Few figures in the Bible is as mystifying and bizarre then St. John the Baptist. Wearing camel skins, a leather belt and a scrumptious diet of locusts and honey, he appears suddenly at the Jordan River. "The Kingdom of God is at hand!" He proclaims in todays Gospel. Suddenly the crowds take notice. Is he the long awaited messiah promised eight centuries before? He tells them plainly -- absolutely not. There is one coming after him who will baptize you with the "Holy Spirit and fire." His job is to simply point the way like a rainbow leading to the mythical pot of gold.