• “Seeking First the Kingdom”
    Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom

    • ‘Trusting in Jehovah With All Their Heart’

      Claude Goodman determined to ‘trust in Jehovah with all his heart and not to lean on his own understanding,’ so he chose colporteur service as a Christian evangelizer instead of a secular business opportunity. (Prov. 3:5, 6) Along with Ronald Tippin, who had helped him to learn the truth, he served as a colporteur in England for over a year. Then, in 1929, the two made themselves available to go to India.c What a challenge that presented!

      In the years that followed, they traveled not only on foot and by passenger train and bus but also by freight train, oxcart, camel, sampan, ricksha, and even plane and private train. Sometimes they spread their bedrolls in railway waiting rooms, in a cattle shed, on jungle grass, or on cow-dung flooring in a cottage, but there were also times when they slept in lush hotels and in a raja’s palace. Like the apostle Paul, they learned the secret of contentment whether they were low on provisions or had an abundance. (Phil. 4:12, 13) Usually they had very little that was of material value, but they never were without what they really needed. They personally experienced the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise that if they would seek first the Kingdom and God’s righteousness, the material necessities of life would be provided.

      There were serious bouts with dengue fever, malaria, and typhoid, but loving care was provided by fellow Witnesses. There was service to be carried out amid the squalor of cities such as Calcutta, and there was witnessing to be done on the tea plantations in the mountains of Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka). To fill the spiritual needs of the people, literature was offered, recordings were played in the local languages, and talks were given. As the work increased, Claude also learned how to operate a printing press and to care for work in the Society’s branch offices.

      In his 87th year, he could look back on a life rich with experiences in Jehovah’s service in England, India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Burma (now Myanmar), Malaya, Thailand, and Australia. Both as a single young man and as a husband and father, he kept the Kingdom first in his life. It was less than two years after his baptism that he entered the full-time service, and he viewed that as his career for the rest of his life.