Obligations of Membership
The Order of Merit is the greatest honor which the Grand Priory of the United States of America of the Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem can bestow. Honor, however, is nothing if it does not exist in the sight of God. True honor endures only if it is returned to God in the form of good deeds. Members of the Order of Merit must be suitable leaders in the Order’s principal effort to keep open the road to Jerusalem for all. This is to be taken both physically as well as spiritually. It concerns every person who desires to worship there the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God Who Jesus Christ called Our Father. It is the task of the Order of Merit to assure that no one will be barred from the Holy City. It is also the task of every member of the Order to seek access to the Heavenly Jerusalem for himself or herself as well as the members’ loved ones and neighbor.
The Order of Merit of the Grand Priory of the United States of the Sovereign MilitaryOrder of the Temple of Jerusalem was created as a method to award distinguished persons and to recognize their service in support of the goals of the Grand Priory of the United States of the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem. Recipients neither need to be members of the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem nor Christians. 
