King Herod Antipas was rotten through and through. He had lusted after his brother’s wife Herodias, and finally married her. He was power-hungry, loved pleasure and could not stand opposition. Opposing such people can become dangerous – and sometimes fatal, as was in John the Baptist’s case. Yet what is the follower of Christ to do? Are we meant to speak only of “spiritual things” (read as “things pertaining to heaven”)? John the Baptist was a prophet, and spoke out against the blatant immorality of a public figure. He did this without any self-interest, based solely on Scripture. In fact it was purely because of that that he was compared to Jesus. Being a follower of Christ should raise a prophetic indignation within us because Jesus was never satisfied with leaving things the way they existed; He came to transform them to what God wants them (and us) to be.