Of course the opposite is possible too. Christian history is full of people with a direct pipeline to God, who come up with ideas completely out of left field. Both Catholics and Protestants have had to fight with this problem. But we've generally been more successful with fighting idiosyncratic interpretation than creeping legalism, simply because of the inherent conservative nature of large religious organizations. I am convinced that the only sound approach is a mix of tradition, Scripture, and inspiration.
Scripture plays an important role for several reasons.
Most basically, it's a record of things that the church agrees are God's actions and teachings. There is also a tendency to allow non-Christian ideas and customs to creep in. It's not a perfect antidote, because people can read what they want into Scripture. Tradition is important in dealing with Scripture, because it provides some protection against idiosyncratic interpretation. Yet when tradition itself becomes the problem, Scripture must be allowed to act as a check on it.