J.B. Orly,
The Fullness of Time: The Truth About What's Coming & When
(Xlibris, 2000)


"Where is God in this moment of time?" is the central question addressed in The Fullness of Time: The Truth About What's Coming & When, J.B. Orly's 530-page Christian study.

Meticulously researched, The Fullness of Time is a book whose target audience is the contemporary Christian seeker, not someone in search of some light reading. Not to say Orly's prose isn't readable -- in fact, just the opposite. Orly writes with a clarity that allows the deeply philosophical topics addressed in Fullness to be delivered to a broader audience. For instance, at the start of chapter 1, Orly writes:

"Conviction filled my heart. I was 14. Some thing just hit me on the inside, and hit me hard. Suddenly, I realized I needed the Lord to be close, to touch me. I was in church and had just heard God's Word preached. I wanted to be baptized. The feeling was indescribable. ... So here I am, years later, writing my recent experiences with the Lord. It was 1995. I was being obedient to the Lord's wishes in my life, but He had something in store for me. That year was the peak of an intense shower of revelations in which He showed me many things to come -- and when. Incredibly, I still continue to receive more of the same -- only not as intense."

It is perhaps natural to react skeptically when a person claims to be a scribe of Heaven -- as Orly does in his preface -- which makes the prodigious cross-referencing and citations that fill Fullness all the more vital; they grant credence where it might otherwise be held back, such as when Orly states, on page 478, that during the Second Coming of Christ, just 144,000 souls will be redeemed.

Another portion of the book where the reader's credulity is tested in on page 39, where Orly writes: "Revelations can come by many modes and channels. I received the meaning of Zechariah 11:7-14 after praying a concentrated prayer three nights in succession -- it has produced many blessings."

It is fascinating that Orly has revelations -- but the reader is curious to hear more about such descriptions to judge for oneself: Produced blessings how? Received meaning how? Luckily, much fuller descriptions are to be found elsewhere, where Orly writes in greater detail of other such revelations.

Overall, The Fullness of Time is a very readable, enjoyable book if one tends towards the more conservative aspects of Christianity. Nonetheless, the reviewer must admit to certain misgivings.

For while Orly is obviously a person of deeply held beliefs and conviction, the author is also a person who can render dogmatic judgments. For example, on Page 43, when speaking of spiritual discernment, Orly writes: "In contrast, Dark Age belief in miracles is associated with mystery, superstition, and claims of supernatural events, even witchcraft, which cannot be verified objectively. They are still with us today, particularly in locations such as India, Africa, South America, and other backward civilizations." Here, Orly seems to dismiss fully 40 percent of the globe as being backward, which surely cannot be tenable -- especially in the case of India, which though monetarily poor has a very rich and well-developed spiritual tradition.

To come full circle, where is God in this moment in time? Though many might claim that for us mortals this question is unanswerable, Orly's respectably thorough efforts coalesce to present a thoughtful perspective worthy of consideration.




Rambles.NET
review by
Jim Curtiss

25 August 2007






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