Monday, November 23, 2020

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

Timothy Jay Schwab of The God Culture has recently dropped quite a load indicating that he and they have entered the next stage of their journey. From an unknown Youtube channel to full-blown think tank in the space of three years. Tim's videos have been aimed at teaching Filipinos they are Israelites and that the Philippines is Sheba, Ophir, Tarshish, Haviliah, and the Garden of Eden. Actually the Garden of Eden is submerged in the Sulu Sea along with its only inhabitant Enoch. Does the ocean water quench the flaming sword of the Cherubim who guards it?

Filipinos have a big destiny to fill because they will literally fight the anti-christ face to face and restore the Mosaic Law around the world. The OFW program is Bible prophecy! In fact 144,000 Filipino women will be taken to heaven to give birth in the throne room of God to 144,000 babies who will come back seven years later with Jesus Christ as a heavenly choir.  If one does not understand this restoration of Bible geography which gives the Philippines the most preeminent place in all of history and prophecy then one will never, ever understand the Bible. So says The God Culture founder former puppeteer, Christian rock band member, and ordained Reverend Timothy Jay Schwab.

https://www.ophirinstitute.com

You are about to embark on the most monumental journey of all archaeological discoveries. The mother lode that would make the likes of Indiana Jones salivate. The true land of gold in all of history which leads to the location of the Garden of Eden and Land of Creation identifying the Rivers from Eden en route. Why is this important? You will never understand geography, history nor especially Bible prophecy without this restored knowledge of what many will consider the most illustrious realm on Earth. Without this, one cannot interpret archaeology with mastery, lecture on history with certainty, preach a sermon on the topic with veracity nor even satisfy elementary queries. Though founded in the Bible which is the origin of this saga, examine the history, archaeology, geography, science, linguistics, etc. which all converge to reveal what the world knew and somehow misplaced about a century ago. This is a mystery no longer and now, you will know the whereabouts of the lost isles of gold... 

You can't even preach a truthful sermon without knowing this information! Think of all the sermons preached in the past 2,000 years by Christians of every kind and in every era. Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul, Peter, John, James, St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine, Athanasius, Basil the Great, Charles Finney, Charles Spurgeon, Charles Stanely they and all the rest were shut up in darkness because no one in the history of the Church had this information until NOW!   

So much for Pentecost and the Church being led of the Holy Spirit into all truth and the gates of Hell not prevailing against the Church. Turns out the Church has been in darkness all this time and God has sent his servant Timothy Jay Schwab to bring us all into the light. The Church owes Timothy a great debt. I am joking of course. Timothy is no servant of God but a heretic who denies the Trinity and preaches "the law is what redeems us." Tim is no way a Christian though he pretends to be one. The thesis of this book is as fictional as Indiana Jones who is alluded to not just on the back cover but also in the introduction on page 19.

I know what's on page 19 of this book without having read it because there is a preview feature on Amazon. Having performed several word searches there is much to say about this book before I have even read it. I would like to take note of just a few things here.

Basically this book will be a rehash of what's in Tim's videos. Just from a perusal of what's available I say with confidence that I have been completely vindicated in all my criticisms of The God Culture. I will list only two.

1. In the video Clue #53 Finding Chryse Tim purports to cite from Dionysius Periegetes. But instead he quotes him secondhand and get's it all wrong. Based on the source he provided I had surmised that he lifted it from "Phoenicians in the Lands of Gold" by J.G. Cheock who cites Dionysius on page 7 and lists the same source as Tim on page 130 of that book.

It turns out that Tim has read "Phoenicians in the Lands of Gold" because Cheock is listed as a source in the index.


We see here Tim's profound scientific method of providing secondhand quotes. Instead of going to Cheock's source, Rebecca Catz, Tim prefers to cite Cheock!

As far as Dionysus goes it was I who did the research to find an English translation by Thomas Twyne in the EEBO database. Tim had no idea it existed until I came along. Tim now claims to be using that translation as his source rather then Cheock. But he does not cite Thomas Twyne as a primary source.  Instead he cites Check's source which is literally a middle school teacher's teaching module!


"Monsoon Winds to the "Land of Gold" is a teaching module for middle schoolers. The teaching module can be accessed here. It will open as a PDF in a new tab.   

This citation is interesting because from what I can gather on page 41 Tim actually quotes the Twyne translation. However Tim conflates the Thomas Twyne translation with this module on which Twyne is never mentioned. The English translations on that module come from two other and different sources as each quote is the same verse from Dionysius translated differently.

Imagine writing a book that is supposed to be throughly tested, claiming you have a monumental case no one can disprove, that you have a profound scientific method to prove this case, and that what you are writing is not merely a claim but absolute truth and one of your proofs comes from a middle school teacher's module. Imagine further that you have access to the original source, though it be an English translation, and you still decide to use the module as your official source. That is completely laughable. No serious person would do that. I am dumbfounded at this choice as it makes NO sense! But it is in line with Tim's "profound scientific method" of secondhand quoting.

It should be noted that the module purports to teach about Southeast Asian trade in ancient times and nowhere is the Philippines mentioned.

I don't have space here to get into it further. I have written extensively about this faulty citation elsewhere and I encourage you to read it at this link: The God Culture: Finding Chryse: Don't Follow Biased Paradigms.

2. The second instance where I have been vindicated is in Tim's use of Legeza, Peralta, and Villegas as sources proving that the Philippines traded with ancient Egypt and that Philippine gold has been found in Egypt. Again, I have written at length about how Tim had never read those sources and was even citing one of them incorrectly. In my curiosity I actually ordered the documents from Arts of Asia and posted my findings online. 

Timothy Jay Schwab and The God Culture knew NOTHING of what those authors actually wrote until I came along. Naturally they are using my research to further their goals. Take a look at the source list in the index:

Look at how he uses Wikipedia as a source for #22! There are other instances of Wikipedia being used as a source throughout the book.

Note that in this book Peralta is not cited at all. That is because, as I wrote elsewhere he does not discuss trade with Egypt. Only Legeza and Villegas mention Egypt. This citation lists page 137 as being quoted from Legeza but that does not seem to be the case.  Here are the citations as found on page 44.


I am quite confident that this is all my research. There is a sourcebook available that will have all the documents. We shall see if Tim actually ordered the out-of-print Arts of Asia magazine that has this article as surely he will have included the pages in the sourcebook. Either way it was I who finally opened up Legeza, Peralta, and Villegas. Tim and The God Culture had no idea what they actually wrote until I came along. Read more at: The God Culture: Philippine Gold Jewelry Found in 1st Century Egypt.

Based on these two instances it seems I was correct when I wrote the following back in June:
I cannot wait for this book to be published. It looks like it will be big, glossy, and colorful with many pictures. It will be fun to see what exactly is inside. I predict Tim will use my own research which is the English translation of Dionysius Periegetes and the three sources cited to claim Philippine gold was found in 1st century Egypt.  That would be Legeza, Peralta, and Villegas. Tim did not know about any of those resources until I used them in my rebuttals to him. 
Of course with Tim taking liberally from other bloggers left and right such as Ancient Philippines as sources for his videos it wasn't that hard of a prediction to make. Funny how they vilify me and yet use my research.

One more thing about what is in the book and that is it appears that Tim makes a passing reference to me on page 45.


"We had one question the "belief" of Adrian Horridge...." 
That is most certainly a reference to me as I wrote about what Horridge wrote and how he does not say what Tim thinks he says. You can read more about that at: The God Culture: Does Timothy Schwab Have A Missionary Visa?

No doubt "Solomon's Treasure" will be an interesting book. Even more interesting will be reading any critical reviews. Surely I cannot be the only person who has dissected Tim's videos. Books have a way of making the rounds more so than videos especially a series of videos that is hundreds of hours long. Hopefully this book makes its way into the hands of real scholars and they can give it a proper thrashing.

Having a sourcebook to go along with Solomon's Treasure is a pretty nifty idea.


However in order to access it you have to buy Solomon's Treasure and then register somehow.  I have scoured all their websites and there is no information on how to register. Maybe that information will come with the book.

This SOURCEBOOK is free for those who purchase The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, The Search for King Solomon's Treasure: Instructional Edition and/or Ophir Philippines Coffee Table Book. There is no availability for those wishing to review a Sourcebook without actually reading. You may purchase the books at: Ophirinstitute.com.

Questions? Email us at thegodculture@gmail.com

We reserve the right to reject access to those who cyber libel.

I assume that last sentence is a reference to me as well because Tim and The God Culture have libelously accused me of cyber libel on several occasions. At the bottom of the list of sources there is a rather snarky comment.

(Yeah, we know, we didn't do any research and are just guessing right? What an illiterate position of scoffers who wallow in ignorance.)

https://www.thegodculture.com/source-list

I for one never made such a statement. What I have said repeatedly is that Tim misuses and misinterprets his sources, has not read some of them, and liberally quotes secondhand without referring to the originals. Here is what Tim has to say about his sources especially Thomas Suarez who actually made it into Tim's book as an official source as part of the "Monumental Case For The Philippines No One Can Disprove."

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

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

Why even bother with sources when Tim says outright he does not believe them? Why cite them as authorities? 

The real problem with these sources is that they form Tim's entire case. He has done ZERO archeological work. Instead he has taken texts both ancient and modern and deduced from them the solution to the ancient mystery of the identity of Ophir. He is an armchair researcher and not a real archaeologist like Ron Wyatt who, whether you agree with his findings or not, actually went into the field to prove his claims. Same with Heinrich Schliemann who discovered Troy by leaving his study and going into the field to dig. Even the fictional Indiana Jones Tim references goes into the field to find an artifact wether it be the Cross of Coronado, the Ark of the Covenant, or the Holy Grail. Tim has no artifacts to prove his case. He only has these texts and his deductions many of which, such as his identification of the Chersonesus Aurea as the Philippines, are wrong.  

Another thing Tim gets wrong is trade between the Philippines and Israel via the southern tip of Africa. On page 136 Tim writes the following:

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 traveling 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.

While Herodotus does record a single instance of Africa being circumnavigated by the Phoenicians his account is doubted by some. In any case ancient Greek maps do not show much of sub-Saharan Africa, certainly not the southern tip of Africa, and it was Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias who made the first documented voyage around Africa in 1488. The fact is that until modern times this route was rarely taken if ever. Yet Tim expects us all to believe that there was a robust trade between the Philippines and Israel with the route circumnavigating Africa over 2,000 years ago. Such prattle is obvious nonsense not supported by any facts except the ones Tim fabricates by grossly misinterpreting Horridge, Legeza, and Villegas.

As I said there is so much I can write about this book already without having read it. For instance Timothy Jay Schwab's "Monumental Case For The Philippines No One Can Disprove" includes such authoritative sources as Wikipedia and some dude's blog.

Two of the many citations from Wikipedia 

http://genesavoy.blogspot.com

Yes, that is really in the list of sources in the index. Why!?

I will leave just one more tidbit indicative of the kind of deception that will be in this book as it is in The God Culture's videos. It comes from Chapter 3 page 33.

That is not Greece but the Acropolis ruins in Fortune Island of Nagsugbu, Batangas, Philippines.

Wrong! Those are not the ruins of a Greek Acropolis at all. Rather it's the ruins of a resort for the very rich.

The island only later in time got the name it has today. A few decades ago it used to serve as a very exclusive luxury resort designed to serve the upper class of society. By that time it was actually called 'Little Paradise' according to the locals. 

Because it was designed for the upper class, the creators thought it was fitting to make the resort in ancient Greek style. They built a replica of the Greek Acropolis of Athens on top of a lime stone cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. In today's time, the structure still serves as the island's main landmark.

Surely Tim knows that those aren't actual Greek ruins right? He cannot be that dumb. After all his biography, which is spread across several pages, makes mention of a profound scientific method used by The God Culture in doing their research. 

It's just pure deception as the uncritical reader will think that there are actually Grecian ruins in the Philippines. It's the same tactic he pulled with Greek armor allegedly being found in Mindanao. You can read more about that here:  The God Culture: Ancient Greek Armor Found In Mindanao

When I receive this book I will not be reviewing it by ripping it to shreds source-by-source. I have already proven that Tim's claims are nonsense and that he is totally dishonest with his sources. Never forget Timothy Jay Schwab is also a heretic who denies the Trinity and is on record saying "the law is what redeems us." Instead I want to compare "Solomon's Treasure" to a book titled "My Country's Godly Heritage: The History of the Philippines In Biblical Perspective" by Ferdinand V. Melendres. 

I have yet to read this book but the author appears to have a similar thesis to Timothy Schwab and The God Culture. It will be interesting to see where the two converge and diverge. This author and book do not show up in a search of Tim's book nor have I heard him mention it in any of his videos. I wonder if he knows it exists.

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