Annoucing The Church of Zion!
Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 11:58 pm
I am pleased to announce the restoration of The Church of Zion, first established by Amasa Lyman (an excommunicated Mormon apostle) and William Godbe (an excommunicated Mormon merchant) in Salt Lake City in 1868. The Church of Zion founded "The Salt Lake Tribune" as Utah's first real "alternative" newspaper.
The Church of Zion was based upon Messages received by Amasa Lyman, from Jesus, Joseph Smith, and others, via seances held at the "Liberal Institute" in Salt Lake City.
The "Seven Messengers" of the Church of Zion (seven guides) will be Krishna, Buddha, Mahivira, Jesus, Yogananda, Andrew Davis Jackson, and Doctor Dahesh (the miracle-working Prophet of Lebanon).
The Church of Zion will have a "Holy Order" composed of the Religious (monks and nuns) fashioned upon the Holy Order of M.A.N.S.
The Church of Zion is not yet a legal entity, and thus cannot accept donations of any kind. As soon as twenty adults in the greater Salt Lake City area request to become Members of The Church of Zion, then the Church will become legally established.
The Church is Zion will consist of the following types of Members:
Trustees (including a Board of Directors)
Religious (monks and nuns who live and work together)
Fellows (ordinary members with families and jobs)
Wards (the children of trustees, religious, and fellows)
Trustees will pay a 5% tithe, and Fellows a 1% tithe. Religious donate all the time and income to the Church in exchange for room and board. Trustees will have the right to vote in Church election of officers.
The "Scriptures" of The Church of Zion will be The Bible of the World.
In addition, study groups will be welcome to study the holy writings of all other religions.
The Church of Zion will have no "creed". All Members will be welcome to believe what they wish, share their personal beliefs with others during Sunday or Saturday sermons. But all must obey the Church's "10 Commandments" which includes "No public displays of affection" and "No discussion of one's private sexual life in public".
The Rites of The Church of Zion will include:
baptism
confession
sacrament
mediumship
passing (healing via hands waved over body)
kriya yoga
hypnotherapy
etc.
Any Member of The Church of Zion can make "suggestions" for the Church, to be voted on by the entire membership, but Council members can only be elected by Trustees.
The Church of Zion will have no priesthood, but a Council that includes the Directors and Advisors (five elected Directors and the Advisors who are the bishops and deacons of the branches).
The Church of Zion will have no "political" stand on any issue, and political questions cannot be addressed in sermons.
The Church of Zion will establish Branches throughout Utah, but not outside of Utah where the Church of Zion will have no legal entity. Members who move out of Utah will be encouraged to find a "Unity" church to associate with.
The Holy Order will live and work together in one group home, make candles or other practical work, as well as run a soup-kitchen for the poor, and offer free hypnotherapy services to all (donations accepted) for the purposes of addiction-recovery, weight-loss, phobias, etc. The Religious will sware an oath of celebacy for one year, and have to renew every year they wish to remain members of the Holy Order.
Trustees and Fellows (ordinary Members) will marry, have normal jobs, and normal families. If the Religious wish to marry they must leave the Holy Order.
Members of The Church of Zion are not required to "go to Church" on Saturday or Sunday, but those who wish to meet on Saturdays for Jewish-like services may do so, and those who wish to meet on Sunday for "Sunday School" may do so. Otherwise, the Church of Zion has only one meeting per month that all Members are asked to attend: the Apape (aw-gaw-pey) Feast; which consists of a vegitarian meal served to all, readings from The Bible of the World, the singings of hymns, and meditation, and time for eating and fellowship. Other meetings include seances, Kriya Yoga sessions, group meditation, individual hypnotherapy sessions, seyvah (acts of selfish service that benefits someone), etc.
The Church of Zion will be divided into Branches (such as the Salt Lake Valley Branch, the Cache Valley Branch, the Utah Valley Branch, etc.) each with an elected Bishop and two elected Deacons (mature married men or women).All bishops report directly to the Council. Each Branch elects their Bishop and Deacons, but only the Trustees elect the Council members.
Each Branch will then be divided into Groups, with one Group meeting on a certain evening each month for Agape Feast. The First Group meets on the first of every month, the 2nd Group on the second, etc., until a Branch has up to 24 Groups meeting one evening per month at one location. There are no Group meetings on Sunday evenings.
For example, the Salt Lake Valley Branch will have one Place of Congregation, which holds (let us say) 20 adults and their wards comfortably. One building can thus have from one to 24 Groups each meeting one evening per month for Agape Feast. If a Place of Congregation can only comfortably hold 10 adults and their wards (children), then such a building can hold up to 240 adults and their wards, if the Branch is divided into 24 Groups each meeting one evening per month. On the other hand, Mormon meetinghouses are only filled to capacity on Sundays. A Church of Zion "Place of Congregation" can be filled every day of every week (except Sunday evenings) for 24 days a month.
Membership in The Church of Zion is open to all adults (18+) as long as they pledge to adhere to the "10 Commandments" of the Church. Those who violate any of the Commandments will face probation, suspension, or expulsion from the Church.
Members will also be asked to volunteer a few hours each month in the Soup-Kitchen, or some other Holy Order endeavor that seeks to help the poor and destitute.
The Church of Zion will have ___no___ official belief regarding Joseph Smith or Mormonism.
The Church if Zion is not spiritism, or spiritualism, but Seekerism; meaning those who seek spiritual truth and knowledge for any source.
Joseph Smith was once said that "Mormonism contains all the truth that there is, come whence it may". Of course, the LDS Church no longer teaches this! The LDS Church now teaches that it has ALL TRUTH ever revealed by God to man. The LDS Church "changes" what it eaches as "eternal truth". They used to teach that Negroes were the cursed children of Cain, less valiant in the War in Heaven, and this was an eternal truth. But the LDS Church now teaches AGAINST this, and even says: "The Church never taught this!"
Members of The Church of Zion are FREE to accept or reject anything they hear in a Church of Zion meeting. There is no creed one must accept in order to be a Member of the Church of Zion other than to believe "There is Truth in all religions, and I am a Seeker of Truth".
"SEEKERISM" is the belief that all religions contain some Truth, and some people are Seekers who seek to gather all the religious truth they can, come whence it may.
Members of The Church of Zion may refer to themselves and each others as "Seekers" such as "My fellow Seekers".
There are five types of people:
Sheep: those who accept the religion of their parents and never question it. A man born a Catholic and remains one. A Mormon born a Mormon and remains one...never questioning.
Shoppers: those who "shop" for a religion they fancy, and accept it and never question it.
Skeptics: those who reject the supernatural (Atheists).
Sleepers: those who are "asleep" to all religious questions, but who are not atheists (i.e. Agnostics). They don't reject God, but are apathetic toward the subject perhaps until they are close to death.
Seekers: those who "seek Truth" and knowledge from many different religions and sources.
The Church of Zion consists of "a spiritual community of Seekers of Truth" who are endeavoring to understand God and the Cosmos in a spiritual way, with other Seekers of Truth, studying Religious Truth from whatever source they can find, from all the religions of the world, and all the Messengers, Prophets, and Guides, and accepting what they believe in Truth and rejecting what they believe in Error, on an individual basis.
The Baptist motto is: "A Bible, a Bible, we have a Bible, there can be no more Bible!"
The Mormon motto is: "The Truth, the Truth, we have found the Truth, there can be no more Truth!"
The Church of Zion motto is: "The Truth, the Truth, we are seeking the Truth, we are seeking to find the Truth whever that Truth is, and whatever that Truth may be!"
For all those who are Seekers of Truth, we welcome you to discover more about The Church of Zion at:
http://churchofzion.webs.com
The Church of Zion was based upon Messages received by Amasa Lyman, from Jesus, Joseph Smith, and others, via seances held at the "Liberal Institute" in Salt Lake City.
The "Seven Messengers" of the Church of Zion (seven guides) will be Krishna, Buddha, Mahivira, Jesus, Yogananda, Andrew Davis Jackson, and Doctor Dahesh (the miracle-working Prophet of Lebanon).
The Church of Zion will have a "Holy Order" composed of the Religious (monks and nuns) fashioned upon the Holy Order of M.A.N.S.
The Church of Zion is not yet a legal entity, and thus cannot accept donations of any kind. As soon as twenty adults in the greater Salt Lake City area request to become Members of The Church of Zion, then the Church will become legally established.
The Church is Zion will consist of the following types of Members:
Trustees (including a Board of Directors)
Religious (monks and nuns who live and work together)
Fellows (ordinary members with families and jobs)
Wards (the children of trustees, religious, and fellows)
Trustees will pay a 5% tithe, and Fellows a 1% tithe. Religious donate all the time and income to the Church in exchange for room and board. Trustees will have the right to vote in Church election of officers.
The "Scriptures" of The Church of Zion will be The Bible of the World.
In addition, study groups will be welcome to study the holy writings of all other religions.
The Church of Zion will have no "creed". All Members will be welcome to believe what they wish, share their personal beliefs with others during Sunday or Saturday sermons. But all must obey the Church's "10 Commandments" which includes "No public displays of affection" and "No discussion of one's private sexual life in public".
The Rites of The Church of Zion will include:
baptism
confession
sacrament
mediumship
passing (healing via hands waved over body)
kriya yoga
hypnotherapy
etc.
Any Member of The Church of Zion can make "suggestions" for the Church, to be voted on by the entire membership, but Council members can only be elected by Trustees.
The Church of Zion will have no priesthood, but a Council that includes the Directors and Advisors (five elected Directors and the Advisors who are the bishops and deacons of the branches).
The Church of Zion will have no "political" stand on any issue, and political questions cannot be addressed in sermons.
The Church of Zion will establish Branches throughout Utah, but not outside of Utah where the Church of Zion will have no legal entity. Members who move out of Utah will be encouraged to find a "Unity" church to associate with.
The Holy Order will live and work together in one group home, make candles or other practical work, as well as run a soup-kitchen for the poor, and offer free hypnotherapy services to all (donations accepted) for the purposes of addiction-recovery, weight-loss, phobias, etc. The Religious will sware an oath of celebacy for one year, and have to renew every year they wish to remain members of the Holy Order.
Trustees and Fellows (ordinary Members) will marry, have normal jobs, and normal families. If the Religious wish to marry they must leave the Holy Order.
Members of The Church of Zion are not required to "go to Church" on Saturday or Sunday, but those who wish to meet on Saturdays for Jewish-like services may do so, and those who wish to meet on Sunday for "Sunday School" may do so. Otherwise, the Church of Zion has only one meeting per month that all Members are asked to attend: the Apape (aw-gaw-pey) Feast; which consists of a vegitarian meal served to all, readings from The Bible of the World, the singings of hymns, and meditation, and time for eating and fellowship. Other meetings include seances, Kriya Yoga sessions, group meditation, individual hypnotherapy sessions, seyvah (acts of selfish service that benefits someone), etc.
The Church of Zion will be divided into Branches (such as the Salt Lake Valley Branch, the Cache Valley Branch, the Utah Valley Branch, etc.) each with an elected Bishop and two elected Deacons (mature married men or women).All bishops report directly to the Council. Each Branch elects their Bishop and Deacons, but only the Trustees elect the Council members.
Each Branch will then be divided into Groups, with one Group meeting on a certain evening each month for Agape Feast. The First Group meets on the first of every month, the 2nd Group on the second, etc., until a Branch has up to 24 Groups meeting one evening per month at one location. There are no Group meetings on Sunday evenings.
For example, the Salt Lake Valley Branch will have one Place of Congregation, which holds (let us say) 20 adults and their wards comfortably. One building can thus have from one to 24 Groups each meeting one evening per month for Agape Feast. If a Place of Congregation can only comfortably hold 10 adults and their wards (children), then such a building can hold up to 240 adults and their wards, if the Branch is divided into 24 Groups each meeting one evening per month. On the other hand, Mormon meetinghouses are only filled to capacity on Sundays. A Church of Zion "Place of Congregation" can be filled every day of every week (except Sunday evenings) for 24 days a month.
Membership in The Church of Zion is open to all adults (18+) as long as they pledge to adhere to the "10 Commandments" of the Church. Those who violate any of the Commandments will face probation, suspension, or expulsion from the Church.
Members will also be asked to volunteer a few hours each month in the Soup-Kitchen, or some other Holy Order endeavor that seeks to help the poor and destitute.
The Church of Zion will have ___no___ official belief regarding Joseph Smith or Mormonism.
The Church if Zion is not spiritism, or spiritualism, but Seekerism; meaning those who seek spiritual truth and knowledge for any source.
Joseph Smith was once said that "Mormonism contains all the truth that there is, come whence it may". Of course, the LDS Church no longer teaches this! The LDS Church now teaches that it has ALL TRUTH ever revealed by God to man. The LDS Church "changes" what it eaches as "eternal truth". They used to teach that Negroes were the cursed children of Cain, less valiant in the War in Heaven, and this was an eternal truth. But the LDS Church now teaches AGAINST this, and even says: "The Church never taught this!"
Members of The Church of Zion are FREE to accept or reject anything they hear in a Church of Zion meeting. There is no creed one must accept in order to be a Member of the Church of Zion other than to believe "There is Truth in all religions, and I am a Seeker of Truth".
"SEEKERISM" is the belief that all religions contain some Truth, and some people are Seekers who seek to gather all the religious truth they can, come whence it may.
Members of The Church of Zion may refer to themselves and each others as "Seekers" such as "My fellow Seekers".
There are five types of people:
Sheep: those who accept the religion of their parents and never question it. A man born a Catholic and remains one. A Mormon born a Mormon and remains one...never questioning.
Shoppers: those who "shop" for a religion they fancy, and accept it and never question it.
Skeptics: those who reject the supernatural (Atheists).
Sleepers: those who are "asleep" to all religious questions, but who are not atheists (i.e. Agnostics). They don't reject God, but are apathetic toward the subject perhaps until they are close to death.
Seekers: those who "seek Truth" and knowledge from many different religions and sources.
The Church of Zion consists of "a spiritual community of Seekers of Truth" who are endeavoring to understand God and the Cosmos in a spiritual way, with other Seekers of Truth, studying Religious Truth from whatever source they can find, from all the religions of the world, and all the Messengers, Prophets, and Guides, and accepting what they believe in Truth and rejecting what they believe in Error, on an individual basis.
The Baptist motto is: "A Bible, a Bible, we have a Bible, there can be no more Bible!"
The Mormon motto is: "The Truth, the Truth, we have found the Truth, there can be no more Truth!"
The Church of Zion motto is: "The Truth, the Truth, we are seeking the Truth, we are seeking to find the Truth whever that Truth is, and whatever that Truth may be!"
For all those who are Seekers of Truth, we welcome you to discover more about The Church of Zion at:
http://churchofzion.webs.com