Honestly, I think these splinterngs are not of the Holy Spirit, for at the last supper Jesus prayed that we may all be one as He and the Father are one.
Can God bring incredible good, even out of evil? Certainly. The conclusion you draw would be, in my eyes, God drawing good out of evil, not the workings of the Holy Spirit.
But here we enter that old debate of God's Active Will versus God's permissive Will...Does God will bad things or just permit them so that He may draw good from them? Jesus answered this question when they asked Him who sinned, that a man he healed had his deformity. Jesus answered that it was not due to sin but only so that they could see the Glory of God.
Good thought provoking comments. Thanks.
I probably wasn't as clear in my comments as I should have been. I certainly don't think that every schism was of the Holy Spirit - only the possibility that some were. For instance, the split that is most likely about to occur in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is definitely not of the Holy Spirit. Those in our denomination who deny the divinity of Jesus, and advocate strenuously for the ordination of unrepentant homosexuals are clearly working for "the other side".
At the same time, there shouldn't be much argument that the "church wars" and schisms of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries provided the impetus which resulted in the Christianization of North America much earlier than would have occurred otherwise. Or do you not agree?