Visions of Glory (John Pontius)


Gillebre
 Share

Recommended Posts

This book relates a man's first person account of several personal and amazing experiences that came as a result of numerous close calls with death in his life.

They give a certain perspective on events leading into the final years up until the Second Coming, as well as fascinating details on the nature of spiritual communication, the role of departed family, the true nature of how to prepare for Zion, and many other things.

The account of things seen and heard and felt are not given from the author's perspective. This is because it was another man's (in the record he is referred to as Spencer) personal experiences that he personally felt commanded to share, anonymously, in published form.

Having read this book myself, completely, I can say that I was thoroughly blown away, and it gave me so much to ponder and seek for myself.

I can tell you that if you take the opportunity to check this out, and use it to absorb more information, that the Spirit may teach you, you will not be disappointed in this work.

My sister in law will be returning it this coming Sunday, and I will most definitely be reading it again. :)

You can find the book at the following links:

Kindle Edition: Visions of Glory: One Man's Astonishing Account of the Last Days: John Pontius: Amazon.com: Kindle Store

Paperback: Amazon.com: Visions of Glory: One Man's Astonishing Account of the Last Days (9781462111183): John Pontius: Books

Edited by Gillebre
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

I highly recommend anyone interested in this book first reads this critical review.

Spencer’s Visions of Glory by Gregory L. Smith, M.D.

As amazing as the events in this book may be, it is inconsistent with the order of revelation taught by the Lord through latter-day prophets. I suspect 'Spencer' does not now, now ever has existed... in the flesh at least.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since the review was posted, its the worst article I have read by FAIR and they did a lousy job analyzing parts of the book. They try to find faults in what the authors interviewee (the person who had the Dream) and make arguments against what was said, BUT it ignore what was written before those same stories that they are not to be taken literally.

They try to argue no revelation can be given for the church, when the book states its meaning was only for the person who received it. The article takes packers quote totally out of context, about the millennium being grandchildren AWAY, which is NOT what packer stated. Spencer does not state its scripture but that its all metaphorically. SYMBOLIC! That He himself does not know what the dream means.

Its an excellent book. Not to mention there is false doctrine taught in the fair article. But, hey, they can't speak for the church either, they are independent organization. Yes there are false things in the book but if you have an open mind and realize its symbolic, metaphorical, allegorical, and sometimes literal, than you will enjoy this book.

The one thing this book did for me, was desire to experience the blessings that are available to all and draw near to the Lord.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since the review was posted, its the worst article I have read by FAIR and they did a lousy job analyzing parts of the book. They try to find faults in what the authors interviewee (the person who had the Dream) and make arguments against what was said, BUT it ignore what was written before those same stories that they are not to be taken literally.

They try to argue no revelation can be given for the church, when the book states its meaning was only for the person who received it. The article takes packers quote totally out of context, about the millennium being grandchildren AWAY, which is NOT what packer stated. Spencer does not state its scripture but that its all metaphorically. SYMBOLIC! That He himself does not know what the dream means.

Its an excellent book. Not to mention there is false doctrine taught in the fair article. But, hey, they can't speak for the church either, they are independent organization. Yes there are false things in the book but if you have an open mind and realize its symbolic, metaphorical, allegorical, and sometimes literal, than you will enjoy this book.

The one thing this book did for me, was desire to experience the blessings that are available to all and draw near to the Lord.

Although I have great admiration for FAIR and think they do a wonderful job, I too was disappointed in the review that was posted on FAIR. I have read this book two times now and the change it has made to my life is amazing. I have to agree with everything you have said here.

Edited by Sali
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

This book was one of the most powerful books I've ever read.  It goes hand in hand with everything I've ever known.  There are a couple parts that are a bit "out there", but the more I think about it, the more even these make perfect sense.

 

The visions experienced were for "Spencer", and he alone.  The FAIR review was not objective, and poorly crafted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am curious to know why this book isn't sold at Deseret Book.

I imagine for the same reason Bettie Eadie's book isn't sold there, which is probably that it seeks to proclaim its author as a prophet to the world. Except it appears that Deseret Book does indeed sell Eadie's book, so there goes that theory.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, lemme get this straight:  Pontius--er, "Spencer"--has revelations, but he doesn't know what they mean.  He nevertheless publishes them in a book directed to the public, but when someone points out substantive flaws in some of his assertions, his followers claim that the revelations were never meant for public consumption anyways.

 

Pontius . . . Snuffer . . . Nemelka . . . Over the past decade or two, the fringes of Mormonism have produced a surfeit of passive-aggressive would-be prophets whose ministries--at least, during the time period when they are trying to avoid Church discipline--are consumed with a game of "hide-the-ball" wherein they do little more than to publicly explain that their private revelations don't mean what the plain and ordinary meaning of their words would suggest that they mean.

Edited by Just_A_Guy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bought that book a couple years ago, I believe at Deseret Book. It was interesting. I prefer his other book, Following the Light of Christ Into His Presence. I bought this one also a couple years ago at Deseret Book. Someone mentioned to me seeing Visions of Glory advertised on TV between General Conference sessions this year, which I thought was odd, but I've also seen it on bookshelves at Seagull. I've seen Deseret Book also carry his book, Triumph of Zion. John Pontius died a couple years ago so there won't be any more books from him. I think his wife published a collection of his experiences in one final publication. Deseret News published an obituary for him:

 

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/deseretnews/obituary.aspx?pid=161653824

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This morning I looked up Visions of Glory on Amazon and saw that it was No. 3 in the list of Mormon books that Amazon sells. I came back from breakfast and looked again, and it had moved up to No. 2.  I wonder if readers of this thread ordered copies and caused it to jump up a notch.  No. 4 was Jon Krakauer's dreadful Under the Banner of Heaven, which says a lot about the value of this list.

 

I read the Smith review of Visions of Glory and thought it was okay, although I did gasp in horror at one sentence: "Spencer and others quickly gain miraculous and nearly-infallible healing ability."  My fifth-grade teacher used to slap us whenever we wrote a hyphen after an -ly adverb, and for a moment I almost felt the sting of her palm again.  In any case, I think this reviewer also wrote a pretty sharp attack on John Dehlin's work, which IIRC was the catalyst behind the firing of Daniel Peterson from the Mormon Studies Review in 2012.

 

Visions of Glory was highly rated on Amazon: over 74% of more then one thousand reviews were "pentastellar," as one of my pompous friends calls them. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Meh. If I were to recommend any of Pontius' books it would be Following the Light of Christ Into His Presence. Visions of Glory is certainly out there, but it's one man's (Spencer) experience. While I do believe that sooner or later, the Wasatch Front will experience major catastrophe, because of the fault line, I take his dream at face value. They were meant for him and are meaningful to him. I do find his descriptions of the "badges of mourning" (as John Taylor described in his vision) on people's front  doors intriguing and describe the symbol of the United Nations. The book does include other visions, including John Taylor's (yellow dog), which paint a more universal picture, or at least one concerning the American Continent. I'm certainly not planning my life around his visions, but it certainly validates other visions, including John Taylor's and apparently a newer NDE writer (Julie Rowe), that we should get our houses in order now. But we don't need visions to tell us that. Personally speaking, the fact that we're in the middle of a Biblical Tetrad, is a sign in heaven, which speaks volumes. Good for Israel. Bad for Gentiles (America). I wouldn't be surprised if everything collapses by next Fall. But we'll see.

Edited by skalenfehl
Link to comment
Share on other sites

In any case, I think this reviewer also wrote a pretty sharp attack on John Dehlin's work, which IIRC was the catalyst behind the firing of Daniel Peterson from the Mormon Studies Review in 2012.

As JAG points out, I think that's pretty much Dehlin's self-aggrandizement at work. "Look how influential I am! I got Dan Peterson fired! And you know that's true, because I said it!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As JAG points out, I think that's pretty much Dehlin's self-aggrandizement at work. "Look how influential I am! I got Dan Peterson fired! And you know that's true, because I said it!"

 

I dunno.  The name Gregory Smith rang a bell with me, and I found the story about the Smith/Dehlin/Peterson thing in a Peggy Fletcher Stack article in the Salt Lake Tribune.  But I think you and JAG are right: the gossipy inferno behind the Dan Peterson firing seems rather Dehlinesque to me.  Who cares, I stopped listening to Mormon Stories a year ago because it had turned to nonstop trash talk against the Church.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dunno.  The name Gregory Smith rang a bell with me, and I found the story about the Smith/Dehlin/Peterson thing in a Peggy Fletcher Stack article in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Honestly, if Peggy Fletcher Stack and the SL Tribulation had anything to do with it, in my mind that immediately puts it on the same level of scholarly reliability as a Lighthouse Ministry pamphlet personally edited by Jerald and Sandra Tanner.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dehlin is fond of implying that he has Friends in High Places™, and I believe at the time he claimed he had people in the Q70 calling for Peterson's ouster at MI because Peterson was planning to publish the Smith article in the FARMS review. I don't think that originated with Smack--er, Stack.

I don't think the MI shakeup was directly attributable to Dehlin or any fanboys he has amongst the GAs, but I think there were a lot of bureaucrats at BYU who wanted to see MI pursue the sucker's game of trying to defend Mormonism without actually disagreeing with anyone. They're getting their wish; but fortunately, the Religious Education department is finally generating some really top-notch stuff (anyone seen the website for the multi-volume New Testament commentary they're producing, and the updated NT institute manual that just came out)?

Edited by Just_A_Guy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

They're getting their wish; but fortunately, the Religious Education department is finally generating some really top-notch stuff (anyone seen the website for the multi-volume New Testament commentary they're producing, and the updated NT institute manual that just came out)?

 

Hey, that is some good stuff! I may have to check out that e-book referenced, The Testimony of Luke  :).

As var as Visions of Glory goes, well, I haven't read it. I have no desire to either. It was recommended to me by a respected friend but when I looked into the book, I felt like the spirit told me not to read it. That doesn't necessarily reflect upon it's content or the character of the author however, at the very least, it means it simply isn't a place for *me* to look to for enlightenment.

Edited by jerome1232
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the links, I'll check them out next weekend.

 

The comments above led me to check out the Mormon Stories website late last night, where I listened to John Dehlin's latest update on his life.  I had to turn it off before I got to the end because I just couldn't keep listening.  But the details I heard were very startling.  

 

Summary: He starts a podcast, suspends it in 2008, and then restarts it in 2010 provided that listeners send in money, which he freely admits to using to pay for his education and some personal expenses.  He makes several hundred new podcasts that mostly treat the LDS Church the way Rachel Maddow and Bill Maher treat the GOP.  Worse, actually.  A few token LDS defenders, such as the Givens couple (who I adore), but mostly a bunch of angry anti-LDS persons whose points of view are presented as fact without any attempt to get the LDS side of the story.  Meanwhile, money continues to trickle in, and Dehlin completes the coursework for his Ph.D. and is now doing some sort of internship until August, when he'll have the listener-financed credentials to treat people.  He plans to open a "foundation" for "progressive Mormons" and "post Mormons," and his LDS-bashing has amassed several thousand listeners who are primed and ready to buy his product.  He has also publicized a list of LDS beliefs that he openly denies and encourages other to deny, and he publicly criticizes his stake president for not doing what Dehlin thinks should be done.  He has told his ward not to contact him or his family and to exclude him and his family from ward activities.  And then he says he wants to remain a member of the Church, but as some sort of enlightened dissident who can waft through the Church like a prophet and help bring about needed changes.

 

The whole thing is just so bizarre.  I tend to distrust people who are compulsive exhibitionists about some aspect of their lives, and Mr. Dehlin seems to fit into that category.  I hope he finds peace, and I'm amazed the Church didn't excommunicate him years ago.  

Edited by PolarVortex
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 They're getting their wish; but fortunately, the Religious Education department is finally generating some really top-notch stuff (anyone seen the website for the multi-volume New Testament commentary they're producing, and the updated NT institute manual that just came out)?

 

I just checked out their 100 Scripture Mastery Pages and they are awesome!  I was going to read the Bible in one year and had printed out a schedule for doing so, but I might memorize these instead.  Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share