BTW, one of the easiest ways to identify a cult or counterfeit is when anybody attempts to divert the work of God away from Him and attribute His works to man or an institution.
Your difficulty here, I think, is that you view Christ’s Church as merely “a man or an institution.” The Church is Crist’s Bride. In another mystical image, the Church is the Body of Christ. Scripture likewise says the Church is “the pillar and foundation of the Truth.” This is no merely institutional view. It sjows that the Church is God’s instrument, in CHrist and throught he power of the Holy Spirit, for the salvation of the world.