A denomination can be useful in finding a decent church since so many denominations have become so corrupted, even if they started out faithful to God's word.  On the other hand, putting a denomination anywhere near the authority of God's word, is evil.  We left a church because of this issue.  The pastor was good.  Our small group Bible Study was good, but we came to find out that the rest of the church was seriously messed up.  Our Bible Study got in trouble for teaching through the Bible instead of using the denominations Sunday School material.

I agree that anyone who thinks we can work our way into God's good graces or into salvation is 100% wrong.  Works is an evidence of salvation, not a method of earning salvation. 

 "by their fruits ye shall know them"

not by their ornaments or magnitude or position 

 I was at the Texas Episcopal conference a few years ago, and I was greeted by an extremely well-dressed man who identified himself as a communist. I was also greeted by a priest who joked with the priest who brought me about how difficult it is to operate in Texas. The phrase "flyover country" may have been mentioned. The obvious implication was because Texas is conservative, implying that the Episcopal Church is politically motivated. They fly a lot of rainbow colors.

It seems clear to me that any large and influential institution would be unable to withstand the corrupting influence of infinite money emanating from the money printer.