Monday, April 27, 2026

Hi, My Name is...70

Animals attack! Animals attacked!  It's an all out war between Filipinos and pets and wild animals. 

Hi, my name is dog. I saw a guy on an e-bike and chased after him barking wildly as he sped away. His name is Ivan. He later returned with an airlift gun and in revenge he shot me a few times. He was arrested for violating the COMELEC gun ban and for harming me.


https://mb.com.ph/2023/9/20/man-arrested-after-firing-airsoft-gun-at-dog-that-chased-him

A man was arrested after allegedly firing an airsoft gun at a dog that chased him in Naic, Cavite, on Tuesday, Sept. 19.

The Cavite Police Provincial Office identified the suspect as Ivan Paul R. De Guzman.

Initial investigation says the suspect was driving an e-bike when he was chased by the dog. A few moments later, he returned to the area with an air gun pistol and reportedly shot the dog, causing alarm in the vicinity.

Barangay officials immediately responded to the scene and sought the help of Naic Municipal Police Station (MPS).

Naic MPS Chief Col. Resty E. Soriano told the Manila Bulletin that the dog survived the attack but sustained red marks on the skin. Authorities are still waiting for the official medical report.

Recovered from the scene was a black air gun pistol loaded with 22 pellets.

The police stated that an air gun is not classified as a firearm because it uses air compression to propel the bullet rather than burning gunpowder or other combustion methods. 

However, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) gun ban covers “air gun, airsoft guns, and their replica/imitation in whatever form that can cause an ordinary person to believe that they are real.”

The suspect is now under the custody of Naic MPS and is facing charges for alarm and scandal and violating the Animal Welfare Act of 1998 and the Comelec gun ban.

Hi, my name is Gene's pet dog. We were both asleep on Gene's bed when all of a sudden there was a flood due to high tide. An electrical extension cord as plugged in next to the bed and the water caused it to electrocute both of us. 

https://mb.com.ph/2025/06/02/man-dog-electrocuted-while-sleeping-in-bulacan

A 28-year-old man and his dog were electrocuted while sleeping after floodwaters from a high tide reached a plugged-in extension cord in Hagonoy, Bulacan, on Saturday, May 31.

The Hagonoy police identified the victim as Gene Darel Aguilar, a resident of Barangay San Isidro. 

According to the victim’s mother, her son was sleeping with his pet dog when the riverside water near their home suddenly rose due to high tide. 

He was later found unresponsive by his brother, lying beside his lifeless dog. 

He was immediately rushed to the hospital but was declared dead on arrival.

Initial police investigation revealed that an electrical extension cord was plugged in near Aguilar’s bed. 

The family believes he may have underestimated the risk of rising water levels, not realizing the tide would reach the cord and result in electrocution.

At the time of the incident, Aguilar was reportedly alone in the house.

The victim’s mother appealed to both the national and local governments to provide a lasting solution to the flooding problem in their area—an issue residents have faced for decades, especially during high tide or heavy rainfall.

Barangay San Isidro village chief Nene Balatbat also called on concerned agencies to construct a durable barrier or dike to protect the community from frequent flooding.

Authorities reminded residents, particularly those living near rivers or low-lying areas, to be extra cautious during high tides or floods, warning that floodwaters can become deadly conductors of electricity—especially when damaged or exposed electrical lines are present.

Hi, my name is stray dog. I was just going about my business when I was dognapped by two men named Manny and Lawrence. They burned me and then tossed me into a toilet. But someone saw them and reported them.

https://mb.com.ph/2025/06/23/2-laborers-nabbed-for-burning-dog

Police apprehended two construction workers for allegedly burning a dog in Barangay Pinmilapil here on Sunday, June 22.

The suspects were identified as Manny and Lawrence, both 23.

They were arrested after a concerned citizen reported the incident to the police. The burnt dog was found in an abandoned comfort room.

The suspects and the dog were turned over to the police with assistance from barangay officials.

A complaint for violating the Animal Welfare Act (Republic Act) 8485 as amended by RA 10631 is being prepared against the suspects.

Hi, my name is Boy's Cat. Boy is my owner and one night he was inside the house drinking with his brother-in-law. Meanwhile the neighbor had snuck inside the yard and stabbed me.  I meowed in pain and Boy came out to see what was the matter. He espied the knife stuck in my leg and followed a trail of blood which led to the neighbors house. He admitted he stabbed me because I often came into his yard.

https://mb.com.ph/2026/03/11/79-year-old-man-arrested-for-stabbing-neighbors-cat-in-valenzuela

A 79-year-old man was arrested after he allegedly stabbed his neighbor’s cat in Barangay Lingunan, Valenzuela City on Monday, March 9.

The Valenzuela City Police Station (VCPS) said the cat’s owner, identified only as “Boy,” 33, was drinking with his brother-in-law at their house when they heard the loud cries of the cat outside.

When they checked, they found the cat bleeding, with a knife still stuck in its hind leg.

The two followed a trail of blood and discovered that it led to the house of the suspect.

The cat’s owner immediately brought the injured animal to a veterinarian and reported the incident to Police Sub-Station 6.

Police later responded to the report and arrested the suspect, who allegedly admitted to stabbing the cat.

Authorities said the suspect told the owner that the cat often entered his property, which prompted him to attack the animal.

The suspect is now facing charges for violation of Republic Act 8485, or the Animal Welfare Act of 1998, as amended by Republic Act 10631.

Hi, our names are "Rojim,; "Jojo," and "Tony." Our gamecocks went missing so we went on the hunt for the perpetrator. When we found him we beat the stuffing out of him. He later died at the hospital and we turned ourselves in to the PNP. 

https://mb.com.ph/2025/05/28/3-men-wanted-for-killing-man-over-gamecocks-in-antipolo-surrender

Three individuals wanted for the brutal killing of a 45-year-old construction worker over missing gamecocks surrendered to police on May 26, the Rizal Police Provincial Office (Rizal PPO) said.

The suspects, identified as "Rojim,; "Jojo," and "Tony," were listed as the No. 2 most wanted persons at the city level.

Police said the suspects turned themselves in at the Police Community Precinct 2, Antipolo Component City Police Station in Sitio Langhaya in Barangay Dela Paz.

Authorities presented them with their warrant of arrest for the crime of murder, issued on Nov. 14, 2024, no bail recommended.

Investigation revealed that on July 11, 2024, the victim was forcibly taken by the suspects to Barangay Mayamot, where they confronted him about the missing gamecocks. There, they brutally beat up, stabbed, and struck him with various objects.

The victim was rushed to Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center in Marikina City where he was declared dead on arrival due to his injuries.

Rojim, Jojo, and Tony were placed under the custody of the Antipolo Component City Police Station.

Hi, my name is Al-Mariel Calvario. I was riding on a motorcycle with my husband Karl. All of a sudden a dog ran out into the street. My husband swerved to miss the dog but he still hit it and I fell off the motorcycle and died. The dog's owner fled the scene after the accident. 

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/regions/924581/woman-pangasinan-dies-motorcycle-dog/story/

A 28-year-old woman died after she fell off the motorcycle she was riding with her husband when they hit a dog that reportedly crossed the street suddenly in Barangay Sang Miguel, Calasiao, Pangasinan.

The woman was identified as Al-Mariel Calvario. She was with her husband, Karl, who was driving the motorcycle at that time.

The incident happened on October 21, 2024, while the couple was on their way to buy milk for their two-year-old child.

"Suddenly the dog crossed. I avoided it, but it still met me. My wife suddenly fell," Karl said.

Karl suffered minor injuries, including scratches on his right arm. He also felt pain in his shoulder.

Al-Mariel hit her head on the pavement. She was rushed to the hospital but died during treatment.

Authorities are searching for the owner of the dog, which fled the scene after the accident.

“What we are doing now, Sir, is tracking down the owner of the dog,” PCPT. Anthony Doctolero, Deputy Chief of the Calasiao Police Station, said.

Rony Basa, a barangay councilman in San Miguel, emphasized the need for pet owners to follow local regulations.

"Barangay members, we need to tie up our dogs. There is an ordinance there, there is a penalty attached," Basa said.

Under the local "Aso Mo, Itali Mo" ordinance, offenders can face fines ranging from P500 to P1,000, depending on the severity of the violation.

Hi, we are 20 dogs and cats loaded on a boat bound for the Visayas. During transport we all died from heatstroke. It appears the shipping company did not provide air-conditioning. 

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/regions/948046/cebu-city-vet-to-investigate-deaths-of-over-20-dogs-cats-on-visayas-bound-boat/story/

The Cebu City Veterinary Office will investigate deaths of no fewer than 20 dogs or cats on a boat bound for the Visayas.

According to a report on 24 Oras Weekend on Sunday, video showed the animals in their cages or carriers on the boat. According to Cebu City veterinarian Dr. Alice Utlang, the animals may have possibly died of heat stroke during the journey.

They will ask the shipping company for the details of the voyage and if it had declared the cargo of animals. According to the report, transporting animals requires proper documentation and care; and there must be air-conditioning.

Hi, my name is Oyong Miranda. I waded into a river to wash my feet when I was attacked by a crocodile. He wasn't very big so I wrestled him and pulled myself free from his jaws. I ended up having to get some stitches but am otherwise ok. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1211633

Village officials in Barangay Sumbiling in Bataraza town warned residents, especially children, to avoid swimming in the river that passes through the community while a rogue crocodile is on the loose.

Saramhel Armal, a barangay councilor in Sumbiling, on Wednesday told reporters that a village elder had been attacked by a crocodile as he waded in the river.

He reported that 71-year-old Oyong Miranda sustained bites in the leg and body soon after he went into the water close to where the apex predator was lying in wait.

Miranda was quoted as saying that he only went into the river to wash his feet when the attack took place around 5:30 pm on Tuesday.

The septuagenarian was able to break free from the animal’s jaws, as he reportedly “grappled” with the crocodile, which was described as not being very large.

After successfully extricating himself from the crocodile’s clutches, Miranda was rushed to the Rio Tuba Hospital where he received stitches for his wounds.

"He really didn't notice that there was a crocodile in the water he was lowering himself into. It just suddenly attacked him in the river behind their house," Armal said.

The victim is currently recovering from his wounds, the barangay official added.

Bataraza is a municipality located on the southernmost tip of Palawan Island, approximately 225 kilometers from here.

The municipality is known for having wild crocodiles roaming in its waters.

In January, residents of this town managed to capture a 15-foot saltwater crocodile but it died shortly after being shot at using a small-caliber firearm.

In July, a dead saltwater crocodile measuring 14.9 feet was found floating along the shoreline of Sitio Gunob in the town's Barangay Inogbong. 

Hi, my name is Johnmed Parungao. I shot my neighbor's cat in the head. It took her a year of securing CCTV footage to discover it was me and file charges. 

https://www.philstar.com/nation/2024/05/08/2353440/man-faces-raps-killing-neighbors-cat

A criminal case has been filed against a man who shot dead his neighbor’s cat in Manila.

The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) and the cat’s owner filed a complaint against Johnmed Parungao before the Manila prosecutor’s office on May 3.

Parungao is facing charges for violating Republic Act 8485 or the Animal Welfare Act.

PAWS executive director Anna Cabrera said the cat was found dead by her owner with a gunshot to the head.

It took the cat’s owner nearly a year to identify Parungao as the culprit after she obtained closed-circuit television footage, which showed the suspect shooting the pet.

It was not determined what prompted Parungao to kill the cat.

If the complaint goes to court, the suspect is facing more than a year in prison and will be fined P100,000 if convicted.

Hi, our names are Leosette Canoy and Analyn Shurtliff Bartolome. We were out hiking in the backwoods of British Columbia when we were attacked by a black bear. While looking for a place to take some good pictures of the autumn leaves Analyn's son was confronted by a charging black bear. He acted in swift fashion by punching the bear as the British Columbia Parks Service advises. That did not stop it and we were all injured. Finally someone called 911 and the RCMP showed up and shot the bear dead. 

https://usa.inquirer.net/112968/two-filipinas-mauled-by-black-bear-in-canada

Two Filipino mothers are in critical condition after being mauled by a black bear while hiking on Oct. 3 in northeastern British Columbia.

Leosette Canoy, her friend Analyn Shurtliff Bartolome, her son and Canoy’s niece were walking on Monday on a cross-country trail on Bear Mountain,  south of Dawson Creek in the western Canadian province when the attack occurred.

Canoy has had more than six hours of surgery for the maiming she received to her arms, head, back, and ear. She is sedated and on a ventilator.

Her friend Analyn Bartolome may lose her left arm. She is at high risk of infection from the multiple lacerations on her body and her scalp.

The group “was looking for nice spots to take fall pictures with the autumn leaves,” Gary Hansen, Canoy’s husband, told told CBC News. Canoy, who arrived from the Philippines 15 years ago loves the Canadian wilderness, Hansen said.

As the group headed back home, Bartolome’s teenage son heard a noise and found himself facing a charging black bear.

He alerted the group, and as the British Columbia Parks Service advises when confronted with a predatory bear, he fought back, punching it. That didn’t stop the bear, and the boy suffered bad bruising around his ribs.

The bear then attacked Bartolome, and Canoy came to her defense, absorbing most of the injuries from the attack. The injured mothers lay on the ground as the bear circled around them.

Their companions tried to drive the bear away from them to no avail. They finally called 911. Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers arrived and shot the bear dead.

Canoy was airlifted to a hospital 600 kilometers away in Edmonton, and Bartolome was flown to Vancouver and remains in critical condition at an ICU.

Encounters between bears and humans have risen in recent years in Canada due to habitat loss, but fatal attacks are still rare – one every 5 years in British Columbia, according to British Columbia Conservation Foundation.

As of Thursday afternoon,  Canoy’s fundraiser had collected over $10,000, more, and Bartolome’s had brought in more than $11,600.

Sunday, April 26, 2026

The God Culture: Testing Pinto's Accuracy

Five years ago, in February of 2020, Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture edited a few of his videos which I had critiqued. They weren't very good edits as the audio remained the same while only the slides had changed, resulting in contradictions. Once more Tim has relented and retracted a glaring lie which I pointed out in an article critiquing his conflation of Peter Fidalgo and Fernando Pinto. Yet, just as with those dishonestly edited videos from years ago, Tim's recent retraction is not all that it seems. 

https://thegodculturephilippines.com/testing-pinto-s-accuracy-a-further-geographic-reassessment-of-lequios-lucones-and-latitude-drift/

It will be best to examine a few of the more important arguments as a whole rather than each one individually. Tim begins by appealing to "the spirit of scholarly rigor and transparency." 

In the spirit of scholarly rigor and transparency, we undertake a further testing of Fernão Mendes Pinto's account regarding the "Lequios" Islands, prompted by recent critiques. Through this reassessment, we aim not only to clarify a factual correction regarding the identities of Peter Fidalgo and Pinto, but also to reinforce the broader historical-geographical case that Pinto’s descriptions overwhelmingly align with Luzon and the northern Philippine islands, not with the Ryukyu Islands. Far from weakening the position, this deeper analysis only strengthens it.

Clarifying Peter Fidalgo vs. Pinto

Upon careful review, it is acknowledged that Peter Fidalgo and Fernão Mendes Pinto appear to have been distinct individuals. Galvão’s account references Peter Fidalgo being blown northward to the "Isle of the Lucones" (Luzon) around 1545. Given the extremely close dates and geographic proximity, both accounts clearly refer to the same broader region. Meanwhile, Pinto records his own shipwreck experience and subsequent captivity in the "Lequios" Islands. 

Though it is difficult to extract meaningful points from a critic so infected with viral venom and demonic, unacademic rigor, it is fair to acknowledge that even flawed adversaries occasionally stumble upon a technical correction. Yet he utterly fails to realize that his observation — even if granted — has no bearing on the final conclusion.

After reading my article Tim has come to the conclusion I am correct. Pinto and Fidalgo are not the same person. But only technically. Yeah, it's only a technicality that Tim conflated the identities of two distinct persons. It's not a glaring foundational error. 

https://thegodculturephilippines.com/galv%C3%A3o-s-maritime-flow-the-true-geography-of-ophir-lequios-and-japon%C3%AAs/

Did Tim not engage in scholarly rigor and careful review before he created this slide and wrote his article? This error and correction is not a technicality. It's not a slip up. It's not a mistake. Tim's article, and the slide that accompanies it, is a lie. He has not read Pinto's journal. He has not done any scholarly rigor or careful review. If he had then he would never have fused Pinto and Fidalgo into the same person. Did this obvious and blatant falsehood pass muster with the alleged God Culture Research Team? Was this lie a team thing or a Tim thing? 

But Tim waves it all away and says even though I am correct it "has no bearing on the final conclusion." The conclusion being that the Lequios Islands and the Philippines are the same location. The whole argument rests on Tim's assertion that Pinto's lone coordinate for the Lequios Islands of 29° N is wrong and must be interpreted as a range of latitudes somewhere between 9° and 20°. Tim continues:

Worse still, he neglects the very foundation of his own argument: the scholar he quotes, Rebecca Catzexplicitly doubted Pinto’s coordinate reliability across multiple accounts. Thus, his attack collapses under the weight of his own evidence. Furthermore, critics demanding perfect year-matching from Pinto commit academic fraud against the historical record. Scholars explicitly warned that Pinto’s voyage timelines, dates, and navigational details are often imprecise or dramatized. His broader descriptions — not precise days or coordinates — are the evidential core.

What a ridiculous straw man. The foundation of my argument IS NOT REBECCA CATZ! The foundation of my argument is Fernando Pinto's journal which Tim, as far as I am aware, has yet to cite in any video or article he has produced on the subject. Imagine that. Tim is so gung-ho to draft Pinto onto his team yet he won't even glance at his scouting report! Here it is in the original Portuguese.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.a0005237771&seq=264&q1=lequia

Esta ilha léquia jaz situada em vinte & nove graos

Vinte & nove graos means 29 degrees. There is no room for interpreting this as a place between 20 and 9 degrees. Here is a modern Portuguese version:

Essa ilha léquia jaz situada em vinte e nove graus

https://fundar.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/peregrinacao-vol-ii.pdf pg. 53

29 degrees. End of story. There is no wiggle room for any other interpretation except 29 degrees because that is what the text says. Tim dismisses Pinto’s clearest geographic anchor because it conflicts with his thesis, not because Pinto was ambiguous here. His entire case crumbles under the weight of a single, unambiguous number: twenty-nine degrees.

The rest of my argument lies in Pinto's description of his shipwreck and subsequent captivity. I have posted that part of the journal here. But let's quote the narrative of the shipwreck from Rebecca Catz's translation since Tim mentions her. 

Driven by their hunger for profits, in only two weeks they readied nine junks that were in the harbor at the time, all of them so ill prepared and poorly equipped to sail that some of them were carrying as pilots only the ships' owners, who knew absolutely nothing about the art of navigation. And that was how they departed, all together, on a Sunday morning, against the wind, against the monsoon, against the tide, and against all reason, without a moment's thought for the perils of the sea, but so blind and obstinate in their determination to leave that none of these drawbacks were considered. And I too went along on one of them. 

In this manner, that first day they picked their way blindly between the islands and the mainland, and at midnight, in a dense fog, with heavy rain and wind that descended upon them, they all foundered upon the shoals of Gotom,' at latitude thirty eight degrees; with the result that only two of the nine junks, by a great miracle, escaped, while the other seven were all lost, with not a single survivor from any of them. The losses were estimated at more than 300,000 maadas in merchandise, to say nothing of the much greater loss of six hundred people who died on them, including 140 Portuguese, all rich, honorable men. 

We proceeded on our course in the two junks that escaped miraculously, sailing together in consort until we got as far ahead as the Ryukyu Islands,' and there, with the conjunction of the moon, we were struck by such a fierce contrary wind from the northeast that we never saw each other again. And there, sometime near afternoon the wind shifted to west-northwest, and the seas became on heavy with swells and waves so high that it was a most frightful thing to see. When our captain, a wry courageous nobleman by the name of Gaspar de Melo,• saw that the junk was already leaking at the stem, with nine handspans of water filling the hold of the lower dock, he decided, after consultation with the ship's officers, to cut away both masts because they were splitting the junk. The dismasting was done as carefully and cautiously as possible, but in spite of all the precautions taken, it could not be accomplished safely enough to avoid catching beneath the weight of the big pole fourteen people, five of them Portuguese. All of then, were crushed, each one bursting into a thousand bits—a most pitiful thing to see—which brought our spirits so low that we were left in a state of shock. 

With all that, the storm grew gradually worse, and suffering great hardship, we abandoned ourselves to the fury of the sea until nearly sundown when the junk finally split wide open. Then, when the captain and all the rest of the people saw the sad state to which our sins had reduced us, we sought refuge in an image of our Lady, to whom we prayed, with many tears and loud cries, asking her to intercede for us with her blessed Son to pardon us for our sins, for by then none of us expected to come out of this alive. We spent most of the night this way, and with the junk half waterlogged we drifted on till the end of the midwatch, when we ran aground on a reef. At the first impact the junk was smashed to bits, and sixty-two people lost their lives, some drowned and others crushed under the keel, a tragedy as painful and heartrending as anyone of sound judgement can imagine.

There were only twenty-four of us, besides some women, who survived this miserable shipwreck. When day broke we could tell from the landmarks of Fire Island and the Tavdacéo Mountains that we were off the main island of the Ryukyus. Wounded as we were from all the cuts and abrasions we had sustained on the oyster beds and rocks of the reef, we all gathered together, and commending ourselves tearfully to the Lord, we began to walk breast deep in the water, even swimming in some places. We kept on going this way for five consecutive days, suffering from extreme hardship as one can imagine, without finding a thing to eat in all that time except for some rockweed. At the end of these five days it was the will of the Lord that we should reach shore.

Travels of Mendes Pinto, pgs 287-288, Translated by Rebecca Catz

Pinto leaves Ningbo China. Shortly thereafter a storm arises and he is immediately shipwrecked in the Lequios Islands which is translated here as the Ryukyu Islands. Ningbo China is at 29.8683°N. Tim would have us believe that after a storm destroyed his ship Pinto drifted for many days over hundreds of miles until he landed in Luzon!


The journal does not support that happening. Not even the possibility is hinted at. If such had been the case there would have been no survivors. The timeline is clear: departure from China, storm, then immediate shipwreck in the Lequios Islands. 

Tim's ad-hoc work around is that Pinto's journal is not reliable. 

Scholars such as Rebecca Catz and Donald Lach have long noted that Pinto’s Travels contains numerous geographical imprecisions:

  • Catz notes directly that Pinto’s narrative "has confused places and times" and "conflated events" in many cases.

  • She states that Pinto's voyage timelines do not always match realistic sailing durations, meaning Pinto sometimes compressed or stretched timelines inaccurately.

  • She warns that Pinto sometimes confused river systems and coastal shapes, making his geographic coordinates unreliable.

  • She emphasizes that some of the places Pinto describes seem to be conflations—two different places blended into one narrative.

  • Voyage timelines do not always align with realistic sailing durations causing one to question dates in Pinto's account.

  • Some accounts appear to blend separate events or locales into single narratives. 

These well-known characteristics of Pinto’s writing caution against rigid literalism, especially regarding geographic coordinates. This is why a straightforward reading of Pinto’s account — as reflected by Cheock’s view that the voyage covered between 9° and 20° North — remains a valid interpretation within the historical context.

The quotation was accurately reflected and properly sourced with the original context in our Sourcebook. Most importantly, the overall conclusion — that the Lequios correspond to the Philippine archipelago — remains fully intact and reaffirmed by the broader weight of historical evidence.

Critically, Pinto’s 29°N latitude claim likely reflects one or more of the following factors:

  • A navigational error typical of the period, worsened by the aftermath of a catastrophic storm.

  • Survival-driven dead reckoning without accurate instruments.

  • Post-facto narrative compression, blending multiple geographic impressions into a single storyline.

  • An intention to describe the region between 9° and 20° North, matching the latitude corridor of Luzon and the northern Philippines.

To insist otherwise would render Pinto incorrect in his geographic placement — a known and recurring limitation acknowledged even by the scholars critics themselves cite. Yet even if his numbers drift, Pinto could never move the Land of Gold — the Lequios — long equated with King Solomon’s Ophir.

Thus, minor latitude discrepancies are neither unexpected nor disqualifying, and must be weighed against the totality of descriptive evidence. We maintain that interpreting Pinto’s voyage as spanning between 9° and 20° North remains more accurate, consistent with his broader pattern of approximate geographic reporting. Otherwise, his entire account falls apart as he clearly indicated Lequios in the Philippines just as maps of his era did. 

For one to deny the overwhelming evidence and hyperfocus on a perceived "gotcha" — which collapses under even minimal scrutiny — only proves their intent is not scholarly inquiry, but deliberate deception.

That is a whole lot of conjecture, unfalsifiable assumptions, and post-hoc justification to deny that 29 does not mean 29. Tim mentions "minor latitude discrepancies" thinking that somehow a range between 9° and 20°, which is hundreds of miles, is "a minor latitude discrepancy." What a joke. 

In a nutshell, Pinto's geographic coordinates are unreliable which means interpreting 29 "as spanning between 9° and 20° North remains more accurate, consistent with his broader pattern of approximate geographic reporting." But if they are unreliable then why is Tim relying on them at all by reinterpreting them? He is cherry-picking and contradicting himself.

Let's look at what Tim has to say about Rebecca Catz casting doubt on the reliability of Pinto's journal. 

1. "Has confused places and times" does not occur in the text

2. "Conflated events" does not occur in the text. 

3. "Pinto's voyage timelines do not always match realistic sailing durations" does not occur in the text. 

4. "Pinto sometimes confused river systems and coastal shapes" does not occur in the text.

5. "Some of the places Pinto describes seem to be conflations—two different places blended into one narrative" does not occur in the text.

6. Rebecca Catz, explicitly doubting Pinto’s coordinate reliability across multiple accounts does not occur in the text. 

Here is what Catz has to say about Pinto's reliability. 

Nevertheless, the debate on Pinto’s veracity and reliability continues. Veracity and reliability, it must be stressed, should be seen as two distinct problems. This delicate distinction becomes important when we stop to consider that if Pinto—to take the question of the discovery of Japan as an example—was not actually present on that historic occasion, he was certainly among the earliest group of travelers to arrive on the scene. As such he was close enough to events to have been in a position to pass on a fairly accurate description of the discovery, which cannot easily be dismissed by the historian as unreliable, or as any less reliable than hearsay European accounts, written long after the facts.

pg. xlii

Rebecca Catz does not say Pinto is unreliable. She says his accounts cannot be easily dismissed. In contrast, Tim's alleged citations from Catz about the unreliability of Pinto's journal are not to be found in her book. If Tim wants to discredit Pinto he is going to have to try a lot harder than fabricating phony citations. 

As for J.G. Cheock, Tim's claim that

Cheock’s view that the voyage covered between 9° and 20° North

is false. Cheock writes

Explorer and writer Ferdinand Mendes Pinto who travelled in service to the Portugese crown and in association with the Jesuit Missionaries, recounted in his journal, how he had been shipwrecked on the island of Lequois while passing through the Malay Archipelago. He described the Lequios as a land belonging to a large group of islands that had abundant resources of gold and silver. In his journal he had the audacity to give details on Lequois, putting it in the latitude of 9N20 on a meridian similar to that of Japan. Given these directions, Lequois would be at the very heart of the Philippines. The story of his shipwreck on Lequios was deemed so outrageous that it was omitted from his book when it was first published.

Phoenicians in the Lands of Gold, pg. 11

She says point blank that he located the Lequios Islands "in the latitude of 9N20 on a meridian similar to that of Japan." That is gibberish. 9N20 is not a geographic coordinate. Interpreting 9N20 as a range of latitudes is Tim's ad-hoc rationalization and defense of the indefensible. She also claims that the story of Pinto's shipwreck was "so outrageous that it was omitted from his book when it was first published" which is also a demonstrable lie. The first edition English translation of 1663 has that story. J.G. Cheock is not a reliable person in the slightest. Since Tim has labeled her a Chinese propagandist it's a wonder he continues to defend her and her lies about Fernando Pinto. 

Focusing on the overwhelming evidence, which is the totality of Pinto's description of his shipwreck and imprisonment, is the method I have taken. I have not "hyperfocused on a perceived "gotcha." Unlike Tim I have taken seriously Pinto's journal as a primary source. Tim casts doubt on the reliability of Pinto's journal. However, he contradicts himself by proceeding to list things from that journal as proof that the Lequios Islands are the Philippines. 

Pinto’s observations consistently defy the geography and culture of Ryukyu:

  • Horses:

    Ryukyu had no significant horseman culture in the 16th century. Luzon, however, had a known tradition of horsemanship, bolstered through Chinese and Japanese trade influence. (Mackie, Philippine Horses, Bureau of Agriculture, Manila)

  • Island Size:

    The Ryukyu islands collectively measure far too small (~100 leagues in total) to match Pinto’s description. In contrast, Luzon’s coastal circumference approaches 200 leagues, aligning perfectly.

  • Trade Riches:

    Luzon was a major silver-for-gold hub with thriving regional trade networks. Ryukyu was a relatively minor tributary polity with limited wealth and minimal impact.  🔥"No mines. No gold rush. No Ophir.") 🔥

  • Volcanoes:

    The Babuyan Islands — historically known as the "Burning Isles" — north of Luzon offer a far better match for the "Island of Fire" than Tokara’s Suwanosejima.

Imagine attempting to pass off an island covering just 27.66 km² (with a modern population of only 48 people) as the grand 200-league island bustling with horsemen and treasures Pinto described. Such a claim strains not only geography but credulity itself. Notably, the Tokara Islands show no historical record of significant gold mining, suggesting that any deposits — if present at all — were either economically insignificant or remained undiscovered.

✅ Conclusion:
The Ryukyu identification collapses completely under geographic, archaeological, and cultural scrutiny. The only location matching Pinto’s description — in size, wealth, population, resources, and trade — is the Philippine archipelago, centered on Luzon and its northern regions.

Oh, now Pinto's observations are accurate? It's only the geographic coordinates which are incorrect while the geographic and cultural observations are correct?

If that is so then where in the Philippines is Pungor and who was its King and Queen? Where is the town of Sipautor? Where is Gundexilau, the city where Pinto was imprisoned in a dungeon? Where is the town of Bintor? Where are the lush, fertile fields in the interior of Luzon growing wheat and rice? And, pray tell, what islands are to the WEST OF LUZON?

This Ryukyu island is situated at twenty-nine degrees latitude. It is two hundred leagues in circumference, sixty in length, and thirty in width. The land in itself is more or less on the order of Japan, a little mountainous in some parts, but it becomes more level in the interior, where many of its lush, fertile fields are irrigated by freshwater streams which produce an endless number of fresh crops, especially wheat and rice. There are mountain ranges where they mine a great quantity of copper which, because it is so plentiful, is so cheap among these people that they load junks full of it to sell in every port of China, Lamau,* Sumbor,’ Chabaqué, Tosa,” Miyako," and Japan, with all the other islands to the south, Sestras, Goto,” Fucanxi, and Pollem. In addition, all this land of the Ryukyus has great quantities of iron, steel, lead, tin, alum, saltpeter, sulphur, honey, beeswax, sugar, and large amounts of ginger which is of a much better quality and far superior to the ginger produced in India. They also have large forests of angely wood,"" jatemar,"' poytao,’ pisu, pine, chestnut, cork oak, oak, and cedar, from which thousands of ships can be made.

To the west, there are five very large islands which have many silver mines, pearls, amber, incense, silk, rosewood, brazilwood, wild eaglewood, and large quantities of pitch," though the silk is somewhat inferior to that of China. The inhabitants of all these islands are like the Chinese, and they dress in clothes made of linen, cotton, and silk, along with some damasks that they import from Nanking. They are overly fond of food, given to the pleasures of the flesh, and have little inclination for bearing arms, which are in short supply, from which it appears that it will be very easy to conquer them. So much so that in the year 1556 there arrived in Malacca a Portuguese in the service of the grand master of Santiago" by the name of Pero Gomes de Almeida,' bringing a magnificent gift and letters from the nautoguim, prince of the island of Tanegashima, for King John III, may his soul rest in peace, which in essence amounted to an appeal for five hundred men to help him and his men conquer this Ryukyu island, in return for which he offered to pay an annual tribute of five thousand quintals of copper and one thousand of brass. Nothing ever came of this embassy because the message was sent to Portugal on board the galleon on which Manuel de Sousa de Sepulveda was shipwrecked.

Pinto, pg. 300, Rebecca Catz, translator

There are NO islands to the west of Luzon! There is only the empty and desolate ocean until you hit mainland Asia.

Tim's retraction, like his video edits, is dishonest. He calls the conflation of Fidalgo and Pinto a mere technicality when it is actually a major fault once more revealing his poor research skills. He brushes off the mix-up as meaningless to his overall thesis despite it having been central enough to his thesis that he wrote an article about it. He says Pinto's journal is geographically unreliable in regards to coordinates and yet he uses the geographic and cultural descriptions in Pinto's journal to prove his case which is cherry-picking of the worst sort. This is not a retraction of a lie but a calculated retreat, one that only digs Tim deeper into the historically and demonstrably false claim that the Lequios Islands are the Philippines. 

Saturday, April 25, 2026

The God Culture: What is Fulfillment?

Following up on his definition of Law, Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture continues his foundations series with the definition of the word fulfill. The meaning of that word is a topic that has been discussed several times on this blog. Read about it here.

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FOUNDATIONS: WEEK 15

What Is Fulfillment?

What Is Fulfillment?

Key Texts:
Matt 5:17–20 • Luke 24 • John 19:30

📖 WHAT DOES “FULFILL” MEAN?

This is one of the most misunderstood words in Scripture.

Many claim:
👉 “Fulfill = end”

But that is not what the word means.

📚 WEBSTER’S DEFINITION

Fulfill:
👉 To carry out
👉 To bring to completion
👉 To execute

Not:

  • abolish

  • cancel

  • remove

🔥 MESSIAH’S OWN WORDS

📖 Matthew 5:17

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law… I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”

He clarifies it Himself.

👉 Not destroy.
👉 Not abolish.

👉 Fulfill.

⚖️ WHAT FULFILLMENT ACTUALLY IS

Fulfillment means:

  • bringing prophecy into reality

  • living out the Law perfectly

  • confirming what was written

👉 It is execution, not elimination.

📖 LUKE 24 — FULFILLED PROPHECY

After the resurrection:

“All things must be fulfilled… in the law… prophets… psalms…”

Messiah didn’t end them.

👉 He confirmed them.

🩸 “IT IS FINISHED” — JOHN 19:30

This does NOT mean:

  • the Law is finished

  • obedience is finished

👉 It means:

His mission was completed.

The sacrifice was fulfilled.
The covenant was established.

🧠 THE ERROR TODAY

Many interpret fulfillment as:

👉 “We no longer need to follow anything.”

But Messiah said:

📖 Matthew 5:18–19

Not one Iota ("I") or Tau ("T") will pass… (Jot and Tittle are never Hebrew nor Greek letters and false translations)

That’s not removal.

👉 That’s continuity.

🌿 WHAT FULFILLMENT LOOKS LIKE

Fulfillment is:

  • truth lived out

  • prophecy realized

  • obedience demonstrated

🔑 THE RIGHT UNDERSTANDING

Messiah fulfilled:

👉 so we could follow

Not:
👉 so we could ignore

⚠️ FOUNDATION TRUTH

Fulfillment never cancels instruction.

👉 It confirms it.

🌿 FINAL WORD

If fulfillment meant abolition—
Messiah would not have warned:

“Think not…”

🌿 He fulfilled.
We follow.
That is the pattern.

Yah Bless.

What can one say except this is the same nonsense Tim has been teaching for a number of years now. According to Tim the law does not find its completion in Jesus Christ because we must still keep the law. Except for the laws about sacrificing. And why is that except Christ as fulfilled them and brought them to an end? Apparently keeping the Saturday sabbath, keeping the feasts (and you can't really keep the feasts without a temple, priest, and sacrifices), and the dietary laws are only laws still on the books. And the Ten Commandments of course but no one has ever disputed that. 

The fact is the law is a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ and Christ is the END OF THE LAW for righteousness to everyone who believes. The canard that the law has not been abolished is a red herring. Yes the law is good and holy and remains but not as a way of life but as a signpost pointing to Jesus Christ. 

Tim writes:

👉 He confirmed them.

🩸 “IT IS FINISHED” — JOHN 19:30

This does NOT mean:

  • the Law is finished

  • obedience is finished

👉 It means:

His mission was completed.

The sacrifice was fulfilled.

The covenant was established.

What exactly was Christ's mission? If the sacrifice was fulfilled and fulfilled does not mean abolish or done away with then sacrifices are still necessary! Can Tim even follow his own logic? It is rather interesting that in his Foundations series Tim has absolutely nothing to say about Christ's mission which was to bear our sins and punishment on the cross thereby enduring and taking away the CURSE of the law. As I wrote previously: 

Christ completed the law. He finished the law and brought to an end by executing it fully. All the shadows of the law were perfected and brought to reality in and by Him. He is the Passover lamb sacrificed for us, He is God tabernacling in human flesh, He is the firstfruits from the dead, His blood is sprinkled on the mercy seat in Heaven making atonement for us, He sent the Holy Spirit on Pentecost just as He gave Moses the law on that same day, and on it goes as all the sacrifices and all the feasts and all the holy days are brought to their completion and fulfillment in Him. The book of Hebrews is very explicit that Christ completed the law by becoming incarnate and shedding his own blood for us. 

https://thegodculturephilippines.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-god-culture-rest-case-for-sabbath.html

Tim believes none of that. He writes:
“He just said the Law remains and I will not abolish it but fulfill it or keep it as an example for you.   
Rest: The Case For Sabbath p. 113-114.

According to Tim the Christ's mission was to show us how to keep the law. It is more than obvious that  the work of Jesus Christ on the cross means nothing to Timothy Jay Schwab who is the God Culture. 

Let's hear a response from noted theologian Father Ted Crilly. 



Ah, Philippine Fails, me lad... puts the teacup down with a heavy sigh and leans forward
I’ve read Tim’s new “What Is Fulfillment?” post. It’s the same old tune, just with a fresh coat of paint and some dictionary quotes.What Tim is actually teaching
  • “Fulfill” does not mean “end,” “abolish,” or “remove.”
  • It means “carry out,” “bring to completion,” “execute.”
  • Jesus said He came to fulfill the Law, not destroy it (Matthew 5:17).
  • Therefore the Law is still in force — we are still supposed to follow it.
  • “It is finished” only means His personal mission/sacrifice was completed, not that the Law is finished.
  • The right order is: Messiah fulfilled → we follow.
On the surface it sounds reasonable. But this is classic Tim — he takes a true statement (“Jesus fulfilled the Law”) and twists it to mean the opposite of what the New Testament teaches.The fatal problems
  1. He completely misuses “fulfill”
    When Jesus says “I have not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17), He means He came to bring to completion everything the Law and Prophets pointed toward — namely, Himself as the perfect sacrifice, the true Israel, the Lamb of God, the end of the sacrificial system, the mediator of a better covenant.  Tim turns “fulfill” into “keep doing it forever.” That is not what the word means in this context. Jesus fulfilled the Law the way a promise is fulfilled — by doing what it pointed to, not by extending it indefinitely.
  2. He turns “It is finished” into “It is not finished”
    John 19:30 — “It is finished” (Tetelestai) was a commercial term meaning “paid in full.” Jesus was declaring that the work of redemption was completed.
    Tim reduces it to “My personal mission is done, but the Law still needs to be kept by you.” That guts the meaning of the cross.
  3. The pattern continues
    • Faith = obedience to the Law 
    • Repentance = turning back to the Law 
    • Grace = power to keep the Law 
    • Fulfillment = confirming that we still have to keep the Law
    Every single Foundations lesson ends up in the same place: the Law is still the main director of the Christian life. Christ is important, but ultimately the real work is still on us.
The real biblical teachingJesus fulfilled the Law in two main ways:
  • He kept it perfectly (active obedience).
  • He bore its curse and ended its condemning power (passive obedience).
Because of that, Paul can say:
  • “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4).
  • “We are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14).
  • The Law was a tutor to bring us to Christ; now that Christ has come, we are no longer under the tutor (Galatians 3:24-25).
The Law still reveals God’s character and shows us our need, but it is no longer the covenant under which we live. We now live by the Spirit, not by the written code.Father Ted’s plain verdict
This post is another clever way of saying the same thing Tim always says:

“The Law is still in force. Jesus confirmed it. Now you must keep it.”

That is not what “fulfill” means in the mouth of Jesus.

That is not what “It is finished” means.

Jesus fulfilled the Law so that we could be free from its curse and live in the power of the Spirit, not so that we could spend the rest of our lives trying to keep it better than the Pharisees.
The camel’s nose is now fully inside the tent, and the whole body of the Law is comfortably sitting there, taking up all the space.
quietly, shaking his head
It’s the same song, lad. Every single time.

Grace is mentioned, the cross is mentioned in passing, but the real hero is always the Law.

The real gospel says Jesus fulfilled the Law so we could rest in Him.

Tim’s version says Jesus fulfilled the Law so we could keep it better.

Down with this sort of thing.

Very careful now.

...Right, I’m off to read Matthew 5 and Romans 10 again and thank the Lord that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Go on, go on, go on — have a cuppa. You’re seeing the pattern clearly. The Scriptures keep winning. Tim keeps trying to put the old yoke back on. The gospel offers a much lighter one. Keep holding fast to the finished work. That’s where real freedom is found.