JOHN THE BAPTIST WAS ELIJAH THE PROPHET!!

JOHN THE BAPTIST WAS NOT ELIJAH THE PROPHET REINCARNATED BECAUSE ELIJAH NEVER
DIED BUT HE WAS TAKEN UP TO HEAVEN ALIVE (II KINGS 2:11). JOHN THE BAPTIST, AS
THE FORERUNNER OF THE MESSIAH, CAME IN THE SPIRIT AND POWER OF ELIJAH!

During the reigns of Augustus Caesar and Edomite King Herod, baby JOHANAN or John was born to the elderly Elizabeth—the wife of a Levitical priest named Zechariah.

John the Baptist was born at the Feast of Trumpets and the Messiah was born at Passover!!

It was at the height of the Pax Romana, when all the world was at peace, that the angel Gabriel announced to Zechariah that his old and barren wife Elizabeth would give birth to a son:

Then an angel of JEHOVAH appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zechariah saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Johanan. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of JEHOVAH, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to JEHOVAH Elohim. He will also go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for JEHOVAH" (St. Luke 1:11-17).

John the Baptist was like a trumpet blast to Israel

After the miraculous births of the forerunner and the Messiah, the next great event was the appearing of John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea. Roma had a new emperor named Tiberius, and Judea was formally annexed to the Empire when Pontius Pilate was appointed governor.

Both John the Baptist and the Messiah began their ministry in 26 AD.

That was the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar, and Pontius Pilate was the new governor of Judea.

All of the Jews were anticipating the coming of the Messiah, and many believed that John the Baptist was the Expected One.

There was a 400-year period of silence until Israel heard the trumpet blast of John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea:

In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, "repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah saying, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of JEHOVAH, make his paths straight" (Matthew 3:1-3).

The Jordan River had a special significance for the people of Israel. Jordan means "descend" and it was a "stargate," or portal between heaven and earth. Joshua the son of Nun took command of the army by the River Jordan, and Elijah the Prophet ascended up to heaven by that same river.

All Judea went out to hear John the Baptist preach, even Roman soldiers:

And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, "and what shall we do?" And he said unto them, "do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages" (Saint Luke 3:14).

John the Baptist did not tell the soldiers to leave Israel and go back to Roma, or disband the Empire, because he knew that the Roman Empire was the legs of iron destined to trample down the whole earth until the end of time (Daniel Chapter 2).

John the Baptist began to denounce the sins of those in high places, especially the incest of Herod Antipas and Herodias.

Herod Antipas married a woman named Herodias, who was previously married to Herod's brother Philip.

At Herod's birthday, Salome, the daughter of Herodias, danced before him, and he promised to give her half of his kingdom. She asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter!

Amazingly, John the Baptist—the forerunner of the Messiah—was mentioned by Josephus . . . but there is only one brief mention of the Messiah:

Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from God, and that very justly, as punishment for what he did against John, that was called the Baptist (Josephus, Antiquities, Book 18, Chapter 5).

After John was beheaded, many of the followers of the Messiah stopped following him. They believed a real Messiah would supernaturally open the prison doors and rescue John from the murderous King Herod.

The Messiah's chosen successor was also named John!!

Incredibly, the Messiah's most beloved disciple was also named Johanan or John. John stuck like GLUE to the Messiah for the entire 3.5-years of his ministry, and Satan was unable to sever the bond between the Teacher and his beloved disciple. John was the only male disciple to remain at Golgotha during the crucifixion:

Now there stood by the cross of Jehoshua his mother, and his mother’s sister, Miriam the wife of Cleophas, and Miriam Magdalene. When Jehoshua therefore saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing by, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son! Then he said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home (St. John 19: 25-27).

Toward the end of his reign, Emperor Domitian launched a bitter persecution against the Christians.

St. John—as the chosen successor of Christ—was his prime target.

Previous attempts to kill the Apostle by poisoning failed, so he was banished to the Isle of Patmos to work in the mines.

It was during his imprisonment on the island that he had a series of 7 awesome visions recorded in the Apocalypse. Most of the symbols are taken from the books of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, and Zechariah.

The visions of St. John are a continuation of the visions of Daniel the Prophet. Daniel saw the 3 previous empires of Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece, but St. John saw the future of the 4th Empire with the legs of iron.

2 of the most terrifying visions revealed to St. John were the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and the Whore of Babylon.

The 4 horsemen riding roughshod over the earth symbolize the Papal monarchy and the Muslim caliphate.

At the end of the terrifying visions, St. John was taken to the New World, and he saw the New Jerusalem descending from heaven:

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from Elohim having the glory of Elohim. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (Apocalypse 21:10-14).

That great vision began to come to pass in 1520 when Saint Martin Luther wrote his magnum opus entitled: On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church.

100 years after 1520, the Pilgrim Fathers planted Israel in the New World Wilderness.

Against tremendous Satanic opposition, that small outpost of the kingdom of Christ, grew into 13 colonies.

On July 4, 1776, Israel was reborn in Philadelphia—the city of brotherly love.

St. John also saw a vision of Armageddon, or the last great battle between the followers of Christ and the followers of Satan:

And he (Satan) gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew language Armageddon (Apocalypse 16:16).

That battle will not occur in the Old World—which is already controlled by the Vatican or Islam:

And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him (Daniel 11:45).

President Trump has postponed Armageddon . . . postponed . . . but not cancelled!!

Saint John was assumed into heaven . . . not the Virgin Miriam!!

In 1950, Pope Pius XII infallibly declared that the Virgin Miriam was assumed bodily into heaven immediately after her death:

By the authority of our Lord Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. (Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, November 1, 1950).

Most of the history of early Christianity was destroyed by Emperor Jesus Constantine, but we can be certain that St. John ended his days in Ephesus, and was immediately resurrected and taken up to heaven .

St. Hippolyptus of Roma (170–235) stated that St. John's body could not be found after his death.

It is only to be expected that the body of the Beloved Disciple, and Christ's successor, should not undergo decay.

Here is a quote from a very prolific Roman Christian writer named St. Hippolyptus:

John, again, in Asia, was banished by Domitian the king to the isle of Patmos in which also he wrote his Gospel and saw the Apocalyptic visions; and in Trajan's time he fell asleep at Ephesus, where his remains were sought for, but could not be found. (Hippolyptus, Treatise on the Twelve Apostles, p. 130).

As it is a fatal error to give a carnal or mundane meaning to symbols and similes, so it is a fatal error to confuse St. Peter with the Apostle John . . . or with the mother of the Messiah.