"When Jesus received the Holy Spirit after it lit upon Him like a Dove, John was no longer greater. When John lost the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Elijah, (obviously he lost it before the Spirit of Elijah was back in Elijah's body at the mount of transfiguration), and his faith, he was no longer even saved. Which is why John the Baptist appeared to be suffering from MPD when he sent his disciples while he was in prison to ask Jesus whether he was the one. He lost the Spirit of Elijah, he lost the Holy Spirit, he lost his faith in Jesus as the Son of God, who He himself had prophecied about being the Son of God, and then he lost his head. Literally. When John the Baptist said he must decrease, boy was he being prophetic. How much lower could he decrease? Guess the fulfillment of that prophecy really helped cement him as the greatest prophet of all time. Of course, one has to count the Spirit of Elijah really making him the greatest prophet, including Elijah's prophecies."
(I don't think that John the Baptist lost his faith and lost the Holy Spirit just because John sent two of his disciples to Jesus who said unto him, "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" If you read Matthew 11:2-6 and Luke 7:19-24, "Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached unto them." If anything Jesus' words that John's disciples took back to John in prison should have encouraged John in his faith that Jesus was the Messiah (the Christ). If you read John 3:28-31, John said, "Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom (John the Baptist), which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy there is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all."
I also don't think that John's statement "He must increase but I must decrease" means that John thinks he is going to lose the Holy Spirit or that he was going to lose his faith in the Messiah who is Christ. John knew that his ministry was to prepare the way for Christ, and Christ's ministry on earth was even greater than John's because Christ performed miracles, and Christ is the savior of the world who would later sacrifice his life on the cross for mankind's sins. Also John's statement "He must increase but I must decrease" is made immediately after John as friend of the Bridegroom rejoiced greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. That doesn't sound like a man who loses his faith. This will hopefully answer part of Ted's question #7.)
TED'S QUESTION #7:
7. One last question on the subject, in two parts. When John the Baptist prophecied:
He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:30
How exactly did John the Baptist decrease and how exactly did Jesus Christ increase? And, how does this statement, which one can picture a scale with weights on either side of the balance with one side going up while the other going down, make any sense if Jesus started out above John the Baptist?
(As for Ted's question, when did the new covenant start, please read Hebrews 9:14-10:14. The new covenant was of force upon Jesus' death.)