Restitution 2

Jesus didn’t give us a yoke
that is too hard to bear,
He said “Come to me,
all you who are weary and
burdened, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon
you and learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble
of heart; and you will find rest.
For my yoke is easy, and my
burden is light”

REST with Jesus really means REST.
How then would some people who
make certain decisions while they
were single have to bear difficult yokes
simply because of human doctrine?
The gospel is simple,
so simple that you need an
interpreter to get it wrong.
Human doctrine is that interpreter.

I remember a denomination taking the
charge of Apostle Paul about women
keeping quiet in church literally,
forgetting there is a context and a
culture
at play. A certain woman, called
by God and filled with the power
of the Holy Spirit rose through
the ranks in that denomination.
She was the one the Holy Spirit
called into ministry but the men
said “Keep quiet because of your
gender”.

This woman’s ministry has blossomed
and led millions into the kingdom
of God. In case you don’t
know her, you can check out
“Agbala Daniel Cathedral”.
Some of us are more hard-hearted
than the Pharisees, we think we
are serving the Lord but we are just
slaves of our own priggish mindsets.

Let’s look at the scriptures and
see the Genesis of the doctrine of
restitution in Luke 19.
1 Jesus entered Jericho and was
passing through.
2 A man was there by the
name of Zacchaeus; he was a
chief tax collector and was wealthy.
3 He wanted to see who Jesus
was, but because he was short
he could not see over the crowd.
4 So he ran ahead and climbed
a sycamore-fig tree to see him,
since Jesus was coming that way.
5 When Jesus reached the spot, he
looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus,
come down immediately. I must stay
at your house today.”
6 So he came down at once
and welcomed him gladly.
7 All the people saw this and
began to mutter, “He has gone
to be the guest of a sinner.”
8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said
to the Lord, “Look, Lord!
Here and now I give half
of my possessions to the poor,
and if I have cheated anybody out
of anything, I will pay back
four times the amount.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation
has come to this house, because
this man, too, is a son of Abraham.
10 For the Son of Man came
to seek and to save the lost.”

In the passage above, Jesus didn’t
ask Zacchaeus to restitute a dime.
It was Zacchaeus that volunteered
to restitute all himself and the man
did not speak by the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, he spoke only
as an excited man who wanted
to justify the reason Jesus was
coming to his house. Jesus said
nothing on the issue, not even
a “well done” to Zacchaeus.

Silence may mean tacit consent,
it can also be interpreted in the
context of the moment as “excited talk”
Jesus never preached restitution.

Am I saying then that restitution is
wrong? No! I am not saying this
but I am saying there are many
things that had been done that
cannot be undone. You cannot for
example un-sleep with a woman you
slept with or un-have a child
a child you had outside of wedlock
or even in wedlock which is not
for your spouse. You cannot undo
examination malpractice (I know somebody
who took contracts for special centers
and wrote JAMB, GCE, WAEC, and later
NECO for thousands of students between
1996 and 2004). He was 16
when he started writing examinations for
students under contract with principals
and stopped when he met the Lord at 24.

He said he didn’t even know
how many lives and careers he would
ruin if he wrote to the examination
authorities stating his crime and the
fact that he had turned a new
leaf since and given his life to
Christ. You cannot un-kill someone you
killed or participated in his death
(Apostle Paul was an example and you
cannot in-steal some things you stole in
order to make heaven). The thief
by the right hand of Jesus’ cross
was a perfect example.

Any doctrine that cannot cut across
board should be done away with.
The Apostles did not preach restitution.
Many of us know the story of
BarJesus (Acts 13:6-12) and Simeon the
sorcerer (Acts 8:9-24). They were not
asked to restitute anything.

Once you come to Jesus, you become
a new creature, old things have passed
away and all things have become
new.
This is the gospel.

So many idol worshippers who were involved
in human sacrifice turned to Christ and
they were saved.
They couldn’t bring back their victims
from the dead and yet they were accepted
in the beloved.

Yesterday, I wrote about marital relations
and the theory of restitution as it affects
those in polygamous unions and some
legalistic believers started making ridiculous
statements.

A man who paid the bride price
of a woman has a right to have
conjugal relations with the woman
as his wife unless the wife says
she doesn’t want him anymore.
It doesn’t matter whether the wife
is the first or the fiftieth.
If such a man comes into
Christ, there is no precedent in
the scripture of the man sticking
with only the first wife and
denying the others of their marital rites
in the name of Jesus. None whatsoever

We shouldn’t add to the scripture
and we shouldn’t take away from it.
We shouldn’t also assume we
know more than the Holy Spirit
in any matter. We have the
mind of Christ.

Take a look at the book of Philemon,
written by Apostle Paul
to a slave owner. The slave in
question was Onesimus.
Apostle Paul taught him the scriptures
and he later became an Apostle
known as Onesimus of Byzantine and
the Bishop of Ephesus. In that letter,
Apostle Paul didn’t ask Philemon to
release Onesimus but reminded him
that the two of them belonged to
Christ and are owned by him.
Does this then mean Apostle Paul
endorsed slavery?
Did he not state clearly in
1Corinthians 7 that if a slave has
the means to set himself free he
or she should do so?
Some of us were acting as
“sexual police” as if that is a criteria
for salvation. Those asking have
slept with more than one woman
or man in their lifetime but
they feel justified to state that
a man who came into Christ as
a polygamous man should not sleep
with his other wives.
Their concern was not that the
man and his household are saved,
like the Pharisees, their concern is
who is sleeping with who.

The fact that your General Overseers
taught you doctrine that is not
scripturally sound does not stop me
from reading the scriptures for myself
and coming to the right conclusion.
I cannot be led by the nose
into error and my results are
greater and better than yours in
ministry! I say that with my
full chest!

Somebody even referred to Kathryn Khulman
and stated that she left a
“second husband” in order to fulfill
purpose in ministry.
That was a lie!
She was married to Burroughs Allen Waltrop
from 1936 to 1948 and
she left him because she discovered
he was previously married to another
woman and didn’t divorce her.
Again, if a man is in Christ,
polygamy is not an option!
Jesus said this plainly but if
a man was in a polygamous
relationship, he must keep his wives
and children and train them in the
fear of the Lord.

Ps: Polygamy before meeting Christ means
“Keep your home and train the members of
your household as believers”
Breaking them and raising bitter and
angry ex-wives and children does not
benefit Christ in any way.
You can however not be an
ordained minister but you are
of great value.