Timothy Jay Schwab of The God Culture claims that an ancient Illocano epic poem, The Life of Lam-Ang, is a prophecy about the Philippines. In this epic the Philippines dies and an old man named Marcos brings him back to life. According to Tim that story is most certainly a prophecy about the most corrupt political dynasty in the nation, the Marcoses.
Before Tim even begins to break down the prophetic significance of The Life of Lam-Ang he gives this disclaimer:
1:43 Sure we can't prove it. Not like we do, uh, geography this is prophecy and in a veiled form in fact as they were likely hiding it from the Spanish, uh, but ancient Filipinos likely knew the meaning of this poem.
Well, if he can't prove it then why should anyone care? Everything he is going to say will be conjecture and rest on the assumption that Lam-Ang is not just a singular man but represents the Philippines. This can be seen from a map from 1154 where the Philippines is labeled Al Namang (Lamang.)
13:27 This map is from 1151 AD. Wow! 400 years or so before the Spanish whoa! And what was the Philippines called on this map? Lamang. Wow! I mean that is incredible. So this is not an individual's name folks this is a nation. The life of Lam-Ang is the life of the Philippines and let's review what happened and what happens prophetically to the Philippines. Let's be clear we already proved the location in history and this restores prophecy in which messiah in Matthew 12:42 and Luke 11:30 tells us the Philippines will rise in the last days. Oh this is going to go there too, imagine that. Ezekiel 38 and Isaiah 60 verse 9 tell us the same and these appear the basis of this prophetic story for the ancient Filipino knew far more than we even realize.
This is a portion of a much larger map drawn up by Konrad Miller in 1929. It is based on a description of the known world "compiled by the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi in 1154."
The Nuzhat al-mushtāq fī ikhtirāq al-āfāq (Arabic: نزهة المشتاق في اختراق الآفاق, lit. "The Excursion of One Eager to Penetrate the Horizons"), commonly known in the West as the Tabula Rogeriana (lit. "The Map of Roger" in Latin), is a description of the world and world map compiled by the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi in 1154. Al-Idrisi worked on the commentaries and illustrations of the map for fifteen years at the court of the Norman King Roger II of Sicily, who commissioned the work around 1138.
To produce the work, al-Idrisi interviewed experienced travelers individually and in groups on their knowledge of the world and compiled "only that part... on which there was complete agreement and seemed credible, excluding what was contradictory."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabula_Rogeriana
This map in full looks like this.
The map is oriented with south at the top so I have flipped it to make it readable. What Tim alleges is the Philippines is to the far right of the map. It does not look so different from Pompoinus Mela's map which also features two island, Chryse and Argyre, close to the Ganges river delta.
Once again we have two islands, or in this case just one island, representing all 7,000 islands of the Philippine archipelago. It's just more mendacious nonsense from a man who has proved again and again he either cannot read maps or he willfully misinterprets them. He makes no mention of the island named Al Sabara and he offers no proof that Al Namang is the Philippines or what that name means in Arabic. In the 11th video in his Enoch series he also discusses this map but fails to give the actual Arabic meaning of this word instead focusing on what Lamang means in Tagalog. That is completely disingenuous and does not take this map seriously. It was written in Arabic and not Tagalog. But Tim does not care. He does not care about accurate linguistics nor does he care about truth. And why bother? He has already informed us he cannot prove anything he is going to say in this video. He might as well make it up as he goes. So, let's move on to the text of the poem itself.
According to Timothy Jay Schwab the Bible tells us that in the end times the Philippines will rise again. Specifically in the books of Ezekiel and Isaiah. Tim posits that those books appear to be the sources for this epic poem.
14:19 Ezekiel 38 and Isaiah 60 verse 9 tell us the same and these appear the basis of this prophetic story for the ancient Filipino knew far more than we even realize.
Again, he offers no proof for this. Not a single shred of evidence is offered. How exactly does this narrative poem have its roots in ancient Hebrew prophecy? How would ancient Filipinos have access to the Bible? Tim does not say. He also does not tell us how this epic survived the burning of the books.
3:19 But this writing has been retained. However, the Jesuits likely did not even notice that this may very well be prophecy slipped right under their noses.
Yeah sure. The Spanish were so sneaky and crafty but did not realize The Life of Lam-Ang was actually a prophecy. Again, this is all ad hoc conjecture which can by no means be proven.
Tim spends a great deal explaining that Lam-Ang represents the Philippines. Never mind the fact there was no unified Philippines until the arrival of the Spanish. Before that the islands were divided into various tribal groups.
Even then the Spanish never conquered Mindanao. That was left for the Americans to do and is the reason why it remains such a problematic area. The inhabitants of the BARMM do not consider themselves Filipinos.
Drilon successfully moved for the inclusion of a provision reiterating “that the Bangsamoro people are citizens of the Republic of the Philippines.” Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, the bill sponsor, said this was opposed by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission.
It is simply not possible for Lam-Ang to represent the entire Philippine archipelago when these islands were never united.
The end of the epic is where the alleged prophecy about Marcos comes in. Lam-Ang had a dream that he would be eaten by a shark while hunting for shells. Indeed he was eaten and he died. His wife called the old diver Marcos who brought up his bones, put them together, and God brought him back to life. Prophetically interpreted Lam-Ang is the Philippines, the shark is the Spanish, and Marcos is a member of the Marcos family who will resurrect the Philippines. Marcos is even given a reward of gold by Lam-Ang.
Keeping in line with Tim's interpretation that would mean the Philippines gave Marcos all the gold he has as a reward for resurrecting the nation! But Tim says otherwise. He claims Marcos had billions in gold before he even became president because he was a lawyer working on the case of the Vatican returning gold to the Philippines. When did this happen? Tim offers no proof. There are many, many stories about Marcos' gold but there are no confirmed stories about the Vatican returning gold to the Philippines and Tim offers no proof that it ever happened.
I wrote a review of Marcos Legacy Revisited: Raiders of the Lost Gold which discusses all the stories about Marcos' alleged gold stash. It is a book worth reading.
What this book ultimately reveals is that no one knows the truth about Marcos' gold. There are too many conflicting reports, eyewitness accounts, and documents. The majority of the stories in this book are based on unproven and unprovable speculation.
Again, Tim's theory rests on the interpretation of Lam-Ang as not a singular man but as the nation of the Philippines. So, let's go through the poem and see if such an interpretation is sustainable. It should first be noted that the translation Tim uses is rather bare bones and lacking in the detail of the translation compiled by Leopolodo Yabes. Compare these two stanzas near the end:
“The old man, the diver.
My wife Cannoyan,
Give him a pile of coins taller than he is.”
https://cupdf.com/document/life-of-lam-ang-translated-by-angelito-santos.html
And when they arrived
Lam-ang said:
We should reward
This old skilled man
Load him with money,
My wife Cannoyan.
We should love
The yellow-legged hen
Also the rooster
And the hairy dog
Because if not for them
I would be lost forever.
https://www.kapitbisig.com/philippines/english-version-of-epics-mga-epiko-complete-text-of-lam-ang-an-iloko-epic-english-version_1177.html/page/0/15
See how much more detail there is in this version? Yabes' translation is a compilation of all known versions of this poem.
The edition of the poem used here from which the English translation was made, is based primarily on the Parayno Hermance version, 1927 edition, with the three other existing versions diligently compared. The Parayno Hermanos version was used, and not the Medina or the Isabelo de los Reyes version, which are much older, because copies of the latter versions secured by the writer were not legible in some portions. Since the four versions, like the four Gospels, contain, as we have said in the previous chapter, not exactly similar accounts of the story, one version, for example, recording an incident which the others do not record, the writer thought it best to include all the different incidents in the four versions in one composite edition to make the story more complete. So, although each of the four versions contains not more than 294 stanzas, the present edition contains 305 stanzas because of the writer's attempt for completeness. There are, as we shall see in the next chapter, many incidents of the story not recorded in any of the four versions, but since such incidents are embodied only in legend, the writer decided not to include them in the present edition.
The Illocano Epic: A Critical Study of the "Life of Lam-Ang," Leopoldo Yabes
If Tim had been using Yabes' translation he would have seen that it was not Marcos or God who brought Lam-Ang back to life. It was his pet rooster, hen, and dog who used their magic to resurrect their master.
The rooster crowed
The hen flapped its wings
The bones moved.
Then the spotted dog
Took its turn
It barked twice
Then pawed
All the bones.
And as the rooster foretold
The bones of Lam-ang
Surely came back to life
And he arose!
The character of the diver Marcos does not appear only at the end of this poem. He also appears at the beginning as one who was called to assist in the birth of Lam-Ang.
Meanwhile Namongan lay
to give birth
Nobody within call
To help her deliver
Neither old Marcos, the driver
Nor Alisot nor Pas-ho the rich
Were able to succeed.
Then they thought
Of the old bent woman
She whose fingers were strong.
Marcos here is called the driver but checking with the original this is a mispelling.
If Tim is correct that Lam-Ang represents the Philippines and Marcos represents a prophetic Marcos that will save the nation then why is Marcos unable to help give birth to the Philippines? How does this make any sense? What prophetic role exactly Marcos plays in the beginning Tim does not say but in order for his interpretation to be coherent he must be the same character and play the same role throught the poem. But here we see he is inutile. And what about Alisot and Pasho the rich man? Of what prophetic significance are they? Tim does not say.
Lam-Ang is born with the gift of speech and immediately speaks of being baptized telling his mother to name him Lam-Ang.
When she succeeded in helping
The woman Namongan
The boy was born
And the baby then started to talk:
Ay mother Namongan
When you have me baptized
Please name me Lam-ang
And have as my godfather the old Gibuan.
Right away we see the Catholic elements in this poem. If Lam-Ang represents the Philippines and wishes to be baptized then that would mean the Philippines willingly accepted the Roman Catholic faith. This would destroy Tim's teaching that the Philippines was actually held captive by Roman Catholicism. The marriage of Lam-Ang's mother and father is referred to as a sacrament in the second stanza. Later on his marriage to Cannoyan will take place in a church and a mass will be said. Of what prophetic significance can that be except that Filipinos willingly accepted the mass? These elements do not necessarily prove the epic is not ancient but shows its syncretic nature.
At only nine months old Lam-Ang goes looking for his father in the mountains where he went to fight the Igorots. Finding his father's skull on a pike he challenges the Igorots and kills all of them except one with one fell swoop. He is able to do this through the aid of three magic stones he placed in his pocket.
He went to the forest
To the Igorot country
He went searching
For his father beholden.
He pocketed a stone of sagang
Also that of tangraban
A stone too of lawlawigan
And a stone of musang.
He went through thick foliage
Also through bamboo clumps
He went through with such speed
Because of the centipede stone.
The footnote here says the following:
Magic stones endowing Lam-ang with magic powers from these particular birds and animals.
Of what prophetic significance are these stones? How is the use of magic stones consistent with a prophecy from the Hebrew God? Tim does not say and when he discusses this event he makes no mention of these magic stones which endowed Lam-Ang with the power of animals.
The sole survivor of Lam-Ang's vengeance was shown no pity.
He made fun of him
And took hold
Of the tattoed Igorot
And told him:
Now is your end!
He removed his teeth
And then his eyes
Next he cut off his ears
And also his hands.
Then he let go
The tattoed Igorot
And did not show any pity
Making sport of him.
What is this prophesying? That Filipinos are very cruel? Tim does not say. But the many news stories of people of all kinds being assassinated by unknown gunmen shows just how cruel and unforgiving Filipinos can be.
Afterwards Lam-Ang bathes with either 18 or 81 young maidens who wash his hair from all the dirt and blood of the Igorots. Instantly all the life in the river is killed.
Ay dear mother Namongan,
Now please sound the gong
To inform
My young lady friends
Numbering twice nine
And nine times nine
That they can go and wash
In Amburayan River
My long, thick hair
Dirtied in the battle
All day long yesterday.Then Lam-ang said:
Ay my young friends,
Please take
The coconut dipper
And fetch water
Then wash my hair
In the middle of the river.
And when they had washed the hair
Of the man Lam-ang
Small shrimps died
Lobsters went ashore
Also small crabs
And small fishes floated
Also many eels.
How is that exactly a prophecy of the Philippines? Is it because Filipinos litter and many of the waterways in this nation are polluted? And what do the women symbolize? Perhaps the licentiousness of Filipinos? Duterte said his only job now is to look at pretty women. And remember when he said as long as there are beautiful women there will always be rape?
Lam-Ang next goes to seek the hand of Cannoyan with the help of his hairy dog and talking rooster who speaks for him.
This is what
The yellow-legged cock
The white rooster
The rooster of Lam-ang said:
We came, apo, to pay our respects
To your daughter Cannoyan.
Apo, with your permission
We came to pay court.
This is what
The yellow-legged cock said.
Tim pretty much covers everything from here on out. Lam-Ang is shown lots of gold and given tasks to perform which he does and is given the hand of Cannoyan in return. Then he dies and is resurrected.
But how is any of this a prophecy of the Philippines? In what consistent way can it be shown that Lam-Ang represents the Philippines? And how exactly is this based on Ezekiel and Isaiah? To call this epic poem a prophecy is to say it was inspired by God. What proof is there that this poem was inspired by God the same way Isaiah was who saw God face to face?
There is only one part at the end about Lam-Ang being restored by Marcos and Tim does not take into consideration that it is actually his pets who bring him back to life. The rest is a common fantasy. A young man endowed with superhuman strength avenges his father and wins the hand of the most beautiful woman in the land along with the help of enchanted objects in this case a talking rooster and magic stones. This is typical
Hero's Journey stuff.
Let's not forget that before he even began Tim admitted he cannot prove any of this. I agree wholeheartedly. He absolutely cannot prove it, not because it's prophecy which is open to interpretation, but because it's not a prophecy at all. The role of Lam-Ang as representing the Philippines does not fit especially in the world view Tim paints because here we have Lam-Ang fully accepting Roman Catholicism. Not to mention there was no unified Philippines from Luzon to Mindanao until the Americans came.
Thankfully not all of Tim's audience is buying his wares. The following response to a comment on this video is quite telling.
Melaine Tacud: But they Steal 10 Billion dollars from Philippine Government and the late President Marcos declare Martial Law that put many people in jail, torture, kill, many people who oppose to his rule... He has many Cronies rich family who becomes much richer during his Dictatorship and Presidency for 20 years. Philippines was not in Golden Age but in Bankruptcy, Peso currency to Dollar from 3 pesos it became 28 pesos and he lend millions dollars when he step down during EDSA PEOPLE POWER they doesn't admit it and say sorry for all of that and return the money they steal...
The God Culture: We don't care about politics and control lines. The Philippines is rising. Get ready or be left behind. Yah Bless.
Timothy Jay Schwab of The God Culture does not care about the truth. What a disingenuous piece of filth and rot. And he has no right to spew that, "We don't care about politics," line when clearly he is teaching that all truth about Marcos which can be found in news articles, books, and most important of all court documents is a CIA fabrication.
Spidey Speaks: probably the funniest video TGC ever uploaded. Sir Tim you never lived in the Philippines during the time of Marcos, never felt the fear the police and military arouse among who sees them. cannot sing those funny songs which are critical to Marcos in fear your neighbors might snitch on you and you disappear -- forever.
Maybe you got your info from a former IMF whistle-blower who says Marcos was the lawyer of a certain unknown, physically handicapped relative of British Queen Elizabeth who paid Marcos with gold shares. Marcos, along with a priest who supposedly was Jose Rizal in hiding his identity, were hired as caretakers of this British royalty's wealth. That is why Marcos was rich before becoming president. Am I right?
Regardless I do believe that this Marcos family is one of God's curses upon the Philippines.
The God Culture: First that is false as some on the team most certainly did live during the time of Marcos and they do not agree with that sorted CIA-written narrative at all. However, The Life of Lam-Ang says what it says and we could care less about politics. You seem very jaded and uninformed and don't ever try to pull us into politics which we don't cover here. Yah Bless.
This video from The God Culture is not unexpected but it is troubling. Timothy Jay Schwab remains fully entrenched in his ignorance. He repeats many times in this video, and with a loud voice, that he has never been disproven despite I having done just that many times. The fact that he continues to spout off like a cry-baby wailing, "Nu-uh you didn't disprove me you illiterate blogger," at the top of his lungs rather than deal with the arguments I have presented is evidence of how bereft Tim is of both intelligence and honesty. No matter how loud he shouts his books and videos will never be true. Everything he has to say about the Philippines is a lie which makes him a liar par excellence. And now we have him condoning the evils of Ferdinand Marcos and his family because Marcos is allegedly prophesied as a savior in an ancient Filipino epic. What a crock!
