Danny Aikin: Terrified That Bill Leonard Is A Prophet

Here's a snippet from the article written by Norman James in the Biblical Recorder:

While the BFM 2000 is sufficient to him, "for some of us, it isn't," he said. "We have some inner family squabbles that are distracting us from focusing on the real enemy, which is satan, sin, hell and evil. Instead we're fighting among ourselves. I'm terrified that we're going to make Bill Leonard a prophet."

Leonard, dean and professor at Wake Forest University Divinity School and a former professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., famously predicted two decades ago that while the "fundamentalists" now have control of the Convention, "let's see if they can run it. " He predicted they could not because it is the nature of fundamentalism to fight, if not with outside enemies, then within their own family.

Back in 1993, Bill Leonard wrote:

Bringing Reformed theology back into mainstream SBC life may be a battle which will make the fundamentalist-moderate confrontation seem like a minor skirmish. A great many very conservative Southern Baptists are shocked when they learn that the founders believed that only an elect group of sinners, chosen before the foundation of the world will be saved.

Given Southern Baptist's love of a good Throw Down, I'd say that Leonard's words from '93 may still prove to be prophetic as well. See the upcoming John 3:16 Conference.

As a side note, you'll notice in the Biblical Recorder article that Danny Aikin had this to say about the CBF:

He said the "conservative resurgence" has kept the SBC from "being worse off than we are," and that evidence is found in tracking the record of churches affiliated with the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which, he said, "is horrible."

"Ours is bad," he said. "Theirs is horrible."

While Akin expressed appreciation for current CBF leadership he is wary that the next generation has a different agenda that will lead CBF away from its current commitments.

Why is it that the Head Honchos in the Southern Baptist Convention consistently demonstrate a rather peculiar obsession with the CBF? Insecurity? Must be something in the DNA of a fundamentalist...