According to Jesus, Elijah has already came in the form of John the baptist. Elijah is supposed to restore fathers to children and children to fathers. That didnt happen. Jesus said that he would set father against son and daughter against mother, just the opposite of the mission of Elijah. John the baptist denied he was Elijah. So does Elijah come twice or was Jesus wrong? And did John the baptist lie about who he was? And why does Jesus undo the work of Elijah?
That may very well be the work of Elijah just before the End Times, as one of the two witnesses.
Jesus said that he would set father against son and daughter against mother, just the opposite of the mission of Elijah.
That did happen in the First Century Church.
John the baptist denied he was Elijah. So does Elijah come twice or was Jesus wrong? And did John the baptist lie about who he was? And why does Jesus undo the work of Elijah?
John the Baptist was also Jesus' cousin, yet he did not know if Jesus was the one prophesied as the Messiah, or the one to come before the Messiah to announce the coming. IOW, he was unaware that he himself was the one small voice in the wilderness. John the Baptist was the prophet Elijah reborn, but apparently he was unaware of his previous life........
First of all you need to include the portions of scripture to back up your claims so we can read ourselves and put into context.
>>Elijah has already came in the form of John the baptist.<<
That would be reincarnation so I think you mis-interpreted the intent of the scripture but then again you didn’t include it so I don’t know what you are using.
>>Elijah is supposed to restore fathers to children and children to fathers.<<
Scripture to back up that comment.
Malachi 4:5, the previous verse:
5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.
The Great and Dreadful Day of the Lord has not yet come, and neither has Elijah come to do his work..............
>> Elijah is supposed to restore fathers to children and children to fathers. That didn’t happen.<<
You’re right that didn’t happen the first time Elijah was on the earth. It is to happen during the tribulation. The witnesses are witnessing to the Jews who had rejected Jesus as the Messiah. During the tribulation it’s the Jews who are going to turn to Jesus as their Messiah thus bringing fathers to children etc.
Malachi 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: 6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
>> Jesus said that he would set father against son and daughter against mother, just the opposite of the mission of Elijah.<<
That is to happen before the tribulation period. We can see that happening today. Many who were brought up in Christian homes are turning away.
>> According to Jesus, Elijah has already came in the form of John the baptist.<<
The Bible is quite clear that John the Baptist is given this designation because he came in the “spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17), not because he was Elijah in a literal sense. John the Baptist is the New Testament forerunner who points the way to the arrival of the Lord, just as Elijah filled that role in the Old Testament (and will again in the future – see Revelation 11).
No matter what you say to these people, their Protestant Bible contains a "new testament" and therefore says that J*sus is the messiah, and that's all that matters to them. They may attack Catholics for believing in the Apocrypha and mormons for believing the "book of mormon" (and moslems for believing the qur'an), but they refuse to think critically about the Protestant Bible, which for them is the ultimate arbiter of all things whatsoever.
I used to think I could reason with these people, but unfortunately it's a brick wall. You can't get them to think critically about the "new testament" because it's in their Protestant bible, and that's all that matters to them.
It's a good thing their Protestant bible teaches there's a G-d. If it didn't, these people would be atheists!