Visions Beyond the Veil (2024)

I don't know what to do with this book. It is really strange, and critical reviews are scarce. (Critical in the sense of involving criticism-writ-large, not necessarily unfavorable.)

Baker tries so hard to convince the reader of some things while taking others for granted. I understand why he would need to persuade the reader that people have visions of heaven and that some of these people could be children, and could be these children, though this is something that I accept. He does not, however, do much to accredit himself: why should I believe that any of what he is saying is true? Perhaps he is well enough known as a man of integrity for some of his audience to believe that things are as he described, but that doesn't really help me. Granted, I'm not sure what he could do that would help. (I remember being only mildly skeptical throughout Heaven is For Real, but maybe that's because the claims made are less audacious, the people are more likeable, and the prose, being more recently written, is more accessible.)

Here's the biggest issue I had with the book, though, and it's not something that Baker could have done differently: the children's attitude towards those who ultimately ended up in hell. Others disagree with my reading, and I acknowledge that a more favorable interpretation is possible, but I read their reaction to the "unsaved" to be really unsympathetic and even sanctimonious: "I'm sorry you're in torment, but it's your own fault; you could have listened to me." I would like to think that, if I were to find myself in that position, I would be beside myself in despair, weeping for the suffering of these human beings - even if they were, in life, unkind people. I would want them to be shown mercy. It is possible that, being in heaven, the children have insight into God's perspective and, being able to understand why hell is necessary, they find the suffering of these people more tolerable. But, reading this, it made me think, "If this experience of the Holy Spirit has made them like that, I'm not sure I want it for myself."

Others who have read more out-of-body/to-heaven-and-back accounts than I, and who know more about psychology, may be better positioned to analyze the visions themselves. I found them interesting, for sure, and I was grateful for the occasion to think about such things and to think about how to direct my life in light of them. It did make me wonder, though: what happened to these kids after having these visions? Did they become preachers and pastors and missionaries? Or very devout and spiritually serious workers in a secular setting? Did they even stay connected to their faith? On the one hand, the point is the visions, not the children, so the "where are they now" piece isn't as important. On the other, Baker does spend a lot of time talking about their experience of God and of the Holy Spirit as observed from the outside, apart from what they reported seeing for themselves. One would think that some information about their lives afterward would have helped the reader see what the visions did for their faith and their lives, as Baker perhaps hopes that the sharing of the visions will do for the readers'. Perhaps those things are left out because they strayed; it wouldn't be surprising. But perhaps they are more encouraging and are left untold for other reasons.

I Loooooooved it!!!!!!! Must read for anyone hungry for a peak into the supernatural

Jaw dropping beauty of what God can do amongst the poor of the earth and those who hunger for Him!

Really a 3.5.

Straight-forward telling of visions and revelations received by Chinese orphans in the early twentieth century. Little is told about Baker's amazing ministry among those orphans.

On page 62 H. A. Baker relates that demons "resemble the demon idols in Chinese temples." This observation raises the issue of cultural influence even in supposed visions of the same thing. Books about dream visits to heaven are a cottage industry among American Christians, yet no two describe heaven the same. The apparent solution is that just as our culture filters what we see when awake, it predisposes us to see dreamed or envisions things a certain way. (Westerners see angels and demons much as portrayed in centuries of Western art.) Otherwise we won't "recognize" them. My point is that we need humility both in reporting and in reading accounts of spiritual matters.

TARGET AUDIENCE
This book appeals to a general Christian audience. Though the cover bothers me (I find the image of the boy slightly disconnected to the renditions that the author paints of Chinese street children), the content is quite remarkable and inspiring. This book challenges the reader to see God alive and at work in the world around him, delighting to use the most modest child as a mouthpiece of divine revelation.

CONTENT QUALITY
The content is out of the world—literally! Having lived in Southwest China for 15 years, it was incredible to read the details of a story that happened a few hundred kilometers from my second home. The visions that these young Chinese children had were remarkable and inspiring. Their glimpse of the realm beyond our own was not only for them but for us today. The author does well to both adequately describe the visions that the children saw as well as speak to the reader about what God is saying today.

MESSAGE CLARITY
Even though this story took place many decades ago in a world very different from our world today, I found the message very clear and relevant to the present. Recollections of the children’s visions were clearly stated. But the author takes the message one step further by describing how the spiritual world is all about us even now. As a missionary and first hand witness to all that God did in and through his ministry, he is not quick to take any glory. Indeed, many times he explains how he simply sat back and watched what God was doing in his midst, not wanting to disrupt the visions that God was giving to the young children in his care. Because he was an observer to all that God was doing he was able to clearly disseminate the message of God, bringing clarity to the storyline.

CREATIVE STYLE
As this is not a work of creative writing, there is no plot per se. Still the author is able to construct the narrative in a well-laid out, creative way. The flow of the book (which I mention in the next section) was skillfully orchestrated. The retelling of a story like this could easily become murky in its style. This is not the case with Visions Beyond the Veil.

LANGUAGE SELECTION
I find the rhythmic flow of this book well-maintained, effortless and well-constructed. Each chapter reminds the reader that he is returning to his true home; that the culminating pinnacle of the Christian traveler is the Heavenly Kingdom he is pining for. The author says it well: “It may be that as the journey leads over difficult pathways and exhausting mountains, the pilgrim may become so wearied with his heavy burdens that he can scarcely hear the singing of the birds, sense refreshment from the wayside flowers, or find any great happiness in the fellowship of his fellow pilgrims. But it will not be so at the end of the way.” The author often pens the narrative in poetic form. Other times his choice of words feel Biblical as he scribes the visions and messages of the children he observes seeing heaven.

OVERALL IMPACT
After reading about the visions that these young children had, one might think that God is absolutely reckless in His revelation to adolescent hearts and minds! These were not your typical Sunday school topics. “They also saw hell, the misery of the lost, demons, the great tribulation, and the devil himself… the binding of the antichrist, the devil cast out of heaven, the great supper of God, and birds eating flesh of kings and captains of the earth.” I find it exceptional that God chose to use beggars and street children as His mouthpiece to Christian missionaries in China. Does not the cross-cultural missional worker have ample theological and spiritual training under his belt? Indeed, most do. But that is not enough. The Holy Spirit chooses to use the unassuming to display deeper revelations of His glory—even to those who give their lives for the sake of the Gospel. This is the impact left on my heart: that there is much more revelation to be had from God if only I would pause and linger to hear.

10 POINT RATING
I give Visions Beyond the Veil an 8/10.

The author and his wife served for years as missionaries in China. They operated the Adullam Rescue Mission, a home for children who were either orphans or beggars on the street. Over a span of a few weeks, the Holy Spirit descended on the home in a powerful way and amazing visions of heaven and hell were shown to the children, none of whom were learned to know the Bible and how what they were seeing confirmed Scriptures. This book is a collection and recounting of those experiences.
The author is the grandfather of Rolland Baker, founder of Iris Ministries along with his wife Heidi. I have visited one of the Iris bases in Mozambique. Thinking about their ministry with the children on the streets, I can speculate on the impact that his grandfather had on him which is confirmed in the introduction. This short book is an encouraging read showing that God is no respecter of persons in terms of who He reveals His truths to.

Great Book for the Those Seeking the Truth

The supernatural events happening to the orphanage children were both inspiring and fascinating. I have experienced the power of the Holy Spirit through the Charismatic Renewal in the Catholic Church and ecumenical Pentecostal gatherings. I deeply believe these events took place as described in book. Simila events in all Christian denominations have taken place and are taking place right now. Kibeho in Rawanda amongst school children in the 1980's. One pagan boy of 15 years started having visions of Jesus, prophesied and eventually was baptised a Christian and was sent by Jesus on an evangelical mission around Rawanda and the Congo before dying in the genocide of 1994. His name is Segatashya.

Great read !!! Inspiring Testimonies of Jesus working

I liked the personal testimonies of Jesus working in people’s life as well as the biblical inspiration and truth pulled together in this story. I would read it again !

Little Children Will Lead Them

God of the universe bent down to earth and revealed Himself and His plan for a life of joy to orphan Chinese beggar children. What an amazing demonstration of God’s grace. I can’t recommend this book enough.

Really encouraged me to do more!!!

A very interesting look at the work of God in the lives of children.

Como Dios se manifiesta a través de varios niños chinos.

Stimulating; an insight into the work that Rolland Baker is currently doing in Mozambique with his wife, Heidi Baker.

This book is a faith builder.

Good book it’s amazing all the visions those children had

If you are a fan or enjoy things like HEAVEN IS FOR REAL, which by the way a variety of Christians have expressed criticism or concern about the book's content and message. The Berean Call criticized the book for its "extra-biblical" claims, as well as the lack of any medical evidence that the boy was clinically dead during the surgery. Author and pastor John MacArthur has criticized the book for presenting an un-Biblical perspective on the afterlife. In an interview with The New Yorker magazine, Vincent expressed concern that Christians would find the book to be a "hoax" if she included people in heaven having wings.In 2015, Alex Malarkey publicly disavowed the book The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven, stating that his near-death experience described in that book was fictional and condemned Christian publishers and bookstores for selling popular "heaven tourism" books, which he said "profit from lies." Following Malarkey's statement, Colton Burpo expressed that "People have their doubts about my story," but said he stood by the book. If you are one of those who enjoy Vision books, you owe it to yourself to give this small work a look.
VISIONS BEYOND THE VEIL, much like John Bunyan's "Visions of Heaven and Hell" and Mary K Baxter's works "A Divine Revelation of Hell" and "A Divine Revelation of Heaven", gives us first hand accounts of Visions and Revelations under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God given to the poor begger outcast children of the Adullam Home in China under the ministry of H.A. Baker, an Pentecostal missionary to Tibet from 1911 to 1919, to China from 1919 to 1950, when forced to leave the mainland, and then in Taiwan from 1955 until his death in 1971. The accounts contained are brief and cover Heaven as well as Hell and aspects of the afterlife with scriptural references provided by Mr. Baker. A must read for those who are Inspired by the workings of God's Holy Spirit upon his people.
In VISIONS BEYOND THE VEIL's modern printing which I read, as with most modern reprints of works these days, NONE of Mr. Baker's original footnotes are found, NOT ONE, which are easily found in most nearly every free on line version to be found. I would highly recommend obtaining a free PDF version to get the fullness of this work. In my Modern edition there is one single footnote, I have no clue who is responsible for this single notation, but it is NOT a note of Mr Baker! It is found on page 131 of my 2006 edition which notes it is a modern updated revision previously published as Visions of Heaven. This footnote falsely assures its readers that the visions of Christians suffering under the anti christ to come MUST be converts after the Rapture! A False teaching in which Mr. Baker addressed at length in his rare out of print work entitled TRIBULATION TO GLORY, which is one of the most solid biblically accurate rebuke of the false pre trib rapture ever written, in my humble opinion. It was sad to find this unwarranted footnote in the book especially with no credit given to whom really put this single note, leading one to assume its Bakers explanation. One has to wonder why their was not one single revelation of any pre trib escape given to these young ones whom God's spirit moved on in such a mighty way that a person has to insert an assumption (presumed by their own indoctrination rather than by scripture). Mr Baker's own footnotes throughout these revelations give from scripture the fact Christians will indeed suffer the coming Tribulation, as the visions only confirm.The added footnote is a symptom commonly found among revsionists these days. It is like the fact Oswald J Smith, whom Billy Graham called his inspiration as an evangelist, all Mr Smiths works are reprinted and copy righted by SWORD OF THE LORD, a solid fundalmentalist organization, however this mighty evangelist come out against the Pre Trib teaching and openly corrected hisself, includeing his books, yet SWORD will only print and publish his early works which he himself corrected! Why? the List goes on my freind..this insertion here is just one example. Once again, Id Highly Recommend obtaining the free etext version with all Mr Bakers Original notes OVER this modern printing.
All in all I'd have to say VISIONS BEYOND THE VEIL was truly a refreshing, edifying, and Inspirational Read Indeed!

This was an expansion of one of the stories included in Robert Liardon's books, Visions of Heaven.

According to Baker, several Tibetan boys were overcome by the Holy Spirit and had visions of Heaven at the same time. They saw many of the same details, including prophetic visions of the End Times when, according to Baker, the moon will turn red, there will be earthquakes, bombs, diseases, and people fleeing from God. People who don't repent will be sent to Hell. We must urgently tell others about these experiences or else they will go to Hell. Although the actual writing is a bit dry and I felt a bit drowsy reading the book, the message is urgent and timely!

A friend loaned me the book, as it inspired his faith.

The book is an easy read. I liked the connection of the events to the Scriptures. It appears that the events described in the book took place during the years of "revival" of the early part of the twentieth century. Having read a number of those accounts, this seems remarkably familiar. I would say that the book is primarily a recollection of events, arranged in an orderly fashion, with some biblical commentary. It lacks a compelling "point."

I have a caution with this book. It misses the role of the local church. Somehow the Spirit of God moves within an orphanage, but the result has no recorded benefit in the life of the Chinese church. This is surprising because some (if not all) of the Scriptures used to support the events are tied directly to the NT church. Yet, in the events described, the local church is absent.

I also question the temporariness of the events. The events described were short lived and unsustainable. Again, it would seem that the author just told us about events, but did not take into consideration about what is "normal."

H. A. Baker is Heidi Baker's father. In his book: Visions Beyond the Veil he tells the story of a group of orphans that he and his wife care for. He describes how the children are taken into heaven together and sometimes separately during times of prayer and worship. When questioned separately, their stories match each of the others in precise accurate detail. They meet with angels and eat food of heaven and try to bring it back in their pockets. They are shown hell as well and the New Jerusalem. I thought it was interesting that to them the New Jerusalem looks like a pyramid instead of the usual portrayal of a cube. I found this book enlightening and exciting. The idea of teaching children to have experiences with the LORD like this is a treasure for eternity.

What an incredible book! I borrowed the book and think I am going to buy it. In the face of current events, a testimony about the move of God among children in China is a great encouragement and a kick in the butt to realize that time is moving faster than we acknowledge and God is right there the keep us ahead of the power curve. He is no respecter of persons and will use whom He chooses. Using the foolish to confound those who think they are so wise. Out of the mouth of babes, I just love it.

Never read a book quite like this. At first I was a little skeptical as I thought it might just be one man using the Chinese orphan's revelations to push his own eschatology. He does not do that. He brings most-everything back to scripture and takes great care to give an objective view of what he saw and heard, interpreting it all through the lens of the Bible. Overall, a very encouraging and faith-building read. I hope to see more revivals like this in my lifetime.

Phenomenal. What an example of what God can do, without our help. This is a must read for anyone who wants a glimpse of how God has and will work in people's lives. It is so interesting to note who the author is his and relation to Roland Baker(Heidi Baker's husband) today. It is such an interesting documentary on an amazing outpouring in China on children, it will leave you in awe.

Touched by God

What a spirit filled book. This book is based backed in th early 1900's but it tells such a wonderful story about how the Holy Spirit moved within a group of Chinese orphan boys. It shows you that anything is possible for God. It touches your heart and builds your faith. I would recommend this book to anyone.

Many insights into the supernatural from these Chinese orphans - especially interesting being the angel on top of their building in the same way many have had visions of demons/principalities over a building.

Good read! I was disappointed in the format of the book. Would have preferred it to be written as a journal and have all commentary at the end. That being said though its still a good book, very touching, and believable.

I have read H. A. Baker's autobiography which was life changing for me. It is not in the database apparently, but it is called Under His Wings and can be downloaded for free from Iris Ministries' website. I really want to read this book (Visions...) as well!

This was a slog. The content is good, but I don't think it is written very well. I know it originated from a leaflet and I know it's at least 50 years old, but I don't think it's well written. Plus, punctuation and misspellings are frequent. I did like the content overall though.

A must read! One can discuss with others who have read it, but to try to explain it would be almost impossible.

This book tells of how the Holy Spirit fell upon a group of young boys that lived in a Christian Orphanage while they were praising God.

Most amazing book you will ever read in a lifetime.