The Real Thing
by Rolland Baker

Let me start by telling you a little about my heritage. My grandfather had a revival, way off in southwest China, in a tiny little town. He wanted to get as far away from the nearest white man as possible because they seemed dedicated to interfering with effective missions. The first time he went to China he did everything right with the denomination; he raised his support, he got appointed by a mission board, he did everything right. There was a lot of fervor, a lot of energy. He traveled six months by riverboat and yak to the border of Tibet. My father was born in a town 10,000 feet in the Tibetan foothills, and my grandfather worked faithfully on the missions field, doing things the denomination's way. He slaved for five years to get one person saved, and he wasn't sure about him. Five years! My grandfather said "Never again, missionary work is not for me. I quit."

Actually, 90 per cent of all appointed missionaries that have gone through the whole "Bible school, pioneer pastor, fundraising" trip. They finally get out there after eight or more years of preparation -- then they don't go back after one term. Ninety percent. So my grandfather quit, too. He came back and sold vacuum cleaners for three years to pay his debts. He said "I am never going to have anything to do with the mission field unless the Holy Spirit is with me." Then he got filled with the Holy Spirit in the early Pentecostal movement in the 1920's. He went back out there, but this time the Holy Spirit said "You take your wife and you just go, all by yourself. I will support you."

And the second time he went to the missions field, he had revival. My grandfather dragged beggar kids off of the streets because no one else wanted anything to do with them. He started a home for them. And the Holy Spirit fell on those beggars. The other missionaries in town said my grandmother was wasting her time by taking in these uneducated kids that would never have any influence. She would hose them off, clean them up, and give them clothes. They didn't care, they weren't even grateful for what she did for them.

Then one day the Holy Spirit fell on the least of these. He fell on the least, on the most forgotten, non-influential, unlikely people on the face of the earth. For weeks and months they were caught up in visions of heaven and hell and past events in the Bible, and in the future and in the tribulation. They walked and talked with angels. They were taken all over heaven and shown Jesus and danced around the throne.

For years I thought, "What a waste Jesus, that You would reveal more than I have ever heard revelation given to people in 2,000 years of church history, and waste it on 50 little kids, way off in a little town in China." But to this day, I rarely go anywhere where people in the church have not read "Visions Beyond the Veil." I was at a conference in Toronto, at Airport Christian Fellowship. John Arnott asked all the visiting speakers if they had read "Visions Beyond the Veil." You cannot buy it in nearly any bookstore, but they all said "Yes. It changed my entire life." And to this day I can go to Europe, South America, and anywhere, and somehow that book pops up. No one promotes it, it's not advertised, it's not in the bookstores, but you can get it free a lot. If you want it, you can get it, and lots of people do. (If you would like to read it, there is a copy on the GodSpeak International web page, at http://www.godspeak.net/veil.)

My grandfather's experience influenced my life. I decided that I was going to Africa, and I'd start off with "the least of these." I decided to get just a little place or a little room, and to find one or two little kids. I wanted to find kids that nobody else wants, that the government can't take care of where there were no orphanages for them, where there's nobody that wants them. They're delinquents, they're thieves. They are bad kids. We got to Malputo, and even the pastors that were there said "Rolland and Heidi, you're wasting your time on these kids. Why don't you teach our nice Sunday school kids. They'll amount to something someday."

But I remembered my grandfather and God die everything the opposite way that we'd do it. We blow into town and have a pastor's conference in the hotel. We want to gather all the leaders of the country together and train them to lead the country. We want to start at the top, we want to hit the universities, and we want to hit the business leaders. I'm glad people do that, but I remembered my grandfather. I remembered those little kids got more revelation than anyone I'd ever heard of, and I've studied church history and theology for ten years.

We just took in these little kids. Well, actually, we took over an orphanage that the government couldn't take care of. It was bombed out and dilapidated. Mozambique had 30 years of war. Roofs were burned out, copper was ripped out of the walls, the plumbing was stopped up, rats were crawling out of the faucets. The kids were full of demons, their stomachs were bloated. Bandits were shooting up the place with machine guns in the night. Demons were choking them in the night and throwing things around. The government didn't have one cent to take care of the place. Germany offered to come back ten years ago, but they didn't. Russia promised to come and help the children, so many of whom have their arms and legs blown off from the war and there's no medical help. I got there and I thought, perfect! It was just sitting there, and the kids were just dying. Nobody cared about them at all; the police didn't even want them. Nobody wanted them. That's the proof of the gospel. Does Jesus want them? What is His raw material?

Well, in a few months they were all spirit-filled. We came there without a dollar, but God supplied. The kids stayed up all night at times to pray for their daily food. It was just a matter of months before they were all spirit-filled, and they're having visions. Daily they're coming to us and sharing "I was with Jesus last night" "Angels took me up to heaven and we were dancing around the throne" "Angels flew alongside our car to church", and on and on and on. Now in Africa people are coming from all over the world to get what these kids have. And God is using these kids to tell the western world what being rich is.

We're not trying to make you feel sorry for these kids, and I'm not asking for your money to sponsor kids, and I'm not getting you to do anything, except be jealous of these kids. Be jealous, realize what you are missing here in the West. You guys are poor; you guys are starving. You guys need help! I need help! I study those kids. I ask, "What is it about these kids Lord, that You like so much? How can I be like a kid?" Unless you are like a kid you won't get into the kingdom. I think we need to find out! When we are having severe political trouble, our eight and ten-year old kids are getting up at 4:00 in the morning and pray for two hours for the government and for the president and for the people of the country. They pray that God would have mercy on Mozambique, because it has been so humiliated and so run over by war and disease and famine and natural disaster and AIDS. It is the world's poorest country in the world. And it is the 10-year olds that are praying for the country. The president's chief-of-staff comes to our center just to get a spiritual bath, and to just sit with the kids and let them pray for him.