#calvinistic

How would you answer the question, “What does it mean to be Reformed?” Perhaps you would say it is to believe in predestination, where we are chosen by God alone, apart from anything we have done. Maybe you would say it is holding the emphasis on God’s sovereignty. You might even say it is to believe in Calvinism, the very thing John Calvin taught. What we will come to find out to be true is that…

I am looking at the differences between Calvinism and Arminianism because I have been asked to. From the outset, I want to remind my brothers and sisters in Christ that it is important for us to remain humble, not categorically making enemies of others based on whatever differences we perceive their to be in our theology. I know that what I am speaking about uses certain terms that easily trigger…

Are You Still in “Touch Not God’s Anointed” Mode?

1 Chronicles 16:22Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. No pastor, teacher or leader has a special calling from God today, thus members of the Body of Christ all have the same spiritual standing and are equal, though some do have the desire to serve as pastors, teachers and leaders, and I’m glad they do. 1 Timothy 3:1This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a…

Be All Things To All People

In 2014, I worked third-shift at a grocery store. Most of my coworkers did not know Jesus. One coworker loved the television show Breaking Bad. If you don’t know Breaking Bad, it is a television show about how a chemistry teacher becomes a meth synthesizer and dealer. I neither had interest in watching the show nor time to watch it, but it is what my coworker talked about. So, I made the time and…

Remsen, N.Y. has a deep history of Welsh roots. The community was built upon Welsh values and built by the sturdy hands of Welsh immigrants.

The countryside is speckled with old Welsh churches and cemeteries. One of my favorites is the Enlli church on Fairchild road, at the intersection of Lake Julia road.

Enlli church in the springtime.

Enlli has two entrance doors. Men entered on one side, and women entered on the other. They sat separately inside during the service. Enlli was a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist church established in 1837, according to rootsweb.ancestry.com

The church has been owned and maintained by the Remsen-Steuben Historical Society for many years. In the spring the society hosts an ice cream social and Sunday service in the Enlli church.

 "The Welsh children have been born and raised in it and they have brought it with them to this country where they have clung to it tenaciously. Around the church has been centered the main interest in the Welshman's life. Poetry and music have been his recreation, theology his food and religion his life." The Welsh In Oneida County, New York

Enlli church

Across the road from the church is the cemetery associated with it. The plot is well-maintained and contains seven tombstones. The following tombstone inscription information is courtesy of internment.net, an online database of cemetery records.

Davies, Jane, d. Sep. 23, 1865 age 42 yrs (stone broken and lying on the ground) appears to be duplicate of the following newer stone, although that name reads Davis not Davies), wife of Richard R. Davies Davis, Jane, b. 1823, d. 1865, “Mother” Prichard, Evan P., d. Apr 10, 1872 (rest of stone broken) Prichard, John W., d. Feb 5, 1861 age 50 yrs, native of Enlli,           N. Wales, emigrated to America in 1826 Roberts, Margaret, d. Nov 8, 1869 age 71 yrs 9 mos, wife of Griffith           Roberts Williams, John, d. Jun 29, 1867 age 9 yrs 6 mos, son of Robert           & Jane Williams Williams, Robert, d. Mar 22, 1861 age 36 yrs

The Enlli church cemetery.