John the Baptist: Prophet of doom?

John the Baptist: Prophet of doom?: Today we celebrate the birth of John the Baptist, the last of the prophets who pointed to the coming of Jesus. He was specially called by God to prepare the way for the Messiah, God’s chosen redeemer. In many ways, he is the archetypal image of a doom and gloom prophet. He was  dressed in camel’s hair living off of Locust and honey in the wilderness crying out things like “the ax is already at the root of the trees” (Matthew 3:10), calling  and calling the religious leaders “vipers”(Matt …