Striving to Be Conquerors - "Tribulation Ten Days"

 Much like the Christians in Smyrna, the John class and their companions today have been and continue to be "fully awake to the test."  Their faithfulness under trial marks them as God's own people.  (Mark 13:9, 10) Shortly after the Lord's day got under way, Jesus' words to the Christians in Smyrna brought to rest real comfort  to the small international group of Jehovah's people.  (Revelation 1:10)    Ever since 1879, these had been digging out from God's Word spiritual riches  that they freely shared with others.  But during World War I, they met up with intense hatred and opposition, partly because they did not get caught up  in the war fever and partly they were fearlessly exposing the errors of Christendom.  The persecution they received at the instigation of some of Christendom's leaders   came to a head in 1918 and was comparable to what the Christians in Smyrna received from the Jewish community there. 

A wave of persecution in the United States of America was climaxed when the new president of the Watch Tower Society, Joseph F. Rutherford, and seven associates were sent to prison on June 22, 1918, most of them with 20-year sentences.  They were released on bail nine months later.  On May 14. 19, the appeal court reversed their erroneous convictions; there were shown to be 130 errors in the Roman Catholic Judge Manton, a knight of the order of St Gregory the Great, who in 1918 had refused bail to these  Christians, was sentenced later, in 1939, to two years imprisonment and a fine of $10,000 on six charges and accepting bribes.

Next time: Striving to Be Conquerors - "Tribulation Ten Days" -Conclusion 

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