First of all - the promise to be guided to ALL truth by the Holy Spirit is NOT to the individual - but to the Church.
In the NT, when Jesus speaks to the crowds, He speaks to ALL of us. However, when He instructs His Apostles - he is speaking to the leaders of His Church. This promise was made to His Apostles at the Last Supper - not to the crowds.
Secondly - your view that the Holy Spirit will guide ALL people who read the Bible to the truth is squashed by the mere fact that there are tens of thousands of disjointed and perpetually-splintering Protestant sects - ALL teaching different doctrines based on their different interpretations of God's Word.
How do you explain the fact that these sects all teach different doctrines like . . .
Some believe in baptismal regeneration, while others do not.
Some believe in soul-sleep, while others do not.
Some believe in the total depravity of man, while others do not.
Some believe in the Holy Trinity, while others do not.
Some believe in doctrine of “once saved, always saved”, while others do not.
Some believe in a pre-tribulation “Rapture”, while others do not.
Some believe that only those who were predestined will make it to heaven, while others do not.
Some believe that some were predestined for hell, while others do not.
Some believe in a woman’s right to choose abortion, while others do not.
Some believe that practicing homosexuality is a sin, while others do not.
Most believe in contraception, while others do not – and the list goes on.
Did the Holy Spirit create this confusion - of did men??
Let us test this conclusion against the Bible.
If you mean the Catholic Church then I don’t buy it. If however, on the other hand, you mean THE Spiritual Church (which consists of all true believers, Ac 2:47) that Christ has been building since Pentecost almost 2,000 years ago, then I agree.
Now we have to define what is an apostle. Normally, w,hen we speak of the apostles we mean the twelve, and we don’t associate the word apostle to anyone else. But what is the function of an apostle? Well, he is one who is
sent just as a prophet prophesies (
declares) the word of God. Can a born again believer hold either office or both? Most certainly. Contrary to what you say, a born again believer is mandated by God to witness (sent) and to prophesy (declare) the Gospel to the world like missionaries do (Isa 52:7; Mt 28:19-20). We call this the Great Commission. See also Ro 10:14-15.
Secondly, please don’t put words in my mouth and make my post #653 into a lie! I’ve
never said , “the Holy Spirit will guide ALL people who read the Bible to the truth.” What I’ve said was, “I don’t believe the Holy Spirit will not give truth when ask by a
believer” (Mt 7:9-11). Underlined word is for emphasis only. Those who do NOT ask will receive nothing (Jo 3:27).
The rest of “some believe and others do not” statements can now be answered by you without any help from me.
To God Be The Glory