The New Jerusalem/El-HEJERA Project .
1.
Introduction.
Jerusalem is probably the most sensitive and
potent "hot spot" in the world. The prophecies of Judaism,
Christianity and Islam concur that Jerusalem is the future site both for World
conflict and/or World Redemption. In a sense, the history of all of humankind
is "clocked" by Jerusalem. Because of Jerusalem's potential world
influence it is becoming to construct an illustrative working model of a
creative solution for her problems.
The collapse of the recent
negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority was mainly about
Jerusalem and the Old City. It became evident that neither side can yield the
Old City to the other. An idea that is voiced independently by many people is
to offer the whole Old City of Jerusalem, jointly, to God. Only in this way,
the two contending sides will not lose face in yielding the city.
This same idea emerged as a
natural conclusion of John
Michell's "Temple Revelation" at the Academy of Jerusalem. This
revelation, in a nutshell, is that the future Temple of prophesy already
underlines, providentially and precisely, the whole Old City of Jerusalem. In
popular articles, he drew the same conclusion - that this entire Temple should
be recognized as holy and taken out of the hands of the political contention (See synoptic magazine article and John’s
popular article).
Subsequent further discoveries by
associates of the Academy of Jerusalem lend further substance to this claim.
These discoveries include (a) the amazing coherence between the shrines of the
three religions in Jerusalem (which we deem derives from a master plan of King
Solomon’s multiple temples), and (b) the secret ecumenical meaning of the
designs of the Dome of the Rock (see Appendices “B”
and “C”).
When considering the joint offering of the Old City
of Jerusalem to God, the practical questions soon arise – Who would represent
God in this matter? Who will administer utilities and security? A concept that
we propose to examine would be to turn the Old City of Jerusalem to an
independent entity, administered by an international and interfaith association
of Lovers of Jerusalem. The devotees of Jerusalem among the contending parties
will be included, and their differences would be mitigated through the shared
responsibility, the pronounced interfaith interface of this entity and the
influence of the fellow Lovers of Jerusalem from all over the world. In the
following, we shall call the plan for the city and also this constituency
itself as “The New Jerusalem”
A virtual version of the Heavenly Jerusalem
and/or the Temple of Jerusalem, accessible everywhere via the Internet, would
be able to attract, enlist and train much of the worldwide constituency of The
New Jerusalem. Even if this concept is considered politically unrealistic, its
will add great spiritual value, used as an aim of a wonderful virtual
educational facility that exercises in holist peace-making, religious and
spiritual progress.