False teachers, prophets, apostles….false everything

In the wisdom of God, He allows both the wheat and the tares to grow together until it is time to bunch up the tares. These tares are not false teachers or prophets, they represent “false everything”. They represent all the stuff that is sown into God’s field so that the real is chocked out or at least diminished in growth. So you may be thinking in the natural and wonder, why doesn’t God believe in weeding His garden? God does gather the weeds, but only after they have served His purpose for His people.

Matthew 24:5
"For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many.

Just as we pray “in the name of Jesus”, people are going to come in that same spirit, “in the name of Jesus” and tell us that Jesus is the Christ. That is good, that is as it should be. Yet even some of these are going to mislead many. Are these false prophets, shepherds or teachers? Probable not.
In this passage in Matthew Jesus gets to false prophets in verse 11, but this section is a warning of all the stuff in life (what is to come) that can get us off track. Good people with bad direction, wars, international conflict, famine and earthquakes are all going to be stuff you need to go through and stay on course. God is giving us this “heads up” so we are in the know and not focused on this stuff, but Him.
A false prophet, teacher or Christian is not an immature one. A false is one who tries to take the place of the real. When someone who is not called to be a worship leader tries to be one, that would be a false worship leader. The same goes for pastor or teacher. When we go beyond the will of God for our lives, even if we think it is best for us (especially if we think it is best for us) we enter into a self-centered or man-pleasing motivation and choose ourselves over God. That can, for a time, be immaturity. But if we do not grow up we can mature into rebellious self living as we live our lives in the church. Do you know of any people who have loved God for decades and yet are still in bondage to themselves? Are they false Christians or broken Christians? God does know but we may not.
Presently in America I think we face the biggest challenge of being mislead through our longing for an easy life. We have strong desires to be a blessed people and our desire to be a blessing to others is fading. We are presently challenged to give according to our desires rather than the will of God. Sacrifice can mean, “Sharing the extra I have left over” and dedication can become “what I do after all my personal and family needs are met”.
God instructs us to discern according to fruit – not gifts. But we might be in some muddy waters if our vision of fruit is “man’s idea” and not God’s. (Isn’t there anything we can do on our own?) I encourage everyone to look carefully at and for the fruitfulness of others, just as soon as you get that thing out of your vision that is irritating you. When you can look on others with love and not fear or anger, you can see well.