Children - the Ignored Potential in Our Churches!!

Following on from my last post regarding Rolland and Heidi Baker, I was thrilled to receive an email from my friend Don who has had more contact with Heidi's ministry. He wrote this;

"This last February, Heidi spoke at the Awaken the Dawn conference we attended in Fredericksburg, VA. My then six-year-old daughter, Chloe, got to hear and meet her heroine -- she's loved Heidi ever since watching the videos and the "Mama Heidi" video made several years ago about the ministry. Attached is a photo I took of Heidi while she was talking with the little kids, before commissioning them to go through the audience and lay hands on people who needed healing. (There were healings!)".

I was amazed. The "Visions beyond the Veil" book I read yesterday also spoke of the immense power that God can manifest through children. Why is this? I think it's firstly because children are free from cynicism. They have no "horror stories" to hinder their faith and belief in the power of God. If the Bible says that God can heal today and that God can and does and will intervene in society then children will believe that. If the Bible says that when the Holy Spirit comes upon people and they go and lay their hands on the needy that miracles will happen then children will believe that!

So why then in my experience of evangelical churches, are children so frequently consigned to "Sunday School"? Why are we not teaching our children about the power and Presence of God? Why are we not praying for our children to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and to expect to prophesy or to speak in tongues? Why are we not praying for our children to be filled with the Holy Spirit - like wind fills a sail? And then seeing them released among us with their awesome faith to work miracles?

Let it be so soon Lord!

Rolland and Heidi Baker

Rob Rufus mentioned the name "Heidi Baker" during one of his sermons and when Rob Rufus mentions someone I am learning to to take notice! Rolland and Heidi Baker are missionaries who run Iris Ministries. Their lives were changed after meeting Jackie Pullinger in Hong Kong - they then went and began to work among the poor. But their ministry was not and is not simply social action. Their ministry has been characterised consistently by the power of God. Their website states;

"Today Rolland and Heidi cry out for a continuation of the visitation of God experienced by the children of H.A. Baker's orphanage in China long ago. That is beginning to happen, and more testimonies are accummulating than can be communicated! May the Word of God spread in power to the remote corners of the world, and may the the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind, people who have never before tasted the goodness of God, be drawn the King's great banquet!"

Rolland and Heidi Baker's ministry covers 5,000 churches all over Mozambique and into neighboring countries. They care for over 2, 000 children in their orphanages and He is revealing Himself to the children in dreams, trances and visions like I have never dreamt of before. I went into CLC in Birmingham and found a book by their grandfather H A Baker called "Visions Beyond the Veil". I read it on the bus and it affected me profoundly. Baker writes of his work in an orphanage in China and how God powerfully used the children.

Evangelicals are renowned for immediate cynicism and I am sure this post and the ministry of Rolland and Heidi Baker will be no exception. H A Baker himself was obviously aware of the potential for a cynical reaction to what the children reported. He presented six reasons why there is no natural explanation for the experiences of these children;

1. These wonders could not possibly have been the product of the children's natural minds.

2. These spiritual experiences, visions and revelations could not have been the working of the subconcious mind.

3. They cannot be explained by the psychology of mental suggestion from others. We ourselves had never seen such visions, never been in meetings where they had occured and never even read or heard of visions like the ones that were given to these children.

4. They did not get these things from one another.

5. There is no natural explanation for the fact that the content of the visions was in complete harmony and had numerous detail in content.

6. Neither can these experiences be explained as any sort of mental excitement, religious frenzy, natural emotion, nervous state nor any sort of self-produced condition. The Holy Spirit came in power upon normal children in a normal state of mind free from all the conditions just mentioned.

H A Baker is as unapologetic in his expectation for a reviving of the supernatural as is Rob Rufus. He writes;

"If ever there was a living God, if ever there were angels, if ever there was a wonder-working Christ, if the Holy Spirit was ever given, if the Bible is a supernatural revelation from God, then we should expect to experience the trances, visions, revelations and working of the Holy Spirit that were given in China.

They are normal experiences in the supernaturally founded, supernaturally filled and supernaturally directed Church of the New Testament - the only Church the Bible is interested in".

I want to deeply recommend the book. It is extremely short and only took me half an hour to read but the power invested in it exceeds many, many other books that are much longer. The one account I want to draw attention to is an absolutely awe-inspiring prophecy that a young Chinese beggar brought. H A Baker writes;

"This boy had been a beggar ... He had arrived at our doorstep in rags and filthy - in fact with more dirt than clothes ... One night there was an unusually strong sense of the Lord's Presence and heaven seemed very near. The boy I have just spoken about seemed to leave the earth and be caught up into heaven. Ushered into the Presence of the Lord Jesus he fell flat on his face before Him in humble adoration and worship ... the boy sobbed and wept with the deepest grief as the message was given to him; he spoke in a clear strong voice, speaking a sentence or two at a time.

The intonation of the voice, the choice of language, the penetrating power of every word was such that no one who heard it could have doubted that he was speaking by direct supernatural inspiration from God ... the boy said;

"I weep tonight. I am heartbroken. I am in deep sorrow because there are so few people who believe in Me. I planned and prepared heaven for everyone and made room for all the people in the world. I made the New Jerusalem in three enormous cities, one above the other, with plenty of space for all. But they will not believe Me. Those who believe are so very few. I am sad, so very sad.

If you have any friends, tell them to repent quickly. Persuade everyone to believe the gospel as soon as possible. But if people will not listen and will not accept your message the responsibility will not be on you.

Receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. If you will wait and believe I will baptize you. The devil deceives you by making you think that you will not receive the baptism but wait and seek and I will baptize you and give you the power to cast out demons and to heal the sick. Those who receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit are to preach and bear witness and I will be with you to help and protect you in times of danger.

Tell other churches they too should seek the Holy Spirit. All churches must press forward".

There are several ways to respond to these things as you learn about this ministry and learn about what is ACTUALLY happening in the world today. You can be cynical and err on th eside of caution. Or we can allow these truths to fill our hearts with faith and hunger and desperation that God will come and do the same in our lives, in our churches, in our towns, in our cities, in our nations!

If anyone wants to know more and hear more about Heidi Baker - here are two messages by her from You-Tube. She is speaking at Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship. I noticed that the same glorious thread of grace and glory from Rob Rufus comes through her preaching and speaking. Enjoy (as long as your theology allows you to listen to a woman preaching) ... ;)

Part 1


Part 2