instructional versions of Solomon's Treasure. However there is one more book, a smaller 40 page booklet, that Timothy has produced which will not be available to the general public. It is a report on my blog.

https://www.lumendatabase.org/notices/21181371

40-page PDF report available... Illegally attacks a ministry, The God Culture in multiple infractions for almost a year including cyber libel, copyright infringement, fake news, racism, hate speech, discrimination. fraud, and misrepresentation harassment. 40-page PDF report available. cc_Karl Daniel E. Buban, Belgica, Aranas, Alim, Dela Cruz, and Associates.

Notice that the law firm has Belgica listed as a partner.  That would be Jeremiah Belgica who is also the son of Grepo Belgica who is good friends with Timothy. Both Belgicas also work for the government. Funny how Timothy, a white guy from Florida, has all these high level connections in the Philippines. It really raises questions about the sources of funding for all his new ventures.

It will be interesting to see what direction the God Culture takes as they produce more materials and possibly more groups. They are not going anywhere. Tim's Filipino-centric message is enough to tickle any Filipino's ears and entice them into his web of deceit. But make no mistake. No matter how many shiny websites Timothy builds, no matter how many slick videos he produces or meticulous books he publishes, no matter how much lipstick this pig puts on his kisser he is still a pig. This heretical piggy is an anti-trinitarian and is on record saying faith in Jesus Christ is not enough to save a man.

So this is another example that we aren't to just have faith in Yahusha. That’s not enough. That’s not it.  No, no, no, no. We are to keep His commandments.

Sabbath Series: Part 5: The End Times Sabbath at 19:30

The law written by the very finger of Yahuah Himself.  The law is what redeems us.

The Law of Sin and Death. What is it? NOT The Law of Moses! WHAT DID PAUL SAY?" at 39:35

"The law is what redeems us." No wonder Tim founded a group called "The Levite Bible." Timothy rejects the priesthood of Melchizedek of which order Jesus Christ is made a priest for ever and would rather turn back to the Levitical priesthood which the book of Hebrews tells us has passed away and with it the Levitical law.

The God Culture: "Solomon's Treasure" Book Cover Review

The God Culture is writing a book which will distill all their videos about the Philippines into one handy, portable source. Timothy Jay Schwab claims he has been working on this book for a few months now but it has yet to be published. However Tim is ready to go as soon as the book is finished. He has posted all the information on Google Books. The title is "The Search for King Solomon's Treasure: The Lost Isles of Gold & the Garden of Eden."

Tim has a cover and even two ISBN numbers registered for this book.

https://books.google.com.ph/books/about/The_Search_for_King_Solomon_s_Treasure_L.html?id=mHE4zQEACAAJ&redir_esc=y

You are about to embark on the most monumental journey of all archaeological discoveries. The mother load that would make the likes of Indiana Jones salivate. The true land of gold in all of history which leads to the location of the Garden of Eden and Land of Creation identifying the Rivers from Eden en route. Though founded in the Bible which is the origin of this saga, examine the history, archaeology, geography, science, linguistics, etc. which all converge to reveal what the world knew and somehow misplaced about a century ago. This is a mystery no longer and now, you will know the whereabouts of the lost isles of gold...

"The most monumental journey of all archaeological discoveries?" Has Tim been doing archeological research in the Philippines since he moved here? Did he discover the Palace of the Queen of Sheba or any of Solomon's mines or any physical evidence proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Philippines is Ophir, Tarshish, Sheba, Seba, Havilah, and The Garden of Eden? Will there be pictures of The Garden of Eden which Tim claims lies beneath the Sulu Sea? Or will it just be more of the same fraudulent nonsense as is in his videos?

The publisher is listed as God Culture. What does that mean? Is The God Culture now a publishing company? The ISBN numbers lead nowhere. 


Obviously it is impossible to do a book review because there is no book yet. What we can do is a book cover review. Believe it or not the cover reveals quite a lot.

The title font is Holiday Ranch

https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/fontdiner/holiday-ranch/regular/

This is the same font used in The God Culture's videos.

https://youtu.be/7vDhLkHrrLc

It looks like Scotch tape font. The font shows a continuity between the book and the videos. Whatever is in the videos will be in the book. Perhaps a little tweaking and maybe even some new stuff. But I think overall the book will follow the video series quite faithfully.

The front cover is from a stock photo on Shutterstock.

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/open-treasure-chest-shinny-gold-226913857

Does Tim have an account with Shutterstock? Has he used other photos from Shutterstock in his videos? This photo aptly illustrates the title: Solomon's Treasure. However many books about Solomon and his gold have the word "mines" in the title.

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/uncle-scrooge-108-the-mines-of-king-solomon/4000-13734/

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2166/2166-h/2166-h.htm

Haggard's book is certainly the most famous of all the books about King Solomon's Mines. A real adventure story with Allan Quatermain set in Africa and not the Philippines. Why would Timothy choose the word "treasure" instead of "mines" or "gold" for the title of his book? His video series is titled "Solomon's Gold." And why isn't the word "king" in the same font size as "Solomon's Gold?" King should be right next to Solomon since that is his title and office. "The Search for King: Solomon's Treasure" does not sound right yet that is how the title reads. Maybe Tim will correct this major flub before the book goes to publication.

Leaning against the treasure chest is what appears to be a map. Or maybe it's an ancient book or two stone tablets. One page reads:

ophir
sheba
tarshish
land of adam & eve
garden of eden
rivers from eden
land of creation 

no longer enigmas

The other page has a map of the Philippines. That's because he claims the Philippines is all the places listed on the opposite page. Enigma solved!

There are two blurbs on the cover.

"The monumental case for the Philippines no one can disprove."

"No one can disprove?" Sure. Let's put this book in the hands of real archeologists, historians, linguists, and geologists and hear what they have to say. If the case is "monumental" I will except the evidence to be "monumental." Again I ask has Timothy been doing archeological research here in the Philippines to prove his case? Or will he be quoting the same materials and making the same faulty arguments as in his videos?

The second blurb is:

"History, geography, and prophecy restored."

When was any of that lost? Tim just released a new video where he says:

6:50 Now over three years the extent of challenges to our finding Ophir consists of either attempting to debate with side notes that aren't even points within the case. Come on. Raising scriptures that don't even apply or misreading them. Ignoring the restoration of history which, by the way, leads to the restoration of prophecy. But, and we hear this every now and then, because it is not the single topic of salvation which this view dismisses almost all the rest of scripture. That's ignorance. Don't be one of those who ignores Isaiah and Malachi especially as Yahuah God warned his people perish for lack from knowledge. There is none of the Bible that we should not be studying and understanding. 

https://youtu.be/0CP4RVtXUFo?t=410

If a true understanding of history leads to a true understanding of prophecy then by no means has Timothy restored prophecy because he has concocted a fake history of not just the Philippines but also the Kurds and Sub-Saharan Hamitic negroes who he claims are Semitic Israelites from the tribe of Judah! He claims that all three of those people groups are Israelites!

A Kurd, Filipino, and American slave. Do these people look like the are from the same genetic group?

His most recent video is all about how Philippine Independence Day, June 12th, 1898, is seven days after Pentecost according to the Hebrew calendar. That is despite him telling us elsewhere he does not even know the real calendar!! Tim makes a big deal of these dates but does he realize that the Philippine Independence movement was run and led by Masons? 

It is quite interesting to note that despite the Masonic roots of the Philippine struggle for independence, the leaders were all Masons and the first constitutional program, written by Apollinaro Mabini, was dismissed as being too steeped in the principles of Freemasonry, they did not succeed while the revolutions in America and France, which were also led by Masons and steeped in the fraternal doctrines of Freemasonry, did succeed.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2018/06/june-12th-as-independence-day-is-lie.html

Is Tim telling us that God honors the declaration of Philippine independence which is rooted in Freemasonry? His point is actually quite dumb and ignorant because as even he acknowledges Philippine independence did not come until 1946. Tim has zero understanding of how the Philippines became independent or why the date was moved from July 4 to June 12 in 1962. It was moved because President Macapagal got mad when the US Congress refused to send a payment of $73 million. 

https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP79-00927A004000060004-0.pdf

Eventually the US Congress worked it all out and sent the payment but now the Philippines is stuck celebrating a lie every single year.  The same lie Tim attempts to infuse with a spiritual meaning! Read my article "A Brief and True History of the Philippines' Road to Independence" to learn the true story of how the Philippines became independent.

Tim also lies about the Greeks sailing to the Philippines for gold and misinterprets maps and directions to Chryse which is the Golden Peninsula aka the Malay Peninsula. Tim does not even have a correct understanding of the Earth because he thinks it is flat and motionless! He does not even believe the universe exists.

30:30  Now the word universe is not even actually a Bible word or concept. Think about that. Yahuah is never referred to in scripture as the Lord of the universe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H4dBijkqfM

Timothy Jay Schwab does not understand the nature of reality yet he wants us to believe he has restored history? What a joke! He does not understand history in the slightest.

He also fails to understand that all the prophecies in the Bible do indeed revolve around the salvation of God's people through Jesus Christ. Tim lacks a throughly Christocentric view of the scriptures. Jesus Christ is the subject of the Bible. He is the great theme of the entire book. As Jesus Himself said:

John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

Such a view does not dismiss almost all of the Bible. Such a view is the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself.

The forward to Tim's book is written by Dr. Grepor "Butch" Belgica.

https://greporbutchbelgica.com/pages/about-butch

He earned a Masters Degree in Divinity (1989) and his Doctorate in Ministry (1991) from Friends International Christian University, Merced, California, USA.

Belgica's story is too long to reprint here. Basically when he was a young man he killed a guy, spent time in prison, found Jesus, and turned his life around. He was even Speaker of the House at one point! What concerns us here is his doctorate. Timothy refers to him as Dr. Belgica on the cover of his book but does he possess a bona fide Phd.? Did the man write a doctoral dissertation?

The first clue that he did not is that there is no mention of his BA. Everybody knows you get your bachelors, then your masters, then your doctorate. The second clue is that the school he got these degrees from is an unaccredited diploma mill.

https://web.archive.org/web/20080629051823/http://www.ficu.edu/accreditation.htm

Show me his doctoral dissertation and then I will change my opinion that his degrees are fake. Belgica has a new job these days working for the Duterte administration.

Appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte as Presidential Adviser for Religious Affairs under the Office of the President.

Pretty interesting that Tim knows all these powerfully connected people isn't it? All he did was make some Youtube videos about a subject Filipinos have been researching for years. Pedro Paterno came on the scene 100 years ago saying the Philippines was Ophir and everyone has forgotten him. In fact he was ridiculed during his lifetime. But Tim, a foreigner, is lauded and fêted! And much of his information is lifted directly from Filipino bloggers.

Now for the one part of this cover that reveals so much. That is the author.

Timothy Schwab

What!?? Here is what I wrote a few months ago:

What we don't know is who is on this alleged team of researchers. What are their qualifications? They say they will be publishing a book soon. Who will be the credited author? Tim? The God Culture? If it is "The God Culture" who will get authorial credit? Will Tim then introduce us to his team of researchers?

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-god-culture-team-of-researchers.html

If The God Culture is a a research team then why is Tim getting all the credit? This lends further support to the notion that there is no team of researchers called The God Culture. It's only Tim and Anna. If there was ever a time to reveal the names and expertise of this supposed team it would be in this book. Tim is writing a book involving many scientific disciplines, claims he has a team of researchers familiar with those disciplines, and yet only Timothy Schwab gets authorial credit? It does not make any sense. Perhaps he will rectify all that before finally going to print. 

I cannot wait for this book to be published. It looks like it will be big, glossy, and colorful with many pictures. It will be fun to see what exactly is inside. I predict Tim will use my own research which is the English translation of Dionysius Periegetes and the three sources cited to claim Philippine gold was found in 1st century Egypt.  That would be Legeza, Peralta, and Villegas. Tim did not know about any of those resources until I used them in my rebuttals to him. 

I will certainly be buying this book (if it is for sale) and I will certainly be reviewing it here. Let's hope it is published soon.

The God Culture: Does Timothy Jay Schwab Have A Missionary Visa?

I did not want to write about the God Culture again so soon but here I am writing about the God Culture again so soon. The impetus is a comment Anna Rose Lipshy or Timothy Schwab or Justin Hester or whoever left on the last entry about Philippine gold jewelry allegedly being found in first century Egypt.

In your attempt to create doubt you further entrench this 1 point you attempt to attack. Foolish. So, not only did the Philippines trade with Egypt 2000 years ago which was our only point on this 1 slide of about 1 minute but so did West Asia/Persia. Wow! That’s even better. This point becomes even stronger in a timeline of concurrent gold trading in the Philippines. The assumptions in these articles that India had to be a mediator between the Philippines and Egypt is illogical and unfounded even by their own admission. That is the exact scholarly false paradigm we have crushed and you are going to have to deal with whether you like it or not. For one to mention the Philippines trading with Egypt and West Asia even recognizing they had the large balangay ships at least (some 80’ long according to Pigafetta and actual archaeology in Butuan some dated as early as 320 AD), is willing ignorance. Professor Adrian Horridge even documents those balangay in operation going to Sri Lanka and India back in 200 BC at least. Wikipedia stakes a claim of Philippines mining gold since 1000 BC and we test that.

http://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-god-culture-philippine-gold-jewelry.html?showComment=1584100051224#c4938809290190470428

Responding to this comment will also give me space to write about another and more important aspect of the God Culture pertaining personally to Timothy Jay Schwab. As Tim says, "We'll get to that."

First of all the commenter says the Philippines traded with Egypt 2,000 years ago as if that is an established fact but that is not what the three sources I looked at claim. While they mention trade contacts between Southeast Asia and Africa they do not say the Philippines traded directly with Egypt or that Filipino balangays sailed to Africa or Egypt. However the content of those sources do not matter to the God Culture because they say the conclusions of those scholars are illogical and unfounded and that they have crushed this "scholarly false paradigm." It's another instance of Tim and the God Culture discarding what a source actually says and substituting their own opinions and inferences despite citing the source as proof of their claims.

Secondly the commenter cites Professor Adrian Horridge as documenting Philippine balangays "going to Sri Lanka and India back in 200 BC at least." This claim is cited in their video "Solomon's Gold Series Part 1D: Testing the RESOURCES of Ancient Ophir, Tarshish, Sheba" beginning at 44:55.

https://youtu.be/gG39WFEYfiU?t=2695

"Now, Professor Adrian Horridge believes that by 200 BC, now we're way back to the same date we gave you for being able to firmly establish that gold was being traded, mined and traded from the Philippines and here you have Austronesian sailors were regularly carrying cloves and cinnamon to India and Sri Lanka. Funny because everybody says Sri Lanka is the origin of cinnamon. Yeah because that's where the Filipinos took their cinnamon.  Does it have a lot still? Yes. Do they grow it there? Yes. No doubt. But does it only come from Sri Lanka? It's another one of those things. No it does not. It may today for instance but it cerintaly did not in ancient times. 

And perhaps even as far as the coast of Africa in sailboats with outriggers he says. I know he must be crazy too except they have built replicas of these ships now and actually this balangay has been sailed all the way around the world. So they most certainly could have taken that journey." 

The source for this quote from Professor Horridge comes from a document titled "The South China Sea Dispute: Philippine Sovereign Rights and Jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea," by Antonio T. Carpio.

Prof. Adrian Horridge believes that by 200 BCE, Austronesian sailors were regularly carrying cloves and cinnamon to India and Sri Lanka, and perhaps even as far as the coast of Africa in sailboats with outriggers.

The South China Sea Dispute: Philippine Sovereign Rights and Jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea," pg.3 

This is another instance of secondhand quoting from Tim instead of using primary sources. If he had followed the footnotes he would have found that Carpio's source for this quote comes from a book titled "The Austronesians: Historical and Comparative Perspectives." A copy of that book can be downloaded here.  On page 146 we read the following:

Although influences from the Indian Ocean were too late to influence the Pacific Austronesians, Sanskrit words and possibly some rigging techniques could have started to spread east of Peninsular Malaysia by 200 BC. Trade routes were also open between Vietnam and eastern Indonesia about 200 BC, as shown by the distribution of the Dong Son bronze drums along the natural sea route dictated by the monsoons in the South China and Java Seas. Recent excavations at Sembiran in Bali have also revealed evidence of drum casting and deposits of South Asian rouletted ware pottery, most likely dated before AD 200 (Ardika and Bellwood 1991). Annual trade between China and India through the Malacca Straits had opened by about 200 BC. Perhaps by that time Austronesian sailors were regularly carrying cloves and cinnamon to India and Sri Lanka, and perhaps even as far as the coast of Africa in boats with outriggers. Certainly they have left numerous traces in canoe design, rigs, outriggers and fishing techniques, and a mention in Greek literature (Christie 1957).

Both Carpio and Tim cite Horridge wrong.  Professor Horridge does not say that Austronesian sailors were regularly sailing to India. What he says is perhaps they were. That word perhaps is very important and Carpio and Tim both omit it. Perhaps is very different than I believe. Professor Horridge is speculating and not stating a fact. Horridge's reference to Christie is also very important because it leads to a discussion of the Periplus which is a central text to Tim's thesis.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/610248?seq=1

The obscure passage in question is the following:

60.   Among the market-towns of these countries, and the harbors where the ships put in from Damirica [=Limyrike] and from the north, the most important are, in order as they lie, first Camara, then Poduca, then Sopatma; in which there are ships of the country coasting along the shore as far as Damirica; and other very large vessels made of single logs bound together, called sangara: but those which make the voyage to Chryse and to the Ganges are called colandia, and are very large. There are imported into these places everything made in Damirica, and the greatest part of what is brought at any time from Egypt comes here, together with most kinds of all the things that are brought from Damirica and of those that are carried through Paralia.

https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/periplus/periplus.html

This brief paper says that some consider this passage in the Periplus to be corrupt. The problem lies in the interpretation of the word highlighted above, colandia. Anthony Christie spends nine pages identifying what kind of ship a colandia is even investigating Chinese documents concerning these ships.  Needless to say he does not identify it as a balangay or anything Filipino. In fact both Horridge and Christie use the all encompassing term Austronesian which could mean any number of people groups and not necessarily Filipinos.

It is interesting to note that the commenter says Professor Horridge documents Filipino balangays as making trips to India and Sri Lanka in 200 BC when he does not mention balangays at all. That is an addition the commenter makes because Tim makes the connection with his slide. Now in the mind of the commenter, as well as the mind of anyone who watched the video, Professor Horridge is saying that Filipino balangays made the trip to India in 200 BC. It's a very subtle trick Tim has played on his unsuspecting audience to associate the balangay with the quote from Professor Horridge. It's an instance of personal biases and inferences becoming fact.

It's the same kind of trick Tim played in his video Clue #3 where he says Philippine gold jewelry was found in Egypt, asks how did it get there, and then proceeds to talk about Philippine ships. Anyone watching that video would think Filipinos sailed to Egypt even though Tim never says that.

Taken as a whole along with the paper by Anthony Christie Professor Horridge does not support Tim's thesis that balangays were making ports of call to India by 200 BC. Tim is also wrong when he says that a balangay has sailed around the world. The Balangay Voyage project did build a balangay but they only sailed to China and around Southeast Asia.  They did not circumnavigate the globe.

Thirdly the commenter says "Wikipedia stakes a claim of Philippines mining gold since 1000 BC." Here is the reference:

Mining in the Philippines began around 1000 BC. The early Filipinos worked various mines of gold, silver, copper and iron. Jewels, gold ingots, chains, calombigas and earrings were handed down from antiquity and inherited from their ancestors. Gold dagger handles, gold dishes, tooth plating, and huge gold ornaments were also used. In Laszlo Legeza's "Tantric elements in pre-Hispanic Philippines Gold Art", he mentioned that gold jewelry of Philippine origin was found in Ancient Egypt. According to Antonio Pigafetta, the people of Mindoro possessed great skill in mixing gold with other metals and gave it a natural and perfect appearance that could deceive even the best of silversmiths. The natives were also known for the pieces of jewelry made of other precious stones such as carnelian, agate and pearl. Some outstanding examples of Philippine jewelry included necklaces, belts, armlets and rings placed around the waist.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining#Classical_Philippine_civilization

Right away this reference is suspect because it also includes the false claim that Legeza mentions Philippine gold jewelry being found in ancient Egypt. He does not. He says it appears this is so and he does not source his claim. The source for the claim that mining in the Philippines began in 1,000 BC is traced to a defunct Geocities page. 

Mines dating back to at least 1,000 B.C. have been found in the Philippines. When the Spanish arrived the Filipinos worked various mines of gold, silver, copper and iron. They also seemed to have worked in brass using tin that was likely imported from the Malay Peninsula. The iron work in particular was said to be of very high quality in some cases, and occassionaly in some areas, even better than that found in Europe. 

https://web.archive.org/web/20071201054321/http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Temple/9845/tech.htm#jew

This website appears to be the personal blog of Paul Sekai Manansala who is the author of "Quests of the Dragon and Bird Clan" which is a revisionist history about the Nusantao. This guy even believes Prester John was a real king! Seeing as this page was first captured in the internet archive back in 1999 it would seem likely that it is the source of the erroneous citation of Peralta which is among the three sources cited to prove that Philippine gold was found in ancient Egypt.

Paul neglects to provide a source for his claim that mines dating to 1,000 BC have been found in the Philippines. Who discovered these mines and where are they located? The Wikipedia page also does not quote Paul correctly. Wikipedia says mining in the Philippines began around 1,000 BC while Paul only says mines dating to 1,000 BC have been found in the Philippines.

If mining began in the Philippines in 1,000 BC that would not be enough time for Filipinos to become miners of international renown whose gold King Solomon coveted.  King Solomon's dates are 990-931. Yet Tim takes this Wikipedia article as Gospel even mapping it out on a timeline.

https://youtu.be/gG39WFEYfiU?t=1371

"Again Wikipedia says the Philippines has been mining gold since 1000 BC..." 

I am not going to deny that Filipinos were mining gold back in 1,000 BC but Tim needs a better source to prove his claims than what Wikipedia is "staking." As it stands a date of 1,000 BC for the beginning of mining in the Philippines is too late for the Philippines to have been recognized as the land of gold to where King Solomon sent his ships. For the Philippines to be the premier land of gold in the way Tim claims it is the mining industry needs to be much, much older. Tim offers no proof or suggestion that this is the case but sticks with the date 1,000 BC.

I can imagine the commenter reading all that and thinking its a big nothing burger and that I am a fool who is nitpicking and being a libeling communist agitator yada, yada, yada. But getting your sources right is very crucial and time and again we see that Tim gets his sources wrong. In this same video Tim says:

https://youtu.be/gG39WFEYfiU

This is why gold jewelry of Philippine origin was found in a dig in Egypt dating first century AD.

I have already looked at the three sources cited to make this claim and shown it to be vastly overstated. It's funny that Tim adds the detail about the jewelry being found in a dig. None of those sources mention such a thing. It is very clear that Tim has not even read these three sources but is citing them secondhand just as he uses some sources but twists what they say to fit his paradigm. Thomas Suarez, Charles Nowell, and Rev. Thomas Stackhouse are three examples of men from whose writings he "gleans" what supports his thesis and ignores the rest. I have made it abundantly clear in these posts about the God Culture that Tim is not an honest or objective researcher. He has an agenda and shoehorns in the facts to support it. As they say, "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story."

Now let's talk about Timothy Jay Schwab. He claims he is challenging tradition and is not part of any organization or denomination.

We are The God Culture, a group of independent researchers with no affiliation to any denomination nor organization whatsoever. 

The God Culture is a group of independent researchers not affiliated with any denomination nor organization. This team focuses solely on relationship with the Father through His Son testing all things using scripture as it’s foundation.

https://www.thegodculture.com

Yet he also claims he is here in the Philippines conducting conferences as part of an evangelistic ministry.

They chose the platform of YouTube to share their research initially in order to gather a following and after 2 years and over 5 million views from 214 countries on a teaching channel, The God Culture now re-enters the evangelistic ministry in conducting conferences beginning in the Philippines as much of the geography the Holy Spirit has restored leads to that land. Married to a Filipina, Timothy desires to spend much more time in the Philippines, the land of Ophir and the Garden of Eden (try to disprove it) and on their first tour, The God Culture already has over 15 conferences booked in their first month in May 2019 alone from North Luzon to Visayas to Mindanao

https://www.thegodculture.com

(EDIT and UPDATE) The God Culture has deleted this passage from their website.  Here is the original:

Anna Rose Lipshy even says that she and Tim were evangelists touring the USA.

We used to be evangelist touring the US for a number of years conducting altar calls consistently (oh forgot, we don't have any ministry experience according to this ignorant blog) and our experience in follow up was a whole lot of people who did not continue in relationship. 

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-god-culture-100-clues-philippines.html?showComment=1580699091074#c7458184243698567772

If Tim is doing the work of an evangelist in the Philippines surely he has a missionary visa, right? I don't think so.  He has said he is not part of any organization, not part of any denomination. That means no one sent him to do religious work in the Philippines. By his own admission he stands completely outside of the Church.

Here are the requirements of a missionary visa. I admit this is not the Bureau of Immigration's webpage but it is from a company who specializes in assisting people to obtain Philippine visas and is more forthright and clear than the information on the BI's webpage.

This visa is issued to a foreigner who: 

1. is a member of a religious denomination that is a bonafide non-profit organization in the Philippines  

2. is a minister or a religious worker of a non-profit religious denomination 

3. is requested by his religious organization to carry out a religious occupation in the Philippines 

4. is going to study a fixed curriculum in order to accomplish and undergo a proper formation training

http://dbmsconsultancy.com/missionaryvisa

Do any of those four qualifications apply to Timothy Schwab? Not according to what he says about himself. He is a foreigner having no affiliation with any religious organization yet he is in the Philippines acting as a missionary. His webpage shows him posing with Bishop Rod and Ruth Cubos at a conference in Davao.

In fact it appears that all of his conferences are held in tandem with a local church as this video shows:

The God Culture deleted the video above in order to cover their tracks. Clearly they do not want people to know that they are doing missionary work in this country. But someone uploaded it on Facebook so here it is:

 

Despite the fact that Tim is obviously involved in missionary work it is very doubtful he has a missionary visa. If he does have one that would mean he either belongs to a religious organization, which he admits he does not, or someone invited him to the Philippines which seems unlikely because his ministry is that of a wandering evangelist and he is interacting with a wide variety of Filipino churches and pastors. The only way to be sure is to actually see his missionary visa. I dare him to post it if he has one. I dare him to tell us what organization he belongs to and sent him here or who requested that he come to the Philippines to evangelize. If he doesn't have a missionary visa then he is in flagrant violation of Philippine immigration law for doing the work of a missionary without the proper and necessary credentials.

That's is it for the God Culture. I don't want to bore my regular readers with this "cult" and I don't want to harp on these guys either. I have said basically everything that needs saying about them. The only things left to do in regards to the God Culture are to review their book when it is published and to post a write-up after attending a conference. Hopefully the coronavirus pandemic doesn't cancel any of their upcoming conferences. 

The God Culture: Team of Researchers?

I know I said no more God Culture posts but I just can't help myself. These guys are such low hanging fruit and their silly historical revisionist views about the Philippines and Filipinos as well as their manifestly shoddy research skills are both entertaining and comical. I have no idea which representative of the God Culture is posting comments on my blog posts but whoever it is they are crazy as a loon. They also refer to Tim as "our leader."

Our Leader

I do not know Tim at all.  I have never met the guy. But I imagine he is a sane and reasonable person with whom I could hold a rational conversation. Over coffee I am sure we could discuss his research and all the holes I have found in it without either of us raising our voices. It might be a little spirited and heated. We might talk past each other and will likely have to agree to disagree. We also might find common ground. There would be nothing wrong with any of that. That's just how discussions go.

The person representing the God Culture who continues to post comments on this blog is the complete opposite of my imagined picture of Tim. This person is rude, ill-informed, illogical, and ignores the substance of what I have written by sticking out his tongue and going "na-na-na-na you are dumb." Is that the kind of person the God Culture's leader Timothy Jay Schwab wants to represent his organization? Does Tim really desire to have such a childish person represent him and his team?  Maybe he does!  But I don't think so.

You can go to each God Culture post and read the comments for yourself. Most of them are longwinded, incoherent, and pointless. I'm going to post a few here that are representative of the disjointed ramblings of the God Culture.

Take this comment from The God Culture: Does Timothy Schwab Have a Missionary Visa?

Well stupid, you asked. So don't ask if you don't care. What a trashy person you are. Timothy can do whatever he wants and it is none of your business. His lawyer got him the visa he needed and you are not a lawyer nor a scholar nor a theologian so stop pretending to be. You are a fraud whose opinion has 0 value. You have not produced any credentials, no name for your viewers, no agenda. Are you a communist? You sure do act like one. 

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2020/03/god-culture-does-timothy-schwab-have.html?showComment=1584521284242#c328801674141807724

Does Tim approve of such infantile name calling? Would the leader of the God Culture want their name associated with this comment? If we were in public would Tim call me trashy, stupid, a communist, and a fraud? Would he do so in private? Is that his style? 

From the same blog post:

A judiaizer is a Zionist fool. There is no such thing as a judaizer who is not and you are ignorant yet again. You just have one brain fart after another. So clueless. 

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2020/03/god-culture-does-timothy-schwab-have.html?showComment=1584533153667#c1651514787108346926

This comment reveals the commenter's complete ignorance of what a judaizer is. In a previous post I called Tim a judaizer because he admits he wants people to keep the biblical feasts. That is to say he wants Christians to incorporate Jewish practices into their worship. My exact comment was:

Because Tim is at heart a Judaizer. He takes his Christianity scattered, smothered, and covered with Judaism and he encourages others to do the same. Timothy Schwab's message is not simply that Filipinos are members of the lost tribes but that they must also worship God in a Jewish manner.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-god-culture-jewish-fables.html

A Zionist is a person who supports the modern day state of Israel. Zionism is a political movement dating back to the 1800's. Judaizing goes back to the time of the Apostles and has to do with adding Jewish forms of worship to Christian worship. Big difference. Not the same at all. The Apostle Paul writes all about this issue in his letter to the Galatians. It's pure ignorance on the part of this commenter. 

After a lot of back and forth with this person he finally snapped. He went berserk and posted the following gobbledy-gook.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2020/03/god-culture-does-timothy-schwab-have.html?showComment=1584634626809#c609820347794874797

Just try to read that. I dare you. I gave up after about two sentences.  Is this the kind of nonsense Timothy Jay Schwab, leader of the God Culture, approves? Can he honestly read this and say, "This comment accurately represents myself and my organization." It's complete balderdash and drivel. He posted this same rant on The God Culture: Philippine Gold Jewelry Found in 1st Century Egypt.

This commenter also disparages one of the God Culture's most important and oft quoted sources, Thomas Suarez.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-god-culture-philippine-gold-jewelry.html?showComment=1584195525058#c7011209112326719045

Suarez is wrong. We do not quote his conclusions because they are ignorant and loaded with propaganda as well and we do not consider him a true scholar as he tows the Rothschild line inheriting such from the likes of Samuel Purchas who was employed by the East India Company specifically to hack up this topic as a matter of record and confuse people with propaganda.

Is this what Tim thinks? Does he think Thomas Suarez is not a true scholar and is merely an unwitting agent of the Rothschilds (how ridiculous a notion!) or is this the singular opinion of the commenter? If he does think that then why is Suarez listed in the PDF of approved sources? Why does the God Culture use Suarez in at least five other videos to bolster their claims? Why not chuck him to the curb entirely and find a new source for Mela and the Turin map if the man is not a true scholar? Why associate the pure names of the God Culture and Timothy Jay Schwab with a deceiver?

https://f2568e15-4b6b-4cbb-b68a-3d729eeed9e4.filesusr.com/ugd/e23929_c5850fbfa12d4a3390a6a541db01540d.pdf

It's truly a bizarre comment to associate Thomas Suarez with the banking family known as the Rothschilds. The commenter's associating of Samuel Purchas with the Rothschilds betrays an astounding ignorance of their history as well. Purchas' dates are 1577-1626. The Rothschilds did not come into power until the late 1700's!  Has the commenter read all 20 volumes of Purchas or at least volume 1? Just what propaganda is he talking about? There is also no evidence the man worked for the East India Company according to historiographer Sir William Foster. Yet we read just the opposite in their PDF of supporting research sources.

5. Samuel Purchas. 

“Purchas His Pilgrimes.” Book 1. Samuel Purchas. Page 18-48 at least. Purchase has a very long dissertation on Ophir bought and paid for by the East India Company (Rothschilds) and never traveled more than 200 miles from Essex in his own words thus he is no explorer according to: Hakluytus Posthumus, or Purchas his Pilgrimes, Contayning a History of the World, in Sea Voyages, & Lande Travels, by Englishmen and others by Dr James Robert Wood, Trinity College Dublin. Also, Purchas did not know where Ophir was nor did he actually put up an argument against the Philippines which he does not address. Purchas was peddling a British mindset and never proves anything nor did he locate Ophir as no scholar fully did until Magellan.

Sorting out this mess will have to be left for another blog post. You can read that here.

This is all part of the God Culture's conspiratorial mindset. They believe that once the whole world knew the Philippines was Ophir. Then around 1891 it got covered up!  All that information was intentionally withheld from Filipinos so that they would not know who they are.  But did Filipinos ever know who they are or were descended from?

42. They are so ignorant that they do not have the slightest knowledge concerning the origin of the ancestors from whom they descend, and whence they came to settle these islands. They do not give any information concerning their paganism, which is not the worst; and they only preserve in certain parts some ridiculous abuses, which they observe at births and sicknesses, and the cursed belief that persuades them that the souls of their ancestors or the grandfathers of the families are present in the trees and at the bottom of bamboos, and that they have the power of giving and taking away health and of giving success or failure to the crops. Therefore, they make their ancestors offerings of food, according to their custom; and what has been preached to them and printed in books avails but little, for the word of any old man regarded as a sage has more weight With them than the word of the whole world.

http://www.philippinehistory.net/views/1720sanagustinb.htm

Magellan knew that the Philippines was the land of Ophir but an Augustinian friar who lived in the islands amongst the Filipinos in 1720 testified that the natives could tell nothing of their origin. Does that make sense?  How does that figure in the God Culture's extensive and deep historical research?

Who is the God Culture's team of researchers? That question is actually very important. We know Tim is the leader and his wife is also involved. What we don't know is who is on this alleged team of researchers. What are their qualifications? They say they will be publishing a book soon. Who will be the credited author? Tim? The God Culture? If it is "The God Culture" who will get authorial credit? Will Tim then introduce us to his team of researchers?

The God Culture is a group of independent researchers not affiliated with any denomination nor organization. This team focuses solely on relationship with the Father through His Son testing all things using scripture as it’s foundation. In recent years, their focus on restoring Biblical geography alone has led to the restoration of Ophir, Sheba, Tarshish, Havilah, Garden of Eden, Land of Creation, location of the Lost Tribes of Israel, home of John the Baptist and more and the restoration of prophecy follows. Don’t believe it? Try to prove it wrong. Their handle on scripture combined with their deep research including history, geography, archeology, science, language, etc. leads to a greater understanding of the original intent of the writers of the Word and as we read in comments all the time, leads to deep commitment for many thousands as they now see the brilliance behind the Word as it leaves many geographic markers and hints when comprehensive research is conducted especially in restoring the Hebrew meaning. 

https://www.thegodculture.com

History? Geography? Archeology? Science? Language? Do these researchers have degrees in those fields? Have they studied history, geography, etc.? Most academics have affiliations with organizations of one kind or another but apparently these people do not. We will never know anything about them unless these researchers come out of the shadows.

What kind of team engaged in groundbreaking research "restoring biblical geography" keeps their identities and CV's a secret? Anonymity is not a proper stance for anyone engaged in honest scholarship to take. Maybe Tim just wants people to focus on the facts and not the people because he is so humble. Such would be a false humility as there are no such things as neutral facts. We come to the facts with all our presuppositions, paradigms, and worldviews.

Science is a unified, central body or committee of enlightened, rational authoritative collective that inhabits the hallowed halls of academia, all reporting the neutral facts of empirical experience to come to objective conclusions, who then present them matter-of-factly to peers and the public. Nothing could be further from the truth. Scientists are individual humans with desires and worldviews and opinions like the rest of us—and some of them have an agenda. 

https://jaysanalysis.com/2014/06/17/the-cult-of-scientism-and-nikola-teslas-aether/

Tim is not merely presenting naked facts. He is interpreting them according to his own worldview and agenda. So are his teammates. I have shown in previous posts how he has done this by cherry picking his sources, taking what fits his thesis, and tossing anything that does not fit. The God Culture owes it to their viewers, readers, and listeners to tell who is doing the research and what their academic qualifications and religious beliefs are. As I will show in the next post (yes I know I said no more but...) much of their "research" has been copy/pasted from the blog AncientPhilippines.