This was certainly a very serious legal event, but it was also an important spiritual event for the whole community, because this is a stand-off of cosmic significance. "Are we going to worship Christ? Are we going to look forward to his coming many years in the future? How can you be a true prophet and prophesy about something that is so far in the future that you cannot even verify whether the prophecy is going to come to pass or not?" Sherem argued that it was out of order for a prophet to speak of something so far in the future because the truth of any such statement was untestable; they could not verify it and in none of their lifetimes could they verify whether it was going to be a true prophecy or not (Deuteronomy 13). Therefore, he claimed, that worship of Christ must be considered illegal, based on false prophecy.