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I believe that the Holy Spirit has actively guided the Church throughout its long history. After all, didnt Jesus tell us, I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not hold out against it (Matthew 16.18, AmpV). I believe Christ has done/is doing that very thing through the Holy Spirit and the principle way He builds His Church is through the appointed ministries of God-given apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4.11) who are given to the Church for a specific purpose -the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ's body (the church), [That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him (vv.12-13, AmpV).
Truth has been safeguarded for us, IMO, in the orthodox teachings and writings of the apostles, church fathers, theologians, and teachers who have graciously left us their teachings in writing (just as God has in His written Word) who have correctly, often at supreme cost, left us the truthful interpretation of Scripture. These teachers still exist among us to keep us in line with Gods Holy Scriptures. I am not saying these fallible men and women are always perfect in their interpretations, but they do exist to set the boundaries for our beliefs. When we overstep those historical, orthodox boundaries we need to back up and take another look at our belief systems.
It is a mark of cults to fly in the face of orthodoxy and belittle the work and calling of the men and women of God that the Lord has so graciously given to us to keep us from wandering into error. Early on Gnosticism, Arianism, Docetism, Montanism, Manichaeism, Pelagianism, Donatism, etc. were branded the heresies they were and their dangers and errors exposed by those godly teachers who stormed and tore down those gates of Hades exposing them to the light of day and the truth of Scripture.
Some P/C/W's believe that it is okay to reject objective truth for subjective revelation - in particular, those who claim that the Lord/Holy Spirit reveals to me the truth of scripture as though all the work done by those who have gone before is without merit. Such otherwise godly believers are merely returning to the first heresy of the church, Gnosticism, all dressed up and disguised in modern clothes and new jargon, but which was resisted and overcame long ago by no less than the Apostles (in particular John, but also Paul) and the teachers who followed them. Still Gnosticism exists among us, finding resurgence in modern times as Neo-Gnosticism, which has infiltrated even the ranks of the Spirit-filled Charismatic Movement.
By way of definition: Gnosticism is a blanket term for various religions and sects most prominent in the first few centuries A.D. Its name comes from the Greek word for knowledge, gnosis, referring to the idea that there is special, hidden knowledge that only a few may possess, a divine knowledge that comes only by inner revelation. Gnostic sects were deemed unorthodox and heretical by the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. (A good objective, non-religious overview of the Gnsotic heresy can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism). FYI, This link will also outline Gnosticism in modern/popular culture.
The Watchman Fellowship (http://www.watchman.org) says in its profile of the E. W. Kenyon and the beginnings of the Word-Faith movement,
~Jim
PS. Want to do a sobering study of this dangerous phenomenon? Do a Google search with gnosticism Pentecostal, gnosticism Charismatic and gnosticism Word Faith in the search field and see how many links come up.
Truth has been safeguarded for us, IMO, in the orthodox teachings and writings of the apostles, church fathers, theologians, and teachers who have graciously left us their teachings in writing (just as God has in His written Word) who have correctly, often at supreme cost, left us the truthful interpretation of Scripture. These teachers still exist among us to keep us in line with Gods Holy Scriptures. I am not saying these fallible men and women are always perfect in their interpretations, but they do exist to set the boundaries for our beliefs. When we overstep those historical, orthodox boundaries we need to back up and take another look at our belief systems.
It is a mark of cults to fly in the face of orthodoxy and belittle the work and calling of the men and women of God that the Lord has so graciously given to us to keep us from wandering into error. Early on Gnosticism, Arianism, Docetism, Montanism, Manichaeism, Pelagianism, Donatism, etc. were branded the heresies they were and their dangers and errors exposed by those godly teachers who stormed and tore down those gates of Hades exposing them to the light of day and the truth of Scripture.
Some P/C/W's believe that it is okay to reject objective truth for subjective revelation - in particular, those who claim that the Lord/Holy Spirit reveals to me the truth of scripture as though all the work done by those who have gone before is without merit. Such otherwise godly believers are merely returning to the first heresy of the church, Gnosticism, all dressed up and disguised in modern clothes and new jargon, but which was resisted and overcame long ago by no less than the Apostles (in particular John, but also Paul) and the teachers who followed them. Still Gnosticism exists among us, finding resurgence in modern times as Neo-Gnosticism, which has infiltrated even the ranks of the Spirit-filled Charismatic Movement.
By way of definition: Gnosticism is a blanket term for various religions and sects most prominent in the first few centuries A.D. Its name comes from the Greek word for knowledge, gnosis, referring to the idea that there is special, hidden knowledge that only a few may possess, a divine knowledge that comes only by inner revelation. Gnostic sects were deemed unorthodox and heretical by the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. (A good objective, non-religious overview of the Gnsotic heresy can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism). FYI, This link will also outline Gnosticism in modern/popular culture.
The Watchman Fellowship (http://www.watchman.org) says in its profile of the E. W. Kenyon and the beginnings of the Word-Faith movement,
As a movement rather than an organized group, there is no founder or founding date, per se. The philosophical roots extend to Gnosticism. E.W. Kenyon (1860-1948) was perhaps the earliest modern exponent to blend the movement's eastern mystical and New Age elements with Christian teaching. ... Born in 1860, E. W. Kenyon is generally recognized as the founding father of the modern Word-Faith Movement. Beginning as a Methodist, he became quite ecumenical, associating with the Baptists. Some of his work even resulted in the founding of a few Primitive Baptist Churches. Late in life, Kenyon moved into Pentecostalism. At the same time, he combined elements of the metaphysical cults, such as Christian Science, New Thought theology, and Unity School of Christianity (D.R. McConnell, A Different Gospel, pp. 31-35). The doctrines of correct thinking and believing accompanied by positive confession, with the result of calling a sickness a symptom (denial of reality supported by a Gnostic dualism) are not found in Christian writings until after New Thought and its offspring had begun to develop them. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to state that the doctrine originated and developed in these cults, and was later absorbed by Christians in their quest to develop a healing ministry (H. Terris Neuman, An Analysis of the Sources of the Charismatic Teaching of Positive Confession, p. 43).
Though obviously not the movement's originator, some have also called Kenneth Hagin the "grand-daddy of the faith teachers" (Sherry Andrews, "Kenneth Hagin, Keeping the Faith," Charisma, October 1981, p. 24). In a survey of readers of Charisma (a major Charismatic magazine) concerning those ministers that influence them the most, Kenneth Hagin was 3rd, ranked behind only TV evangelist Pat Robertson, and the heir apparent to the Word-Faith movement throne, Kenneth Copeland (Kenneth Hagin, Jr., Charisma, "Trend Toward the Faith Movement," August 1985, pp. 67-70).
This inner-knowledge, gnosis, of being led by the Spirit to understanding Scripture and doctrinal truth while ignoring the teaching of the teachers God has graciously given His church through the centuries is a sure-fire way to dangerously place yourself outside orthodox Christianity and, therefore, should be resisted, not embraced. Furthermore, independent interpretation of scripture leads only to more division in a Church already torn by factions. Heck, people who only receive doctrine by revelation usually stand (bizarrely) apart from everyone else. The deception of neo-Gnosticism is that it sounds so much more spiritual than ordinary old orthodoxy. And that's its most sinister attraction to some.
~Jim
PS. Want to do a sobering study of this dangerous phenomenon? Do a Google search with gnosticism Pentecostal, gnosticism Charismatic and gnosticism Word Faith in the search field and see how many links come up.
I want to just post to support JimM's OP. 
Nothing but slanderous, misleading personally-held-belief support.
