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Prophecy has never gone without opposition, mainly due to the danger of false prophecy, a danger that can rightly be called the “Achilles heel” of prophecy. Without the process of testing the validity and truth of prophecy, prophecy will have no role to play in the life of the church. Throughout the centuries, various criteria have been developed that help towards the aim of discernment. They can be classified in intrinsic and extrinsic criteria. The intrinsic criteria relate to the physiology, psychology, and spiritual life of the prophet. The extrinsic criteria relate to how the church approves or rejects a prophetic revelation, and how we may define the nature of the church's judgment. The process of discernment and jugdment is necessary but contains an important ambiguity: it is the church that must judge a prophetic revelation, despite the fact that prophecy often is critical of the church that will judge it. Until that judgment is pronounced, must believers wait before they give heed to a prophetic message?

This chapter shows how particular biblical laws such as blasphemy, false prophecy, and false teaching were understood at the time of the New Testament, and how they interfaced with other legal traditions, such as Roman law and custom. It shows how each of the main charges in the Jewish and Roman proceedings is introduced and developed in advance of Jesus' trials. They included charges of false prophecy, false teaching, leading Israel astray, blasphemy, forbidding payment of taxes, and threatening to destroy the Temple. The charges against Jesus were suitable because of their salience both for the religious establishment and for the Romans. The chapter shows that there are hitherto-unnoticed structural parallels between the proceedings before Caiaphas and Pontius Pilate, as well as parallels between the trials of Jesus and modern miscarriages of justice.

This chapter traces the escalation of a crisis, leading to a schism in the church, and show how power struggles are seen in each of these contexts. The account documents the making of the schism as a highly public event and yet an event that shakes Apostolics in what they hold to be a deep, innermost truth of their lives, their faith in their church and as Apostolics. The fear they express is kgelogile, turning aside, backsliding—to become lapsed Christians. There is a much-repeated hymn sung when exorcists pile up the heap of uncovered demonic charms, things of witchcraft, and materials of bongaka ya setsho, traditional healing: The accusations against Boitshepelo Jakoba himself are felt to strike deeply at his honor, tlotlo. These include adultery, unholy sacrifice, misuse of church funds, false prophecy, and sinful breach of biblical commandments for priestly purity.