Did Elijah return as the forerunner of the Messiah

Matthew 11:13-14 (cf. Matt 17:12-13)

v13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John v14 And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. (KJV)
Malachi 4:4-5

v4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. v5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:  v6  And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. (KJV)

Malachi asserts that the messiah will be preceded by Elijah whose mission is to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and vice versa and generally prepare the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Matthew in his gospel claims John the baptizer was this Elijah who was to come before the day of the Lord. Luke also claims that John came in the power and spirit of Elijah.

                              Luke 1:17            

Luk 1:17  And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. (KJV)

However, coming in the power and spirit of Elias is not the same as Elijah himself coming of which Malachi speaks of. Even if we assume Malachi was indeed referring to John the baptizer, John did not fulfill his mission of turning the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers. We don’t have anywhere in the New Testament to indicate that John fulfilled this. On the contrary John himself denies being Elijah or anyone significant for that matter. The gospel of John has this to say:

John 1:19-21

v19 And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? v20 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.  v21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. (KJV)

So what’s going on here? Is the New Testament refuting itself? Let me ignore this discrepancy for arguments sake and assume John is the promised Elijah (or in the form and power of Elijah, whatever that’s supposed to mean), what’s the great and dreadful day of the Lord anyway? To me it sounds a lot like a terrifying day, like a day of judgment or something. When was this great and dreadful day of Lord at the time of Jesus? His birth is associated with glad tidings and joy so there is no evidence to assume this great and dreadful day of the Lord took place after his forerunner, John the baptizer.

Malachi 4:5

v5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: (KJV)

Anyway we know that Matthew and Luke tried so hard to fit John into this prophecy which he does not fit, and even if he could fit which of course he couldn’t, he never completed his mission attributed to him. To make matters embarrassing, he himself in the gospel of John denies being Elijah or any prophet preceding the messiah.

So to sum up, if Christianity is associated with the person of Christ which means Messiah and Jesus fails to not only fulfill required messianic prophecies, but also the same made up prophecies attributed to him, then what does that say about Christianity. It’s a religion simply made up based on the concept of the messiah. The scriptures that are quoted as proof texts are mistranslations, misapplication and misquotation of the Hebrew bible. No wonder the Jews simply reject the gospels because they are not 100% reliable and trustworthy.