Two Are Better Than One

(From: “Heaven and the Angels” - by H.A. Baker)

TO THE READER

Although for many years I have been a missionary in China for the express purpose of guiding man out of darkness into the land of endless light, at the same time, I must confess, I had most vague ideas of that land toward which we journeyed. I believed heaven was a land of eternal bliss where we worshiped God in His presence. The saints in heaven were, in my opinion, airy angel-like beings who were inexpressibly happy. There was, of course, the New Jerusalem with golden streets and the Throne of God. Beyond these conceptions of heaven all else was vague, misty and unreal in my mind.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit had made Jesus and life in Him very real, and heaven and eternal life had also become living realities. But I had few definite ideas of heaven.

Then there came a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the orphanage of Chinese children that we conducted for ten years. At that time these children who had even more vague ideas of heaven than I had were, day after day and night after night, caught away in the spirit to see the realms of the eternal worlds. The curtain that separates the temporal from the eternal was drawn aside and the children saw wonders of heaven and the life beyond the grave. The account of these experiences is written in my book, VISIONS BEYOND THE VEIL, now in it fourth edition, and translated into three languages.

My eyes were opened to the wonders of the life beyond the grave. The importance of a better knowledge of these realities having come to me strongly, it seemed to be the work of the Lord to bring to my hand tracts, letters and books from different corners of the earth, dealing with visions beyond the veil, such as had come so unexpectedly to our orphan children. It was marvelous to read how the experiences of others checked in detail with those given the Chinese children. Nowhere was there disagreement.

I was amazed, too, to find that most wonderful and detailed visions of the life to come had been given to saints of God from time to time and that some inspiring books and tracts have been circulated in various lands in, or before, the last century. The reading of these revelations, as well as the visions given our orphan children, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, have made to me the life beyond the grave a land of realities, which the things of this earth have become more and more the misty shadows.

Because I had been in such ignorance of the life of the world to come, and because these revelations have so transformed my own life and my work on the mission field, I felt led to gather together the best of the things that had come to my knowledge in one way and another, and to put the material in book form available to my friends at home.

The Lord has greatly blessed with gifts of the Holy Spirit many of the people of the ten tribes with whom I work in the mountains of Yunnan, West China. Many who formerly had no conception of a Paradise and the City of God have been caught up in the spirit to see the very things related in this book.

In view of these experiences I firmly believe that, although the reader may find many things herein related new to him, as they were to me, nevertheless, they will be found to be true revelations from God of the life beyond the grave.

Will the reader first of all please read the “Cloud of Witnesses” and note the books quoted, and the tracts, and publications from well-known publishers, whose publications in their time were considered orthodox by the churches of their day. It will be seen, too, that many of the writers from whom I quote were men whose sane views of the things of God and whose spiritual life were not questioned.

Since this book is in some ways unique and deals with questions of great importance, will the reader carefully and open-mindedly read the Introduction in Chapter I? I hope that this will prepare all readers to accept, as I do, the truth of these revelations as messages of God to men.

I found it impracticable and unnecessary to quote authority in detail for all the statements herein given. In some instances I have given direct quotations and in others I cited the authority of persons whose visions substantiate certain statements. In many places I make definite statements with further substantiation. I want to make clear that in what I have not given as direct quotations, or without reference to authority, there are no statements so far as I am aware, made in this book that are not backed by direct revelations in visions, or by the principles arising therefrom, or coming from other special revelations from the Lord. Where definite statements are made that seem rather startling and dogmatic, let it be borne in mind that these are not unwarranted assertions, but truths revealed in the body of the material that is the source of authority for this volume.

Since the land to which we journey should be of greatest concern and interest in this present life, we should find out all we can about that blessed land of Promise. Accordingly, will the readers of this book who have further revelations concerning the subjects herein discussed, or who have, or know, of other books and tracts dealing with these revelations, or who know of persons raised from the dead, be kind enough to send such information to our home representative, The Christ Mission, 330 East Boardman Street, Youngstown 3, Ohio.

Please help in spreading these truths by loaning your book to friends. A book can travel far. Help them go. Keep yours moving. H.A. Baker

NOTE: As is readily apparent, the date of publishing of this book is not given. It follows “Visions Beyond the Veil”, and possibly was published in the 1930's or early '40's. So you will not be able to relate back to Mr. Baker, who has long since gone to the Higher Land that he here writes about. I have deliberately left his account just as he wrote it, to give it authenticity. I will follow through with the succeeding chapters of this book, just as I did with “Visions Beyond the Veil.”

This latter book came into my hands in 1944 in Victoria BC, Canada; but I do not recall the date when “Heaven and the Angels” fell into my possession. I have most of the books written by H.A. Baker in my possession - and most are out of print. I trust you will profit from the sequence of mailings from “Heaven and the Angels.” As you can sense, I like Brother Baker, have a much clearer concept of this subject because of his writings. J.A.W.