Matthew 24:11

Many false prophets shall rise. — The later writings of the New Testament bear repeated testimony to this feature of the ten years that preceded the destruction of Jerusalem. St. John speaks of false prophets (1 John 4:1), and many antichrists (1 John 2:18); St. Peter of “false teachers” (2 Peter 2:1), like the false prophets of old; St. Paul of men who should give heed to seducing spirits (1 Timothy 4:1). These show the extent of the evil which was the natural outcome of the feverish excitement of the people. In Josephus (Wars, vi. 5, § 2) we have the record of this working of false prophecy in more immediate connection with Judæa and Jerusalem. Up to the last moment of the capture of the city by Titus, men were buoyed up with false hopes of deliverance, based on the predictions of fanatics and impostors.