Modern readers might read that there were false Christs and miss what that meant in the Nephite cultural context. At one and the same time, there are several “false Christs.” What might they have been? They were certainly not the expected atoning Messiah. That Christ was not expected for around two hundred more years according to Nephite prophecy.
In a Mesoamerican context, we may see the false Christs by understanding both the Nephite understanding of who this Messiah would be, and what the surrounding culture understood. For the Nephites, it was God himself who would come down to earth as the atoning Messiah (see Mosiah 13:34). Therefore, a Christ appearing on earth was the same as God appearing on earth.
In Mesoamerican cultures, there was a concept of God impersonators. These were men, at least typically men, who donned the regalia that was distinctive of a particular god and represented the presence of that god on earth. Thus, a false Christ would be one who falsely attempted to appear as a god on the earth. Based on what was the probable religion of the people of Zarahemla, such god impersonators would be a natural representation of that older religion, and would have influence over the older elements of the newly combined people.