8, 9. (a) In what conquests has the global congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses shared? (b) Where has growth of Jehovah’s Witnesses been truly outstanding?

⁸ The global congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses has shared in many conquests under the guidance of its conquering King. Outstandingly, he protected these Bible Students from annihilation in 1918, when they themselves were ‘conquered’ temporarily by Satan’s political organization. In 1919, however, he broke prison bars to rescue them, and he then enlivened them to proclaim the good news “to the most distant part of the earth.”​—Revelation 13:7; Acts 1:8.

⁹ Before and during World War II, the dictatorial Axis powers tried to wipe out Jehovah’s Witnesses in many lands where religious leaders, particularly those of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, gave open or tacit support to oppressive dictators. But the 71,509 Witnesses who were preaching when the war started in 1939 became 141,606 by its end in 1945, even though upwards of 10,000 had spent long years in prisons and concentration camps, and about 2,000 had been killed. The number of active Witnesses earth wide has expanded to over six million today. Growth has been outstanding in Catholic lands and in countries where persecutions were most bitter​—such as Germany, Italy, and Japan, in which the Witnesses are now reporting a total of well over 600,000 active field ministers.​—Isaiah 54:17; Jeremiah 1:17-19.

[Box on page 92]

The King Rides Victorious

During the 1930’s and 1940’s, determined enemies tried to make it appear that the ministry of Jehovah’s Witnesses was illegal, criminal, or even subversive. (Psalm 94:20) In the year 1936 alone, there were 1,149 arrests recorded in the United States. The Witnesses fought many legal cases all the way to the United States Supreme Court, and following are some of their outstanding victories.

On May 3, 1943, the Supreme Court in the case of Murdock v. Pennsylvania decided that the Witnesses did not need a license in order to place literature for money. On that same day, the decision in the case of Martin v. City of Struthers held that it was not unlawful to ring doorbells while participating in the door-to-door distribution of handbills and other advertising matter.

On June 14, 1943, the Supreme Court decided in the Taylor v. Mississippi case that the Witnesses did not encourage disloyalty to the government by their preaching. On that same day, in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the Court held that a school board did not have the right to expel from school children of Jehovah’s Witnesses who refused to salute the flag. The very next day, the full High Court of Australia removed that country’s ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses, this being declared “arbitrary, capricious and oppressive.”