I checked my 555 oscillator with a plain LED prior to switching across. As far as setting fuses I assume that when I choose 'EXTClk' as the oscillator fuse setting in ICProg that the correct settings will be applied. Perhaps I just didn't give the PIC time to fire. I will check the frequency of my 555 oscillator and try again. Please just clarify one thing: ?I totally vanish my XTAL setup (ie crystal and caps) and replace with a signal line in to RA7 from whatever oscillator setup I wish to use?

Here is my test code:
device = 16f628a
loop:
high porta
pause 33
low porta
pause 33
goto loop