Do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. But the greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted (Matt. 23:8-12).
There is One Teacher, Father, and Leader–One to whom every man must humble himself and obey.
You may follow a preacher, an elder, a creed, a council, a pope, a church, or majority of churches without ever following Christ. At best all any saint can do is preach faithfulness to the Lord (Acts 11:23), so that He may save.
When a man's influence is such that people follow him instead of the Lord–even when his way coincides with the Lord's way–the good done is often short-lived.
How can this be?
As long as one is primarily concerned with pleasing a man, he can never be pleasing to God. This has been the undoing of many. Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God (Jn. 12:42-43).
Love and loyalty to a man whose ways are God's ways is still one giant step removed from love and loyalty to God. And it always ends the same–with his pride crying out, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ” (1 Cor. 1:12). This is invariably the case when does not humble himself before God.
I read once that a certain preacher "saved the church from Premillennialism," and that it was "a shame there wasn't a preacher with the same influence now" to save the church from Institutionalism, Calvinism, etc.
Faithful preachers do great work and have great influence, but no man or men (including preachers) has ever saved the Lord's church from anything.
A preacher can "save himself" and "those who hear him" only insofar as he accurately handles, teaches, and applies the Word of Truth (1 Tim. 4:16; 2 Tim. 2:15).
Those who hear him are saved provided they honestly and faithfully vet his words, and obey only the Will of God (1 Pet. 1:22).
All who seek and adhere to Christ's teaching will be saved from Institutionalism,
Premillennialism, and all other "isms" and sins because the Truth continually sanctifies them (Jn. 17:17).
There are many holy hucksters charging through the land and cyberspace, waving their banners and brands, receiving glory from one another, ready to "save the church."
But the church already has a Savior.
What we must do is to stir up greater love and respect for Him–"He must increase, I must decrease" (Jn. 3:30).
Christ can and will continue to save souls the way He always has–one at a time (1 Cor. 12:12; Jn. 15:1-6; Gal. 3:26-27). Each of us must turn to the One Lord, Leader, Teacher, and Savior, and call others to do the same (Acts 2:47).