Nearly five years earlier, the unbelievers had decided that they were going to draw a line in the sand: if the prophecies of Samuel the Lamanite were not fulfilled within five years, they would take it as evidence that Samuel was a false prophet. The faithful that continued to believe in the prophecies of Samuel the Lamanite after they had not been fulfilled were then to be considered in violation of a capital law. There was a Hebrew saying that if a man followed a prophet, he would get a prophet’s reward. Jesus used that statement. However, according to Deuteronomy 18, if a person followed a false prophet, he would then get a false prophet’s reward, which was the death penalty. If members of the church had continued to follow what the people regarded as a false prophet, the threat of death makes clear sense when viewed strictly according to their law.