Institutions

THURSDAY, AUG. 13, 1981, 5:40 AM
FARM, STUDY

You have been away from this writing task-opportunity for several days, o son. You definitely felt the pull to return, and I awakened you before the alarm. I have no vital message for you today. The last one, on Fatherhood, is the one that gives you directions for action. That and your little pink card with its four vital things to do are more than enough to keep you busy. But you must begin to order your time a bit better. A suggestion, not a command.

So the teaching this morning is about institutions and is just a good informational one. Most institutions are not directly inspired by Me. They simply develop as natural necessities, given a certain number of people with somewhat diverse values and practices. Or, given common values and practices, institutions arise in order to accomplish some good that individuals might be unwilling or unable to do, just as individuals.

Let’s take a look first at the church, an institution in which I am most interested. I proclaimed the Church to be My Body, and therefore it must have some institutional form here in the earth. Granted, its essence and ultimate reality is spiritual, but it seemed necessary for its physical form to develop, also. The exact form of the institution is not of crucial consequence to Me. However, I shall repeat a truth I offered you before: I like diversity, and so I urge some servants to form or perpetuate some form of church different from other forms. The EOC is one of these, and I continue to guide these young people in their institution. But, fine though it is, it should not be the model for all.

(You were right in your observation about its involvement in suits and countersuits: this is likely to affect its functioning as a church adversely. The motivation to defend Me is commendable in a childish way. It just is really not necessary. Expend energies in proclaiming and in showing Me, not in denigrating others.)

The Church, as a large institution, can be powerful and accomplish much because of its influence. The Church, as a small, simple institution, can minister to individual in ways supreme. Both are vital to My cause. Know this. There is value in the representative type of institution that is the church, Presbyterian. The representation should be done with faith and prayer… but is a system not necessarily superior to others. I bless it… but I bless others, quite diverse from it.

Other institutions develop in order that learning might take place in some organized way. I certainly approve of learning, and I love the institutions that truly foster it through teaching processes. But some, by their very institutional nature, also retard learning… even prevent it from happening. The very teaching approaches that stimulate some to learn are anathema to others. Learning one subject well may encourage forgetting of another. Repetition is a key concept… and I smilingly repeat that for you, again.