The God Culture: Lost Isles of Gold Small Group Study Guide

Four years after publishing The Search for King Solomon's Treasure Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture has finally released his promised small group study guide. 

https://issuu.com/thegodculture/docs/lost_isles_small_group_study_ebook

This study guide is being released in conjunction with the launch of The God Culture app. The reader is instructed to follow along using the app. 

Use this 13-week Small Group Study Guide and follow our new Lost Isles of Gold Live Series free on The God Culture App, YouTube, Rumble, Instagram, Facebook, SubStack, Brighteon, Odyssey, etc. In some cases, your Pastor or leader will present the content as well which we strongly encourage and offer our support to assist them in bringing this explosive research to you. All video links at TheGodCulture.com. 

The format of the book is a series of 13 chapters divided into several questions. The student is supposed to write the answer based on what he hears Tim say during the course of the accompanying video series. Now, keep in mind this is supposed to be a teaching tool. In fact, the cover blurb declares:

The End of Colonial Propaganda In Geography

What is "colonial propaganda in geography?" It's a loaded term. There is nothing neutral about that phrase. Perhaps a better phrase would be:

Learn About the Biblical History of the Philippines

That phrase informs the student of what he is about to learn. Tim's blurb is biased and sets him against everyone else. He is right and they are wrong. This stance is quite nakedly apparent in the questions Tim asks as it is in all his other books and videos. 

There are 212 questions but I shall only take a look at a few of them. Everything Tim teaches is the same. His books and videos merely repeat each other. The information Tim teaches in this guide has been refuted many times on this blog so there is no need to refute him again point by point.

Let's start with the very first question. 

1. Does archaeology prove that Ophir existed as a land abundant in gold?

The answer is an unambiguous NO! Tim has said as much several times. You can read about that here. According to Tim there is no archaeology proving anything about Ophir and anyone who asks such a question is stuck in a false paradigm. This is not a simple question about an 8th century B.C. pottery shard being found in Israel. We already know Tim thinks the Philippines is Ophir and we see where this question leads in questions 6 and 7.

6. Does the fact that an academic colonial paradigm that chooses to ignore massive history gets to use their admission of ignorance as evidence against the very history and maps they ignore? 

7. If the Philippines is proven factually to have been labelled Ophir and Tarshish of the Bible historically, on maps, and ultimately in the Bible itself, how does this impact our thinking? 

What is "an academic colonial paradigm?" Tim does not explain what it means but it is loaded language.  It's not very different from the kind of empty language used by critical race theorists. As for question seven, why is Tim asking this hypothetical? It is not only a leading question but an appeal to emotion as Tim asks, "how does this impact our thinking?" That is a totally subjective question that has no place here if Tim is actually trying to teach a history of the Philippines based on factual evidence. 

Already the book is off to a horrible start. And there are 12 more chapters to go!

Chapter 2 is about the location of Ophir.

3. How can one calling themselves a scholar not know that the King of Spain hired explorer after explorer to head to Tarshish in the Orient demonstrating Spain historically knew it was not Tarshish?

Again, this is another loaded question meant to guide the student into disdaining anything academics and scholars have to say about the location of Tarshish. There are a lot of factors not counted in here such as tin, a commodity from Tarshish, being found in Israel that dates to the 13th century BC and whose provenance is Britain. Also the Septuagint translates Tarshish as Carthage which is not in the Far East. 

Not to mention it does not follow that because the King of Spain sent explorers to find Tarshish in the Orient means they were right in thinking Tarshish was in the Orient. It's as wrongheaded as Tim's assertion that because Magellan thought something about Ophir that thing was true.

Chapter 3 has more leading questions and bias against scholars. 

1. With the resources of Ophir and Tarshish being the same, how could an academic even suggest they are thousands of km apart?

Not only is this bias against academics but it is a non-sequitur. It does not follow that if Ophir and Tarshish have the same resources they are the same place. Tim is on record saying India has all the resources of Ophir but he denies it is Ophir. According to Tim the Philippines has the same resources as Ophir. Obviously India is not the Philippines but if it has the same resources as the Philippines then, according to Tim, we should be able to say India and the Philippines are the same place. But that would make no sense because they are different places. Likewise it is readily apparent Ophir and Tarshish are different places if one reads 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles closely. 

The same reading shows it is not true that Tarshish and Ophir have the same resources. 

1 Kings 10:11 And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees, and precious stones.

2 Chronicles 9:21 For the king's ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: every three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

In question 9 Tim suddenly thinks the Jesuit scholars who helped colonize the Philippines are credible. 

9. Who were the "principal settlers" of the Philippines according to credible Spanish history in 1601, 1627, 1663, and even 1891, among others?

The answer is in the quote above the question. But why is this "credible Spanish history?" So much for  "the end of colonial propaganda in geography." How is it Tim distrusts the Catholics on everything they write, claims they burned Philippine historic documents (not true see here for more), and yet now appeals to them for his own revisionist history project? Here is a rebuttal from Fransiscan Juan Fransisco de San Antonio who wrote in the 18th century. 

For to endeavor to determine the first settlers of these lands, whence and how they came, whether they were Carthaginians, Jews, Spaniards, Phoenicians, Greeks, Chinese, Tartars, etc., is reserved for God, who knows everything; and this task exceeds all human endeavor. And if such study obtain anything, it will amount only to a few fallible conjectures with danger of the judgment, and without any advance of the truth or of reputation.

The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803, Vol. 40, pg. 296-297 

And here is a second witness from Gaspar de San Augustin who was an Augustinian missionary and historian in 18th century Philippines.

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

So, question 9 is a fallacious appeal to authority and of no weight. What should be of weight and concern is fact, not the conjecture of the Jesuits or Timothy Jay Schwab.

Chapter 3 also has the following error.

Two question 4s! Someone call an editor. 

Chapter 4 is all about maps.

1. As the First Century shift to Greek in maps is attested by the same in the New Testament, are there actual maps that still identify Ophir in its original Hebrew form? 

Where in the New Testament is there anything about maps? Nowhere! The rest is the same nonsense I have refuted at length. Read it here. 

Chapter 10 is about how the three kings or wise men who visited Jesus Christ actually came from the Philippines.

12. Why did Daniel call his wise men in the Greek Septuagint Sophos and not Magos in Greek?

What is this supposed to prove or clarify? In the New Testament the word translated wise men is Magos. The word Sophos, which is Strongs's G6480 is used several times in the New Testament to describe wise men. Magos, G3907, is used several times to describe sorcerers such as Elymas the sorcerer in Acts 13:8. The word Magos tells us more about these three men than the word Sophos. It tells us they were astrologers from the East, likely from Persia. This is a terrible question that doesn't offer anything except proof that Timothy Jay Schwab is no linguist. 

Chapter 11 is about Columbus and has the following two questions involving one of Tim's stupidest errors.

4. What Globe/Sphere is identified as the source for Columbus and Magellan in Columbus' and Pigafetta's Journals?  

5. Who paid for and commissioned the 1492 Behaim Globe? 

The answer to 4 is in the fifth question, the Behaim Globe. The answer to 5 is the City of Nuremburg. Tim will say Portugal which is so obviously wrong and rectified by a simple Wikipedia search but Tim doesn't care. He remains entrenched in his ignorance and passes it along on to others. 

Why does Tim continue to repeat this lie? Why is he willing to die on this hill? Is it really that important to his project? It is a mystery. For a complete, thorough, and final rebuttal to this false claim read this article.

Question 9 is rather representative of many of the questions in this study guide.

9. Did Honshu, Japan move 2,700 km South into the South China Sea only to return back to modern Japan (Nippon), or is Luzon actually Luzon? 

This question is based on Tim's teaching that the Philippines is Japan, specifically it is the land Marco Polo called Zipangu. First of all that is completely wrong and you can read about that here. Second of all the question is not only unnecessarily sarcastic and leading but it betrays a misunderstanding of the Behaim map which has a depiction of Zipangu.

Tim thinks this whole area is the Philippines because the islands appear to have the shape of some of the Philippine Islands. Never mind the Behaim globe was made in 1492 long before any European had visited the Philippines. That fact does not matter to Tim. It's the shapes that matter. Question 9, in conjunction with the following questions, is designed to make the reader feel stupid and think Zipangu can't be Japan because Tim has already lead them to think so in Chapter 4 questions 13-15.

Look at that! There are two question 15s. Tim needs an editor. 

Also take a look at the first question 15.

why is called Japan by the West when the locals call it Nippon or Nihon?

The answer is simple. Japan is based on the name Cipangu and that name is based on what the CHINESE called Japan!

Marco Polo called Japan 'Cipangu' around 1300, based on the Chinese name, probably 日本國; 'sun source country' (compare modern Min Nan pronunciation jít pún kok). In the 16th century in Malacca, Portuguese traders first heard from Malay and Indonesian the names Jepang, Jipang, and Jepun.

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

This is a misleading question and just goes to show that Tim is not interested in truthful history but in pushing his own false narrative about the Philippines. 

Chapter 12 is about Hebrew in Philippine place names and has the following questions. 

3. With chaggiyah literally meaning "feast of Yah" and yan as "Yah's grace," how do you believe this name was applied to multiple sites throughout the Philippines? 

4. If Cagayan referred to a river, as some scholars attempt, why would the name appear on an island without a river at all? 

7. Is it a coincidence that the pronunciation of Igorot is the same in Hebrew "eeg-ge-roht, iggerOt" meaning "letter, epistle?" 

8. Why did American Archeology and Ethnology conclude Igorot law "ranks fairly with Hebrew law?" 

10. When Panay in Hebrew means "front of, overlooking" and pana "before the face of God," is it likely a linguistic association can be inferred? 

11. When Solomon's navy landed in Ophir, would it not be appropriate for them to identify the plentiful saba meaning "abundant, fill to satisfaction" in Hebrew? 

15. Is it possible that God allowed the name Pili Pinnah as a name for this land which in Hebrew means "miraculous cornerstone" matching its history as the land of Creation? 

Can you see the problem here? "How do you believe", "is it a coincidence", is it likely", "would it not be appropriate?" Those are subjective questions. They do not lead to anything substantial or factual regarding Hebrew being in Philippine place names. Philippines is not Pili Pinnah. It's named after King Philip II and Philip means horse lover. Never forget Tim is not a linguist nor does he wish to be one. 

5:06 We are not linguists nor do we care to be

Lost Tribes Series Part 2F: Decoding the Butuan Ivory Seal - Evidence

The last chapter is titled "End Times Prophecy of the Philippines?" We shall only look at the last eight questions. 

8. How could Jesus (Yahusha) have known that Cebu would call itself the “Queen City of the South” with Iloilo bearing a similar nomenclature?

9. How did he and Isaiah both know Ophir, Philippines would fall and need to rise?

10. Did Jesus (Yahusha) know the geography of the world when He placed the isle of the Queen of Sheba’s origin in the uttermost parts of the Earth?

11. What does it mean to you to “rise up in the judgment” with the End Times generation and “condemn it?”

12. How can a conquered nation be restored as the judges of the Earth?

13. Do the words of Jesus(Yahusha) ever return to Him void? Can His prophecy every fail?

13. How do you believe this will occur?

14. What will your role be in the rising of the Philippines in these Last Days?

15. Are you ready to rise?

Look at that. There are two question 13s! So, that's two question 4s in chapter 3, two question 15s in chapter 11, and two question 13s in chapter 13. Tim really needs an editor. That is more proof there is no God Culture Team.

All of these questions are based on a wrong interpretation of Matthew 12:42. 

That verse is not a prophecy of the end times. It is a condemnation of the people listening to the preaching of Jesus Christ and rejecting Him. Jesus says the men of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah and the Queen of Sheba heard the wisdom of Solomon. He says the men of Nineveh and the Queen of Sheba will rise up IN THE JUDGEMENT and condemn those who rejected Christ because one who is greater than both Jonah and Solomon had come. 

The rising up of the Queen of Sheba and Nineveh will not be in the last days but IN THE JUDGEMENT. They will not be condemning the beast, the antichrist, or the New World Order but those who refused to repent and believe on Jesus Christ. 

The last question is arguably the most important because it sums up what Tim's whole project is about. It's all about "restoring prophecy" which has nothing to do with Israel but everything to do with the Philippines. The question indicates this study guide is not for non-Filipinos. According to Tim Filipinos will "rise up" in the last days to condemn the New World Order. That is where this study guide wants to lead its users. 

However, if one pays attention to how these questions are worded and does the most basic Bible study and historical research they have to reject this conclusion. The study guide will only accomplish Tim's goal of leading Filipinos into believing his nonsense if they do not do what he says and test all things including himself. Sadly so many of Tim's listeners fail to take the time to fact check him. 

If you didn't notice the front cover has a Fedora floating in the ocean.

It seems this Fedora is so important it appears three times throughout the book on the front and back covers as well as the title page. That's because Tim is equating his historical revisionism project with Indiana Jones. From the back cover:

You are about to embark on the most monumental journey of all archaeological discoveries in this 13-Week Small Group Study by The God Culture, a group of independent researchers. A 3,000-year gold rush documented so many ways it will make your head spin. The mother lode that would cause the likes of Indiana Jones to salivate.

Yes, fiction appealing to fiction. How appropriate. 

Tim has previously said he is working on a textbook to promote his ideas in the classroom. 

2:30:58 But we're working on a textbook. A real textbook. A four year course that will teach, especially Filipinos but people all over the world, the foundation of the Bible which includes the Philippines. Because it includes the Garden of Eden which is here. You don't get a more significant land than that of the Garden of Eden, the very land of creation itself. So, we're working on that project right now and we hope to get that out in time. 

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-god-culture-kalinga-hebrew-youth.html

If this study guide is any indication Filipinos who take the course will only be dumber and more ignorant thanks to Professor Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture. 

The God Culture: More Lies About the Behaim Globe

It is absolutely hilarious that Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture cannot write a book or record a video without a passing reference to me. In this case Tim makes a direct reference to me in his new book Garden of Eden Revealed The Book of Maps. 

Garden of Eden Revealed, pgs 98-99

There are those out there who are simply dishonest who have even gone so far as to commit cyber libel expressing extreme racism against the Philippines who claim we lied that this was a Portuguese government-commissioned map. Yet it was. They need to take up that debate with the University of Cambridge. The fact they are unable to read and understand that the Portuguese King Joao II paid Behaim to create this map according to Cambridge's Whipple Museum of History and Science, demonstrates what we always observe from that fallacious onslaught of racist nonsense. They cannot even read a sentence with comprehension. 

"The earliest globe that survives today was made in 1492 by Martin Behaim, a German navigator and geographer in the employ of King João II of Portugal." ' 

I know this is a reference to me because I am the only who writes critically of The God Culture and I am the only one who has been insistent that Tim lies every time he speaks about the Behaim Globe. It is NOT Portuguese, it is German. It was made by a man who was employed by the King of Portugal but it was not commissioned by the King of Portugal. It was commissioned and financed by the City of Nuremberg which is Behaim's hometown. 

This fact is easily found on Wikipedia and following the sources leads to a book titled Martin Behaim, His Life and His Globe by Ernest George Ravenstein. This book contains much historical information regarding the provenance of the globe. 

First we are told that it was a singular member of the Nuremberg City Council who suggested to the rest of the Council that Behaim make a globe. 

https://archive.org/details/gri_33125008398949/page/42/mode/2up

It was, however, a member of the Town Council, George Holzschuher, to whom Martin Behaim became indebted for the greater part of the fame which he still enjoys. George Holzschuher in 1470 had visited Egypt and the Holy Land, and he evidently took some interest in the progress of geographical discoveries. It was he who suggested to his colleagues of the Rat that Behaim should be requested to undertake the making of a globe, upon which the recent discoveries of the Portuguese should be delineated. His suggestion was accepted, and to him we are indebted for the famous globe, a full account of which I shall give in the second part of this work.

Second we are given the instructions the City of Nuremberg gave to Behaim for making the globe. 

https://archive.org/details/gri_33125008398949/page/70/mode/2up

By desire and request of the prudent, honourable and sapient, the chief captains of the worthy Imperial city of Nurnberg who rule at this time, and whose names are D. Gabriel Nutzel, D. Paulus Volckamer and D. Nicholas Groland, this figure of an apple has been achieved and made by the skill (art), according to the directions and by the industry of the worshipful and honourable D. Martin Behaim, Knight, who is much experienced in the art of Cosmography and has circumnavigated one third of the world. All this has been extracted with industry from the books of Ptolemy, Strabo and Marco Polo, and put together, the sea as well as the land, each according to its shape and form, as ordered to be done by the abovenamed captains on behalf of the City Council by the Hon. George Holzschuher, whereunto he has helped and advised with all possible industry. This (work of) art and apple has been achieved and made in the year 1492 after the birth of Christ, and has been left behind him by the said D. Martin Peheim for the honour and enjoyment of the commonalty of the city of Nurnberg in order that he may be thought kindly of for all time, when he shall have gone back to his wife, who lives 700 miles away, where he keeps house, in order to end his days in his island where is his home.

Be it known that on this Apple (Globe) here present is laid out the whole world according to its length and breadth in accordance with the art geometry, namely, the one part as described by Ptolemy in his book called 'Cosmographia Ptolemaei,’ and the remainder from what the Knight Marco Polo of Venice caused to be written down in 1250. The worthy Doctor and Knight Johann de Mandavilla likewise left a book in 1322 which brought to the light of day the countries of the East, unknown to Ptolemy, whence we receive spices, pearls and precious stones, and the Serene King John of Portugal has caused to be visited in his vessels that part to the south not yet known to Ptolemy in the year 1485, whereby I, according to whose indications this Apple has been made, was present. Towards the west the Sea Ocean has likewise been navigated further than what is described by Ptolemy and beyond the columns of Hercules as far as the islands Faial and Pico of the Azores occupied by the noble and valiant Knight Jobst de Hiirter of Moerkerken, and the people of Flanders whom he conducted thither. These islands are occupied by my dear father-in-law, who owns and governs it. The far-off places towards midnight or Tramontana, beyond Ptolemy’s description, such as Iceland, Norway and Russia, are likewise now known to us, and are visited annually by ships, wherefore let none doubt the simple arrangement of the world, and that every part may be reached in ships, as is here to be seen.

Third and finally we are given the expenditures spent by the Nuremberg City Council for making the globe. 

https://archive.org/details/gri_33125008398949/page/110/mode/2up

Below is so be found a statement of what I, George Holzschuher, have expended by order of my lords of the city treasury, upon limning and otherwise, for making the “apple,” or mappa mundi in the shape of a sphere, and also for making the printed map for the clerk’s office, which Mr. Merten Beham, having expended thereon his art and pains, left behind for the enjoyment of my lords of the worshipful council : 

Is that enough for Tim to prove the globe was conceived and financed by the City of Nuremberg and not the King of Portugal? 

Let's take a look at Tim's source the Cambridge Whipple Museum of Science.

https://www.whipplemuseum.cam.ac.uk/explore-whipple-collections/globes/brief-history-globes

The earliest globe that survives today was made in 1492 by Martin Behaim, a German navigator and geographer in the employ of King João II of Portugal. Behaim's globe recorded not only the lie of the lands being discovered by seabourne explorers, but also details of overseas commodities, market places and local trading protocols. Thus, the earliest surviving globe, which probably reflects many others produced around the same time, features information on more than cartography.

Does this say the King of Portugal commissioned and paid for Behaim's globe? NO! It only says Behaim was "in the employ of King João II of Portugal." Can Tim read? This says nothing about who paid for and commissioned the map.

Again, this is another instance where Tim has done ZERO investigation into the matter and more proof there either is no God Culture team or they are really bad at research. The facts of the provenance of the Behaim Globe are easily found out yet Tim persists on pushing this lie it was commissioned by the Portuguese government. At this point it is beyond a mere mistake. Timothy Jay Schwab who is the God Culture is indeed a liar when he claims this globe was commissioned by the Portuguese government. Why should anyone believe anything else he has to say?

The God Culture: 100 Lies About the Philippines: Lie# 33: Matthew 12:42 is About the Philippines

Welcome back to 100 lies the God Culture teaches about the Philippines. Today's lie concerns Timothy Jay Schwab's claim that Jesus Christ prophecises about the Philippines in Matthew 12:42. That verse says the Queen of Sheba will rise up in the judgement. Tim teaches the Queen of Sheba refers to the Filipino people and they will be the ones rising up.

Tim explains this claim in his video "The Two Witnesses of Revelation Explained."

Two Witnesses of Revelation Explained. This Will Rock Your World. Ophir, Sheba, Tarshish

1:13:04 In the next verse Messiah says the Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Who's that? The Queen of Sheba? And behold a greater than Solomon is here. Which Queen came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon? Sheba, the Queen of  Sheba. 

Sheba is modern Philippines and we do prove that very overwhelmingly and it's also a Lost Tribes territory. Again, watch both series and you will find we prove that overwhelmingly and no, we do not expect nor do we wish for you to take our word for it. Go watch the evidence test and learn and specifically and we prove this out much further in Solomon's gold series. Cebu Philippines, still known as the Queen of the South to this day, which is also located in region 7 or Sheba, is that ancient land of the great Queen of Sheba who brought tons of gold to Solomon as a gift for the temple. If you haven't seen that most of  your questions are answered in that series on that topic so check it out as we do prove it.

Ladies and gentlemen the two witnesses will come from Kurdistan, the Northern Kingdom Lost Tribes, the yahudim of Israel, and the ekklesia grafted Gentiles. It is the origin of the olive tree. Ancient Nineveh, Kurdistan, Messiah's prophecy says will rise up against the beast in the last days and the second witness is Ophir, Sheba the Garden of Eden, the Philippines all applicable. The Northern Kingdom Lost Tribes also went there. The yahudim, the ekklesia grafted Gentiles are also there and it is the origin of the gold used in the candlestick or menorah of the temple. The ancient Queen of Sheba, Queen of the South, prophecy for Messiah, says she or her people will rise up against the beast in the last days.

In this clip Tim claims Jesus prophesied both the Kurds and Filipinos are the Two Witnesses of Revelation who will rise up against the beast in the last days. A closer look reveals that is not what Jesus said.

These verses are not a prophecy of the end times. They are a condemnation of the people listening to the preaching of Jesus Christ and rejecting Him. Jesus says the men of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah and the Queen of Sheba heard the wisdom of Solomon. He says the men of Nineveh and the Queen of Sheba will rise up IN THE JUDGEMENT and condemn those who rejected Christ because one who is greater than both Jonah and Solomon had come. 

The rising up of the Queen of Sheba and Nineveh will not be in the last days but IN THE JUDGEMENT. They will not be condemning the beast, the antichrist, or the New World Order but those who refused to repent and believe on Jesus Christ. 

In his commentary Matthew Henry says:

https://biblehub.com/commentaries/matthew/12-42.htm

The Ninevites would shame the Jews for not repenting; the queen of Sheba, for not believing in Christ. And we have no such cares to hinder us, we come not to Christ upon such uncertainties. This parable represents the case of the Jewish church and nation. It is also applicable to all those who hear the word of God, and are in part reformed, but not truly converted.

Tim's misinterpretation of Matthew 12:42 is crucial to his teaching concerning the Philippines and Filipinos. According to him they will not only rise up in the last days to battle the antichrist but also to reestablish the Mosaic law. In effect Tim teaches Filipinos will flee from Jesus Christ and return to the school master who leads to Jesus Christ. Once one understands the real interpretation of Mathew 12:42 they can brush aside this jumbled and disjointed exegesis as simply one more lie about the Philippines from Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture. 

The God Culture: 100 Lies About the Philippines: Lie #32: The Philippines is Japan

Welcome back to 100 lies the God Culture teaches about the Philippines. Today's lie concerns Timothy Jay Schwab's claim that the Philippines is Japan. Specifically he claims the island known as Zipangu is the Philippines. Tim's proof for this claim comes from Marco Polo's description of Zipangu.

Tim has a lot of proofs for this claim but we shall listen to only one of them because it is his most important. He calls it the "nail in the coffin."

Marco Polo's Account of the Isle of Gold in the Philippines! Garden of Eden Revealed: Part 3

35:38 Now we progress to the nail in the coffin for Japan, not just this criteria but the next coming because this is just like, ERRRR, that's it. This one's about geography. Oh yeah, this account actually has geography. Academics and Scholars ignore it but it's there and you can't ignore it. Yes, it is always provided the direction of Kubla Khan's Journey to Zipangu into the South China Sea. Oops. Japan's not there.

"You must know that the gulf containing this island is called that of Zin" or Sin or Sina. Oh, wait a minute that's a reference to China but specifically to South China. Oh. Oops! Now, what is its sea, well it's called the South China Sea also referred to as Sin or Zin uh even on some maps. The South China Sea. Now, we don't have to guess though because this is really simple to test. Meaning in their language the sea opposite to Manji. Oops. Wait. Manji is what? Manji is South China and this is specifically the South China Sea. "According to skillful and intelligent mariners who have made the voyage it contains," BOOM, this is huge, "7,448 isles mostly inhabited." Now, oops, that's only half of Japan. That's pretty bad. Uh, and yet the Philippines has about that number of islands even to this day.

The problem for Tim is that the section mentioning 7,448 islands is not about Zipangu. Just before proceeding to describe this area Marco Polo says he is done with describing Zipangu and is moving on to something completely different. 

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.48005/page/n285/mode/2up

But I must tell you one thing still concerning that Island (and ’tis the same with the other Indian Islands), that if the natives take prisoner an enemy who cannot pay a ransom, he who hath the prisoner summons all his friends and relations, and they put the prisoner to death, and then they cook him and eat him, and they say there is no meat in the world so good!—But now we will have done with that Island and speak of something else. 

You must know the Sea in which lie the Islands of those parts is called the Sea of Chin, which is as much as to say “The Sea over against Manzi.”

The edition of Marco Polo Tim is using omits that sentence about speaking of something else so it will simply not do to use this translation against him. Another edition from 1880 also omits that sentence. 

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.283939/page/n381/mode/2up

It is to be understood that the sea in which the island of Zipangu is situated is called the Sea of Chin and so extensive is this eastern sea, that according to the report of experienced pilots and mariners who frequent it, and to whom the truth must be known, it contains no fewer than seven thousand four hundred and forty islands, mostly inhabited.

A note on this passage says:

The limits of the China Sea, not being accurately defined, it is impossible to verify this pretended enumeration of its islands, which is evidently meant to include the Moluccas or those from whence the spices are chiefly procured.

The Sea being described by Marco Polo is the entire ocean east of China. It is not specifically the South China Sea. 

Looking at the edition of Marco Polo Tim uses we read the following: 

pgs. 275-276

You must know, that the gulf containing this island is called that of Zin, meaning in their language the sea opposite to Manji. According to skilfull and intelligent mariners, who have made the voyage, it contains 7,448 isles, mostly inhabited.

Even without looking at other translations it is clear that the one used by Tim does not say Zipangu is composed of 7,448 islands. What it says is Zipangu is in the Sea of China and the Sea of China is so immense it contains 7,448 islands.

The mention of 7,448 islands has nothing to do with Zipangu. At this point in the Travels he has finished talking about Zipangu and is discussing the expansiveness of the Sea of China and the numerous islands it contains. 

This is not the nail in the coffin Tim thinks it is. It is however the nail in the coffin for Tim's claims the Philippines is Zipangu. If he had been paying attention to what this section actually says he would not have wasted time doing a resource test.

Instead he would have realized Marco Polo had moved on and was no longer talking about Zipangu. 

The claim the Philippines is Zipangu is simply one more lie being taught about the Philippines by Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture. 

The God Culture: The Philippines is Japan

In his new book "The Garden of Eden Revealed: The Book of Maps" Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture teaches the Philippines is actually Japan. Specifically he claims the island of Zipangu, described by Marco Polo, is not Japan but the Philippines. 

Garden of Eden Revealed, pgs. 124-125

This lie appears to be tightly woven together but comes undone easily if one pays attention to the words of Marco Polo. Therefore we shall dismantle it one thread at a time. 

First of all is the description of Zipangu given by Marco Polo. Rather than discuss the citation of Marco Polo given on page 124 Tim cites an article from Japan Today.

In the West around the 14th century, Japan was likely going by “the noble island of Chipangu,” which was given to it by none other than the famous explorer Marco Polo. Although it seems likely that Chipangu was Japan, it is not confirmed as Marco Polo included some very fanciful tales about these isles including the presence of rhinos, cannibalistic natives and private houses made of gold.

https://japantoday.com/category/features/lifestyle/why-is-japan-called-‘japan’-and-not-‘nihon-’

It is a crucial part of Tim's method that he never cite primary sources but if they must be cited they are to be dismissed or have their meaning twisted.  Here is Marco Polo's description of the island of Zipangu.

Chipangu is an Island towards the east in the high seas, 1500 miles distant from the Continent; and a very great Island it is.

The people are white, civilized, and well-favoured. They are Idolaters, and are dependent on nobody. And I can tell you the quantity of gold they have is endless; for they find it in their own Islands, [and the King does not allow it to be exported. Moreover] few merchants visit the country because it is so far from the main land, and thus it comes to pass that their gold is abundant beyond all measure.

I will tell you a wonderful thing about the Palace of the Lord of that Island. You must know that he hath a great Palace which is entirely roofed with fine gold, just as our churches are roofed with lead, insomuch that it
 would scarcely be possible to estimate its value. Moreover, all the pavement of the Palace, and the floors of its chambers, are entirely of gold, in plates like slabs of stone, a good two fingers thick; and the windows also are of gold, so that altogether the richness of this Palace is past all bounds and all belief.

Now you must know that the Idols of Cathay, and of Manzi, and of this Island, are all of the same class. And in this Island as well as elsewhere, there be some of the Idols that have the head of an ox, some that have the head of a pig, some of a dog, some of a sheep, and some of divers other kinds. And some of them have four heads, whilst some have three, one growing out of either shoulder. There are also some that have four hands, some ten, some a thousand! And they do put more faith in those Idols that have a thousand hands than in any of the others. And when any Christian asks them why they make their Idols in so many different guises, and not all alike, they reply that just so their forefathers were wont to have them made, and just so they will leave them to their children, and these to the after generations. And so they will be handed down for ever. And you must understand that the deeds ascribed
 to these Idols are such a parcel of devilries as it is best not to tell. So let us have done with the Idols, and speak of other things.

But I must tell you one thing still concerning that Island (and ’tis the same with the other Indian Islands), that if the natives take prisoner an enemy who cannot pay a ransom, he who hath the prisoner summons all his friends and relations, and they put the prisoner to death, and then they cook him and eat him, and they say there is no meat in the world so good!—But now we will have done with that Island and speak of something else. 

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/12410/pg12410-images.html#CHAPTER_II2

That is the end of Marco Polo's description of Zipangu. He says he is done and will now proceed to speak of something else. Here is his next subject.

You must know the Sea in which lie the Islands of those parts is called the Sea of Chin, which is as much as to say “The Sea over against Manzi.” For, in the language of those Isles, when they say Chin, ’tis Manzi they mean. And I tell you with regard to that Eastern Sea of Chin, according to what is said by the experienced pilots and mariners of those parts, there be 7459 Islands in the waters frequented by the said mariners; and that is how they know the fact, for their whole life is spent in navigating that sea. And there is not one of those Islands but produces valuable and odorous woods like the lignaloe, aye and better too; and they produce also a great variety of spices. For example in those Islands grows pepper as white as snow, as well as the black in great quantities. In fact the riches of those Islands is something wonderful, whether in gold or precious stones, or in all manner of spicery; but they lie so far off from the main land that it is hard to get to them. And when the ships of Zayton and Kinsay do voyage thither they make vast profits by their venture.

It takes them a whole year for the voyage, going in winter and returning in summer. For in that Sea there are but two winds that blow, the one that carries them 
outward and the other that brings them homeward; and the one of these winds blows all the winter, and the other all the summer. And you must know these regions are so far from India that it takes a long time also for the voyage thence.

Though that Sea is called the Sea of Chin, as I have told you, yet it is part of the Ocean Sea all the same. But just as in these parts people talk of the Sea of England and the Sea of Rochelle, so in those countries they speak of the Sea of Chin and the Sea of India, and so on, though they all are but parts of the Ocean.

Now let us have done with that region which is very inaccessible and out of the way. Moreover, Messer Marco Polo never was there. And let me tell you the Great Kaan has nothing to do with them, nor do they render him any tribute or service.

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/12410/pg12410-images.html#CHAPTER_IV2

Marco Polo writes a description of Zipangu saying it is an island 1,500 miles to the east of China. Then he says he is finished and says there are 7,459 islands in the Sea of China according to mariners. He also mentions the two winds that blow, one carrying ships inward and the other blowing them homeward. That is most certainly a description of the Philippines. Marco Polo has moved on from describing Zipangu to describing the Philippines.

But apparently Tim is not paying attention. 

Zai-tan is modern Guangzhou in Central China on the coast just North of Taiwan and Kin-said is the ancient name of Hangzhou which is North of that. Japan is not East of these locations. It is Northeast. The Philippines is Southeast. This is not merely a voyage to the East; it is neither Northeast or Southeast. We can determine which fits this story very easily. The island of Zipangu is said to be 1,500 miles from continental China. As this is by ship, these are nautical miles not those of flight. Chinese were traveling according to their own records, to the area of Mindoro they called Ma-I which is right next door to Palawan which they would pass. There are two ports listed here in China, but one fits the 1,500 miles distance to Palawan exactly. According to ports.com, the distance from Zhoupu (Zhejiang) Port in HUnagzhou Bay to the Port of Puerto Princessa in Palawan is 1,4600 nautical miles. Ok, they missed it by 40 miles perhaps, or did they take a little longer route around the shoals. However, the time of year this journey occurs tells us much.  

The mariners of Zai-tun and Kin-sai, who visit them, gain indeed great profits; but they spend a year on the voyage, going in winter, and returning in the summer; for the wind in these seasons blows only from two different quarters, one of which carries them thither, and the other brings them back.

This is consistent with the prevailing winds of the Philippines due to the Monsoon season especially for the return trip.

pgs. 132-133

Do you see what Tim has done here? He has correctly noted that Marco Polo wrote Zipangu was 1,500 miles away from China. He also correctly notes that a description is given of two winds which match the Philippine monsoon season. But he has conflated the two sections as if they are describing the same place. This section about the two winds is written after Marco Polo has finished describing Zipangu. There is no need to calculate the distance from China to Palawan in order to prove that Zipangu is the Philippines because Marco Polo is not talking about Zipangu in this section. A note on this new section says:

Polo seems in this passage to be speaking of the more easterly Islands of the Archipelago, such as the Philippines, the Moluccas, etc., but with vague ideas of their position.

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/12410/pg12410-images.html#CHAPTER_IV2

To reiterate this section is NOT about Zipangu but Tim wrongly claims it is. 

Second of all is the little bit of history Marco Polo gives concerning the Khan's invasion of Zipangu.

"Kublai, on hearing of this amazing wealth, desired to conquer the island, and sent two of his barons with a very large fleet containing warriors, both horsemen and on foot." 

"One was named Abatan, the other Vonsanicin, both wise and valiant. They sailed from Zai-tun and Kin-sai, reached the isle, landed, and took possession of the plain and of a number of houses ; but they had been unable to take any city or castle, when a sad misadventure occurred."

This is the one area where Japan does have history of attempted conquests by the Mongols in 1274 and 1281. However the Spanish wiped out written Philippine history prior to the era. We may very well have this story if not. With the other factors not fitting Japan, this does not carry enough weight to overrule all the facts against the option of Japan. Anyone calling themselves a scholar who claims Chinese ships in that era could not make it to the Philippines is a liar especially the right season which would make this trip even more favorable than Japan.

pg. 132

Tim says this history is correct and does apply to Japan BUT the Spanish wiped out the written history of the Philippines which means the Philippines could also have been invaded by the Khan. Now we will never know. That is not only pure speculation but completely false. The Spanish did not erase "written Philippine history." There was no "written Philippine history." You can read all about that in the following article. 

https://thegodculturephilippines.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-god-culture-100-lies-about_75.html         

Third, and finally, is the description of the people of Zipangu.

The people are white, civilized, and well-favoured.

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/12410/pg12410-images.html#CHAPTER_IV2

Tim's remarks are as follows:

He wrote the people of Zipangu were "fair, handsome, and of agreeable manners." Fair in Old English is not white but comely or beautiful referring typically to women and handsome is for the men. Either culture could fit that. However, it is difficult to find more "agreeable" manners than the Filipino as this indicated a welcoming culture. In those days of Marco Polo, Japan was a closed society to the outside world largely and that does not fit. 

pg. 131

Old English? The edition Tim is citing from was published in 1844. That is not Old English. The edition I have cited from was published in 1920. If Tim wants to prove that the people of Zipangu were not white then he should take a look at the original Italian and not the English translation. 

However, it doesn't really matter because Marco Polo is obviously not talking about the Philippines when describing the people of Zipangu. Just before he begins describing the Philippines he ends his description of Zipangu. 

But now we will have done with that Island and speak of something else. 

Tim either was not paying attention or he willfully misinterpreted what Marco Polo wrote. 

Now, there is a lot more stuff in this chapter about Zipangu but the most important points have been discussed. These are merely three threads which have been untangled. Tim's whole scheme relies on conflating two sections of Marco Polo's Travels which discuss different places. One of those places is Zipangu and the other is the Philippines. Once that fact is realized Tim's argument comes undone. In conclusion, the Philippines is not Zipangu. Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture is wrong. 

The God Culture: Philippine Gold is Sentimental to God

Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture loves gold. Specifically he loves Philippine gold. He teaches that the Philippines is Ophir, Tarshish, Sheba, Havilah, and the Land of creation solely because of gold. Find the Land of Gold and you find Ophir, etc. The Philippines has lots of unmined gold in the ground therefore it is Ophir, etc.

But there is something special about Philippine gold to which no other gold can lay claim. Adam sacrificed Philippine gold to God for an atonement which makes that gold precious to God. 

Two Witnesses of Revelation Explained. This Will Rock Your World. Ophir, Sheba, Tarshish 

41:00 This gold of Ophir was the fine gold or pure gold of that day not because it was necessarily of higher quality than other gold but because it had meaning to Yahuah from Adam's very first sacrifice once exiled from the Garden of Eden. It mattered then and it still matters now

Tim reiterates this in his book The Search for King Solomon's Treasure.

The Search For King Solomon's Treasure, pg. 71

This is the Genesis 2 gold Adam used in the first sacrifice of atonement when exiled from the Garden. It is precious to Yahuah and this is why Solomon knew to fetch it for the Temple project from this primordial estate.

Where does Tim get the idea Adam sacrificed gold to God as an atonement? Not from the Bible. From The Cave of Treasures.

The Estate of Adam: Solomon's Gold 2i. 100 Clues#50.

16:30 We found a source a bit more specific and this is amazing as Adam actually offered gold, frankincense, and myrrh on that day in the first atonement sacrifice to Yahuah. This is why these have so much value. It's not about money.

Tim mentions The Cave of Treasures several times in his book The Search for  Solomon's Treasure. He calls it a historic source.

The Search For King Solomon's Treasure, pg. 79

There are historic sources..

Then he admits The Cave of Treasures is NOT SCRIPTURE.

The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, pgs. 97-98

Finally, there is a book called the Cave of Treasures that we do not use as and reject as scripture but we glean a fact from. It actually makes the claim that upon leaving the Garden of Eden which means Adam was in Havilah, Philippines, he was able to find gold on the sides of the Mount of the East where he then made the first sacrifice of atonement.

The Search For King Solomon's Treasure, pg. 303

We will use an historic reference outside of the Bible to further support this not for scripture but geography to better understand. This is not scripture. 

Adam offered the first atonement and there is no passage to indicate he ever sinned again in his entire 930 years. He retrieved gold, frankincense and myrrh from the sides of the mountain meaning they grow there natively and all three are native to the Philippines.

What exactly is The Cave of Treasures?

The Cave of Treasures, sometimes referred to simply as The Treasure, is an apocryphal and pseudoepigraphical work, that contains various narratives related to the Christian Bible. It was written in the Syriac language, approximately at the end of the 6th, or at the beginning of the 7th century. Its authorship was traditionally attributed to Ephrem of Edessa (d. 373), but modern scholarly analyses have shown that the true author was some other person, who also lived in Upper Mesopotamia, but much later (c. 600).

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

It is an apocryphal book full of fictitious stories that Tim does not understand and which he misquotes. Adam does indeed place gold, myrrh, and frankincense inside a cave but the reason is not to atone for his sins. It is a kind of prerequisite for sleeping with his wife. 

Now Adam and Eve were virgins, and Adam wished to know Eve his wife. And Adam took from the skirts of the mountain of Paradise, gold, and myrrh, and frankincense, and he placed them in the cave, and he blessed the cave, and consecrated it that it might be the house of prayer for himself and his sons

So Adam and Eve went down from that holy mountain [of Eden] to the slopes which were below it, and there Adam knew Eve his wife. 

https://sacred-texts.com/chr/bct/bct04.htm

Those bolded parts are not quoted by Tim. He purposely omits them. That is kind of odd seeing as the whole paragraph shows up highlighted in his sourcebook.

Solomon's Treasure Sourcebook, pg. 91

According to The Cave of Treasures the three Magi retrieved those treasures to give to Christ. 

And straightway, according to what they had received from the tradition which had been handed down to them by their fathers, they left the East, and went up to the mountains of Nôdh, which lie inside the entrances to the East from the lands on the skirts of the North, and they took from them gold, and myrrh, and frankincense.

https://sacred-texts.com/chr/bct/bct09.htm

The book is called the Cave of Treasures because the cave in which the gold, myrrh, and frankincense were placed connects Adam and Christ. That is the framework for the entire book.

Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures, pg. 531

Cave of treasures essentially takes Its name from a cave near paradise in which Adam is said to have deposited a number of items taken from paradise. These are called Treasures and later on will be carried by the magi to Bethlehem in order to be presented to the new-born Christ. This basic plot serves the author to construct a panoramic view of Christian salvation history spanning from creation to Pentecost. 

The narration therefore starts in the same way as the first book of the Bible, describing the creation-week in tabular form, and then passes on to a lengthy account of Adam and Eve's creation and stay in paradise, their temptation, fall, expulsion and settlement at the outskirts of paradise, where the Cave of Treasures is introduced for the first time. On occasion of their first sexual act Adam and Eve deposit within the cave gold, myrrh and incense, that is, those items which were presented to Christ by the magi according to the Gospel narrative.

The gold, frankincense, and myrrh have nothing to do with an atonement sacrifice nor is it called or even alluded to as such. Tim is fundamentally wrong.

On what basis does Tim think The Cave of Treasures is a reliable account of history? Has he read it? Here is a passage from The Cave of Treasures about the circumcision of Jesus Christ. 

Now Christ was eight days old when the Magi presented their offerings; and Mary received them at the very time when Joseph circumcised Christ. In truth, Joseph circumcised Him according to the Law, but he only went through (or imitated) the act of cutting, for no [flesh] whatsoever was cut off from Him. For as [a rod of] iron passeth through the fire and cutteth the rays thereof, without any part of it being cut off from it, so in like manner was Christ circumcised without anything being taken from Him.

https://sacred-texts.com/chr/bct/bct09.htm

The author says the circumcision of Jesus Christ involved no cutting of flesh. That means there was no real circumcision. But Christ was born under the Law and subject to all its ordinances. That includes circumcision. A real circumcision which involves the cutting of flesh. The passage reeks of the heresy of Docetism which teaches the flesh of Jesus Christ was only an illusion. Does Tim think this is reliable history too? Or will he pick and choose from this book? However, as I have shown he does not understand The Cave of Treasures and purposely misquotes it. 

Timothy Jay Schwab's foundational story as to why the gold of the Philippines is Biblically important has no basis in fact. It is a concoction of his fevered brain which latches onto anything no matter how minute in order to make his system of exalting the Philippines to a status it does not have work.

In The Estate of Adam Tim says something else that is so ridiculous it must be laid out for all to see.

The Estate of Adam: Solomon's Gold 2i. 100 Clues#50.

48:50 See this resource matters all the way to the end because it is sentimental to Yahuah God. Why is this so important? Well Yahuah certainly is sentimental. Adam used the gold of Havilah the land of Eve where he lived. Which became known as Ophir,  Sheba, and Tarshish after the flood. Which is now known as the Philippines in modern times or the same pattern of three Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao: Ophir,  Sheba, Tarshish.

God places a sentimental value on the gold of the Philippines, Ophir, because Adam placed it in a cave as an atonement. For one thing that story has already been torn to shreds above. For another God is not sentimental. God places no value on gold or any other commodity. The Bible certainly never says or indicates or infers such a thing. To say something like this is to turn God into a man with human emotions. Only one who has no idea who God is could say a thing like this. Of course Tim's denial of the Trinity saying the Holy Spirit is likely a creation along with his denial of the eternal sonship of Jesus Christ means he has no idea who God is. It is par for the course for Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture.