"A Guided Tour of the Spirit World" by Lyse Sonning
I re-read this book for a third time recently (it was in my MIL's book collection). Long story short, Ms. Sonning has had contact with her guardian angel Martha, who describes the spirit world in great detail. It's a rather quick read at 100 pages in nine chapters and an epilogue; it could probably be read in an afternoon. There are two chapters near the end with a bunch of questions that people had for Martha and her answers to them.
It was printed in 1993 by New Horizons Publishing and Recording Co. I've tried looking for both online, but there weren't very many sites selling the book, and the publishing company is probably now defunct. I don't know if anybody else has read it besides me, Mira, his mom, and probably her mom (his grandma gave it to his mom). We're probably in a minority, as it doesn't appear to be a very well-known book.
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I've read this book; my mother as well as her side of the family are all very obsessed with the spirit world to the point that they despise earth life for wistfulness of a better world ahead. This has given way to apostasy in my family, where they rely more on these alleged spirit-world vistors than our LDS Church teachings because they feel that the Church is often too vague while the authors of spirit world books have the "higher doctrine" that the rest of the Church just "isn't ready for yet". They all still feel that they believe in the Church, but now carry a superior attitude that fellow Church members live ignorantly with only the scriptures and Church teachings but that my mom and her family have the "fullness" of the Gospel with their "knowledge" of the next life. Personally seeing how preoccupation with unconfirmed sources of the spirit world can affect peeople, I prefer to stay anchored to the Church teachings and not dwell in gray areas that the Lord has not chosen to answer. The truth is, none of us truly know the intricacies of the postmortal world and if we need to know, our beloved prophet will tell us and the doctrine will come through the appointed channel of the priesthood by Church authorities. Please don't get swept up into that world of the "super fantastic" where you start believing the stories of people who are making money off of publishing a book about a supposed trip to the spiritual realm. I was in a severe car accident that almost killed me and could easily have lied and written a book about a visit to the spirit world during my coma, and no doubt, there would be many who would be amazed and hail me as being so privileged to experience such a thing. I could've made money off of a lie and I believe that in many--if not most--cases, people are trying to make money and this is an apt way for them to do so. You'll notice in these books that they often do a Q & A section where they answer "gray area" questions (example: what happens to homosexuals, are aborted babies reincarnated, is there is a certain religion that is "correct", etc) and this is where it gets even more sketchy because they have no such authority to be answering those things. Those are in the hands of our Heavenly Father and He will deal accordingly. He is not going to reveal such weighty matters to the average person with no authority; He will reveal them through the Prophet if He so chooses. Anyways, I know you don't know me and that this is a long rant but I have strong feelings about this topic.
Have a wonderful day.
Clarissa Stocking
I also don't quite know what to think of this book. After reading it, I tried searching online to see what other people thought because I didn't feel quite right about it. Some of the things in the book are quite nice and probably true. But other parts just don't sound right. Also, I don't feel good about how the book was written. Apparently, the author allowed her body to be used by the spirit in order to record the spirit's message. This sounds similar to how an ouija board works, which is NOT the right way to receive truth from God. I think people who try to communicate with spirits in this way are opening themselves to deception. In the case of this book, it would seem the author has been told a mix of truth and lies by their spirit medium, or--in other words--the philosophies of men mingled with scripture. If you are into reading Near Death Experiences and the like, please be careful and pray for the Spirit to guide you in knowing what is truth and what is deception. To be safe, just stay with the foundational doctrines of the Church. Joseph Smith said the doctrines are like a tree. The trunk of the tree are the core principles: Testimony of Christ, faith, repentance, baptism, etc. But the branches of the tree are the mysteries of God and the vague but fascinating doctrines. Joseph cautioned us to stay close to the trunk so we don't fall because people seeking the doctrines on the outer fringes of the tree are likely to fall. -J Luker
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