I have heard that there are some who believe(d) that John was, in fact, the messiah, and that Jesus usurped that role when John was imprisoned. Does anyone know anything about this, or where more information may be acquired? Additionally, is this related to the "Priory of Sion"?

Isaac

John the Baptist and Jesus were bosom buddies in that both were reborn within the mind of the same man. John the Baptist was of the netherworld of Joseph the courageous carpenter and Jesus was of the conscious world of Joseph the upright carpenter. The distinction between courageous and upright is significant because it was the courage of Joseph that led to the total exhaustion of his own human nature within the land of Judea where Herod ruled with and iron fist and Zecheriah and Elizabeth blamelessly followed the archetypal drive of the animal man to be united with the new generation of conscious awareness as created and collected by the enterprising carpenter called Joseph.

The integrity of Joseph the upright carpenter was in recognizing this inner drive for renewal when he abandonned his enterprise to give an account of himself right down to the state of mind he was when he first began his journey of life under the watchfull eye of Pilate. The intergrity of Joseph is made known in Mt.27:57 and in Lk.23:50 where "he looked expectantly for the reign of God" and had prepared "a tomb [as if] hewn out of rock" which of course was the stable in which he was born, then empty and vacated when he abandonned his old enterprise and began the journey in search for the identity with whom now suspected he was co-creator and not just creator under the command of Pilate while in obedience to Judaic Law. The stable was vacant because the shepherds were out at night to be called as apostels later in the story.

In my opinion it is wrong to say that John was the messiah because reason must prevail which certainly is not the case when you read Revelation which I hold is written by the sublime mind of John the Baptist. John the baptist and Mary theotokos were the true victors in the life of Joseph but Jesus was and always will be the first person to relate the story because it happened to him.

Amos

The Mandaeans are a small sect that follow John the Baptist instead of Jesus. Whether they consider John the B as the messiah, I don't know. I'm not sure if "messiah" was a concept they held.
I'll see if I can find anything about them online.

isaac42;
is this related to the "Priory of Sion"?

In reading the gospels I get a sense that Jesus and his
cousin John had a falling out. The tetrarch Antipas was
very much involved. What readers of the gospels fail to
realize is that this religious movement in and around
Jerusalem included the Herod family. There were tithes
being funneled back from the diaspora and these religious
leaders, John, Jesus, and Caiaphas were getting tithe
monies. The Herod in charge, as the tetrarch, received
payments from the religious leaders in return for their
cooperation (protective guard). The cult I refer to as the
"All" were under the protection of the Herod rulers from
the days of king Herod the Great. Jesus' associates had an
inside tract to Antipas and when the schism broke out John
was imprisoned and the exotic dance given by "Salome" that
engulfed Antipas was a request that when John was executed
(by whatever means, I do not know) that his visor be
delivered to Jesus' clan. It is now that Jesus begins his
ministry without a rival.

The ideal situation would be that Jesus pays Antipas and
Antipas pays Pilate and we have a happy corrupt government.
Of course Caiaphas is involved in this contest and is
receiving monies from the local population and the
diaspora. We also have Agrippa (later king Agrippa) in the
mix. It appears that Jesus refuses to pay Antipas (the Fig
Tree who withers and dies) and he also refuses to support
Agrippa (the soldiers, Longinus) and becomes bitter enemies
to both parties.

A few years later Antipas will be demoted and sent to
Gaul and this is the origin of the "Priory of Sion". The
fable (Holy Grail) tells about a "fisher king" arriving in
southern France. This fisherman could very well be Antipas
because of his association with the Apostles and their "
fishing for the souls of men". There is a story about the
Knights Templar urinating on the "Cross of Jesus",and, in
other words, showing animosity toward the Savior. It is
obvious that Antipas would have animosity.

It stands to reason that Antipas and Herodias were
accompanied by a group or family when they were banished to
Gaul because anyone belonging to this group would suffer
dire circumstances back in Judea.

The reason I wrote this story was for entertainment
and to ascertain that the "Prieure' de Sion" has a Jewish
background.

Thanks, offa

P.S. Hey Amos, Have you seen the movie "I Claudius". You
write just like he talked. I am going to get it out soon
and listen to it, very entertaining!

John the Baptist was Jesus' Gay friend, they liked playing in the water and such. The way that baptism was created was a quick fix excuse made up when some people walked up on them just ask Jesus was coming up from Johns loin area from under the water.

It is the only thing that makes sense to me. There was no water baptism before this.

[This message has been edited by critical thinking made ez (edited May 20, 2001).]

No but maybe I should. I will at least make a note of it to remind me when I have more time.

Amos