KINGDOM NEWS #2 April 15 1918 Ban FINISHED MYSTERY Watchtower Jehovah RARE

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KINGDOM NEWS #2 April 15 1918 Ban FINISHED MYSTERY Watchtower Jehovah RARE:
$198.99

Here is an original RARE large \"Kingdom News Number 2 entitled The Finished Mystery and Why Suppressed\" printed by Watchtower and dated April 15, 1918. This is a very large 2 page tract. It details why the book \"The Finished Mystery\" was being suppressed by the clergy. It also has a cartoon of the clergy censoring the Bible and an advertizement on the back for the talk Millions Now Living Will Never Die and a special petition to the President of the United States of America. This is a VERY RARE Theocratic item!

This is a great display item measuring 18 inches tall x 17 inches wide in size

Here is a little of what has been printed about this rare publication:

1975 Yearbook p. 98 United States of America (Part One)

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.”

1955 Watchtower 4/15 pp. 236-237 Part 8: International Attempt to Destroy Society Fails

Modern History of Jehovah’s Witnesses

Part 8: International Attempt to Destroy Society Fails

LATER in February, 1918, the United States Army Intelligence Bureau at New York city began an investigation of the Watch Tower Society’s Brooklyn headquarters. False reports had circulated that the Society had installed upon the Bethel home a powerful wireless station capable of sending messages across the Atlantic, and that this instrument was used to communicate with the German enemy. The facts are that in Pastor Russell’s lifetime a brother had presented to him a small wireless receiving set. There was no transmitter. There never was any message sent from the Bethel home by wireless. This was in 1915, before the day of radio broadcasting, when even wireless telegraphy was in its infancy. In 1918 when two Army Intelligence men were going through Bethel they were taken to the roof and shown the penthouse where the wireless receiver had been; and then, in a lower storeroom, they were shown the instrument itself, packed away. By consent the receiving set was taken away by these army men.

On Thursday, February 28, 1918, following J. F. Rutherford’s lecture the previous Sunday at Los Angeles, California, the Army Intelligence Bureau there took possession of the headquarters of the Los Angeles congregation of Bible students, confiscating many of the Society’s publications. The following Monday (March 4, 1918), at Scranton, Pennsylvania, several associates of the Society were arrested, charged with conspiracy, and were put under bond for their appearance for trial in May. Already more than twenty others had been forcibly detained in army camps or military prisons because of the war draft. Outside pressure against the Society was piling up fast.

Courageously carrying forward their work against mounting odds, the band of valiant ones on March 15, 1918, released a new, newspaper-size, two-page tract, Kingdom News No. 1, headed “Religious Intolerance—Pastor Russell’s Followers Persecuted Because They Tell the People the Truth—Treatment of Bible Students Smacks of the ‘Dark Ages.’” Millions of this tract were distributed, exposing the clergy-inspired persecution of these zealous preachers in Germany, Canada and the United States. This tract furthermore advertised the historic lecture to be delivered March 24, 1918, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music by the Society’s president, entitled “The World Has Ended—Millions Now Living May Never Die!” Three thousand heard this important lecture. For 1918 a report shows there were 7,000 engaged in placing bound books from door to door, besides uncounted others who were distributing tracts and handbills and giving personal verbal witness. In April further clergy-inspired attempts to intimidate these preachers of the Kingdom message occurred. On April 15, 1918, however, Kingdom News No. 2 appeared, being distributed by the millions of copies, with bold headlines: “The Finished Mystery and Why Suppressed—Clergymen Take a Hand.” The facts of suppression in Canada and the United States up to April 15 were laid bare to the public, exposing the clergy’s efforts to destroy the Society’s activity. In connection with such distribution a petition was circulated, addressed to United States President Wilson:

“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.”

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This rare Kingdom News #2 is in NICE condition. The paper has some age and wear on the fold lines. Tears and holes have been taped on the reverse side. A little bit of paper is missing on the top edge.This would make a GREAT display item!

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