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of INSTITUTIONS ......

and becoming INSTITUTION.ALISED

For the last 20 years, my wife and I have been visiting a local Maximum Security Prison (at Pareremoremo, for those who know Auckland), and have become aware of a common phenomena within the prison system

Unfortunately, it is a very common occurrence observed and well recognised by prison guards and those familiar with the penitentiary system .. the fact that so many inmates, after serving a period of a long prison sentence, become so accustomed to the known routine and 'security' of life 'inside', where every decision is made for them, and every basic material need is provided, that this condition develops.
As one inmate said to me "everything is regimented here, just about including when to fart !" Confinement, continual routine, orders, the sameness of it all, eventually eats away at the morale and the spirit that they eventually submit to it all, and become passive dependents .. on the system !

In the process of time, 'doing time' as they call it, they have become .. slowly and insidiously .. in a word ... INSTITUTION.ALISED.

And what is so sad is the well-known fact that many long term prisoners after release, find the effort needed to adapt to life 'outside' is so difficult, that they will frequently re-offend to be sentenced once again, preferring to return to the secure and familiar 'inside', where all their material needs are met, and all they have to do is just follow routine and orders.

So why do I mention all of this ?

Well, the thought comes to mind, that this process of becoming INSTITUTION.ALISED is exactly and precisely the same occurrence that happens to many of those caught up in the PRS - the Present Religious System.
This is the hidden danger of any INSTITUTION or place of confinement.
Adherents and members get so used to the so called 'security' and routine and 'same.ness' of the structured religious world that they actually give up their independence, their individuality, their capacity for thinking, their ability to operate in the 'outside' world, that they inwardly prefer the 'security' of religious routine.

And some, if they do indeed for any reason 'escape' from a religious structure, like the long serving inmates after release, actually prefer to return to the seeming 'security' of their past friendships and the routine of their denomination.

How very strange . but by observance .. very true !

As inmates in a prison penitentiary . so 'religious inmates', but in a 'religious prison system' equally as onerous and stifling and boringly routine.

God . who has called us to be 'free' both spiritually and personally, who has delivered us from sin and made us overcomers, who has brought us into a personal relationship with Himself, and into fellowship with other believers, (but not regimented by them), who seeks to indwell and personally lead us by his Holy Spirit within, watches many yield their individuality and their persona to become yet another religious clone of their denomination ... religiously INSTITUTION.ALISED

Oh, but it is so much easier to just show up at the same time each week, to shine the same pew, to hear how to live, to act, to dress, and to THINK .. to be admonished, . than to actually seek God for oneself, to develop ones own relationship with the Most High, to get ones own direction and guidance and anointing, to develop ones own gifting and spiritual calling .. even to earn ones own income !
Now, please don't get me wrong . occasional even regular fellowship with other believers is an important part of our pilgrimage for edification, rebuke, and encouragement . but to immerse ourselves solely in one denomination or assembly for years or decades can be most detrimental to our development and realising our potential, and even to our eternal well-being !
Would the book of Acts have been written if those people were so bound by tradition, formalism, legalism .. even Pharisaical-ism ? !

Some one has observed that ..
in most Churches .... the proportion is much the same :
10 % MAKE it Happen
70 % WATCH it Happen
and the other 20 % haven't a clue what is Happening !

I recall reading that in the second World War, the Germans guarding Allied Prisoners of War in their prison camps, watched the prisoners closely for a while, then identified the key 5 - 10% of the prisoners they saw were leaders. These they separated and closely guarded in a most secure area .... the rest of the prisoners, the remaining 90 - 95%, they guarded only minimally .... they were the 'followers' .... without leaders and direction they were easy to guard and to keep from escaping !

Yet so many believers, blindly submit themselves to and slavishly follow the supposed 'safety' and 'security' of a denomination, its 'oversight' and structure, without realising the pitfalls and perils of so doing.

One denomination calls its hierarchy, the clergy, 'men of the cloth' . CHURCHMEN
Not just leaders, but CHURCHMEN - Men of the Church, instead of Men of God !
Well said and called I would observe . they obviously serve and follow their own particular CHURCH and its tradition more so than the living Christ or being personally led by the indwelling Holy Spirit.

To many believers, the holding powers of a church are simply;
'security' or protection and a feeling of safety
belonging to a visible 'club'
companionship - everyone craves like-minded friends for feelings of assurance and comfort
programmes to occupy the energetic and often to make the pastor 'look good' decisions made for the flock - being told what to do, how to live, how and when to meet, what to believe, what interpretation to put on events, even how to dress, all taking away the worry of personal decision-making !

Jesus said "My sheep hear my voice,...and they follow me" John 10 : 27

Has many a modern church substituted :
Church membership security for dependence on God Himself
Belonging to a church group for belonging to Jesus alone
Doing the pastors bidding instead of doing God's personal will for us
Listening to the preacher instead of hearing the Shepherd's voice
On the church roll instead of recorded in God's book of life
Following a minister's advice instead of seeking God's word for direction
Attendance at meetings for waiting on God, growing in God
Being a clone instead of the individual that God created
Man's expectations for following the Holy Spirits guidance
Outward show substituting for an inner experience with God
Church ian ity for Christ ian ity
Hiding in a crowd instead of personal fellowship & sharing
Shining a pew instead of finding our own place of service

How Jesus and the Holy Spirit must be grieved as we offer up our blood-bought Christian liberty to any group or man, no matter how authoritarian or charismatic they may be.

So I comment....
Beware INSTITUTIONS and becoming INSTITUTION.ALISED.

Beware the supposed 'BENEFITS' of any 'prison' or system !