<p>24:5&nbsp;<i>For many shall come in my name</i>- Coming in the name of the Lord was the formula used in Judaism to describe Messiah (21:9; 23:39). The false claims to be Jesus the Christ are hardly persuasive nor vaguely credible. That they should be a source of mass falling away amongst the Lord's people seems hardly likely. We must assume, therefore, that such persons will have a credibility or a surrounding context which makes them far more attractive than they currently are. Revelation speaks of false miracles being done in the last days. Perhaps views of prophetic fulfilment will become so dogmatically held, suggesting that Christ&nbsp;<i>must</i>&nbsp;come once certain things happen in the world, that the believers will be open to easy deception. This scenario would be the more likely if a doctrine of&nbsp;<i>parousia</i>, the &quot;coming&quot; of Christ&quot;, is adopted which postulates that His coming will be somehow secret, invisible to the world and perceived only by the faithful.</p><p><i>Saying: I am the Christ, and shall lead many astray-&nbsp;</i>The reader who pays attention to detail will note a significant use of pronouns in the Olivet prophecy: &ldquo;ye&quot; seems to refer to the faithful minority, who would (e.g.) understand, be persecuted, perish, lift up their heads, and finally endure to the end. &quot;The many&quot; (Gk. the majority) in the ecclesia would fall away. No fewer than four times does the Lord stress that &quot;the majority&quot; would be deceived by false prophets, be offended, and have their love wax cold (Mt. 24:5,10,11,12). Probably he connected this, at least in his own mind, with his earlier statement that &quot;the many&quot; &nbsp; would be called to his truth, but not chosen (Mt. 22:14). This difference between &quot; the many / majority&quot; in the ecclesia and the minority of suffering faithful is a theme in the parables which are an appendix to the Olivet prophecy.</p><p>The persecution of God's people was spoken of by the Lord as being one of the clearest signs. And he also emphasized that apostasy within the ecclesia would be the other major sign. When they asked him for the signs, Mk. 13:5 says that Jesus&nbsp;<i>began</i>&nbsp;by warning them of deception from false teachers. The way the NT writers allude to this passage indicates that they saw this deception as not coming from the crazy bogus-Messiahs of the world, but from false teachers&nbsp;<i>within the ecclesia</i>, sometimes supported by apparent possession of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:6; 2 Thess. 2:3; Tit. 1:10; 2 Jn. 7). A state of total ecclesial apostasy was the sign which Jesus&nbsp;<i>began</i>&nbsp;with, according to Mk. 13:5.</p><p>Josephus describes the period before AD70 as being when &ldquo;The country was full of robbers, magicians, false prophets, false Messiahs and impostors, who deluded the people with promises of great events&rdquo; <i>Antiquities</i>&nbsp;20.10.13 5,6.</p>