Timothy Jay Schwab of The God Culture is a liar. He lies about the Bible, he lies about Church history, and he lies about the history of the Philippines. That fact has been proven beyond the shadow of a doubt in many articles on this website as I have dissected his videos and books. In this article I want to gather together ten of his most outrageous lies about Philippine history. Once these lies are taken into account the rest of his project falls through and Tim can be tossed off into the garbage where he belongs. Remember, Timothy Jay Schwab claims that in six years no one has disproven him, no one ever will disprove him, and that his book Solomon's Treasure is a "monumental case no one can disprove."
Lie #1: Filipinos Circumnavigated Africa to Trade with Greece and Israel
These are not in any necessary order but the number one lie, the most egregious falsehood Tim claims about the Philippines, is that Filipinos were engaged in trade with Israel and Greece via a circumnavigation of Africa.
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| Solomon's Treasure, pg. 136 |
Even after Solomon, King Jehoshaphat attempted to rebuild and re-establish this trade with Ophir yet the ships were destroyed by Yahuah (1Ki. 22:48). Understand that is very close to the era in which the Northern Kingdom was about to be taken captive into the very land Jonah was preaching repentance and salvation. Therefore, Ophir had to bring goods to Israel instead which we see in Jonah’s story. The ships of Tarshish were certainly trading in Israel again travelling the long way around Africa to the port at Joppa (Jn. 1:1-3) as did the Three Kings after Messiah’s birth in about 6 B.C. or so.
What makes this lie so egregious is that it is an indisputable fact of history that no peoples were circumnavigating Africa to trade with Europe and Asia. Aside from Herodotus' mention of the Phonecians circumnavigating Africa one time there are no other claims of this type in the historical record until Bartolomeu Dias who made the first documented voyage around Africa in 1488. In his books and in his videos Timothy offers no historical sources whatsoever to prove that Filipinos were circumnavigating Africa. His only "proof", if you can call it that, is that Ophir and Tarshish are the Philippines and King Solomon's Red Sea port, from which ships sailed to those lands, was broken which necessitated going the long way around Africa. That is not proof, that is ad-hoc conjecture and it relies on the Philippines being Ophir and Tarshish which is absolutely false.
Since writing this Tim has released a six part series allegedly proving that Greeks, Israelites, and Filipinos all circumnavigated Africa for trade. You can read my analysis of that here: The God Culture: Did the Ancient Greeks Circumnavigate Africa to Trade With the Philippines?
Lie #2: The Philippines is Tarshish and Ophir
This lie is based on a number of things. First of all his his resource test where he proves that the Philippines has the items brought back from Ophir and Tarshish.
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Solomon's Treasure, pg. 95
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But proving that the Philippines is rich in gold and other resources is not the same as proving that the Philippines directly traded within the Mediterranean Basin by circumnavigating Africa. Tim never offers any concrete evidence that they did. While the Roman Empire did trade with India and as far as Vietnam where Roman coins have been found there is no evidence either cartographically or archeologically that Romans, Greeks, or ancient Israelites ever set foot in the Philippine archipelago or made this route by circumnavigating Africa. Ptolemy's map of the known world ends with the Maylay Peninsula and does not show Southern Africa.
Tim even admits that India has all the resources brought back from Ophir.
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| Solomon's Treasure, pg. 115 |
Every resource of Solomon tests as native to the Philippines and all other claims fail in this chapter except India
With this admission Tim has really shot himself in the foot. It is a fact that there was trade between India and the Mediterranean both overland and oversea. Josephus himself tells us that Ophir was in India.
For he sent a sufficient number of men thither for pilots, and such as were skilful in navigation: to whom Solomon gave this command, that they should go along with his own stewards to the land that was of old called Ophir, but now the Aurea Chersonesus: which belongs to India: to fetch him gold.
As for the Philippines being Tarshish? That is based primarily on a misinterpretation of 2 Chronicles 20:36. Tim actually conflates Ophir and Tarshish as being the same region.
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| Solomon's Treasure, pg. 118-119 |
Solomon’s navy traversed far to reach these precious isles of gold – Ophir. One of the other names for this same region of Ophir is Tarshish which is fully and indisputably equated with Ophir in many passages. Is this because the writers of Kings and Chronicles disagree with each other? Not at all for they are the same place generally. In addition to 2 Chronicles 9, there are several scriptures which identify Tarshish especially the ships of Tarshish and they equate it to Ophir. The ships of Tarshish go to Ophir for gold and Tarshish for silver but both in the same area.
1 Kings 22:48 KJV
Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they went not; for the ships were broken at Eziongeber.
2 Chronicles 20:36 KJV
And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish: and they made the ships in Eziongeber.
Tim's interpretation here is that ships were being built on the Red Sea to go to Tarshish. But the port was broken thus when Jonah sailed from Joppa to Tarshish he was literally going to circumnavigate Africa to go to the Philippines. But there are no records of anyone making such a journey thus we can automatically rule that out. The proper interpretation of these verses is as follows:
To make ships to go to Tarshish.—In 1Kings 22:48-49, we read: “Jehoshaphat made ships (i.e., a fleet) of Tarshish, to go to Ophir for gold; and it went not; for the ships were broken (i.e., wrecked) in Ezion-geber. Then said Ahaziah the son of Ahab unto Jehoshaphat, Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships; and Jehoshaphat consented not.” There is no mention of a previous alliance and partnership in the ship-building with Ahaziah. Moreover, the expression of our text, “ships to go to Tarshish,” appears to be an erroneous paraphrase of “ships of Tarshish,” or “Tarshish-men,” as we might say; a phrase which really means, vessels built for long sea-voyages. According to Kings, the ships were built “to go to Ophir for gold;” in other words, to renew Solomon’s traffic with India from the port on the Red Sea.
To go to Tarshish. This clause, even if the text is not corrupt, yet cannot mean what it seems to say; but in the word "to go" (Hebrew, ×ָ×ֶ×ֶ×Ŗ) must mean, of the sort that were wont to go to Tarshish, i.e. that were used for the Tarshish trade. We are guided to some such explanation by 1 Kings 22:48, where it is said the ships were "ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir" (1 Kings 10:22; 2 Chronicles 8:18). That the ships could not be to go to Tarshish is plain from the fact of the place, Ezion-geber (2 Chronicles 8:17, 18; 1 Kings 9:26), on the Red Sea, where they were built.
Another thing Tim misses completely in his testing of the resources is that tin, a resource brought back from Tarshish to Israel, has been subjected to rigorous chemical testing proving it did not originate in the Philippines. From the Wikipedia article about the ancient sources of tin we read the following:
Evidence of direct tin trade between Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean has been demonstrated through the analysis of tin ingots dated to the 13th-12th centuries BC from sites in Israel, Turkey and modern-day Greece; tin ingots from Israel, for example, have been found to share chemical composition with tin from Cornwall and Devon (Great Britain).(Pernicka et al. 2019)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_sources_and_trade_in_ancient_times
Tin ingots found in Israel which date to the 13th-12th centuries BC are from Cornwall and Devon. Amazing. Nothing about the Philippines whatsoever in this article. Why? Because there was no tin trade between Israel and the Philippines. If there was Tim does not even remotely try to prove it. He simply asserts that there is currently tin in the Philippines and then moves on. So shall I.
Lie # 3: Pigafetta Reported Seeing Elephants in the Philippines
One of the resources brought back from Ophir was ivory. Tim claims a few ancient fossils of mini-elephants and rhinos proves that there was a thriving ivory trade between the Philippines and Israel. He further claims that Pigafetta claimed to have seen elephants in the Philippines.
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| Solomon's Treasure, pg. 102 |
Even history agrees as in 1521, Pigafetta witnessed elephants as he mentioned them multiple times especially in Palawan.
“When we arrived at the city (Palawan), we were obliged to wait about two hours in the prahu, until there came thither two elephants covered with silk...” –Pigafetta, 1521
This is not true. Pigafetta's account, which can be read here in sections 110-118, took place after the death of Magellan and the route can be discerned from his journal. They left Cebu for Bohol, next to Cagayan, then northwest to Palawan (Palaoan), then southwest to another island. There is only one island to the southwest of Palawan and that is Borneo. Pigafetta never reported seeing elephants in the Philippines. It is a complete fabrication on Tim's part in order to bolster his false claims.
Lie #4: The Lequois and Lucoes People Are the Same
Tim claims the the Lequois and Lucoes people are the same people who live in Luzon. This is absolutely false. His lie is rooted first of all in Pigafetta's journal.
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| Solomon's Treasure, pgs. 162-163 |
We reviewed early in this chapter, Barbosa identified an affluent people called the Lequios and Magellan scratched out this name and identified them as Ophir and Tarshish equating these peoples. Antonio Pigafetta identifies their origin as Luzon Island Philippines not Taiwan, Japan nor Malaysia. In fact, Japan is recorded as having “no junks” and are not Lequios according to Tome Pires and the Lequios are identified by their junk ships by Pigafetta, Pinto, Barbosa and others. However, Antonio Pigafetta tells us where the Lequios originated.
[From Visayas] “Towards the North-west is the island of Lozon, which is at two days’ distance; a large island, to which come to trade every year six or eight junks of the people called Lequii.” “...One of these junks carries as much cargo as our ships.” – Antonio Pigafetta, 1521
This clearly reads that the Lequios, who originate in Luzon, journey to Cebu regularly to trade in their six or more, large junk ships just as Pinto describes.
Pigafetta clearly writes that the Lequii traveled to Luzon to trade. The Lucoes are the inhabitants of Luzon. He is by no means saying the people of Luzon are known as the Lequii. Then to further back up this nonsense Tim cites Ferdinand Pinto who actually visited the Lequios when he was shipwrecked in their land and gave the exact latitude of its location.
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| Solomon's Treasure, pg. 163 |
Contemporary to Magellan, Ferdinand Pinto classified the Lequios and Chinese as the wealthiest in the Orient trading in gold and silver especially. He defines the Lequios Islands as an archipelago, not Taiwan, as well as a separate country. He also differentiates the Lequios as not Japan, China, Indonesia nor Malaysia but in between those. Pinto also travelled to the Lequios Islands from Malaysia headed North which he placed in the modern Philippines specifically on 9N20.
It is not true that Pinto placed the Lequois Islands at latitude 9N20.
In this manner we departed from Pungor the capital City of the Island of Lequios, of which I will here make a brief relation, to the end that if it shall one day please God to inspire the Portugal Nation, principally for the exaltation and increase of the Catholick faith, and next for the great benefit that may redound thereof, to undertake the Conquest of this Island, they may know where first to begin, as also the commodities of it, and the easiness of this Conquest. We must understand then that this Island of Lequios, scituated in nine and twenty degrees, is two hundred leagues in circuit, threescore in length, and thirty in bredth.
Pinto, pg. 188
The latitude of the Lequios Islands is 9 and 20 degrees which is 29, not 9 degrees. That places it well north of the Philippines. Timothy Jay Schwab gets this completely wrong. 9N and 20 does not mark the Philippines. It marks a place off the West coast of Africa.
Lie #5: The Spanish Described Certain Filipinos as "Big, Bearded, White Men."
Tim claims that a document in the Spanish archives describes certain Filipinos as being big, bearded white men.
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| Solomon's Treasure, pg. 163 |
Collecion General de Documentos Relativos a las Islas Filipinas, Document #98 mentions the Lequios were “big, bearded, and white men.” They traded “gold and silver.”
This appears to throw a wrench into this entire narrative in history perhaps. How could Filipinos be big, bearded, white men? That is not a description of the Japanese either. This is an ancient residual reference to Solomon’s navy of which the Spanish have all but wiped so much history that would likely confirm this even further. However, we have enough to prove this thoroughly and that will suffice.
Such a description is never given in the document to which Tim is referring. Here is a translation of that section which is at the end of the document.
In front of this said China and its lands are many islands to the sea and beyond these islands is a very large land that They say that it is terra firme, other islands where three or four junks of white people, who are very large and very rich, came to Malac every year. They bring a lot of gold in rods and silver and silk and a lot of very good wheat and very beautiful porcelain and other merchandise and they carry a lot of pepper and all the other things that the Chinese sayings carry to those who are called lequios, those from Malac say that they are better people than older merchants and richer and more dressed and honored than the Chinese whose people until now We have no news because they never came to Malac after the Portuguese went there.
Not a word about beards. The Spanish word "barba" does not show up in the text. The people being described are the Lequios and we just saw that the Lequios Islands are not the Philippines. The description here is of the Ryukyu Islands not the Philippines. The Philippines is not in front of China it is to the southeast of China.
Lie #6: No One Knows Why Cebu is Called the Queen City of the South
The lie that no one knows why Cebu is called the Queen City of the South is so confounding because it is easily disproved if one bothers to research the name.
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| Solomon's Treasure, pg 87-88 |
Cebu City today is still known as the “Queen City of the South” and no one seems to coherently know where that identifier originated. Iloilo, Panay, also in Visayas near Cebu, has the same nomenclature. It likely originated in Matthew 12:42 as Messiah called Sheba the “Queen of the South” which is the same connotation of Cebu and Iloilo today (Matt. 12:42, Luke 11:30). Along the same vein, Sheba means 7 and Cebu just by chance happens to be in Region 7. Additionally, is it not fascinating that Lake Sebu in Mindanao has Seven Falls or Sheba Falls?
The truth is that this name was first bestowed upon Iloilo in 1898 by the Queen Regent of Spain and then transferred to Cebu in the 1980s.
Due to the loyalty of the Ilonggos, the city of Iloilo was honored with the perpetual title of Muy Noble (Most Noble). The Royal Decree granting this title was signed on 1 March 1898 by Queen Regent Maria Cristina. Over time, this title earned for Iloilo City the reputation of it being "The Queen's Favored City in the South" or simply "Queen's City in the South", and was later evolve to "The Queen City of the South", being the second Spanish port of importance next to Manila, and being located South of the Archipelago's Capital. On a side note, at the beginning of the American period until the Second World War, Cebu became the second port of importance (Iloilo having been partly ravaged by bombardment, fire, and riots during the American occupation of Iloilo City).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iloilo_City#The_Revolutionary_Period_(1896)
Iloilo City was originally known as the "Queen City of the South," a title that evolved from another Iloilo title, "Queen's Favored City of the South." From being the Queen Regent of Spain, Maria Christina's favorite city in the south of Manila in the late 19th century. Iloilo became the second-most important city in the Philippines at that time, giving it a reason to evolve to the title of "Queen City of the South" until the mid 20th century, after World War II, leaving the city devastated and causing investors to flee to nearby Cebu City. Cebu later claimed the title after it surpassed Iloilo's economy in the 80s. Although some people disagree with Cebu's claim since the title is of historical significance to Iloilo alone and not for which city is the next second-most important in the country
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cebu_City
If Timothy Jay Schwab had bothered to research the origin of the name Queen City of the South he would not have written something so dumb as to say the name originates in the Gospel of Matthew. It is a recent name applied only 40 years ago.
Lie #7: Equating Tagalogs With All Filipinos
This lie is actually quite stupid. The Philippines is made up of hundreds of people groups of which the Tagalogs are one among many. Yet this brainlet writes the following:
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| Solomon's Treasure, pg 290 |
One thing we find extremely interesting is that the Filipino word “Tagalog” breaks down as “taga” and “ilog” meaning “People of the River.” Yet, we do not find a significant modern river in the whole Philippines that would define the inhabitants of the thousands of islands. No common denominator found in modern times. Should they not be referenced as the “People of the Ocean” instead. Here we have yet another clue that reveals this theory as they are the “People of The River” – the Pison River from Eden. Now it makes sense and no surprise in the land of Havilah.
For as much as Timothy Jay Schwab loves the Philippines one would think he would know that the Tagalogs are one people group among many and they all hail from Luzon.
The word “Tagalog” is believed to have been derived from either one or both sets of contractions: “taga-ilog” and/or “taga-alog”. The prefix “taga” means “coming from” or “originating from” referring to a place of birth or residence. The word “ilog” means river. The word “alog” means a shallow place in a stream where people could wade to cross to the other side. The first word “taga-ilog” is the version in the explanation of the name of the Tagalog that they were river people.
The second word “taga-alog” is related to the first concept and was first articulated by H.O. Beyer who said that the ancient Tagalogs were people of the lowland areas where the “alog” was found.
The Tagalog culture was essentially a river and water-based culture. Fishing and agriculture were predominant means of livelihood. Most of the ancient cultural centers of the Tagalog regions were founded on river banks, specifically near the delta and the “wawa” or the mouth of the river, where the river meets the sea.
Riverine communities, especially those by the delta and river-mouth became centers of trade and commerce. In pre-Hispanic Philippines, some of these trade centers were Maynila, Tondo, Sapa, Pasig through the Pasig River; Talim, Bay, Pila, Lumbang through the Laguna de Bai; Balayan though Pansipit River; Lipa and Taal through Bonbon or Taal Lake.
https://ncca.gov.ph/about-ncca-3/subcommissions/subcommission-on-cultural-communities-and-traditional-arts-sccta/northern-cultural-communities/lowland-cultural-group-of-the-tagalogs/
This lie is in service to another big lie that the Rivers from Eden are now undersea ocean trenches. You can read where
I dismantle that notion here.
Lie #8: The Biblical Land of Havilah is the Philippines
Tim claims that the Biblical land Havilah is the Philippines.
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| Solomon's Treasure, pg. 60 |
The ancient land of Adam and Eve is designated as Havilah in Genesis 2 and it is represented by three resources which lead to only one nation even today. The Bible is proficient. This reminisces of the Rivers from Eden which we will test in Chapter 17. We truly attempt to leave no stone unturned in this expedition.
Genesis 2:10-12 KJV
And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
Solomon's Treasure, pg. 60
This chapter is ridiculously byzantine as Tim ferrets out the meaning of the word Havilah, it means Eve's curse which means the real name of the Philippines is actually Curse. The actual meaning of Havilah is circle.
Then Tim attempts to test the resources attributed to it.
What it comes down to is that because the river Pison "compasseth the whole land of Havilah" that means we have to find a land entirely encircled by a river. According to Tim that would be the pre-flood Philippines. The Pison river bed is now the ocean trenches which surround the nation. But there are no ocean trenches completely and continuously surrounding the Philippines.
Here is what the Philippines ocean trench system looks like.
These trenches do not "completely surround this whole land of the Philippines" as Tim says it must. Tim's solution is that they were filled in with sediment during the flood. That is ad-hoc reasoning which he has not proven and cannot prove. I admit he does have an interesting theory about the ocean trenches being river systems but that is all he has. He has no evidence they were nor can he ever provide such evidence. Many of the trenches are in fact tectonic plate boundaries. The likely place for this Havilah is, as the Blueletterbible says, near the Caspian Sea. However there is another Havilah and the Bible tells us plainly where it is located. Havilah is in Southern Arabia near Egypt.
Genesis 25:18 And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria: and he died in the presence of all his brethren.
1 Samuel 5:7 And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt.
I do not believe Tim read his Bible and missed this information. I believe he chose to ignore it. Rather than leaving no stone unturned he has declined to examine Genesis 25:18 and 1 Samuel 5:7 both in his book and his videos because it overturns his thesis.
Lie #9: Lapulapu Rejected Colonialism
Tim mentions Lapulapu several times in his book but it is in a video where he claims that Lapulapu's killing of Magellan was a rejection of colonialism.
Today is a very special day for the world. It marks the five hundredth anniversary of one of the greatest stories in the fight to stop foreign invaders from coming in and taking over our lands. Yes, the story of a man and his followers who indeed stopped the invasion, killing their leader Magellan. Then in a separate encounter killing his replacement and brother-in-law and other leaders and then they chased them out of the country with a fleet of ships. That’s what Pigafetta’s journal says, and we cover. This is an inspiration to the whole world who was being conquered by colonialism yet this man and his people put up a standard and stopped them the story of Lapu-Lapu five hundred years ago today. Wow.
This is simply untrue. Lapulapu did not kill Magellan because he was invading or because he rejected the King of Spain. In fact, he said he would offer the King of Spain his fealty. What he did not like was having to submit to Rajah Humabon. Tim does not know this because he is relying only on Pigafetta's journal. Just goes to show how his research is not very deep at all.
Some sources however offered a different version regarding Lapulapu’s response claiming he readily accepted Magellan’s offer of Spanish sovereignty, even expressing willingness to comply with the demands for the payment of tribute. According to a manuscript by one who simply signed himself the Genoese pilot, but probably Maestre Bautista, Magellan demanded from Lapulapu, among them, “three goats, three pigs, three loads of rice, and three loads of millet and other provisions for the ships.” The source noted that the chieftain was prompt and straightforward with his reply. As to the “threes” being asked, he had no opposition in complying with “twos” and if Magellan was satisfied with these, they would be complied with at once. If not, he would send whatever pleased him.
Another version concurred with the narrative of Lapulapu’s outright submission to Magellan’s demands, including the payment of tribute. It was the demand of Magellan for him to accept the leadership of a fellow native chief, Humabon, which provoked the Mactan chieftain to anger. Primary sources claimed that the reason which prompted Magellan to explode in anger was Lapu-lapu’s alleged refusal to kiss the hand of Humabon as an acknowledgement of his subordination. Another member of the expedition who made his testimony upon their return in Spain, Fernando de Bustamante, barber-surgeon of the Victoria, in agreement with the other testimonies, also recalled that the natives of Mactan were actually willing to accept Spanish sovereignty but were not disposed to accept Humabon as their overlord: “...those of Mactan wished to obey the king of Castile but the said Ferdinand Magellan told them to kiss the hand of the king of Zebu and those do not wish to kiss the hand of the king of Zebu.” It appears that Lapulapu was not the only chief who regarded the order of Magellan to accept Humabon as a supreme ruler of the islands for others shared such animosity as evident in the testimony made by Juan Sebastian Elcano on October 18, 1522, few weeks after their arrival, in Valladolid.
His testimony reads:
Magellan went from the island of Zubu to the island of Bohol, or to the island of Matan, sending bateles to wage war with the mend so that those from other islands may obey the King of Zubu; and those they say that they would obey the King Our Lord, and would give him parias, (a tribute paid by one prince to another); but that they would not obey the King of Zubu since they are also of the same status; and that they would give the King Our Lord jewels of gold.
While Magellan seemed to have used Humabon as a political ally to establish his base in Cebu as a springboard for establishing Spanish hegemony, Humabon, on the other hand had also used Magellan to coerce others to submission to his authority. As Pigafetta recalled Humabon was said to have asked Magellan: “but that if the captain would send him the following night one boat full of men to give him assistance, he would fight and subdue his rival. On the receipt of this message, the captain decided to go himself with three boats.”
Do you see how this story is not so cut and dry? Not so black and white? According to these three men the rest of the story is that Humabon, the King of Cebu or Zubu, was using Magellan to manipulate others to be placed under his authority. He was playing political chess like those in power still do today. The old man Lapulapu, eyewitness accounts describe him as an old man about 70 years old, refused to kiss Humabon's hand though he did not refuse to recognize the sovereignty of Spain. Why did Pigafetta omit these details? More of this alternate testimony, given while under oath, can be found on pages 285-295 of volume 4 of MartĆn FernĆ”ndez de Navarrese's
collected documents concerning
Spanish voyages
to the east. Those ten pages are in need of translation so all can read that eyewitness testimony which fills in the gaps in Pigafetta's account. Lie #10: Filipinos Rejected the Santo NiƱo After Magellan was Killed in Battle
This is another lie that is easily disproved if one reads the sources. Magellan gave the King of Cebu the Santo NiƱo. Tim says when Magellan was killed Lapulapu took the statue as a trophy of war to Mactan and it was never worshipped.
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| Solomon's Gold, pg. 257 |
Not only was this a wholesale repudiation of Magellan, Barbosa and everything European including their religion and their King, but when the Spanish returned to Mactan forty years later in 1565, Filipinos there were not worshipping the Santo Niño idol left behind.
“We stopped at an island where Magallanes’s men were killed...”
As we have just said, they declared that not only they would not give us anything, but that they were willing to fight us. Thus we were forced to accept the challenge. We landed our men and disposed the artillery of the ships, which were close to the houses of the town, so that the firing of the artillery from the said ships and the arquebuses on land drove the enemy away; but we were unable to capture any of them, because they had their fleet ready for the sea. They abandoned their houses, and we found in them nothing except an image of the child Jesus, and two culverins, one of iron and one of bronze, which can be of no service to us; it is believed that they were brought here at the time of Magallanes.”
–Letter from Royal Officials of Filipinas from Cubu, 1665
The inhabitants of Mactan took everything from their houses of value and fled except very minor items. All that remained from their houses was two culverins and the Santo Nino idol left by Magellan in Cebu. He did not leave this idol in Mactan. Perhaps Lapu Lapu secured it from the King of Zubu as a trophy of sort. However, there is zero evidence this statue was worshipped that entire time between 1521 and 1565 in Mactan. In fact, the people of Mactan were sending a message in leaving behind practically only this one thing. They did not worship it and stating “we think you left something when you were here last.”
This letter is in a book of other documents about the same events. From the very book Tim quotes, The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803, Volume II, 1521-1569, we read the following:
The fleet set sail for CebĆŗ, where after landing they found the village deserted. Legazpi ordered that each mess of four soldiers should take one house and the rest of the houses be destroyed. Everything was removed from the houses before any were destroyed. The general ordered that a thick set palisade of stakes be built, including therein a few wells of fresh water. "This village was built in triangular shape, with two water-fronts and one land side." The artillery was placed to defend the coast, while the Spaniards relied on the palisade for protection on the land side, until the fort could be built. Companies were sent out to scour the country for food, and "always brought back fowl, hogs, rice, and other things … and some good gold." The natives to the number of one hundred came to make peace one day. "In this town when we entered we found therein a child Jesus. A sailor named Mermeo found it. It was in a wretched little house, and was covered with a white cloth in its cradle, and its little bonnet quite in order. The tip of its nose was rubbed off somewhat, and the skin was coming off the face. The friars took it and carried it in procession on a feast day, from the house where it was found to the church that they had built."
http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/13280/pg13280.html
Mactan is also RIGHT NEXT TO CEBU so really Tim is splitting hairs here. It would not be surprising if these new arrivals mixed up Mactan and Cebu. In fact Legazpi makes this same conflation in this very volume.
in that part where the men of Magallanes were killed, called the island of Cubu
He is also wrong that the natives did not worship the Santo NiƱo. They admitted they did so.
He continued his voyage until reaching the island of Sebu, where he anchored, induced by the convenience of a good port and by the nature of the land. At first he was received peacefully by the natives and by their chief Tupas; but later they tried to kill him and his companions, for the Spaniards having seized their provisions, the natives took up arms against the latter; but the opposite to their expectations occurred, for the Spaniards conquered and subdued them. Seeing what had happened in Sebu, the natives of other neighboring islands came peacefully before the adelantado, rendered him homage, and supplied his camp with a few provisions. The first of the Spanish settlements was made in that port, and was called the city of Sanctisimo Nombre de Jesus [Most holy name of Jesus], because a carved image of Jesus had been found in one of the houses of the natives when the Spaniards conquered the latter, which was believed to have been left there by the fleet of Magallanes. The natives held the image in great reverence, and it wrought miracles for them in times of need. The Spaniards placed it in the monastery of St. Augustine, in that city.
History of the Philippines, Antonio Morga
It is simply not true that the Santo NiƱo was not found in Cebu or that it was not worshipped. To this day its finding in Cebu is celebrated every year by devotees and the people continue to pray to it for miracles.
Lie #11: The Garden of Eden is Underneath the Floor of the Sulu Sea
There are many people who think perhaps the Philippines is The Garden of Eden. Tim is not one of those people. In Tim's worldview the earth was created without oceans and was watered by 5 very powerful rivers which are now underwater ocean trenches. The Garden of Eden was planted on what is now the ocean floor next to several mountains. When the flood came the barren earth filled with water submerging The Garden of Eden in mud and dirt but it was protected and enclosed by golden walls.
He lined the walls of the Temple with that same gold that lines the walls of the Garden of Eden.
Enoch and Elijah remain The Garden of Eden's lone inhabitants.
...Enoch nor Elijah who are both in the Garden of Eden still alive but not in Heaven
The several surrounding mountains became the archipelago known as the Philippines.
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| Solomon's Treasure, pg 299 |
Therefore, somehow the Garden of Eden is enclosed down within the Earth just West of Havilah, Philippines.
Now, is this a lie? Yes but more technically what it really is is a fanciful ad-hoc theory that absolutely cannot be falsified which means it is an untenable theory. Perhaps one can do some digging or run sonar tests to see what lies below the ocean floor but no one is doing that least of all Timothy Jay Schwab. I know Tim throws in all kinds of old maps and even uses the Book of Jubilees to make his case for this lie but that's all he's got, a case resting on the information he has gathered together. He has no physical evidence that it is there. He has no concrete real proof at all and the whole idea is, prima facie, absurd.
These are just ten of the many lies in Timothy Jay Schwab's book Solomon's Treasure. There are many more lies in his books and videos. If you want to read about them then read the articles I have written. If you are a fan of The God Culture just know that despite the overwhelming evidence I have brought against him Tim continues to dismiss me. He is simply not honest and he cannot stand the slightest bout of criticism. Let's end with some words of wisdom from Tim.
When you make up history that doesn't exist, you are a fool.
Indeed, Timothy Jay Schwab of The God Culture is a fool.
