At the right time, God sent a man named John to get people ready to meet Jesus. John's clothes were made out of camel hair and his belt was made from animal skin. He ate grass-hoppers and bush honey. John went all over the Judean country talking to people. And this is what he said to them, “If you are really sorry for the wrong way you are living, God will forgive you. That means God will forget about all the wrong things you did and he will say that you are not guilty. And if you tell me that you are truly sorry, we will have a special washing ceremony called baptism.” All the people in Jerusalem and other towns in Judea heard stories about John and so they went out into the dry country to find him. They listened to what John said and some of the people told John that they were really sorry for not living God's way. So John took them down into the Jordan River and he baptised them. From that time he was called John the Baptist.