So on with John 1. We learn that John the Baptist announces that Jesus is
"the Lamb of God, who is taking away the sin of the world;
this is he concerning whom I said, After me doth come a man, who hath come before me, because he was before me:
and I knew him not, but, that he might be manifested to Israel, because of this I came with the water baptizing. "
Of course we remember from our study of Mark that there is a whole other religion in Iraq,
the Mandaeans, who say that John the Baptist was the real prophet and Jesus was not. Their version of this story would be different of course.
Mandeans are the last surviving Gnostic religion from the time of Jesus and John the Baptist. They practice weekly baptism in water from the river.