By late 1917 and early 1918 The Finished Mystery was being distributed in increasing numbers. Angered, the clergy falsely claimed that certain statements in this book were of a seditious nature. They were out to “get” the Watch Tower Society and, like the Jewish religious leaders when Jesus was on earth, they wanted the State to do the work for them. (Compare Matthew 27:1, 2, 20.) Both Catholic and Protestant clergymen falsely represented the Bible Students as being in the employ of the German government. For example, referring to the work of the International Bible Students Association, a legal agency of God’s people, Doctor Case of the Divinity School of Chicago University published this statement: “Two thousand dollars a week is being spent to spread their doctrine. Where the money comes from is unknown; but there is a strong suspicion that it emanates from German sources. In my belief, the fund would be a profitable field for government investigation.”

“This, stimulated by similar charges from other nominal churchmen, evidently had something to do with Army Intelligence officers seizing the books of the Treasurer of the Society,” said The Watch Tower of April 15, 1918. It continued: “The authorities doubtless thought that they would find some evidence to substantiate the charge that our Society is working in the interest of the German government. Of course, the books disclose nothing of the kind. All the money used by our Society is contributed by those who are interested in preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his kingdom, and nothing else.” Nationwide newspaper publicity about seizure of the Society’s books tended to excite suspicion.

Not long after the clergy-inspired ban in Canada, the international nature of the conspiracy became evident. In February 1918 the United States Army Intelligence Bureau in New York city began investigating the Watch Tower Society’s headquarters. Not only had it been intimated falsely that the Society was in contact with the German enemy; it had also been reported lyingly to the United States government that the Society’s headquarters in Brooklyn was a center for transmitting messages to the German regime. Eventually the public press reported that government agents had seized a wireless apparatus erected and ready for use at the Bethel home. But what were the facts?

In 1915 C. T. Russell was given a small wireless receiver. Personally he was not too interested in it, but a small aerial was erected on the roof of the Bethel home and some younger brothers were given opportunity to learn how to operate the equipment. However, there was not much success in picking up messages. When the United States was about to enter the war, it was required that all wireless instruments be dismantled. So the aerial was taken down and the poles were sawed up and used for other purposes, while the instrument itself was carefully packed away in the Society’s Art Room. It had not been used at all for more than two years when two Army Intelligence men were told about the outfit while in conversation with a member of the Bethel family. They were taken to the roof and shown where it was formerly. Then they were shown the instrument itself, all packed away. By consent, these men took it because there was no use for it at Bethel. The apparatus was a receiver only, not a transmitter. Never was there a sending instrument at Bethel. So it was impossible to transmit a message anywhere.

Opposition and pressure continued to mount against Jehovah’s people. On February 24, 1918, J. F. Rutherford delivered a public lecture at Los Angeles, California, to an audience of 3,500. The morning thereafter the Los Angeles Tribune printed a full-page report of the lecture. This aroused the indignation of local clergymen. The ministerial association held a meeting on Monday morning and sent its president to the managers of the newspaper, demanding that they explain why they had published so much about the lecture. On the following Thursday, the Army Intelligence Bureau took possession of the Bible Students’ Los Angeles headquarters, also taking many of the Society’s publications.

Monday, March 4, 1918, saw the arrest at Scranton, Pennsylvania, of Clayton J. Woodworth (one of the compilers of The Finished Mystery) and several other brothers. They were falsely charged with conspiracy and were put under bond for an appearance for trial in May. Furthermore, as outside pressure increased rapidly against the Society, more than twenty Bible Students were detained in army camps and military prisons because of being denied military exemption. Some of them were court-martialed and sentenced to long prison terms. On March 14, 1918, the United States Department of Justice termed the distribution of The Finished Mystery a violation of the Espionage Act.

A counteroffensive by God’s people​—that was a necessity. There must be exposure of the clergy-fomented opposition to the Christian work of the Bible Students. Hence, on March 15, 1918, the Watch Tower Society released a newspaper-size, two-page tract, Kingdom News No. 1. It bore the bold heading ‘Religious Intolerance​—Pastor Russell’s Followers Persecuted Because They Tell the People the Truth—​Treatment of Bible Students Smacks of the ‘Dark Ages.’” This tract did indeed expose the clergy-inspired persecution of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses in Germany, Canada and the United States. Millions of copies were distributed.

Interestingly, this tract said: “We recognize that the United States Government, being a political and economic institution, has the power and authority, under its fundamental law, to declare war and to draft its citizens into military service. We have no disposition to interfere with the draft or the war in any manner. The fact that some of our members have sought to take advantage of the protection of the law, has been used as another means of persecution.”

Kingdom News No. 2 appeared on April 15, 1918. Its striking headline read “‘The Finished Mystery’ and Why Suppressed.” Under the subheading “Clergymen Take a Hand,” this tract showed that the clergy encouraged government agencies to harass the Society, make arrests, object to The Finished Mystery and pressure the Bible Students to cut certain pages (247-253) from that volume. Also, the tract explained why clergymen opposed Jehovah’s servants, and it clarified their stand on war, as well as their belief about the true church.

A petition was circulated in connection with distribution of this Kingdom News. Addressed to United States President Wilson, it read: “We, the undersigned Americans, hold that any interference by the clergy with independent Bible study is intolerant, un-American and un-Christian; and that any attempt to combine Church and State is radically wrong. In the interest of liberty and religious freedom, we solemnly protest against the suppression of The Finished Mystery, and petition the Government to remove all restrictions as to its use, that the people may be permitted without interference or molestation to buy, sell, have and read this aid to Bible study.”

On May 1, 1918, just six weeks after the first Kingdom News, Kingdom News No. 3 was released, bearing the headline “Two Great Battles Raging​—Fall of Autocracy Certain” and the subtitle “Satanic Strategy Doomed to Failure.” This issue dealt with the Seed of Promise versus the seed of Satan the Devil. (Gen. 3:15) It traced the development of the antichrist from its birth to the current deeds of the Catholic and Protestant clergy. Boldly this tract showed how the Devil used such agents in an effort to destroy the remnant of Jesus Christ’s anointed followers on earth.

Courage was required to distribute the issues of Kingdom News then published. Some Bible Students were arrested. At times supplies of Kingdom News were confiscated temporarily. Though they found themselves in a crucible of opposition and persecution, Jehovah’s servants maintained faithfulness to God and continued doing their Christian work.

ATROCITIES COMMITTED

Atrocities were committed against Jehovah’s servants as clergy-laity opposition increased. Giving a partial report of the unbelievable persecutions experienced by the Bible Students, a later publication of the Watch Tower Society said, in part:

“April 12, 1918, at Medford, Oregon, E. P. Taliaferro was mobbed and chased out of town for preaching the gospel and George R. Maynard was stripped, painted and driven from town for permitting Bible study in his home. . . .

“April 17, 1918, at Shawnee, Oklahoma, G. N. Fenn, George M. Brown, L. S. Rogers, W. F. Glass, E. T. Grier and J. T. Tull were jailed. During the trial the Prosecuting Attorney said, ‘To hell with your Bible; you ought to be in hell with your back broken; you ought to be hung.’ When G. F. Wilson, of Oklahoma City, attempted to act as counsel for the defense he also was arrested. Each was fined $55 and costs; offense, distributing Protestant literature. The trial judge encouraged mob action following the trial, but the mobs were foiled.

“April 22, 1918, at Kingsville, Texas, L. L. Davis and Daniel Toole were chased by a mob led by the Mayor and a County Judge and subsequently caught and jailed without a warrant. Davis was forced out of his job. In May, 1918, at Tecumseh, Oklahoma, J. J. May was seized and incarcerated thirteen months in an insane asylum by the order of a Judge, after threatening and abuse. His family was not advised as to what had been done with him. . . .

“March 17, 1918, at Grand Junction, Colorado, a meeting for Bible study was broken up by a mob composed of the Mayor, leading newspaper men and other prominent business men. . . .

“April 22, 1918, at Wynnewood, Oklahoma, Claud Watson was first jailed and then deliberately released to a mob composed of preachers, business men and a few others that knocked him down, caused a negro to whip him and, when he had partially recovered, to whip him again. They then poured tar and feathers all over him, rubbing the tar into his hair and scalp. April 29, 1918, at Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, W. B. Duncan, 61 years of age, Edward French, Charles Franke, a Mr. Griffin and Mrs. D. Van Hoesen were jailed. The jail was broken into by a mob that used the most vile and obscene language, whipped, tarred, feathered and drove them from town. Duncan was compelled to walk twenty-six miles to his home and barely recovered. Griffin was virtually blinded and died from the assault a few months later.”

After all these years, T. H. Siebenlist remembers well what happened to his father in Shattuck, Oklahoma. He writes:

“In September of 1917 I started to school and all went well until about March when all schoolchildren were required to buy a Red Cross pin. I took the note home at noon. Dad was at work and mom could only read German at that time. However, Brother Howlett, a pilgrim brother, was visiting the ‘class’ and he took care of the matter. No pin was bought!

“It was shortly after this that the officials picked up dad at work and tried to make him stand on the book The Finished Mystery and salute the flag​—this right on Main Street in Shattuck. He was taken to jail . . .

“Shortly after this dad was picked up again and held another three days. This time he was fed very little. His release this time was another story. About midnight three men simulated a jail ‘break-in.’ They put a sack over dad’s head and marched him to the west edge of town barefooted. This was rough terrain and full of sandburs. Here they stripped him to the waist and whipped him with a buggy whip that had a wire at the tip. Then they applied hot tar and feathers, leaving him for dead. He managed to get up and walk and crawl around town toward the southeast. Then he intended to head north and home. However, a friend of his found him and brought him home. I never saw him that night, but it was a terrible shock to mom, especially with a tiny baby in the house, and Grandma Siebenlist fainted when she saw him. My brother John had been born only a few days before all of this happened. However, mom held up under all the strain very well, never losing sight of Jehovah’s protective power. . . .

“Grandma and Aunt Katie, dad’s half sister, began nursing him back to life. The tar and feathers were imbedded in his flesh; so they used goose grease to heal up the wounds and gradually the tar came off. . . . Dad never saw their faces, but he recognized their voices and knew who his assailants were. He never told them. In fact, it was hard to get him ever to talk about it. Yet, he carried those scars to the grave.”