even unto death. >> immobilizing his followers to repent and turn toward god, john the baptist had dared to speak truth unto power. and for this, he pays the ultimate price. >> he understood he was a martyr. he was a martyr in the cause of something greater. he was a martyr in the cause of beautiful kingdom of god on earth which is what he had preached all of his life. >> i see jesus and john as being very similar in terms of their conception of god and what they wanted people to do. in terms of their call for repenitence and the idea that the world would be transformed and they're calling people to start it in the here and now. >> in the wake of john's death, many of his followers turned to jesus as john's movement slowly declines, eclipsed by the new growing christian church whose message spreads across the