“The Fall of Babylon” issue of The Bible Students Monthly advertised The Finished Mystery and included biting truths that had the effect of stripping Christendom’s religion of its covering of pretense. Not only did the clergy howl, but they induced the political powers to take action on both warring sides, clergymen in Germany being just as antagonistic to the Bible Students as their counterparts in Britain and America. Britain’s ally, Canada, led by fining and imprisoning people who possessed copies of either The Finished Mystery or “The Fall of Babylon” tract.

Prior to printing The Finished Mystery in England, Hemery had underlined passages in the book that exposed the hypocritical course of the clergy in encouraging men in all nations to slaughter one another and that, while German soldiers wore belts inscribed ‘God with us,’ British clergymen threw halos of glory upon soldiers the Germans killed. Some of the passages described the clergy as decoys to get others to kill and be killed while themselves avoiding any direct participation. Hemery undertook to delete such passages and was granted permission to go ahead with the printing and distribution.

The Press Bureau director immediately wrote and called for an interview with Hemery and told him that The Finished Mystery was an offense against Regulation 18 of the Defence of the Realm Act. Hemery arranged to stop the printing of any further copies.

There is no doubt that the war’s effects were bringing about radical changes and often lack of clear direction, with the result that some compromised, as in the case of deleting material from The Finished Mystery.