sculleywr, many Messiahs appeared and they warned of "false Messiahs." Your New Testament warned of false prophets because it wanted you to BELIEVE that NT is the right one but others have stated the same claim.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Messiah_claimants
Judas son of Hezekiah (Ezekias)(c. 4 BCE)
Simon (c. 4 BCE)
Athronges (c. 4-2? BCE)
Jesus of Nazareth (c. 26 CE)
Theudas (44-46) in the Roman province of Judea
Menahem ben Judah partook in a revolt against Agrippa II in Judea
Simon bar Kokhba (died c. 135), defeated in the Second Jewish-Roman War
Moses of Crete (5th century)
Isḥaḳ ben Ya'ḳub Obadiah Abu 'Isa al-Isfahani of Ispahan lived in Persia during the reign of the Umayyad Caliph 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (684-705).
Yudghan, lived and taught in Persia in the early eighth century disciple of Isḥaḳ ben Ya'ḳub Obadiah Abu 'Isa al-Isfahani of Ispahan
Serene (Sherini, Sheria, Serenus, Zonoria, Saüra) (c. 720)
David Alroy or Alrui (c. 1160)
Abraham Abulafia (b. 1240)
Nissim ben Abraham (c. 1295) active in Avila.
Moses Botarel of Cisneros (c. 1413)
Asher Lemmlein (1502) a German near Venice.
David Reuveni and Solomon Molko early sixteenth century.
Isaac Luria (or, Yitzhak Luria) (1534-1572), noted Kabbalist
Hayim Vital (1542-1620)
Sabbatai Zevi (alternative spellings: Shabbetai, Sabbetai; Tvi, Tzvi) (1626-1676)
Barukhia Russo (Osman Baba), succesor of Sabbatai Zevi.
Miguel (Abraham) Cardoso (b. 1630)
Mordecai Mokiaḥ ("the Rebuker") of Eisenstadt (active 1678-1683)
Jacob Querido (d. 1690), said to be the reincarnation of Shabbetai Zevi.
Israel ben Eliezer (1698-1760), also known as the Ba'al Shem Tov and founder of the Hasidism movement.
Löbele Prossnitz (Joseph ben Jacob), early eighteenth century
Jacob Joseph Frank (1726-1791), founder of the Frankist movement.
R. Nachman of Bratslav early (1772-1811)
Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994)
It keeps going on and on. You CHOSE to believe Jesus was the Messiah.