Visions of Glory
By John Pontius
Synopsis: This book is the purported near-death experiences and accompanying apocalyptic visions of the future as experienced by “Spencer,” an anonymous source known only to the author. The first part of the book consists of accounts of Spencer’s various near-death experiences, including detailed observations of what those experiences were like, accompanied with detailed explanations of reasons for common NDE experiences or observations, and mechanisms for things of the spirit world that we can read about from NDEs but previously didn’t understand. The second part of the book, which is the majority of the book, details Spencer’s observations of the calamities and devastation leading up to the Second Coming, and his future role in the establishment of Zion (the New Jerusalem). What complicates this book is that there is no way to know if its contents are genuine or fabricated, and the author, John Pontius, died soon after the book was published.
Strong Points: If the contents of this book are genuine, there is probably no better resource for 1) understanding the near death experience phenomenon, the spirit world, angels and demons and what they do, and 2) a guide to the destruction and turmoil preceding the Second Coming, as well as the sort of lifestyle that will be lived by inhabitants of Zion. If true, this book really is miraculous in its floodlight of information and is a startling and probably indispensable read for Latter-day Saints. If a fabrication, this work is almost equally as impressive, because the level of insight into the near-death experience phenomenon is so expansive, the fabricator would have to have done a lot of reading in order to keep things consistent. I noticed many parallels between the NDEs of this book and others that I have read (and I have read a lot of them). They were not only incredibly consistent, but also much more explanative than I have read anywhere else. Some of these explanations validated my own conclusions or expanded my mind to things that I hadn’t considered before; I can’t think of an example where an explanation of NDE phenomenon seemed incorrect. So, if fabricated, the author or his subject would have had to have done extensive research and had a brilliant mind to tie these things together in coherent explanations. It is the same for the apocalyptic portion of the book and the Zion living – so much of it accords with what I have read elsewhere from competent sources and would be an exhaustive job in itself to do the necessary work to achieve such a fabrication. In some ways, it feels like how we must exercise belief in the Book of Mormon: ultimately, we must make a decision to believe, but the likelihood that it is a fabrication seems a major stretch because of the quality of the contents. This book is nothing if not fascinating.
Weak Points: It is a little bothersome that there is such an element of belief required to accept this book, even with reference to near-death experience works. It does frequently make many amazing claims, not the least of which is the idea that God would reveal in such detail all of this information to someone who is more or less an average Joe (although he does purportedly work with high level Church authorities). There is an “apostolic friend” mentioned but unnamed, who has an important part in the book. It requires some deduction to determine that it was supposed to be Neal A. Maxwell. There are a few points in the book where believability seemed to really be stretched for me, like when Spencer visited a sealed off ancient cave in the arctic (as weather conditions in the earth were beginning to improve), which contained some 20,000 people who had been hiding there for thousands of years, relying on Brother of Jared-like miracles to give them light and other things. How does a society survive in a cavern without access to resources? They would certainly need miracles, that’s for sure. That part really struck me as very strange and difficult to believe.
Interesting: 5/5
Must Read: 4/5
Overall: 4.8/5
Pages: 266
Selected Quote: “I learned that once you are born, your spirit takes the shape of the body it is born into and honors that shape because it was given to them by God. Even though they can change shape or appearance if God desires it, they always return to their natural shape, which is the shape of their former bodies.” (p. 22-23).
“The image I saw appeared to me to be a ‘folding’ of the universe. It looked like the universe was folded in on itself, like a sheet of thick paper or fabric so that where the earth was created and where it was to go were on top of one another. The earth was then moved from where it emerged and physically ‘transitioned’ to its new position. This moving of the earth occurred during the entire creative process. By the time it arrived, it was prepared for mortal man.
“I also saw that when it is time for it to return to its original location, the universe will again fold and the earth will be moved back to its place of creation.” (p. 88).
“In all of my visions, I never saw a mark upon people, or heard people talking of being forced to receive a mark or microchip in order to buy and sell. It was already true that we each had a number to our name, and that number was required for any large transaction, such as buying a home or obtaining credit. That may have been part of the mark.
“But what I did see was that we had spiritually marked ourselves. This marking began perhaps thirty years before the tribulations, when the counterculture of political correctness began, and the assault on Christian values and traditions began. At first it seemed so ridiculous that it was harmless, kind of like a disease to which we were all immune. Soon, however, it was recolored to equal compassion, fairness, acceptance, tolerance, and equality. From there it evolved into a power with the ability to take any truth and repaint it as a lie, to take any lie and relabel it as truth. Subscribing to this thinking and tuning out the Holy Spirit marked us with darkness. It was a mark we placed upon our own soul. It was not visible to another human, but those who had marked themselves in this way could not discern the Holy Spirit, and they found themselves completely reliant upon the foreign troops, who truthfully had no long-term interest in their survival.” (p. 134-135).