5 Look! I am sending to you people Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and fear-inspiring day of Jehovah.
6 And he must turn the heart of fathers back toward sons, and the heart of sons back toward fathers; in order that I may not come and actually strike the earth [church congregation] with a devoting [of it] to destruction (Malachi 4).
Heart is singular, so we have a collective of fathers in one group and a collective of sons in another. This is not genetics but is instead by water baptism (Christian genetics). A first church of fathers and a second church of sons by baptism. Elijah's start off a new baptism for a new church anyway. These two churches are initially alienated and divided one from the other. But new Elijah has to reconcile them both. The earth is the congregation of a church. Destruction is where it would end up were it not for the uniting efforts of Elijah.
10 However, the disciples put the question to him: Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?
11 In reply he said: Elijah, indeed,
is coming and will restore all things.
12 However, I say to you that Elijah has already come and they did not recognize him but did with him the things they wanted. In this way also the Son of man is destined to suffer at their hands.
13 Then the disciples perceived that he spoke to them about John the Baptist (Matthew 17).
11 And they began to question him, saying: Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?
12 He said to them: Elijah does come first and restore all things; but how is it that it is written respecting the Son of man that he must undergo many sufferings and be treated as of no account?
13 But I say to you, Elijah, in fact, has come, and they did to him as many things as they wanted, just as it is written respecting him (Mark 9).
So John the Baptist was Elijah, and Elijah comes first, before Jesus. Jesus comes twice in each of two presences, i.e. 4 times. So Elijah comes 4 times, we have seen this in section U33a. John the baptist was the first of the 4 Christian church Elijahs, he started the new baptism in water for repentant Jews to enter the ICC. This was the restoration that he performed:
9 And do not presume to say to yourselves: As a father we have Abraham. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
10 Already the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree, then, that does not produce fine fruit is to be cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 I, for my part, baptize you with water because of your repentance; but the one coming after me is stronger than I am, whose sandals I am not fit to take off. That one will baptize you people with holy spirit and with fire (Matthew 3).
Elijahs perform water baptisms of repentance creating children to Abraham through the ICC, since children of Isaac are children of Abraham. There are 4 true religions which fall, namely the law, and FDS1,2,3. So we need 4 Elijahs to restore things. The 3 Elijahs after John were Paul, who started the baptism of FDS2, Russell, who started the water baptism of FDS3 and Gordon who started the water baptism of FDS4. We 3 are the other Elijahs who turn the hearts of fathers back towards sons and sons back towards fathers and restore all things. As regards the famous question, who baptised John the Baptist? Well it was from heaven by an angel, no human on earth can baptise an Elijah. His baptism was not necessary for his salvation since he was non adamic. But it was necessary for his ability to baptise others into the ICC through his covenant the 1EC, the first Elijah Covenant. Simeon, who was Melchizedek, presided over the entrance of Gabriel into him when he was 30. Paul, Russell and Gordon were all baptised from heaven, by an angel, as was John the Baptist. Ananias did not baptise Paul:
17 So Ananias went off and entered into the house, and he laid his hands upon him and said: Saul, brother, the Lord, the Jesus that appeared to you on the road over which you were coming, has sent me forth, in order that you may recover sight and be filled with holy spirit.
18 And immediately there fell from his eyes what looked like scales, and he recovered sight; and he rose and was baptized (Acts 9).
This is a technically complex situation from a baptism point of view. Paul rose and was baptised. Yet a holy spirit baptism requires one to kneel. Only the apostles could pass on the gifts of the spirit by the laying on of the hands on one who was kneeling - see U204.
2
and he said to them: Did you receive holy spirit when you became believers? They said to him:
Why, we have never heard whether there is a holy spirit.
3 And he said: In what, then, were you baptized? They said: In John's baptism.
4 Paul said: John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.
5 On hearing this, they got baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
6 And when Paul laid his hands upon them (not to baptise them but to give them the gifts of the spirit),
the holy spirit came upon them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying.
7 All together, there were about 12 men (Acts 19).
1 So he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, in order to expel these and to cure every sort of disease and every sort of infirmity (Matthew 10).
12 Moreover, through the hands of the apostles many signs and portents continued to occur among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon's colonnade (Acts 5).
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they dispatched Peter and John to them.
15 and these went down and prayed for them to get holy spirit.
16 For it had not yet fallen upon any one of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
17 Then they went laying their hands upon them, and they began to receive holy spirit.
18 Now when Simon saw that through the laying on of the hands of the apostles the spirit was given, he offered them money,
19 saying: Give me also this authority, that anyone upon whom I lay my hands may receive holy spirit (Acts 8).
The 12 apostles could pass on the gifts of the spirit by the laying on of the hands, and the holy spirit could pour out the gifts of the spirit on groups of people whilst the apostles were present in those groups. Without apostles, no gifts of the spirit could be received. This is why the physical gifts of the spirit died out. Spelling the whole deal out, FDS1 could offer:
[1] Water baptism into the 1EC and the ICC and the CRC (through water baptism or the laying on of the hands of any male member of the congregation)
[2] Spirit baptism into the 1NC and the JAC and the ARC (from the angels, not from humans).
[3] Physical Gifts of the spirit (through the laying on of the hand of the apostles)
[4] Only sanctified and therefore living brothers could receive the gifts of the spirit. One cannot expel demons etc. unless ones name is inscribed in the heavens, i.e. unless one is sanctified, i.e. unless one is born again...
20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice over this, that the spirits are made subject to you, but rejoice because your names have been inscribed in the heavens (Luke 10).
15 But in answer the wicked spirit said to them: I know Jesus and I am acquainted with Paul but who are you (Acts 19)!
38 Peter [said] to them: Repent, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the free gift of the holy spirit (Acts 2).
41 Therefore those who embraced his word heartily were baptized, and on that day about three thousand souls were added (Acts 2).
The apostles in Acts 2 were baptising in water only, with Jesus' authority. Jesus personally called and sent forth all 12 apostles and sent out Paul. The question is did Jesus baptise the 12 apostles?
1 When, now, the Lord became aware that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
2 although, indeed, Jesus himself did no baptizing but his disciples did (John 4).
So Jesus, as a human, baptised no one. If Jesus baptised no one at all then who baptised Peter and the apostles in holy spirit? Well, Jesus became their father by mediating the 1NC, when they were sanctified by the angels. Fathers name their children and Jesus said:
17 In response Jesus said to him:
Happy you are, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal [it] to you, but my Father who is in the heavens did.
18 Also, I say to you, You are Peter, and on this rock-mass I will build my congregation, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it (Matthew 16).
So from a spirit stand point Simon was to be called 'stone' by Jesus (Jesus was the rockmass). Peter was the first stone placed on the rock mass of Jesus. But Jesus did not baptise Peter, the angels in heaven did.
Returning to Paul, he may have been baptised in water by Ananias into TCC1,. But he was baptised by an angel in water to be Elijah2 and he was baptised in holy spirit by an angel into the 1NC. Paul describes his baptism as follows:
12 Now Ananias, a certain man reverent according to the Law,
well reported on by all the Jews dwelling there,
13 came to me and, standing by me,
he said to me: Saul, brother, have your sight again! And I looked up at him that very hour.
14 He said: The God of our forefathers has chosen you to come to know his will and to see the righteous One and to hear the voice of his mouth,
15 because you are to be a witness for him to all men of things you have seen and heard.
16 And now why are you delaying? Rise, get baptized and wash your sins away by your calling upon his name (Acts 22).
So Paul washed his sins away by his calling upon his name. In other words a prayer from Paul resulted in his baptism by an angel not by Ananias. Ananias was certainly clean to baptise Paul in water, because he already had the gifts of the spirit, the power of FDS1 (which gifts must be preceded by baptism), the first living creature.
10 There was in Damascus a certain disciple named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision: Ananias! He said: Here I am, Lord.
11 The Lord said to him: Rise, go to the street called Straight,
and at the house of Judas look for a man named Saul, from Tarsus. For, look! he is praying,
12 and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands upon him that he might recover sight (Acts 9).
So if Ananias, the man clean enough to mediate sight to Paul, did not baptise him at all, then no brother did.