[size=28pt]RESTITUTION: A bitter pill to swallow![/size]


A restituted personRestitution is an act of putting right all things that were wrongly done or acquired illegally. In some Christian religion circles, it is emphasised that a polygamist must stick only to his first wife, thereby relinquishing others. How easy is this perceived spiritual mandate to those concerned? Ask Olu Osunde, Biodun Muhammed and Modupe Okusanya. Christians.

Faith cometh by hearing says the bible. It is a rare privilege and special grace for a lost ship to gradually give attention to the voice of the shepherd and progressively retrace his step.

Notable men of God like Brother Kumuyi, Bishop Oyedepo, Pastor Adeboye and many others have stressed the importance of restitution as emphasised by the holy bible. However, since we cannot but choose one out of the many definitions of restitution as drawn from the bible, we shall make do, in this case, with that of Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God who defines restitution as follows: “Restitution is an act of putting right, what has been done wrongly, restoring what has been taken wrongly and repairing or giving an equivalent to loss or damage.”

The man of God did not only stop at defining restitution but added “This is a very important step for every believer for a clear conscience and good testimony.”

Brother Abraham, a newly converted Christian could simply be described as someone who truly listened to the word of God, meditated on it and practicalised it. He was once a drunk, fornicator as well as a liar and an examination fraudster.

However, Brother Abraham secured favour in the sight of the Lord as he was led to Christ after a miraculous encounter. As the young man was trying to build his personal relationship with God by meditating on his word, he subconsciously glued his attention to the bible book of Leviticus chapter 6 verse 2-5 which states clearly that lying, cheating, deciet, robbery and other vices are wrongs which should be made right by way of restitution. The story of Zacchaeus who promised to give back all he wrongly acquired in multiple fold in the book of Luke chapter 19 verse 8 also came running across his mind. He then concluded that if restitution could feature prominently in the old testament as well as play a key role in the new testament, then it needed to be taken seriously.

The youngman, who was then almost completing his study in a university, threw his ordinary level WAEC results away as he said he cheated to make the papers. He returned to his secondary school and started the process all over again from Senior Secondary Two, (SS 2).

He was called various unprintable names for his decision but today, he’s a lawyer who is fervent in the lord.

Glory be to God that Brother Abraham could do his restitution without any scare over his decision. However, Pa Alfred was not that lucky, the only consolation, which is of great importance, is his assurance of salvation as he paid a price that could devastate and make a man to burn-out. The man carried his cross and created a vacuum that no mortal man could block. Here is the simple story.

Pa Alfred was 60 when he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour. He had acquired four wives before then and the church elders advised him to let go the three wives he married after the first wife. The wives and their children were suddenly detached from their loving husband and father. The first wife was really no longer with the man again as had they separated for long. Pa Alfred is now a bachelor as the bible does not give him the chance to remarry since his first wife is still alive.

God is faithful to his word as he is no man that he can repent. He is not God of confusion despite some situation get too difficult to be explained except by God’s spirit.

Tribune Church’s finding revealed that in some cases, restitution could looks difficult if not impossible, for example a number of men were asked, "how would you react if your friend says he was sleeping with your wife until now that he has repented." We got frightning responses and we shall use Bro. Sam’s response as a summation of them all since they all spoke almost the same way “Only God would tell if that friend would leave my house alive,” says Bro. Sam.

With the seeming dilemma at hand, Tribune Church approached church leaders for their views on restitution, when and how it could be done.

Pastor Chris Godsent of the Deeply Covenated Family (A.K.A Life of God Evangelical Church) said “restitution is doing thing you had earlier done wrong well. Showing that you have truly repented by revisiting all those things you did wrongly with a view to making amendment. Zacchaeus was a tax collector and when he met Jesus Christ and he was assured of salvation, nobody forced him to say he would repay everything he had wrongly taken from any man in four folds.

“A very clear thing about restitution is that in some cases, you must be strongly backed by the spirit of God to act less you pay heavily for it. If the spirit of God leads you, no matter how delicate the case may look, He will back you up. For a former armed robber to go into a family to say he killed their bread winner would need the leading of the Holy Spirit.

“I believe restitution is one of the things that a new convert should be taught so that such a baby Christian could mend his way."

“Leading someone to make restitution requires that the pastors are deeply involved with the help of the holy spirit so that blunders are avoided. In some highly delicate cases, restitution could just be setting your conscience free before God by confessing your sin genuinely and begging for forgiveness. Like the death of Stephen, Saul was behind it all but when he repented, he did not go to the people of Stephen but placed his focus on God, his conscience did not condemn him.

In his own contribution, senior Apostle Michael Ogundana of the Holy Light of God Church, Aladura, said “While the case of Zacchaeus is a good example of restitution that should be emulated by Christians, It is not in all cases that a man can get the person he has done wrong against.

“We are under grace and so, one may need to just focus on God in true repentance. Tell me how a police man who has taken N20 from countless motorist would pay back. If he has the money to pay, can he get all the drivers? Zacchaeus had an opportunity that may not be available today because he could identify the people he did wrong against.

“I must also let you know that the cost of restitution could be so high that one is not able to pay. If you marry more than a wife and you have to restitute by cleaving to your first wife, the bible demands that you don’t just send the other woman or women away.

“You have to settle them well so that they don’t suffer. If a woman goes prostituting or she commits other sinful acts as a result of the failure of the man to settle her well as part of restitution, the man is still a sinner.

Talking about restitution which involves restoring or repaying losses in a way that makes amends, one question that comes to minds is, does the bible teach that restitution is necessary? However, going by the law of God in Exodus: 22:1 it says, If a man shall steal an ox or a sheep or kill it or sell it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheeps for a sheep.”

Also in Leviticus 5:15, the bible emphasises that; if a soul commit a trespass and sin through ignorance in the holy things of the Lord, then he shall bring for his trespass under the Lord a ram without blemish out of the flocks with thy valuation shekels of silver after the shekel of the santuary for a trespass offering and he shall make amends for the harm that the halth done in the holy thing and add the fifth part thereto.” Therefore, going by these scriptural refferences, we can boldly say restitution was something that was required under God’s law in the old testament.

But was restitution practised in the new testament which bible schoars reffered to as the dispensation of grace, where we are not more under the law but under grace.

However, Zacheus in Luke 19:1-9 told Jesus he would repay four times what he had taken dishonestly. Jesus did not ask or command him to do so, neither did he stop him from doing so. Can we then say the tax collector, Zacchaeus' actions was in obedience to the Jewish Law of God.

Jesus said by faith alone we are saved - Ephesians 2:8-9 “for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.’ Going by this scripture, one can deduce that even though restitution is still a valid thing and something that is and was required under the Jewish concept of God’s law, both in the old testament and in the old testament respectively, yet restitution is a “work” or “an action” which may not necessary lead to being saved in Christianity.

Also, from Zacheus’ example, restitution can be said to be a personal thing between us and God. Immediately he had an encounter with Jesus Christ (salvation), His Spirit began to speak to him concerning things in his life that he had done that he needed to set right; what a wonderful pattern to follow.

Restitution is part of repentance process but the beautiful thing about the two is that one has been accomplished and the other puts into action, what has been accomplished.

According to Rev. Fr. Patrick Ekpada (OCD) of The Carmalite Fathers Community, Ibadan. Restitution is a kind of amendment made for one’s sin(s) after confession in the catholic church. It is like a payment made for damages done. In the Catholic church, restitution is a necessary condition for absolution from sin after confession. However, it is weighed against the gravity of the confessor’s sins.

Usually, the practice is to ask the person to recite certain prayers in the church such as The Lord’s Prayer and the ‘Hail Mary’ as restitution.

The priest can also ask the person to make amendment by returning an items stolen in the case of a theft.

The person making restitution may do this himself or have it done through the priest or any other person as the case may be. Care must be taken not to jeopardise the interest of the person in question.

However, he opined that not every sin can attract restitution. Speaking further, he buttressed the church’s view on restitution with the encounter between Zacheus and Jesus Christ in the bible where the former vowed to replace all that he had acquired unjustly or extorted from the people over the years in four fold, Luke 19:8 - And Zacheus stood and said to the Lord, behold, the half of my possession, Lord, I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from anyone by false, accusationl, I restore four times as much. He added that the practice is sanctioned in the old Jewish tradition as recorded in the old testament where sinners were made to pay for their sins in two fold.

Recently, the General Overseer of Evangelical International Gospel Church, Archbishop Abraham Oyelakin Oyeniran held a revival of restitution in Seme border between May 22 and 31, 2009 setting, albeit inadvertently an agenda for another controversial discourse.

Defining restitution, he said, “it is the act of making right what is wrong particularly in your day-to-day life activities.

He added that “those who have sinned through stealing, armed robbery, lying, fornication, adultery, fraud, polygamy, bigamy, homosexualism, must do restitution to qualify for the end-time retreat.”

By Bishop Oyelakin’s definition and the vices listed, there appears not to be a clear disparity between restitution which in practical term must be done at the instance of a priest and a mere plea for forgiveness of sin which most times is discreetly carried out. This is done on daily basis, according to Bishop Oyelakin.

What appears most difficult is the moral constraints associated with the demand often made of an intending pastor especially if he is a polygamist. By restitution, such to-be priest must discard his excess wives and hold on to the very first one as his legal wife. The practicability of that no doubt, puts the Christendom in a tight corner, raising the question as to why God would always want to use or call those He knows has contravened His laws.

In Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) “you cannot be a pastor or an elder if you are a polygamist. You can’t even hold a position in the church. If you are already in a position of honour and you contravened the laws, you will instantly be demoted. So, with that, the church does not even tolerate let alone leaving a room for restitution” says Esther Adeola, a member of ECWA.
http://www.tribune.com.ng/14062009/church_news.html

This restitution thing sef. . . the first time I ever heard of it was when my cousin said I should escort her to their neighbor's house. When we got there, this girl started going on and on about how one day the neighbor came to their house to see her mom and she said her mom was not home. Well, the truth is. . .was. .  the mom was home and she had lied coz her mama told her to. She is now confessing because she wants to make restitution.

The woman was looking at my repentant cousin like she had lost it. . .I tell ya, that was the most uncomfortable 5 mins of my life.

Seriously, is this what restitution is about coz if it is then I gotta agree. .  it is a difficult and bitter pill to swallow.

Sisi Jinx:

This restitution thing sef. . . the first time I ever heard of it was when my cousin said I should escort her to their neighbor's house. When we got there, this girl started going on and on about how one day the neighbor came to their house to see her mom and she said her mom was not home. Well, the truth is. . .was. .  the mom was home and she had lied coz her mama told her to. She is now confessing because she wants to make restitution.

The woman was looking at my repentant cousin like she had lost it. . .I tell ya, that was the most uncomfortable 5 mins of my life.

Seriously, is this what restitution is about coz if it is then I gotta agree. .  it is a difficult and bitter pill to swallow.

sisi how you dey? that is nice. it is one of the most difficult things to do. if all the theives living in their ill gotten homes in nigeria were to return the money they stole that would be nice. they keep living in the houses and say they are now religious. what religion is that?

Luke 19:5-13 (Amplified Bible)

5And when Jesus reached the place, He looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.

6So he hurried and came down, and he received and welcomed Him joyfully.

7And when the people saw it, they all [a]muttered among themselves and indignantly complained, He has gone in to be the guest of and lodge with a man who is devoted to sin and preeminently a sinner.

8So then Zacchaeus stood up and solemnly declared to the Lord, See, Lord, the half of my goods I [now] give [by way of restoration] to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone out of anything, I [now] restore four times as much.(A)

9And Jesus said to him, Today is [[b]Messianic and spiritual] salvation come to [all the members of] this household, since Zacchaeus too is a [real spiritual] son of Abraham;

i know a lady who "stole/took" someone husband. had 3 kids for the guy became a christian and rightly returned the man to his wife. she brought the guy all the way from naija and dumped him in london with his ex who had become a christian too. they renewed their wedding vows and took off from where they stopped. it was funny at first. that is what i call true born again. hard but right havent heard of them recently as of 2007 they were 12 yrs reunited.

i dont like the religious conversion that makes people comfortable to continue holing unto things that are not your.

it is a very difficult one but i think it is right thing to do

restitution is indeed bitter but it is what God requires of us

Imagine preaching the gospel to a person you are wearing his shirt you stole from?  The guy is looking at his shirt that he clearly identifies as his own and brings your attention to it and you are there busy preaching the gospel that God has forgiven you of your past sins.  What about the sin to your fellow human being, has he forgiven also?

restitution is important, but should be applied with wisdom.

then again, i dont think its everything that can be restituted, it depends on the context and situation.