The Time was at Hand

Robert Finley. Charlottesville, Va.: Xulon Press, 2011. 311 pp. (Paperback).

It is difficult to know how to approach a book in which the author explains his lack of supporting documentation by writing, “I anticipate that this book will be translated into several major languages for use in Bible schools and seminaries, so for maximum simplicity I prefer that there be no footnotes,” and, “In this book I have included a great deal of historical information which has been stored in my memory during 65 years of continual reading and research. But to document the specific sources of all that information would be impossible.” Ooookay! Let’s just forget the lack of documentation and read on. Maybe the author DOES have, as he claims, a photographic memory. 

The book is an explanation of the author’s understanding of end-time prophecy, which, in a nutshell, is that most prophecy has already been fulfilled with only the evangelization of all nations left to be completed. 

He denies the teaching of the Antichrist as “purely imaginary,” says there is no mention of a future tribulation in the New Testament and argues that present-day Israel has “no prophetic significance.” 

Finley makes strong arguments with biblical references to support his positions. The tone of the author is quite argumentative, however, pitting himself against a host of well-known and well-loved Bible teachers and preachers, always asserting his superior knowledge and understanding. For example, he recalled working alongside Billy Graham in the 1940s. “At that time I gathered that he knew less than I did about Bible prophesy, although later (possibly with help from ghost writers) he would author books on the subject.”

I think that’s enough about this book.