One was this sifting is happening is through the false prophets and their false prophecies. The first group is those that truly love Yahweh: the True Church that followes Messiah Yeshua and what the bible says. The next group is filled with false teachers, false prophets, deceivers, wiccan infiltrators to spread heresy, and the deceived who are not truly saved but do not want to go to hell so they said a prayer and are looking for an escape from the earth and from hell. The next group is the fence sitters: those who do not believe the deception and lies but accept those that teach them as a fellow believer.
Yahweh does not accept a mixture and never has. He nearly wiped out Ancient Israel when Aaron made a golden calf claiming it was to worship Yahweh. Several times Yahweh stated He did not accept a mixture of pagan ways with worship of Him. Messiah Yeshua said He will spew the lukewarm out of His mouth because they are compromisers.
Deuteronomy 12In scripture we are told many times that Yahweh tests us to prove us whether we truly love Him or just using Him as an escape from what is to come. This is why we are told we need to obey: obedience is a sign that we truly love Him for who He is and are not using Him.
29 When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;
30 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
31 Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
Exodus 32
2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.
6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
7 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
Revelation 3
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Deuteronomy 13Of course we no longer stone the false prophets today because Messiah Yeshua is the High Priest and He reserves the judgment of the wicked until the time of His choosing.
1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
4 Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.
6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
7 Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;
8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:
9 But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.
10 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
Other places in scripture we are told that judgment begins among the believers:
1 Peter 4Messiah Yeshua stated clearly that He would reject those who do things for Him - including prophecy - if they do not OBEY what Yahweh said. Among what Yahweh said was to not use divination as well as not follow false prophets. Anyone who makes false prophecies, follows the false prophets, or calls the false prophets 'brothers' (which is claiming the false prophets teachings are true) will be rejected by Messiah Yeshua - they are the five foolish which thought they were saved but they were not obeying what Yahweh said. Those that are claiming the false prophets are brothers is part of the test by Yahweh to see if we will continue to listen to them and their compromise or if we will cleave to Yahweh and His word:
17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1 John 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.Strong's number G458 iniquity (transliterated as anomia) :
Matthew 7
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. G458
anomia
1) the condition of without law
a) because ignorant of it
b) because of violating it
2) contempt and violation of law, iniquity, wickedness
Those that follow false prophets / teachers / wolves are making false converts - they are leading people to hell by another Jesus and are deceiving people into believing they are heaven bound. Often these false converts become more heretical than those that led them to their false faith.
Matthew 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.Messiah Yeshua gave a parable of the tares and wheat. While the main harvest and separation will be during the tribulation, the first fruit harvest is a week before the final harvest and only wheat is acceptable as the offering. The wheat is sifted from the tares and is taken as the offering leaving the tares behind.
Matthew 13The first fruit offering is just as the wheat is beginning to ripen:
24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
Exodus 34:26 The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God.I believe we may very well be in the time before the rapture when the wheat is being sifted from the tares in order to be the spotless bride for Messiah Yeshua. It is unfortunate so many people who believe they will be taken will be left behind although Messiah Yeshua repeatedly warned this would happen.
Matthew 25In context, jezebel taught Israel to follow false prophets / idols and commit spiritual fornication with them
1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
Revelation 2And finally, the apostle Paul stated that not only the evildoers will be punished but those that support them and give them comfort will receive the same punishment:
20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
Romans 1
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
If you have followed one of these false prophets or those who call them "brothers" you need to repent and follow Messiah Yeshua and reject any of these false prophets you have followed or those who call them brothers. There are many popular teachers that spoke against the false prophecies but still call the false prophets brothers - they are compromisers and deceivers and they need to repent. Those lukewarm who call the wolves / false prophets brothers are a stronger test - maybe a final test - to see who will follow them and support them or cleave to Yahweh and His word and follow Messiah Yeshua in obedience to what Yahweh says. If you love Yahweh you will OBEY Him and not follow after wolves or those who accept wolves as brothers.
John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
John15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
1 John 2
3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
1 John 5
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
Revelation 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Revelation 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.