By Bill Leonard Around 2 p.m. on May 26, West Virginia serpent handler/preacher Mark Randall “Mack” Wolford was bitten by a rattler at a service in the Panther State Forest. Resisting medical treatment, he returned home, surrounded with prayer. As…
A Baptist shame
By Bill Leonard Tonight I am ashamed to be a Baptist. Born into Baptist “cradle role” in the First Baptist Church of Decatur, Texas, and baptized on profession of faith in that congregation when I was 8 years old, I’ve…
For cause of conscience
By Bill Leonard In 1611, as they prepared to leave Amsterdam and return to England, members of the earliest Baptist congregation wrote a confession of faith, asserting that when members of the Body of Christ “come together” they “may and…
War on women?
By Bill Leonard Tertullian, third-century theologian, wrote of woman: “You are the Devil’s gateway. You are the unsealer of that forbidden tree. You are the first deserter of the divine law. You are she who persuaded him whom the Devil…
Remembering Noah
By Bill Leonard “But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and all the domestic animals that were with him in the ark” (Genesis 8:1). These days, I keep remembering Noah, reflecting on the relevance of his story then…
Absorbing the violence
By Bill Leonard “We absorb so much violence and insecurity everyday that we are like time bombs ready to explode. We need to find a cure for our illness.” That quotation, taken from the book Living Buddha, Living Christ and…
Health care, ambassadors and other matters of conscience
By Bill Leonard If the last two months are any indication, 2012 may wind up as a year of major religious-liberty decisions in America. In January, the Supreme Court issued what the New York Times called perhaps “its most significant…
The Bible tells me. So?
By Bill Leonard Everybody is quoting the Bible these days. In the church and the public square Bible-based rhetoric and mandates echo throughout the culture, often with varying, even contradictory, interpretations. Such convictions can be deep and culture transforming; they…
Sound-bite salvation
By Bill Leonard Who is a Christian, who is not and how do you know? That question, as old as the church, lurks inside St. Paul’s confrontation with the “superlative apostles” in Corinth who challenged his Christian credentials. In defending…