The Book Review, November 17, 2013: Journey to the Veil

Madame L found out about this book, and the blog called "UnBlog My Soul," from the blog of one of her family members. But who? She just looked at Ellen's blog and didn't find it there, even though she thought that was where she'd seen it a few weeks ago.

Wherever she found it, Madame L wants you, Dear Readers, to be able to find it whenever you want to be inspired. So, go to that link, or, better yet, to this link, an index to the topics covered in the blog and book.

Oops, Madame L just tried to get to some of the links from that index, and they no longer have content. So,  whether you prefer to carry a book around with you (like Madame L) or not, you'll want to find the book "Journey to the Veil" at Amazon.com.

Meanwhile, some of the other links on the front page of the blog do work, including the link to "The Challenge of the Book of Mormon," which Madame L loves.*

What's so great about this book? First of all, it's NOT about this man's fight with cancer and his eventual death---any more than it's about how all of us live through trials and hardships, knowing we too must eventually arrive at, and pass through, that veil.

John Pontius wrote his blog, "UnBlogmySoul," without thinking his posts would ever be collected into a book. In fact, as he was dying and his wife suggested she could do that, he objected at first. In

It's about gospel principles. It's about how God loves us. It's about how we should act if we want to be happy.

Madame L promises you that you will laugh and cry as you read the book. And then you will resolve to improve your own life. Thank you, John Pontius (1952-2012) for your life and your legacy and for your testimony.

*Here's an excerpt from "The Challenge of the Book of Mormon," which reminds us, again, that the Prophet Joseph Smith really did translate the Book of Mormon from ancient records, as he said he did. If someone nowadays were to attempt to write a fake document like it, here are some of the things he/she would have to do:

---Write a history of an ancient Tibet covering a period of 2200 B.C. to 400 A.D. Why ancient Tibet? Because you know no more about Tibet than Joseph Smith (or anyone else) knew about ancient America.
---You must be 23 years of age.
---You must have no more than three years of formal education and must have spent your life in a backwoods farming communit.
---Your book must be 522 pages, and over 300,000 words in length. (Remember writing a term paper in high school or college? Can you IMAGINE writing this length in the time Joseph Smith dictated his translation to his scribes?
---Your history must be written on the basis of what you know. There was no library, and no published works on Ancient America for Joseph Smith to reference, so you must use none. There is to be no research of any kind.
---Other than a few grammatical errors and corrections, you must make no changes in the text. The first edition you dictate to your secretary must stand forever....
---Many of the facts, claims and ideas and statements given as truth in your writings must be entirely inconsistent with the prevailing beliefs of the world. Some of your claims must prove to be the direct opposite of the prevailing worldly beliefs of the time.

And so on. Madame L also loved the page from the blog called "Scriptorian's Keys."

Dear Readers, if there's only one book you read for the rest of this year, make it this one. Madame L promises you will be glad you did.