Were the Mandaeans deceived by John the Baptist?

The Mandaeans are the only known surviving group of gnostics. They revere John the Baptist as a prophet, but Jesus as a deceiver. They call Jesus, the planetary archon Mercury or the Sumerian Nabu. Which is Thoth of the Egyptians, Hermes of the greeks, and Mercury of the Romans.

It makes sense that Jesus could be Mercury, because there was another prophet who's name actually is a reference to Mercury. Buddha when you take out the 'h' is Budha which is the Hindu god of the planet Mercury. Although Buddhism seems harmless and many think is a path to enlightenment, it actually has a lot of similarities to a cult. For example 10' high fences around monasteries, so that the monks don't leave.

You'd think that when someone calls out another as a deceiver, that they themselves are not. But what if John the Baptist was a deceiver as well, and deceived the Mandaeans.

The Templars revered John the Baptist as the true teacher as opposed to Jesus, just like the Mandaeans. From first glance you'd think they were good people since they were massacred. They did however, worship an idol known as Baphomet.The idol was said to be many things, but it's generally accepted that it was a decapitated head. Many people believe that that head was of John the Baptist. As John the Baptist was known for prophecy, it was known as the head of Prophecy. The Templars were said to do odd things as initiation such as kissing another members butt, or the butt of a dead cat. It was also said that the idol was covered with roasted baby oil and the Templars were said to sacrifice babies.

Now there's a good chance not all of it is true, but they did gain a lot of wealth and claimed Baphomet was the reason they amassed so much. They were also the first to popularize the current banking system with interest and such. I find it hard to believe that a group of people who gained so much wealth by means such as blackmail and charging interest, to be true gnostics.

When the Atbash cypher is applied to Baphomet you get the name Sophia. In Gnosticism there are two Sophia's. The fallen Sophia, and the feminine name of the archon Astaphaios(which although that information is from Jesus in the Apocryphon of John, as a deceiver he had to have some sort of truth). Baphomet is worshipped all throughout the world even today, especially in the music industry. Another sign that it's probably not a good thing. Also, Astaphaios is a planetary archon, possibly associated with the planet Venus. Baphomet is possibly a corruption of the name Muhammad(the prophet of Islam). According to Manly P. Hall, Islam is based on Venus worship.

So what I'm basically saying is, what if John the Baptist was the archon Astaphaios/Sophia. Another deceiver just like Jesus, who managed to deceive the Mandaeans. Luckily the Mandaeans claim their beliefs go all the way back to Adam and Seth, and therefore their beliefs couldn't have been altered too much by John the Baptist if that is true. Meaning it would be a minor inconvenience if John was a deceiver, but it's worth investigating none the less.