We passed by Zion City Moria, headquarters of the Zion Christian Church (Zed-C-C), the largest religion in South Africa. Millions of people from all over the country make a pilgrimmage here every Good Friday. From what I understand it's basically a cult, but you could find out for yourself.
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For those who aren't research geeks, here's some info about the ZCC...
The ZCC was officially registered as a church in 1924 by Engenas Lekganyane, former member of the Free Church of Scotland. ZCC members trace the church founding to a revelation which Lekganyane is said to have received from God in 1910. The church was initially based in his home village of Thabakgone, near Polokwane in South Africa's Limpopo Province. By 1924, additional congregations had been established in Botswana and Zimbabwe.
The early church was strongly influenced by the doctrines of the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church of John Alexander Dowie, based in Zion, Illinois (US) and by the teachings of the Pentecostal missionary John G. Lake, who began work in Johannesburg in 1908.
The ZCC belongs to the so-called independent churches of South Africa - described as independent because they are not under "white control."
The ZCC is distinguished from traditional Christianity by characteristics typical of African Initiated Churches which includes: (1) the belief that the religious/administrative leader of the church is a mediator between the congregation and God and that, like Christ, he can perform supernatural acts and faith-healing; (2) the belief that senior officials in the ZCC (known as prophets or "baruti") can use the power of the Holy Spirit to perform healing and make the wishes of the ancestors known; and (3) the use of different mechanisms for faith-healing (laying-on of hands, use of holy water, drinking of blessed tea and coffee, wearing of blessed cords or cloth, and the burning of blessed papers called "mogau").
ZCC members generally believe that a person may contact God through direct prayer or through intercession by Christ, bishops of the ZCC, and the ancestor spirits. Purification from sins may be obtained through prayer and other rituals. The bishop of the ZCC preaches peace and respect and the humility of Jesus Christ. Spirit possession may be the work of either the Holy Spirit or of ancestor spirits.
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