What follows is the substance of our belief — the place appointed, why Zion exists, and the celestial laws that govern her.
Zion is a place, and the place still stands
The land of Zion is Jackson County, Missouri, with her stakes in the regions round about. In July of 1831 the Lord named the land by revelation and the spot for the temple was dedicated. Zion was not left as a figure of speech or an idea to be spiritualized. It was given a location, a center place, and a boundary — a city to be built, with stakes appointed round about her for the gathering.
The Saints were driven from that land within two years, and they have not held it since. But the appointment was not withdrawn with them. When the Lord explained the affliction to the Church afterward, He did not name a different place; He named the same one.
Zion shall not be moved out of her place, notwithstanding her children are scattered.
D&C 101:17
Zion is built by the celestial law
Consecration, as it was given under Joseph Smith: each member consecrates to the Lord and receives a stewardship, held as his own, sufficient for himself and his family. It was never common stock, never the abolition of private property, never the surrender of agency. What the law asks for is the surplus — that which is more than sufficient — freely given for the poor and for the building up of the Lord's kingdom, and with it the consecration of time and talent.
Zion exists for one purpose
To prepare a people and a place for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ and His millennial reign upon the earth. Everything the Community does is measured against that. If a thing prepares the people for the Lord's coming, it belongs in Zion. If it does not, it does not.
Zion's protection is her purity
Because Zion is holy ground, it is kept holy. No unclean practice or deed is permitted within her, and the government of Zion excludes unrighteous behavior — not as a matter of harshness, but as a matter of survival. She cannot afford to trade her purity.
The Patriarchal Order
The Church of Jesus Christ in Zion is composed of the Patriarchs and their families together, presided over as a body by a Priesthood High Council. But the individual families are not presided over by the Church. Each family is presided over by its own father — its own Patriarch. There is no intermediary between a family and the Lord. Every Patriarch and every family are independently free in their own beliefs and their own judgments, which is why we call ourselves Independent Christians.
This priesthood cannot be conferred and cannot be ordained by the laying on of another man's hands, because it is not another man's to give. It belongs to each person by right of lineage, as an heir, and can only be revealed.
