NTChristian, IMO part of your difficulty understanding what folks are saying lays in the other things you stated in your post. You are listening to Pentecostal preachers, and you are listening to Kenneth Copeland. And THAT is a problem. Copeland is a false teacher. He uses God and Jesus as if they were caged ATM machines, bound to obey Copelands every desire and command. Turn those people off right now and get into The Word. Ask God to guide your studies and He will.
Even worse than that, Copeland denies the biblical Jesus, having Him in the mind of God before the Incarnation, but not eternally alive with God, his Jesus died as a sinner, and had to get to hell in order to get born again... he is a heretic that should be shunned at all costs!
Actually, heresy applies towards those who deny essentials of the faith, and hagin and Copeland do just that! They have a different Jesus and a different Gospel!
Who decides what are the essentials of the faith?
Who decides?
Two of the largest denominations in the United States are the Southern Baptists and Lutherans.
Yet each of these condemns the other's position on the most basic of Christian essentials, that of baptism.
Here are these denomination's positions on baptism:
Lutheran doctrine: "This is the simplest way to put it: the power, effect, benefit, fruit, and purpose of baptism is that it saves. For no one is baptized in order to become a prince, but as the words say, ‘to be saved.’ To be saved, as everyone knows, is nothing else than to be delivered from sin, death and the devil, to enter into Christ’s kingdom, and to live with him forever." (Martin Luther, Large Catechism)
Southern Baptist doctrine: "Baptism doesn't make you a believer - it shows that you already believe. Baptism does not "save" you, only your faith in Christ does that. Baptism is like a wedding ring - it's the outward symbol of the commitment you make in your heart." (SBC, How to Become a Christian, Baptism)
---> How do you know which one is heretical?
Who decides?
Those holding to word of faith doctrines teach another Jesus, and the bible itself states to us that is from the spirit of antichrist! Mode of baptism is not an essential, but the Jesus of the Bible is!
Can you give me an example from the last couple centuries where God has intervened in a doctrinal dispute and decided what was heretical, along with deciding what are the essentials of the faith?