Authored by Eric Zarska, MA, Counseling, son of Ken & Carol Zarska, brother of Brenda Zarska & Karen Zarska Styer
Greetings from inside prison walls. I trust you are all well and trusting in the Lord through this time in earth’s history. I fully believe we are seeing the direct result of God releasing the four winds. If we are under the shadow of His hand we will be cared for by Him and see it only with our eyes. This is a Biblical promise and confirmed by the Spirit of Prophecy.
I am not a Biblical scholar, nor do I feel called to be one, but I am looking at world events as communications from God that He is wrapping up earth’s history. Part of this “wrapping up” entails putting together a group of people who are in complete agreement with Him on everything. For many, many years of my life I have heard about the topic of the judgment.
My first understanding was that the judgment is a secret thing that Jesus began in 1844, starting with the dead, and then the living. We would have no clue when our name would come up, so being obedient to the rules, or ten commandments, was a must. But this theology for me produced a cycle of failure and defeat. It went like this: Read the law, think how I broke it in thought, word, or deed, (or lack of such), and determine not to do it again. Then do it again, accompanied by guilt, separation feelings — then try again.
A relationship meant bursts of feelings of closeness with Christ, followed by failures and separation. My mother would explain how this judgment was found in the sanctuary relationship, but my concept of a relationship was based on failures that produce feelings of separation. Holiness was described as agreement with God but seen by me as head knowledge only. I agree with you God, that coveting is wrong, but no ability to stop wanting what I don’t have.
What I didn’t realize is that this judgment is individual in nature. It is started by Christ and our Father in heaven when Christ comes to our name. We can’t enter the judgment until He enters us into it. When He enters us into it, His mind reveals to us what He wants to remove. Then we have His power to be free of whatever it is. His bidding becomes an enabling (a phrase from E. G. White). This finally makes experiential sense to me because I see it working in my life.
A month ago, I entered the judgment. It is much different than what I experienced when my guilty conscience was pricked by wrong thoughts or actions. It began by a very clear bidding to me to reject completely a sin. Just one to start with that has pursued me for so long. There was not one feeling of guilt or condemnation, but a clear feeling that a personal journey has begun, and that if I agree with Him, He will forever remove that sin from my character. I agreed, and for the first time I was thrilled with the concept of the judgment seen in a new light.
This time the fight was so easy. Yes, I have to resist temptation, and to take captive the thoughts that if dwelt on lead to urges that result in a relapse. Those that study addiction see clearly the pattern of addiction here, but isn’t that what uncontrolled sin is? Thought, feeling, urge to act, failure, guilt, shame, try again. The judgment breaks this cycle forever on each sin he brings up. It requires maintenance but not a huge power of our own. We must resist, but it is made easy by a knowledge in the heart that we are being personally cleansed of the curse of sins in our lives right now because He is wanting to protect us from the result of the loosening of the four winds, and have a group who proves that Satan is a liar. We can be followers of the Lord’s government. This knowledge that we are experiencing is what prophecy spoke of through Ellen G. White, which provides the ability to join with Christ right now in this cleansing when we feel Him come to our name. I was in no real doubt when He came to me, because understanding the fact that this is the end, and the close of probation is next, followed by His return, and the absolute need of being under His protection during these events made it a certainty it was He who was inviting me to participate in the judgment with Him, and reap the reward.
This process is able to be done easily when we believe we are protected in the process, so all the reasons we continue to act in a sin for provision of a need of some kind is no longer needed. We can turn from the revealed sin with full heart in agreement that it must go. But for me, I am not searching my heart for sin, Jesus is. He controls the issue and pace of revelation, so my worry of feeling that mountains of sins must be removed is without merit. He is the Judge and High Priest. He bids us to turn from whatever sin He reveals. He does it all. It is made so simple. All we do is agree, think about all He is revealing, completely reject the lies that we need to sin for this reason or that reason, and actually leave it behind, working through the constant process of taking each thought captive when tempted, and have the power to do so, fueled by the knowledge that the earth is in the final countdown. We are about to go home. Our victory over sin is all that remains.
It is not our job to create the judgment for ourselves. God comes to us, clearly tells us of this fact if we are asking to do His will. We feel it in the clarity and finality of the moment and actively join in the process with Him. It becomes a joy to know it’s almost over, to be in the judgment process, and to know we are in the process of being freed from the loss and pain Satan has been keeping us captive with for so long.
Don’t panic if you don’t feel you are in the judgment. Pray about it. Ask God to make you really feel it when He comes to you. Trust him to control the issues and pace of the process. Some will be laid away to ensure their salvation; others will be brought into the judgment to prepare them to live through the end and be translated when Jesus comes. Salvation by faith and belief in Christ’s shed blood, and doing all we know to do in response to the bidding of His Holy Spirit still holds for all who follow Him to the extent that they are able; but the judgment is a special process He operates to put together 144,000 to end this war with Satan. It has begun, and I am in it. So it is so comforting to know that I am under His wings of protection during these final moments of earth’s history.
In conclusion, don’t fret if you don’t know if you are in the judgment or not. Keep your heart open to Him, be a Christian to the best of your ability. He will make it very clear if He has come to your name. If He has, rejoice, and join in the process. When you give up a sin completely, it is a real load off your soul, and He provides everything you thought sin would provide, only there is no guilt, shame, fear, etc like the sin produced. Once you mentally agree with God about rejecting a sin He has brought to you in the judgment, all you have to do is guard your life from the triggers or situations that produce the thoughts that lead to urges or cravings that cause the act or sin. He gives complete power in that process. We are not helpless when He bids us to surrender a sin in the judgment. I have now experienced this processed successfully. What continued was not only freedom from the revealed sin, but the fact that He then brought the next issue to my heart. It is clear when it is Him doing it, because there is not a hint of guilt, or shame, or demand in His presentation of the issue that He sees in your life’s record. It is so loving and supportive. Almost like a doctor with a great bedside manner explaining where you are in the diagnosis and cure.
I am thrilled to finally get the concept of the judgment, and need for it. It’s only a secret until He introduces us to it by coming to our names. If we love Him we will be in tune enough to know He is at our name. Until then, don’t worry. He runs the judgment, and we don’t have a say when we are in it — we only have a say about hearing Him tell us about it and how we respond to it. It is a joyous relief to be in it, not the scary process filled with failures like when we try to overcome sins by our own will and determination.
Lift up your heads! Jesus is on His way. This process seems like complete nonsense to the unbeliever, or unconverted. It is very real when He says, “Hello! Let’s review your life together and free you forever!”
I hope to see you all soon, good Lord willing. But, I’m happy even in prison because I see the handwriting on the wall of earth’s history. It will get worse in the world. Enter the courtyard and sanctuary now.
Your brother in Christ, Eric
Kitale Kenya SDA Mission 