John the Baptist was an ascetic Jewish prophet known in Christianity as the forerunner of Jesus. John preached about God's Final Judgment and baptized repentant followers in preparation for it. Jesus was among the recipients of his rite of baptism.  According to all four canonical gospels of the New Testament, as well as the account of the Jewish historian Josephus, John the Baptist was killed on the orders of a local ruler sometime before Jesus' crucifixion. The gospels claim the king had him beheaded, and his head put on a platter.