John the Baptist In-depth: A Closer Look is for the reader who desires a greater understanding of God the Father and Jesus Christ, His Son, by examining the prophet's role in history-John's unusual birth circumstances, his obedience to God the Father's call as forerunner for Messiah, his life, his ministry and his death. Past prophets foretold the coming of Messiah, but John the Baptist's entire reason for living was to announce His arrival (he was the only prophet to see it happen in his lifetime). As John's main goal was to point Israel to Messiah, the aim of this book is to direct readers to Christ. With thorough use of Old and New Testament passages, it examines the remarkable circumstances surrounding John's birth and helps the reader visualize John's childhood growing up in the comfortable home of a priest with bloodlines to Aaron, Moses' brother. It considers John's wilderness living over the privileges of a priestly home; it follows his short span of ministry and then takes us into prison at the time of John's humiliating death-all engineered by God with a divine purpose in mind. God called Everett Aaron Edwards in the middle of the night from a life of sin. Edwards had no prior understanding of why God would come into his life, yet he was quickly and powerfully changed. This experience led him to study the prophets and other men of the Bible who had similar dramatic callings. Because Jesus said that there was no greater prophet than John the Baptist, Edwards feels John's story needs to be understood better by the Church: "We need to learn from John the Baptist to serve God as he did."