Dear friends:

I’m baaack!!!

I had a lot of witnessing opportunities. For example, I ministered to and prayed for two cancer patients, laying hands on them according to Mark 16:18, trusting God to honor His Word. Also, in a gas station in Georgia on the way back, a middle-aged black man, weary looking, dirty and obviously a laborer of some kind, was standing in line ahead of me waiting to pay for his six large cans of cold beer. God suddenly revealed to me His love for the man, causing me to speak to him and give him a small card I had written and had printed with a brief gospel message on it. The card stressed God’s love, forgiveness and eternal life available through Christ. I also gave one to the cashier, a black lady. Both were visibly touched. The lady exclaimed, "I’m interested in anything about the Lord, ‘cause He da man!" I spoke a blessing over them both, with my hand on the man’s shoulder. I could tell they were really, really blessed. The man was sort of stunned by it all, but I know he will never forget that day when Jesus visited him (in me). No doubt he was thinking about all that as he later consumed his beer, hopefully to be soon replaced with new wine! I believe I will see them both in glory.

During the past three weeks, I met a lot of wonderful, average people, most of whom would probably claim to be a Christian. But most know little about God’s Word, most do not want to know, and virtually all are oblivious to and are not the least bit interested in God’s plan for history and unfolding prophecy. It was sad. It must be like Noah’s day before the flood: "For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left" (Matthew 24:38-41).

When I got back home, I had a personal note in the mail from friend Christine Darg, ex-700 Club Middle East correspondent and now a missionary/evangelist in the Middle East. She said she was recently speaking on the subject of the Second Coming and Israel, and afterward a mother came up to her. The mother said that just that very morning, her 2-year-old son woke up exclaiming, "They all went up in the air! They went up in the air! They went up in the air." The child had had a vision or a dream about the rapture. Only two years old! "That’s supernatural," as Sid Roth would say.

Of course, while away I read and meditated on the Word of God, especially things prophetic. I recounted the major reasons why we clearly seem to be near the end of God’s plan for history. These stood out in my mind:

1. God’s six days of creation as a picture of six millennial days of history before the Second Advent. Those six millennial days recently concluded.

2. The "two days" and "third day" of Hosea 6:2, presumably counting from Christ’s birth. Those two millennial days also just concluded and we are in the "third day."

3. Israel, God’s time piece. Her birth in 1948, her capture of Jerusalem in 1967, and her very existence are miraculous and prophetic. Both 1948 and 1967, especially the latter, no doubt triggered a countdown. Right now, Israel seems extremely near a climactic and cataclysmic confrontation. It could blow any day into a global conflict, with weapons of mass destruction.

5. The wisdom and understanding of early century Christian leaders and Jewish teachers that Messiah would come after 6,000 years of history. These included Barnabas (c. A.D. 100), Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (c. A.D. 150), Lactantius (c. A.D. 325), and Methodius, Bishop of Tyre (c. A.D. 300).

6. The witness of the Spirit. Millions of every denomination witness in their spirits that Jesus’ return is near. In years and centuries past, such expectation was usually limited to one person or denomination. Today it is pervasive and worldwide.

7. Any single one of the above is a strong argument, but together, the collective evidence that all these points, and more, are converging at the same time, is an absolutely overwhelming statement.

While meditating and praying, it seemed as though the Holy Spirit quickened Ezekiel chapter 4 to me. I was reminded about Ezekiel’s bizarre experience, and God’s revelation to him of the 390+ 40 = 430 days of punishment for Israel/Judah. God also said each day equals a year (4:6).

Commentaries are typically vague and noncommittal about this passage, admitting that they do not really know what it means. Maybe that is because God meant it as a clue to His end-time timing, a no-no subject for most Christians and a path they dare not follow for fear of criticism, a path reserved only for the bold and brazen (and maybe a little crazy) -- those who dare to go where angels fear to tread and who do not fear criticism! I take God at His Word when He says, "I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come" (Isaiah 46:10).

The passage seems pregnant with meaning. Here are some thoughts:

a. We know the Babylonian captivity was 70 years, leaving 430 minus 70 = 360 years.

b. Four times in Leviticus 26, God told Israel that He would punish them SEVEN TIMES MORE. And 7 X 360 = 2,520. Converted from Jewish 360-day years to modern 356.24-day years = 2483.8.

c. If the Babylonian captivity began in 606 B.C. and lasted for 70 years until 536 B.C., that left 2483.8 Jewish years of punishment remaining. Counting forward 2483.8 years from 536 B.C. (adjusting for no-zero year from BC to AD) = 1948, the very year Israel was born! Amazing! What are the odds against that?

d. However, Ezekiel 4 says that the count should begin at the "siege" of Jerusalem. This is thought to be in 587/586 B.C. Subtract 70 years = 517/516, and add 2483.8 = 1967/68, the time when Jerusalem was captured! What are the odds against that?

e. If you just take the 2483.8 years and count from 606 B.C., you arrive at A.D., 1878, the very year the first Jewish settlements were established in modern-day Israel the actual planting of the fig tree!

f. As I meditated, I decided to NOT convert the years and just take the numbers at face value, using the Gregorian calendar. Using the 2,520 years and not the 2483.8, and counting forward from 517/516, I surprisingly arrived at the years A.D. 2004/2005.

(Counting over such a long span of time, and because of rounding and the month of year for starting a stopping a count, a plus-or-minus-one-year accuracy should be considered excellent.)

Incredibly, Ezekiel 4, written some 2,500 years ago, definitely pinpoints the historic years 1948 and 1967. Does it also point us to 2004/2005? Is this another clue that we are in the final seven years, as many believe? The year 2005 is also the year that New Zealand author George T. Curle documented in his 1988 book, "The Times of the Signs" as showing up in numerous biblical numerical patterns (other than the above) pointing to the end of the age, saying he believed he was correct "within one year."

I do not know the answer, but I do know that all these "converging" markers and possibilities are enough to keep me excited, and looking up.