"The Mandaeans viewed Jesus as a false messiah but revered John the Baptist, who performed miracles of healing through baptism, which the Mandaeans viewed as a magical process giving immortality, purification, and physical health."
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mandaeanism
"the Mandaeans. Also called Sabians, they are followers of the last Gnostic religion to survive continuously from ancient times down to the present day."
https://religionnews.com/2021/06/21/this-tiny-minority-of-iraqis-follows-an-ancient-gnostic-religion-and-theres-a-chance-they-could-be-your-neighbors-too/
"The demiurge (Greek demiurgos,[1] “craftsman”[2]) is the being who created the world in Gnosticism. The Gnostics identified him with the god of the Old Testament. The Gnostic scriptures portray him as ignorant, malicious, and utterly inferior to the true God who sent Christ to earth to save humankind from the demiurge’s evil world."
https://gnosticismexplained.org/the-gnostic-demiurge/
"Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”
15 But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.
16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and [a]He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”"
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%203:13-17&version=NKJV
"The teaching of the savior, and the revelation of the mysteries and the things hidden in silence, things he taught his student John.
THE REVEALER APPEARS TO JOHN
One day when John the brother of James, the sons of Zebedee, went up to the temple, it happened that a Pharisee named Arimanios came up to him and said to him, Where is your teacher, whom you followed?
I said to him, He has returned to the place from which he came.
**The Pharisee said to me, This Nazarene has deceived you badly, filled your ears with lies, closed your minds, and turned you from the traditions of your parents.**
When I, John, heard this, I turned away from the temple and went to a mountainous and barren place. I was distressed within, and I said,
How was the savior selected?
Why was he sent into the world by his father?
Who is his father who sent him?
To what kind of eternal realm shall we go?
And what was he saying when he told us,
This eternal realm to which you will go is modeled
after the incorruptible realm,
but he did not teach us what kind of realm that one is?
At the moment I was thinking about this, look, the heavens opened, all creation under heaven lit up, and the world shook. I was afraid, and look, I saw within the light a child standing by me. As I was staring, it seemed to be an elderly person. Again it changed its appearance to be a youth. Not that there were several figures before me. Rather, there was a figure with several forms within the light. These forms appeared through each other, and the figure had three forms.
The figure said to me, John, John, why are you doubting? Why are you afraid? Are you not familiar with this figure? Then do not be fainthearted. I am with you always. I am the father, I am the mother, I am the child. I am the incorruptible and the undefiled one. Now I have come to teach you what is, what was, and what is to come, that you may understand what is invisible and what is visible; and to teach you about the unshakable race of perfect humankind. So now, lift up your head that you may understand the things I shall tell you today, and that you may relate them to your spiritual friends, who are from the unshakable race of perfect humankind."