After the Romans conquered Palestine in the first century B.C., many of the Jewish residents believed that the End Times had arrived. Their ancient prophesies predicted that this would be a period of extreme devastation and suffering, and certainly there was much suffering in the country under the oppressive rule of the Romans. But the ancient prophesies also predicted that during this same period a great leader known as the Messiah (or Anointed One) would appear and overthrow all evil rulers, then create a new kingdom where all the righteous people could live happily and peacefully. Later, after Jesus was crucified, many people would realize that he was the Messiah, although the new kingdom he established was a spiritual kingdom rather than an ordinary earthly kingdom.
But history tells us that many false Messiahs have also appeared, and some have even collected a considerable number of followers before their falseness was revealed. In fact the bible itself mentions several such pretenders who came on the scene during the New Testament era. For example, a man named Theudas appeared in Palestine during the rule of the Roman Prefect Fadus ( 44A.D.-46A.D.). According to the Jewish historian Josephus, this Theudas led several hundred followers to the Jordan River, claiming that he would duplicate Joshua’s ancient miracle of ordering the river to dry up so that everyone could walk across. As they all waited on the river bank, a detachment of the Roman army arrived, killed Theudas, and captured many of his followers. They also cut off Theudas’ head and took it back to Jerusalem to serve as a warning to anyone else who might be thinking about similar actions. Although most of this information comes from the writings of Josephus, Theudas is also mentioned in the New Testament , in Acts 5: 35-36.
The Book of Acts also mentions another false Messiah known as Judas the Galilean. According to Acts 5: 37, this man “appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed and all his followers were scattered.”
Another pretender who appeared during this period is known only as “the Egyptian”. Josephus says that this man brought thousands of followers to the Mount of Olives, promising to destroy the walls of Jerusalem, defeat the Romans, and become the new ruler. However, it was the Romans who won the fight, although the Egyptian escaped and was never found.
According to the gospel of Luke (3:15), some people in Palestine even thought that John the Baptist might be the Messiah, but he denied it. Instead, he foretold that Jesus would soon appear and be the real Messiah.
Over the centuries ther have been many other false Messiahs, and several of them gathered thousands of disciples before their deception came to light. Jesus himself even warned about such pretenders in Mark 13: 5-6, where he says: “Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming ‘I am he’, and will deceive many.”
Posted by biblicalmysteries 
