Thank you John for all of your efforts, writings, and time.

Chance, your recent discussion with others on 3 1/2 years caused me to look up an article I had written in 2006 and John had posted on fivedoves.  The archives at fivedoves are not available prior to 2010.

So I located a copy at Zadok Publications (Dr. CR Oliver), dated April 1, 2006, shown below.  (As an aside, Oliver's work is worthy of attention to a true seeker of God)

ON THE VERGE - OF THREE AND ONE HALF YEARS

As spiritual history approaches another appointed time in the assignations of the Most High,

earth orbits inexorably and its inhabitants travel relentlessly towards His Day. Because the time

approaches, God has asked His people to make choices affecting their eternal destinies. There

are points in time where destinies for individuals and nations become sealed. This is one of

those times. He is calling His people into increased intimacy with Him through the blood of

Jesus, the cross and in the power of the Holy Spirit. In past years, He has spoken to His

church to pray they be counted worthy to escape all the things coming to pass at the end-time.

Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all

these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. Luke 21:36

His plea was in order for one to be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger, similar to the situation

found in Zephaniah 2:3. Unfortunately few have heard. Further, fewer still have been faithful to

respond to God's appeal. Many who name the Lord Jesus Christ commit abominations that will

ultimately bring all the promised desolations upon them. Many believe they are at peace with

God and safe in Him, but instead, they will be caught in the end-time labor pains and sudden

destruction. They will not escape (1Thes. 5:3).

For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor

pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.

Similarly, Jeremiah heralded the iniquity of God's people, along with their abominations, when

they cried, "Peace, peace (Jeremiah 6:13-15)." Alas, they were not at peace with God. To

ensure that the people did not mistake God's grievance against them, Jeremiah repeated the

message in Jeremiah 8:10-12 and assured them there was no peace. God's punishment for

them was determined.

Ezekiel mirrored this message in Ezekiel 13:10 when the people cried: "Peace." There was no

peace because of the abominations and iniquities which were committed among them.

Therefore, punishment was determined. Jesus declared the wise will understand. Jesus

preached few would go through the narrow gate and stay upon the difficult path to eternal life.

"Few" means just a small number will find it. He further proclaimed there must first be a falling

away in order for the man of sin to be revealed sitting in the temple of God.

Many have already fallen away! Many will follow in the short days ahead! Truth has already

fallen in the streets and in places dedicated to worship. Even in the temple of men's hearts

there is a falling away. (Know you not that YOU are the temple of God?!) One must recognize

the enemy of all souls has already set up his throne in the hearts and minds of the masses.

"Unlikely," cry the pulpiteers of plenty, while the true prophet declares: "Nay, Greatly so!"

2Thessalonians. 2:11-12 states many will believe a lie, and God will send strong delusion

because the many love not the truth. Their abomination is an affront to God! (The abomination

was worshiping a false god in place of the true Lord God Most High, while proclaiming to be

Christian.) Historically this identical error brought desolation from the Lord and will do so again.

Ezekiel saw these abominations going on in the temple of Ezekiel 8. The mustard seed of faith

had indeed grown into a tree. However, it has become a faith-church where spirits of

wickedness have come to make their home. (How can this state of affairs be?) The serpent is

wallowing in the dust of fleshly Adamic nature while the true cross of Christ has not had its way.

The Lamb of God has not been embraced, and the individual has not identified himself with

Jesus' sacrifice. The flesh nature must be crucified with Christ.

A. W. Tozer identified the deceitful transition of the old cross to the new cross in this edited

version of, "The Old Cross and the New".

"The old cross would have no truck with the world. For Adam's proud flesh it meant

the end of the journey. It carried into effect the sentence imposed by the law of Sinai.

The new cross is not opposed to the human race; rather, it is a friendly pal and, if

understood aright, it is the source of oceans of good clean fun and innocent

enjoyment. It lets Adam live without interference. His life motivation is unchanged; he

still lives for his own pleasure, only now he takes delight in singing choruses and

watching religious movies instead of singing bawdy songs and drinking hard liquor.

The accent is still on enjoyment, though the fun is now on a higher plane morally if

not intellectually

"The new cross encourages a new and entirely different evangelistic approach. The

evangelist does not demand abnegation of the old life before a new life can be

received. He preaches not contrasts but similarities. He seeks to key into public

interest by showing that Christianity makes no unpleasant demands; rather, it offers

the same thing the world does, only on a higher level. Whatever the sin-mad world

happens to be clamoring after at the moment is cleverly shown to be the very thing

the gospel offers, only the religious product is better.

"The new cross does not slay the sinner, it redirects him. It gears him into a cleaner

and jollier way of living and saves his self-respect. To the self-assertive it says,

Come and assert yourself for Christ. To the egotist it says, Come and do your

boasting in the Lord. To the thrill-seeker it says, Come and enjoy the thrill of

Christian fellowship. The Christian message is slanted in the direction of the current

vogue in order to make it acceptable to the public.

"The philosophy back of this kind of thing may be sincere, but sincerity does not

save it from being false. It is false because it is blind. It misses completely the whole

meaning of the cross.

"The old cross is a symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a human

being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road

had already said good-by to his friends. He was not coming back. He was not going

out to have his life redirected; he was going out to have it ended. The cross made no

compromises, modified nothing, spared nothing; it slew all of the man, completely

and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck cruel and

hard, and when it had finished its work, the man was no more." A.W. Tozer

The new cross has brought a great many false conversions and has had a great many false

baptisms (even falsifying the Baptism of the Spirit). On the old cross, one is dead to sin while

the life of Jesus Christ is resurrected within.

Defying rampant deception, there are those who have followed His holy call. Having overcome

in the battle of the mind, the narrow-gate folks have obtained success in fields of engagement

regarding the flesh (Rom. 6:12), the devil (James 4:7) and the false church (Rev. 2-3 renders

promises to individuals who overcome the corporate organized church). To those over-comers,

Jude added his voice. They will be preserved before the presence of His glory. (To these who

have overcome, the worldly condition of the majority brings sorrow and grief.)

Over-comers are marked.

God is marking those of the narrow gate. In the Spirit, the Lord is marking those who sigh and

cry over the abominations done among God's people (Ezekiel 9:4). Many will be hidden in the

day of the Lord's anger (Zephaniah 2:3) and stand before the Son of Man (Luke 21:36), fulfilling

Psalm 91.

Is this so difficult to understand?

Jesus, while standing on the earth, proclaimed He was in heaven at the same time (John 3:13).

(Are we not to be like Him?) Narrow-gate folk are sealed with the seal of Christ. They are to be

in heavenly places while their body stands on earth. Narrow-gate folk are to be like Christ while

in the earth. They are to do God's will on the earth as it is in heaven. As priests, they are to

offer spiritual sacrifice; as ambassadors, they are to bring the gospel of the kingdom through

their lives into the earth.

God has appointed a certain day for the ending of the rule of Adam's nature in the earth.

Scriptures in Daniel and Revelation speak of a 3 ½ year period of time in which many events

culminate.

(At the time of the initial preparation of this study, New Orleans had just succumbed to disaster

and mayhem had been spawned by a hurricane. In the aftermath, soldiers made a couple of

amazing discoveries as reported by a televised CBS news report. Amidst complete destruction,

two bibles in good condition were found [one by a marina, another by a chapel], both open to

Revelation 10 & 11. These chapters hail the beginning of the 3 1/2 year period.)

The book of Daniel spoke first about a 3 1/2 year period of time where a beast would rule in the

world system and persecute the saints for a time and times and half a time (3 1/2 years, Daniel

7:25).

(In Daniel 9:24-27, 70 weeks are mentioned, one week being equivalent to seven years. Gabriel

took Daniel to the Messiah's crucifixion as the perfect Lamb of God, which brought an end to

sacrifice and offerings required under the old covenant system. Gabriel provided no detail of the

latter 3 1/2 years. Daniel 12:7-9 spoke of a time, and times, and half a time (3 1/2 years), and in

verse 9 revealed the explanation of this period as being sealed until the time of the end.

The sealed book of Daniel 12:9 now becomes the open book in Revelation 10:9-11. John

launched into the explanation of events for the latter 3 1/2 year period of time beginning in

Revelation chapter 11. Direct references to this time period are:

 

Rev 11:2 - for 42 months (3 1/2 years) the holy city is trodden underfoot

Rev 11:3 - for 1,260 days (3 1/2 years) two witnesses prophesy

Rev 12:6 - for 1,260 days (3 1/2 years) a woman is preserved in the wilderness

Rev 12:14 - for a time, and times, and half a time (3 1/2 years) a woman is preserved in the

wilderness from the face of the serpent

Rev 13:5 - for 42 months (3 1/2 years) a beast rules in the world system and persecutes the

saints.

The 3 1/2 year period is described in various ways, but their ways are intertwined as to form a

composite. For instance, the woman preserved in the wilderness for 3 1/2 years uses 2

descriptors of "a time, and times and half a time" as well as 1,260 days to describe the 3 1/2

years to avoid confusion.

Revelation 13:5 describes the 3 1/2 years as 42 months when the beast rules and persecutes

the saints (bringing one back full circle to the first mention of this period of time in Daniel 7:25

where the beast rules and persecutes the saints for a time, and times, and half a time (3 1/2

years).

 

Other similarities between Daniel 7 and Revelations 13 are:

Daniel                                                     Revelation

4 beasts                                                     1 beast

lion with eagles wings                             lion mouth

bear                                                             feet of bear

leopard with 4 heads                                body of leopard

7 heads                                                        7 heads

10 horns                                                     10 horns

little horn, war on saints beast,                war on saints

Descriptor symbols: The descriptor of "as a woman in travail" (referencing birth pangs) is often

used in scripture to approximate "the day of the Lord." This makes for an interesting study in

itself. In John 16:21, Jesus illustrates with such a descriptor: "A woman (element of the

church), when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come…" (but joy when the

child is born).

Isaiah 66:7-10 describes 2 birth scenes, one with travail and one without travail. The one

without travail was fulfilled 2000 years ago as Divinity came in the flesh. The one with travail,

Isaiah says, shall be fulfilled and bring joy.

Revelation 12 is a spiritual division just as God's mark. Once this period begins, the opportunity

to change one's grouping ends. The groups are a male child, a woman, and the rest. The male

child is found worthy to stand before the Son of Man (Luke. 21:36) as the male child is caught

up to God and to His throne (Rev. 12:5). The woman is kept in the wilderness and from the face

of the serpent (Rev. 12:5, 14). The rest who keep the commandments of God and have the

testimony of Jesus Christ are at war with the dragon (Rev 12:17). God's people are viewed as

divided into those who are worthy to stand before the Son of Man (those who are kept in the

wilderness) and those who suffer war and persecution.

While there is still opportunity to follow Jesus' instructions, destinies are being sealed. He has

spoken to His church to pray they be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come

to pass and be able to stand before the Son of Man (Luke 21:36). The true church is to seek the

Lord, to join all the meek of the earth who have upheld His justice, to seek righteousness and

humility that the narrow-gate folk may be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger (Zephaniah 2:3).

May the seeking begin!