The danger of being misled is mentioned frequently (vv. 4, 11, 24), and Matthew elsewhere has cause to report Jesus' warnings against signs-working prophets (7:15, 22; on signs prophets, see the introduction), a warning that is clearly part of the Jesus tradition (2 Thess 2:9). Today we might think of Jim Jones, David Koresh and New Age Christ figures (see Groothuis 1990). The death toll under Jones and Koresh, incidentally, serves as a helpful rebuttal to those who claim that all religions are the same and it matters not what one believes. But false messianic figures abounded in the first century as well (for example, Jos. War 2.259-63; 6.285-88; Ant. 20.97-98).