Matthew 7:15 "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."

It is important to be wary.  There are many false prophets.  Beware of the false prophets and false teachers who tell you that there are not prophets as they try to gather to themselves popularity among many followers.

Note that there were false prophets who opposed the early church, just as there are false prophets today.  There were also genuine prophets in the early church, just as there are genuine prophets today.  In both cases, the false does not make the real any less real.  

There is false doctrine and there are false ministries.  There will be False Teachers, False Prophets, False Pators, False Evangelists, and False Apostles.  False salvation is everywhere and takes many forms.  There will be false tongues and false miracles.  There will be false gifts of the Spirit and false methods for receiving gifts of the Spirit and false methods for receiving salvation and every other gift that God wants to give us.  False pseudo-faith abounds as does false grace.  There are false visions and false dreams.  There are false Bibles and other false "holy books."

There are even some demagogues who seek to draw people after themselves by attacking everyone else.  They usually either claim that none of the wonderful gifts of God to the church do not exist at all or else they claim that they are that gift without meeting the criteria of the gift.  The demagogue proposes that each person should go to God independently... but in the process, the demagogue sets himself or herself up as the ONE to follow.  

Let God be true and every man a liar.

Apostles are given the responsibility of protecting the entire flock of God from the attack of the enemy, but with so many voices in the world, each one claiming to be the one that should be listened to, how can you know?  You are responsible to be close enough to God so that you can tell the difference between false apostles and real apostles.

Read the complete definition of "Apostle."