https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0sVAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

This book is about Belcoda Baptist Church, which existed from 1811 to 1870, well before Scofield. Beginning on page 65, it describes their statement of faith and and practice. There is not a hint of Dispensationalism, they refer to themselves as Zion. There is no futurism. They state there will be a judgement at the end of the world, no reference to a rapture, tribulation, or millennium.

This church is now literally a rock. The congregation moved to their daughter churches and the old church was torn down. The wood was reused to build a barn, which was struck by lightening and burned down. The site of the church was memorialized with this feldspar boulder. This rock would be a great place for Baptists to reground themselves in the faith of our ancestors and do away with the Scofield heresy.

This church was built by my ancestors, the greatest gift they gave to me. Learning about her helped me understand what happened to my faith and my country. She was located in the time and place of the "burned over district" of Western New York, during the Great Awakening. So, the church existed when American faith was at its hottest, but they did not participate in the lunacy of Millennialism.

Belcoda exemplified what de Tocqueville witnessed when he said: "America is great because she is good, and if she ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great." We aren't so great anymore, so I share Belcoda with you, so that we can be good again.

The base of the monument looks a little funky, but it is meaningful for the region because it is cobblestone. Wheatland is home to a unique American architecture, all cobblestone houses were built only in this region and nearby places. Members of Belcoda church built some of the cobblestone houses.

July 25th 1139 Ourique, Portugal.

The Battle of Ourique was a battle between the Portuguese and the Moors which led to Portugal becoming a country. In the year 1137 Moorish forces raid the County of Portugal, sacking and burning the castle at Leiria. Afonso Henriques Count of Portugal was busy in the north, fighting in Galicia(Modern-day Spain) against Alfonso VII, King of Leon. When Alfonso VII meets with Afonso, instead of fighting him in battle he signs a treaty with Afonso, realizing that the Moors are a greater threat to Iberia than their feud over Galicia. This becomes known as the Treaty of Zamora. Afonso heads south and gathers an army and begins to raid Moorish territory known as Al-Andalus. In early 1139 Alfonso VII gathers an army and besieges the castle at Oreja. Afonso sees this as an opportunity to take territory away from the Moors and marches south for another raid. This time a Moorish army commanded by Muhammad Az-Zubayr pursues him.

Afonso retreats to a hill near the town of Ourique and makes camp, instructing his men to construct palisades around the camp. The Portuguese have around 10k men, while the Moors have around 20k men, but most of the Moorish forces are hastily recruited militiamen. While Afonso slept he received a vison of a shepherd, who told him not to fear the coming battle and that the Portuguese would be victorious. Afonso believed this man in his dream to be Jesus Christ. The following day the Portuguese formed up behind their walls and the Moors formed for battle. The Moors begin the battle by charging at the Portuguese defenses, the Portuguese responded by firing arrows and crossbow bolts at the Moors felling many of them. The Moors eventually reach the Portuguese defenses, but the Portuguese held the line. After a while of fighting the Moorish left flank begins weaken and slowly withdraw, Afonso orders his knights and jinetes(mounted skirmishers) on that side to counter attack, the counter attack broke the Moors and they began to route.

When the Moors were close to their camp Muhammad Az-Zubayr managed to rally and reorganize his forces into a battle line, but the momentum the Portuguese gained from charging down the hill proved to be too much for the Moors to hold back and they broke and fled for the second and final time. After the Portuguese victory at the Battle of Ourique Afonso took 5 shields from the Moorish emirs killed in the battle and created the Portuguese coat of arms out of them. Afonso also began signing official documents as King of Portugal, which was the beginning of the Kingdom of Portugal.