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    One Voice Crying

    Personal blog posted by Ruby Haskins on September 24, 2009 at 7:12pm

    Short Story - preface
    I have this friend who suggested to me writing about John, the Baptist. This took me longer than any story I have written because I have had so little time the last few months, but once I got started, I felt I was meant to write it. Iwrote it in snatches; here a little, there a little, but God got me through itand helped me pull it together. I hope you enjoy.
    With Love,
    Ruby

    ONE VOICE CRYING
    Preface
    I had no idea when I started researching for this story, the importance of this man. I knew his birth had been prophecised; that he was filled with the Holy Spirit when he was in the womb.
    Jesus didn't start preaching until John quit. First was the preaching of the
    messenger and when the way was prepared and he left the scene, then entered and began preaching, The Messenger.
    The myths we swallow, never doubting their validity. When it dawned on me while researching Herod, Herodias, and Salome, that I along with others had swallowed a myth, for a moment I thought, "Well, does it really matter?" I felt this mental rebuke at the thought. Yes, it matters. When it concerns the Word of God, no matter how far reaching, we should somehow know to check it out. The words used in the Bible for Salome are the words used to denote a prepubecent child, usually under ten. The swallowed myth? In the eighteen hundreds there was a playwright named Oscar Wilde from England. He wrote a play in which he updated the age of Salome, wrote lurid sexual scenes depicting the sexual phantacies Salome had about John the Baptist and invented the dance of the seven veils. As a result of this dance the age of the belly dance was also born. I was pleased to read that England banned his play. Bless them, the Brits had scruples. The poor man had to take his play out of his own country and resort to opening it in Berlin and Paris.
    Still, for a mother to shove her child into a room full of drunken men, Herodias
    should not have been given a reward for mother of the year. History reveals what it cost Herodias. She never became royalty like she wanted. She and Herod Antipater were exiled to an island when they fell out of favor with Rome. Herod's family line ended because the women from then on were barren. Retribution from God? Some think so. I used the internet resources, Mainly Wikopedia toresearch The Jordan Valley, Herod Antipater, Herodias, Salome, Mary, Elizabeth,
    Zecharias. I also used the Catholic Encyclopedia, church webs, The Four Gospels,
    Isaias, Zephaniah, and Malachi. I want to thank Janey Rema for her suggestion. I
    learned a lot and I really enjoyed writing this. I hope you enjoy reading. Ruby


    ONE VOICE CRYING
    Chapter one
    There came a man sent from God whose name was John. John 1:6

    It sits high upon a hill overlooking the desert country around the dead sea, the fortress of Machaerus, rebuilt from the ruins of the Maccabees by Herod the great as a palace, military garrison, and prison. The prison is connected to the palace by a stone causeway. In one of the dungeons sits the first genuine prophet Judah has had in four hundred years: a man known as John the baptist. Rough, rugged looking, dressed in camels hair raiment, he is a Nazerite from his birth and a man of the hill country. In both manner and appearance he reminds one of Elisha the Tishbite.
    The dungeon is dark, dank, the air stale. It is a sharp contrast to the light and fresh air of the hill country to which this man is accustomed. This is where his dedication has brought him. Used to a rigorous life style, the exercise of constant walking, foraging for meager food rations, living on fare such as locusts and wild honey, and used to prayer and fasting, he is now burdened with inactivity and close confinement.

    Chapter two
    Early on his parents told him he was a special child God had given them to fulfill a mission for the Lord God Jehovah. His mother, Elizabeth, told him she had long given up hope of a child. He was her miracle. The angel, Gabriel, came to his father and told him they would have a son whom he was to name John (meaning God is grascious). He was to be reared under the strict code of the Nazerite and would be filled with the Holy Ghost from his mothers womb. His mother told him about a visit from her cousin Mary who came to visit her and stayed with her three months, almost till the time of his birth. Mary was also with child. The angel Gabriel had also appeared to her and her betrothed to tell them of the miracle child they would have, a child conceived of the Holy ghost.
    "Son, when Mary arrived and I heard her speak, You leapt for joy in my womb and I was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied. Who was I to be so blessed that the mother of my Lord was to come to me? You will be used of God to bless not only our nation, but the world. God will speak to you and prepare you for a mission. Listen closely for the voice of God and heed all He tells you."
    His father, he would not have his father long; death would deprive him of this; but he was blessed in the time he was granted. His father was a very Godly man and instilled in him a love for the Word and the way of Godly living. There had been a dearth of Godliness in the land for over four hundred years. There was a semblance of Godliness but no true repentance in the general population. Long had the Glory of the God been departed from the sanctuary.
    " Remember, John, God has promised us that whenever Israel calls in true repentance upon Jehovah, wherever we are, whatever our circumstances, He will hear us. Likewise, He is a just, loving parent, and when we are in need of chastisement, He will deliver our deserved punishment."

    Chapter three
    A story his father tells him when he asks about his Nazerite vow: Let me tell you, John, about three young men, each called to be a Nazerite.
    "There was a man named Manoah whose wife was barren and an angel appeared unto her and said she was to bear a son. He was to be a Nazerite from the womb and would begin to deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines. No razor should come upon his head, he should drink no wine or strong drink , nor eat any unclean thing. He was to be a Nazerite until his death. So the wife bore a son and named him Samson and the child grew and God blest him; and the Spirit of the Lord began to move him.
    This young man's life should have been glorious, a flaming testimony to the glory of life dedicated to Jehovah. The young man had a serious flaw, though. He loved the temporal things of the world. His eyes saw and desired the things of the heathen world around him. He was born for spiritual greatness. He had a mission to lead his people into closer communion with God, he was born for this purpose. My son, he failed miserably. He was to touch no unclean, no dead thing. In pride of his God given strength he purposely provoked fights with the Philistines and killed them, more than once touching the unclean thing, taking lightly his Nazerite vow. He was to be separate from the unholy, but kept courting the Philistine women, wrapping himself in the arms of the ungodly; forsaking, rejecting the people whom God had called him to serve.
    To disavow the purpose to which God has called you is to make a mockery of your dedication to God. Even when sinning, Samson would call upon Jehovah and God would would honor his prayer but there came a day when he went one step to far and God said, this is too much and God departed from him. He played one too many games with the ungodly and lost. He gave up the secret of his strength and lost it.
    Samson long walked willingly in spiritual darkness. The time came when the Philistines said that their gods had delivered into their hands the champion of the Israelites and they put out his physical eyes, blinding him to the physical sights he had so delighted in . He found himself a slave of the enemy grinding corn into meal like an ox. Finally he came to the realization that the ungodly and Godly cannot peacefully co-exist as bosum buddies. But, my son, God is grascious. Samson's hair started regrowing and the philistines failed to remember that this was the source of Samson's strength. They also failed to realize that God would hear the cry of His children when they were truly repentant and that He did not appreciate hearing false worshippers extolling the nontrue gods over Him. He will not be mocked. At a religious festival, Samson was the maim attraction, the prize they put on display, the trophy they dedicated to their pagan god.
    Tied to the two main pillars that upheld the temple of their god Dagon, once again Samson called upon Jehovah. "Oh, Lord God, remember me this one more time. Give me one more chance. Avenge me for my eyes and let me die with the Philistines". God granted his request and Samson brought the building down, killing more Philistines in his
    death than he had in his life.

    Chapter four
    The second young man I want to tell you about is a young man named Samuel. Samuel's father, Elkanah, had two wifes, one named Hannah, one named Peninnah. Hannah was barren; Peninnah had children. Instead of being grateful for her blessings, she used this to torment and harass Hannah because of her childless state. Elkanah went up yearly to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice unto God. Year after year as they went up, Hannah was tormented and grief stricken. Finally Hannah prayed to God in the temple and vowed that if God would give her a son she would give him back to God, dedicated in a Nazerite vow all the days of his life. She prayed silently, lips moving. Eli the priest observed her and her stricken condition, decided she was drunk. When chided by him, she explained her grief and desire for a child. Eli blest her and told her to go in peace and her wish be granted. Hannah went home to Ramah and bore a son which she named Samuel because he was "asked of the Lord". When the child was weaned, Hannah took a sacrifice and the child to the temple in Shiloh and gave the child into the care of Eli. The child served before the Lord, dressed in a linen ephod. His mother made him a coat yearly which she gave him when she came for the yearly sacrifice. Eli the priest blest Elkanah and her and asked God to give her more children. Hannah bore three more sons and two daughters and Samuel grew before the Lord. In those days the Word of the Lord was rare. The priesthood had grown lax. Eli took no control over his sons, Hoph ni and Phinias. Eli's sons went so far as to have sexual relations at the door of the tabernacle. As priests, they had set rules for the order of sacrifices. These they ignored and took the best of God's sacrifices for themselves. The people were mixing paganism in with their worship.
    Into this state of spiritual decay came the child Samuel to serve at the temple. Virtually being raised by Eli, it's not hard o realize how this child would hate to give this man bad news.
    The first time God spoke to the child in the night, not yet knowing God's voice, he presumed that Eli had called him. The second and third times, Samuel insisted that Eli had called and Eli realized that God was calling, so instructed Samuel to say, "Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth." God gave Samuel the message for Eli that because he had not kept his house in spiritual order the priesthood was to be lifted from him and his family and that the iniquity of Eli's house would not be purged.
    God was with Samuel as he grew; None of his word fell to the ground and all Israel knew he was established as a prophet of God.
    The Philistines had made virtual slaves of Israel at this time because of Israel's apostasy. At a battle following Samuel's message to Eli, both sons were killed. On hearing the news, Eli died. Samuel became judge of Israel. Under him the Philistines became subdued. When Samuel was old, he made his son's judges. Unlike Samuel, the son's followed not God. The people looked around them and decided they wanted a king. God told Samuel to comply; that he wasn't being rejected, the people were rejecting God.
    The main thing I want you to get from these stories, I know you k now the rest of Samuels, is that one man took seriously the calling that God placed on his life even when God's dictates were hard, the other used the gifts God gave him for fun and games and personal gain. When Samuel died the people mourned greatly because they knew they had lost a great blessing. His life made a difference for good all the way through his days. The third young man I'd like to discuss with
    you , my son, is you. You also have a Nazerite calling from birth. Your story is not yet fully written but has been foretold from days of old. Your mom and I have pondered the message that the angel Gabriel when told we were to be blessed with the sacred duty of being your parents. We have been hard on you, not because we don't love you, you are the love of our life's, but because we know what a sacred mission you have to fulfill.
    Gabriel told me that many would rejoice at your birth, you would be a Nazerite and from from the womb you would be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. You would turn many of the children of Israel to God, and that you would go before God 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 the Lord.
    Six months later, John, this same angel, Gabriel, appeared to your mother's cousin, Mary, and told her she was to conceive and bare a son and call His name Jesus. He would be called great, the Son of the Highest, and would rule over the throne of his father David, and of His kingdom there would be no end. Being unmarried and a virgin, Mary asked how this could be?The angel told her about your mom and Mary came to visit. For three months these two visited. Both knew that there were momentous times ahead for Israel because of the babes they were entrusted by God to carry.
    We have instilled in you the words of the law and the prophets early on. You have readily retained them from an early age, are old beyond your years. I can see and feel the hand of God upon you, my son. I know, like Samuel, you will tell it like it is, will take no easy way out, will show favoritism to no man regardless of rank or wealth. You will be the first true prophet this nation has had in four hundred years. There are many that are hungry for words from the Lord Jehovah. They will be like the hart that panteth after the waterbrook. There will also be those who resent the truth you tell them, afraid that you will tear down their houses, strip them bare of their false facades and leave them naked to the stares of those they have been fooling until truth penetrated the false barriers you exposed.

    Chapter Five
    After his father's death, he and his mom moved from Hebron to a small town around Qumran.
    There was a small potter's village where an offshoot of essenes lived and worked in a communal village. They retained a lot of the teachings of the main essenes, but believed in marriage and family. A few miles from these two groups who were close to the dead sea was the town and fortress of Machaerus.
    The Hasmoneans were considered by much of the Israelites as dogs put in office by Rome. There was much political unrest in Israel. The general population was unhappy about both the iron rule of Rome plus the high priest hierarchy which instead of being placed in office by Mosaic law was now appointed into office under Roman rule. Many of the people felt that the Lord God Jehovah was no longer allowed to be involved in the worship services in His temple; knew that the Glory of the Lord ha d long departed.

    Chapter Six
    John steeped himself from childhood in the study of the law and the prophets. He was drawn to the study of Elijah, the writings of Isaiah and Malachi. The messenger that comes before the Messenger of the covenant, the Lord of Israel, was he to be the Messenger's messenger?; the one who prepared the way of the Lord? He had a feeling of destiny. a purpose of fulfillment, a desire not to fail. The story of Elizabeth and Mary and the two miracle births were embedded in his mind. What God had purposed would come to pass. No, he would not fail. Jesus, he had met in Jerusalem. The feast and passover celebrations had a habit of turning into family reunions. Like him, the child Jesus had a knowledge of the scriptures far beyond His years. The whole family had heard the story of His staying behind in Jerusalem at twelve to discourse with the rabbi's in the temples outer court. His parent's didn't realize He wasn't with relatives returning to Nazereth at first but then had to return to Jerusalem to get Him. John felt that maybe he understood Jesus' turn of mind more than the grown ups did.

    Chapter Seven
    He walked the hills and low places of the Jordan Valley as a child. He loved this place. It was a major part of his nations history. His people had crossed the Jordan River which had parted at flood tide forming a path for them to walk through opposite Jericho at Beth-abara into the promised land. This was the same place that Elijah and Elisha had crossed to the east bank of the Jordan. From a nearby spot a fiery chariot and horses of fire carried Elijah up into the heavens.
    Close to God; He desired to be close as to God as was humanly possible. He studied the words of the law and the prophets, fasted and prayed often, walked the hills around the Jordan Valley, lived sparsely, subsisting on mostly the me ager fare of locusts and wild honey.
    His clothing was cheap camels hair tied with a leather belt. His hair was long and uncut since birth. He was lean, strong from much walking and skin browned from being often out in the weather. Close to nature made him close to the God who created nature. His eyes were filled with the wonder of God. In the hot springs around the dead sea where common reasoning would tell you nothing could live, he had found small fish living in hot salty water. How could this be? Then he thought, how could this not be? Nothing Jehovah could do could surprise him.
    The Dead Sea, the prophet Ezekiel talked about the waters issuing out from under the right side of the altar turning into a river which he could not pass over, waters going down into the desert, into the sea. There would be a great multitude of fish with fishers fishing, there would be trees growing along the bank on either side. God would heal it. The Dead Sea would be dead no longer. Forsake His people? The time would come when God reclaimed His own and healed the land. The more he saw and thought on God, the more his heart swelled with love for the Lord God Jehovah.

    Chapter Eight
    The time was approaching. The time of the Messenger was close at hand. In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, John heard the word of the Lord telling him to leave the desert, go into all the country round about Jordan preaching penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He drew people like a magnate. Men of all spiritual conditions flocked to see him. He went to Beth-abara at the curve of the Jordan and started preaching the message of
    repentance. He baptized them in the River Jordan as an outward sign of the washing away of sin and the regeneration of spiritual life. The religious leaders of the day, the saducee's and the pharacee's, probably to see which of t hem he would praise and commend were there at the baptismal services awaiting his approval for their customs and practices. John, like the Messenger he was coming before, had no taste for those clothed in self-righteous rags. His answers cut to the quick; "Ye brood of vipers, who hath shewed you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of penance. And think not to say of yourselves, We have Abraham for our father. For I tell you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. For now the axe is layed to the foot of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and laid into the fire."
    Among the listeners were those who asked: "What shall we do?" and he answered, "He who hath two coats, let him give to him who hath none, and he that hath meat, let him do in like manner." to the soldier, "do no violence to, nor falsely accuse anyone; and be content with yo ur wages. He believed in having no respect for people according to status, being faithful, honest, fulfilling one's duties, and humble confessions of sins. The pharasee's and lawyers questioned his right to baptize saying that baptism as a preparation for the kingdom of God was connected to Elias. John replied that God had divinely appointed him to baptize with water.
    This, Jesus affirmed later in answer to the pharasee's trick questions, that John's baptism was from heaven. John didn't fail to let people know he was not the Messiah. He insisted that he was only the forerunner. "I indeed baptize you with water, but there shall comer one mightier than I, the latchets of whose shoes I am not worthy to loose: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: whose fan is in His hand and He will purge His floor; and will gather His wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.

    C hapter Nine
    "John, I'm here to be baptized. " Jesus' voice. John turns and looks on Him. "No, this shouldn't be. I have need for baptism by You and You're coming to me?"
    "Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness."
    Obediently John leads Him down and immerses Him in the water. The Glory, the Wonder, the full knowledge, the knowing God gave him; the affirmation God gave him that this was the Messiah he was to prepare the way for; The awe John felt as heaven opened and God spoke to him . "This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." As he looked upon this man, he knew of a truth upon whom he was looking.

    Chapter ten
    John continued his ministry in the Jordan Valley after Jesus" baptism. At this time the priests and levites came from Jerusalem wanting to know who he was. Was he the Christ, Elias, the prophet? John replied no to these and said that he was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet, Isaias. John denied that he was Elias, whom the Jews were looking for.
    When Jesus was asked, he made plain that he was speaking of John as Elias figuratively. "If you will receive it, he is Elias that is to come. He that has ears to hear, let him hear.
    A day after telling some of his disciples that Jesus was the Messiah he was preparing the way for, John saw Jesus coming towards him. John told those with him, "Behold the lamb of God. Behold Him which taketh away the sin of the world. This is He of whom I said: "After me there cometh a man who is preferred before me: because He was before me....that He may be manifest in Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. .. And I knew Him not, but He who sent me to baptize with water, said to me: He upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining upon Him, He it is that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, And I gave testimony, that this is the Son of God.
    Many of John's followers, deeply devoted to him, remained with him throughout his ministry and life. There were some thirty core disciples that remained close to him till the end. Some, like Andrew and his companion, upon hearing John's words, turned and followed Jesus forthwith.
    Some of John's disciples came to him and told him that Jesus had come into Judea with His disciples and the disciples were baptizing. They seemed to feel that Jesus was poaching on John's territory. They still didn't understanding that Jesus was the one John was pointing them towards as the Messiah. John answered them thus. "A man cannot receive anything, unless it be given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not Christ, but that I am sent before Him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, who standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth with joy because of the bridegrooms voice. This my joy, therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He that came from above, is above all. He that is of the earth, of the earth he is, and of the earth he speaketh. He that cometh from heaven is above all. And what He hath seen and heard, that he testifieth..."

    Chapter Eleven
    Like Elias had his Ahab and Jezebel, John had to contend with his Herod and Herodias. Herodias was married to her uncle, called Herod Boethus. Herod Boethus' mother tried to assassinate her husband, Herod the great. Her son was implicated in the plot and he and Herodias were exiled as upperclass private citizens to a seaport town, possibly Caesarias Martimas. They had one child, a daughter, Salome. They had been married twenty years when at a vacation in Rome, her brother-in- law and uncle Antipas came on a visit. Although they may have been attracted to each other, there were political advantageous each offered the other. Herodias was a descendant of the Hasmoneans (The Machabees) on her mother's side. This family was considered national heroes who had saved the Jewish nation. Thus a union between them would give Herod a right to the Jewish crown. Herodias had political ambitions to be a queen. Herod tried persuading Herodias to return to Galilee with him. This she promised only if he would divorce his wife, she would divorce her husband and they would marry.
    Word of this reached Herod's wife Phasaelis and she escaped to her father's land, Arabia Petrea, (Nabtea) of which he was king. Although Herod and Herodias didn't realize it, the Arabian King's reaction would be part of their ruination along with the fate of John the Baptist.
    The marriage of Herod to Herodias was not well received by the Jewish populace. It offended their religious sensibilities.Some of them were outraged that he would take his brother's wife. This reaction didn't sit well with either Herod or Herodias. Into this mix came the prophet, John the baptist. What was said behind their backs was spoken openly to one and all by this Spirit-driven preacher. It didn't help that Herod knew John was well thought of and liked by the Jewish people.
    John's message of a soon coming Messiah also would not sit well. Like his father, Herod the great, who slaughtered the small babes of Bethleham to make sure Messiah didn't grow up there to take over his throne, Herod Antipas would not be happy to welcome a Messiah in his day.
    Herod, whether in curiosity or thinking that it was necessary to check this man John out, went to see him. He was publicaly denounced by John for his behavior, told that his adulterous behavior wasn't right. Herod, who had respect for John, took it better than Herodias who was livid. Who was this man to speak thus of her? She was from a high bred family, she was both a Herodian and a Machabee, she was nigh royalty and he was an itenerant preacher from the Judean Wilderness. She didn't rest until her husband had him in prison where he belonged. Whether to quiet his wife or because he thought it politically expedient because of John's growing popularity with the masses, Herod had John imprisoned in Machareus. Herodias' hatred of John never cooled down although Herod's did. He feared John's popularity yet heard him readily and did many things at John's suggestions.

    Chapter twelve
    John was the last of the Old Covenant prophets, the link between the law and God's grace. He was the one who came before the Messiah, pointing the way, preparing the path. Jesus didn't begin His preaching ministry until John's ministry was ended by his imprisonment by Herod. From the time of John's arrest, Jesus started preaching the Good News of the coming kingdom. John had decreased so that Christ could increase.
    In prison John was not deserted. He still had his core disciples who stuck with him. He was allowed their company. He had come on a mission. Succeeding was his aim. Some of his original followers he successfully pointed toward the Messenger, the Messiah. The love he engendered in some of them kept them tied solely to him.This was not his goal. John was a man of visions. He had envisioned the Spirit descending on the Messiah's confirmation that He was the expected one. It therefore isn't a far reach to believe that God had let him know his time was running out., that he would not leave the prison of Machaerus alive. The followers of John would have known the Holy Scriptures, were expecting the Messiah. Who better to send them to than Jesus? So a group of his followers were sent to Jesus to ask Him, "Are You the one we are looking for or should we look for another?"
    As they were with Jesus, He healed many of the sick, cast out evil spirits, gave sight to those who were blind. "Go back to John," He said, "And tell him that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the gospel is preached to the poor, and blessed are they who find no reason to be ashamed of me." As John's disciples left, Jesus made what could amount to John's eulogy. ----
    "What went ye out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold, they that are clothed in costly apparel, and live delicately, are in the houses of kings. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written: Behold, I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee. For I say unto you: Amongst those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and you say: He hath a devil. The Son of man is come eating and drinking: and you say: Behold a man that is a glu tton and a drinker of wine, a friend of publicans and sinners. And Wisdom is justified by all her children.

    Chapter thirteen
    John probably spent some time incarcerated in Machaerus but the day came that Herod gave a huge feast to celebrate his birthday. It was given in Roman fashion with invitations to the princes, tribunes, and chief men of Galilee. It was a drunken, raucous, stag party. It was also the chance Herodias took to exact vengeance upon the upstart preacher who had dared to criticize her lifestyle.
    She sent into this scene of debauchery her daughter, Salome, to dance before them as a gift to Herod. Three sheets to the wind and not sober enough to weigh the results of his words, Herod magnanimously promised Salome anything she wanted, up to half of his kingdom. Salome went to her mother and asked, "What shall I tell him I want?" "Tell him, you want, right now, the head of John the Baptist brought to you on a platter." The child returned with these words to Herod. Herod regretted his promise but in the face of all his friends could not back away from keeping it. He ordered the execution of John forthwith. The Jews were horrified and attributed the defeat of Herod by Aretus, his rightful father in law later as a divine retribution.
    John's disciples came and took his headless body, laid it in a tomb, and went to Jesus with the news.
    John's influence didn't die with him. We hear later about Apollos and other of John'sfollowers still teaching his doctrine in Ephesus. He was written about by Josephus who mentioned him more times than he did Jesus and by the historian,
    Eusebius.
    He was mourned by Jesus and both sets of disciples, his and Jesus'. Because of the press of the people around Jesus when He received the news of John's death, He could not mourn him in peace. He had to see to the needs of those around Him. As is said of Paul, He ran the race set before him and fulfilled the holy mission God sent him on. He was the only man that the Bible says was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. He was this important to God and his is a story that should not be ignored or forgotten. He made the way for the gospel of good news. May we be today's messengers and help prepare the way for Messiah's return.

    written by Ruby Haskins


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