The Finished Mystery

The Librarian · April 2, 2017

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In late 1916 Fisher and another prominent Bible Student at the Brooklyn headquarters, Clayton J. Woodworth, sought the Executive Committee's approval to produce a book about the prophecies of the books of Revelation and Ezekiel based primarily on Russell's writings.[56] Work on the book, The Finished Mystery, proceeded without the knowledge of the full Board of Directors and Editorial Committee[57][58] and was released by Rutherford to headquarters staff on July 17, 1917, the day he announced the appointment of the four replacement directors.

The book, which was misleadingly labeled as the posthumous seventh volume of Russell's Studies in the Scriptures,[59][60] was denounced by Rutherford's opponents, but became a best-seller and was translated into six languages and serialized in The Watch Tower.[61] Expecting God's Kingdom to establish rule on earth and for the saints to be raised to heaven in 1918,[61] Rutherford wrote in January of that year: "The Christian looks for the year to bring the full consummation of the church's hopes."[62] He embarked on a vast advertising campaign to expose the "unrighteousness" of religions and their alliances with "beastly" governments, expanding on claims in The Finished Mystery that patriotism was a delusion and murder.[63][64] The campaign attracted the attention of governments and on February 12, 1918 the book was banned by the Canadian government for what a Winnipeg newspaper described as "seditious and antiwar statements"[65] On February 24 in Los Angeles Rutherford gave a talk entitled "The World Has Ended—Millions Now Living May Never Die" (subsequent talks in the series were renamed, "Millions Now Living Will Never Die")[66][67] in which he attacked the clergy, declaring: "As a class, according to the Scriptures, the clergymen are the most reprehensible men on earth for the great war that is now afflicting mankind."[65] Three days later the Army Intelligence Bureau seized the Society's Los Angeles offices and confiscated literature.

In early May 1918 US Attorney General Thomas Watt Gregory condemned The Finished Mystery as "one of the most dangerous examples of ... propaganda ... a work written in extremely religious language and distributed in enormous numbers".[68] Warrants were issued for the arrest of Rutherford and seven other Watch Tower directors, who were charged under the 1917 Espionage Act of attempting to cause insubordination, disloyalty, refusal of duty in the armed forces and obstructing the recruitment and enlistment service of the U.S. while it was at war.[69] On June 21 seven of them, including Rutherford, were sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment. Rutherford feared his opponents would gain control of the Society in his absence. On January 2, 1919 he learned he had been re-elected president at the Pittsburgh convention the day before, convincing him that God wanted him in the position.[70][71]