The doctrines of Timothy Jay Schwab who is the God Culture are not only appallingly heretical but downright unhistorical. Tim teaches that not only was the temple defiled by the Hasmoneans who usurped the priesthood and that the true temple priests fled to Qumran but he also teaches that those priests took the true temple worship with them including sacrifices. He says this very clearly and in no uncertain terms in an interview with Zen Garcia.
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1:07:45 So, they call it the Dead Sea Scrolls. The reality is it's the Bethabara Scrolls. They are found in Bethabara and this was a community where the temple priests lived and continued the temple rituals, the temple sacrifices, all of that continued in this community. Just read their writings and it's very clear they were all about the law they were all about Covenant. They were all about keeping the Commandments and teaching it.
In a comment on one his videos Tim goes much further and claims the fleeing temple priests apparently built a replica of the temple in the wilderness of Qumran also known as Bethabara.
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@scordova98: Okay all of this is great but I still am left with the question I've never been able to answer if the temple was desecrated at 165 BC why does Zechariah John's father offer incense at it?
@TheGodCulture: You assume he was in Jerusalem. The text does not say that. He may well have been in Qumran instead. That was a replica of the Temple and the legitimate Temple Priests were ONLY there. Otherwise, you do not know the pressures of that day with the Pharisees and he may well have been forced if in Jerusalem. The point is you don't know and you have no question because you can't ask one when you only make an assumption that may be wrong. If he was in Jerusalem, you just don't know so why assume the worst? That is no way to view scripture and your hypothetical in which you don't know the circumstances has no bearing on the Temple being desecrated as it was period. That is not up for debate especially not on such a non-point which you have none. Yah Bless.
It is quite possible Tim may mean that the community itself "was a replica of the temple" but that would not make sense if they were offering sacrifices and doing other rituals which required a physical temple. And Tim has said very clearly that the Qumran Community was engaged in such worship.
The Gospel of Luke is very clear that Zacharias, John the Baptist's father, offered up incense in the temple which was a physical building. Tim says no such verses exist in the New Testament.
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| Apocrypha Test: Part 2: Who Decided Bible Canon? History of the Bible. |
@sglc27 Thank you for this. I have a question. Zechariah John the baptist father still serve in the temple as priest before he is born right? So is the Pharisees reigning in the temple already that time of Zechariah or not yet? Because Zechariah is the priest that time right they still doing the old testament priestly orders? Because the romans are ruling already in Israel right? I am kind of confuse by the timeline. I’ m new in learning this.
@TheGodCulture Yes, since 165 BC, the Pharisee Sanhedrin controlled the worship system and the Temple. They were the government as well before the Romans as the Hasmonean Dynasty. All the same Samaritan imposter paradigm. John's father and the other Priestly Courses still served on their rotations about 2 weeks per year and in the Feasts. However, this could have been done in Bethabara instead of the Temple. There is no mention of the Priestly Courses in the Temple in the New Testament which is rather odd. Yah Bless.
5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.8 And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course,9 According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.
11 And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
21 And the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he tarried so long in the temple.22 And when he came out, he could not speak unto them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple: for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless.
Zacharias goes INTO the temple while the people wait OUTSIDE. He offers up incense on the altar of incense and encounters "an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense." The people wonder why he tarries "SO LONG IN THE TEMPLE." Then he comes OUT of the temple. Very clearly Zacharias was inside a building known as the temple. The ONLY temple recorded in the scriptures is the one in Jerusalem. Ergo Zacharias offered up incense in the temple at Jerusalem.
Yet Tim says we cannot possibly know Zacharias was in Jerusalem.
You assume he was in Jerusalem. The text does not say that.
True the text does not say he was in Jerusalem but it does not need to because there is only ONE temple and it is in Jerusalem. It's like reading a book about someone visiting the Empire State Building. Does the author really need to tell you that the action takes place in New York City?
But Tim says Zacharias could have been in Qumran.
He may well have been in Qumran instead. That was a replica of the Temple and the legitimate Temple Priests were ONLY there.
Well, the text certainly does not say or give any hint that he was in Qumran. If he was in Qumran then there would have had to been "a replica of the Temple" as Tim says. The text is clear that Zacharias went in and out of a building. Has there been any discovery of the ruins of a temple at Qumran? No and Tim offers no proof for his baseless claim except to mention baptistries.
13:12 I mean well look first of all what you see what we're doing here is systematically we're going through the Qumran find, what they call the Dead Sea Scrolls inappropriately, because 99.9% is all in Qumran, it's one Community. They had a, a basically, a temple that they built there. Wasn't the temple but it, it was structured like it with lots of water etc.
Unlocking Hidden Truths with The God Culture Episode 2 - Zen Garcia & Tim Schwab
Finally, Tim says something mind blowing. He insinuates even if Zacharias was in Jerusalem he might have been forced to offer up incense in the temple against his will!
Otherwise, you do not know the pressures of that day with the Pharisees and he may well have been forced if in Jerusalem. The point is you don't know and you have no question because you can't ask one when you only make an assumption that may be wrong. If he was in Jerusalem, you just don't know so why assume the worst?
Amazing. How exactly would the Pharisees force Zacharias to offer up incense in the temple? The text never even hints at such a thing. Tim is adding his own spin to the text. Now a story that is straightforward has become something else entirely. The sinister element of Zacharias being forced into the temple by the Pharisees is absolutely unprovable and ridiculous in light of the fact there is only one temple ever mentioned in scripture and it was located in Jerusalem.
Furthermore the Qumran Community said in their own writings that they did not engage in animal sacrifices or any other temple rituals in the wilderness.
The second issue has to do with the sect’s attitude towards the Temple and Temple sacrifice. While some Essenes, notwithstanding their vow of total fidelity to the Law of Moses, rejected the validity of the Sanctuary and refused to participate (temporarily) in its rites (cf. Philo, Omnis probus 75; Josephus, Antiquities XVIII, 19), they evaded the theological dilemma in which this stand might have placed them by contending that until the rededication of the Temple, the only true worship of God was to be offered in their establishment. The Council of the Community was to be the ‘Most Holy Dwelling for Aaron’ where, ‘without the flesh of holocausts and the fat of sacrifice‘, a ‘sweet fragrance’ was to be sent up to God, and where prayer was to serve ‘as an acceptable fragrance of righteousness’ (IQS VIII, 8-9; IX, 4-5). The Community itself was to be the sacrifice offered to God in atonement for Israel’s sins (IQS VIII, 4-5; 4Q265 fr. 7 ii).
The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls, Gaza Vermes, pg. 83
In the Council of the Community there shall be twelve men and three Priests, perfectly versed in all that is revealed of the Law, whose works shall be truth, righteousness, justice, loving-kindness and humility. They shall preserve the faith in the Land with steadfastness and meekness and shall atone for sin by the practice of justice and by suffering the sorrows of affliction.
Vermes, pg. 108-109
When these become members of the Community in Israel according to all these rules, they shall establish the spirit of holiness according to everlasting truth. They shall atone for guilty rebellion and for sins of unfaithfulness, that they may obtain loving-kindness for the Land without the flesh of holocausts and the fat of sacrifice. And prayer rightly offered shall be as an acceptable fragrance of righteousness, and perfection of way as a delectable free-will offering.
Vermes, pg 110
Prayer was offered up "as an acceptable fragrance of righteousness." That means they did not make an incense offering. That means Zachariah could not have been performing the ritual of offering up incense in the temple in the wilderness of Qumran!
This claim that there was a replica temple in the wilderness of Qumran and that Zacharias might have offered up incense there is totally without merit and not founded upon anything except Tim's imagination. The claim that Zacharias might have been forced by the Pharisees to offer up incense in the temple at Jerusalem is also bankrupt of any foundation except Tim's delusions. These claims are more proof that Timothy Jay Schwab of The God Culture is totally ignorant and has no idea what he is talking about.
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