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Coming of Zion City
John Alexander Dowie
John Alexander Dowie (1847–1907). Born on May 25, 1847, in Edinburgh, Scotland, to John Murray Dowie, a tailor and lay preacher, and Ann Macfarlan, John Alexander Dowie became a controversial evangelist and faith healer who founded the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church and Zion, Illinois. His childhood was marked by poverty and illness, but he showed early piety, reading the Bible cover-to-cover by age six and converting at seven after hearing a street preacher. In 1860, his family migrated to Adelaide, Australia, where Dowie worked in his uncle’s shoe business and later as a clerk, rising to a firm handling $2 million annually. At 21, he returned to Edinburgh to study theology, ordained as a Congregational minister in 1872, pastoring at Alma, Australia. His outspoken style led to conflicts, prompting resignations from churches in Manly (1873) and Newtown (1875). By 1878, he left Congregationalism, embracing divine healing after witnessing recoveries during a plague, founding the International Divine Healing Association in 1886. Moving to the U.S. in 1888, he built a following in San Francisco before settling in Chicago in 1890, capitalizing on the 1893 World’s Fair to grow his ministry. In 1896, he established the Christian Catholic Church, emphasizing healing, and in 1901, founded Zion, a theocratic community banning alcohol, tobacco, and medicine. Proclaiming himself “Elijah the Restorer” in 1901, he ruled Zion autocratically, amassing wealth but facing legal battles, including fraud suits he overcame. His books, like Zion’s Conflict with Methodist Apostasy (1900), and Leaves of Healing magazine spread his teachings. Married to cousin Jane Dowie in 1876, he had three children—Gladstone, Jeanie (died 1885), and Esther (died 1902). Extravagant campaigns, like a failed 1903 New York crusade, and financial mismanagement led to his 1906 deposition by deputy Wilbur Voliva after a stroke. Dowie died on March 9, 1907, in Zion, saying, “The time has come when I must obey God rather than man.”
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In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of preparing for the coming of Zion. He urges the listeners to keep their lamps trimmed and burning, and to have oil in their vessels. The preacher encourages the audience to heed the voice from Zion and to arise and cry out. He references the 60th chapter of the book of Isaiah, which speaks about the glory of Jehovah rising upon them. The preacher prays for Zion City to spread across the world and become a beacon of light. He warns against allowing the enemy to weaken their faith in the coming of Zion and highlights the purity and certainty of these prophecies. The preacher also mentions that Zion City is free from sinful influences and is being established as a place for God's people to dwell and educate future generations.
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Zion's city is free from the presence of fallen women and houses of shame, which are the very gates of hell leading down to death. Zion's city is free from secret lodges and many other evil things that cost the cities of all men. God is raising up Zion's city as a dwelling place for his people, where we may educate a royal generation from the infant school to the university. In and in the thousands will, God willing, be sent forth from Zion's city as 70 deacons, deaconesses, evangelists, elders, and overseers of the Christian Catholic Church in Zion into all the world. We pray that this Zion's city will be the heart of many in every continent. We pray that the ancient hill of Zion at Jerusalem will soon be in the hands of God's people and prepared rapidly as the metropolis of the whole world. The city of the great king made ready for his coming. These things are not only possible and probable, but they are as pure and certain as the word of prophecy which foretells them in the latter days. Speaking with God's given authority, I say to you, my brothers and sisters, beware lest the enemy weaken your faith in the coming of Zion's king. Prepare for their coming. Let your lamp be trimmed and burning, and see that you have oil in your vessel with your lamp. Leave not no slumber, but hear the voice from Zion which is crying, Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah has risen upon thee. You may feel that you are but few in number, but I beseech you to read together the glorious 60th chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah, from which my last words were taken. My brothers and sisters, consider the closing words.
Coming of Zion City
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John Alexander Dowie (1847–1907). Born on May 25, 1847, in Edinburgh, Scotland, to John Murray Dowie, a tailor and lay preacher, and Ann Macfarlan, John Alexander Dowie became a controversial evangelist and faith healer who founded the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church and Zion, Illinois. His childhood was marked by poverty and illness, but he showed early piety, reading the Bible cover-to-cover by age six and converting at seven after hearing a street preacher. In 1860, his family migrated to Adelaide, Australia, where Dowie worked in his uncle’s shoe business and later as a clerk, rising to a firm handling $2 million annually. At 21, he returned to Edinburgh to study theology, ordained as a Congregational minister in 1872, pastoring at Alma, Australia. His outspoken style led to conflicts, prompting resignations from churches in Manly (1873) and Newtown (1875). By 1878, he left Congregationalism, embracing divine healing after witnessing recoveries during a plague, founding the International Divine Healing Association in 1886. Moving to the U.S. in 1888, he built a following in San Francisco before settling in Chicago in 1890, capitalizing on the 1893 World’s Fair to grow his ministry. In 1896, he established the Christian Catholic Church, emphasizing healing, and in 1901, founded Zion, a theocratic community banning alcohol, tobacco, and medicine. Proclaiming himself “Elijah the Restorer” in 1901, he ruled Zion autocratically, amassing wealth but facing legal battles, including fraud suits he overcame. His books, like Zion’s Conflict with Methodist Apostasy (1900), and Leaves of Healing magazine spread his teachings. Married to cousin Jane Dowie in 1876, he had three children—Gladstone, Jeanie (died 1885), and Esther (died 1902). Extravagant campaigns, like a failed 1903 New York crusade, and financial mismanagement led to his 1906 deposition by deputy Wilbur Voliva after a stroke. Dowie died on March 9, 1907, in Zion, saying, “The time has come when I must obey God rather than man.”