When my late mentor (Dr Bola Akin-John)  was alive, one of his friends whom he invited to speak in a ministers conference told us about a pastor who was into drugs and heavily adulterous. This pastor belonged to a cartel of drug dealers who move hard drugs around the world. Those in that cartel are pastors of some of the mega churches in town.

Also, two societal women were his concubines. They had a permanent suite in one of the big hotels here in Nigeria. These women were the sponsors of his ministry. As he said, anywhere he wanted a church to be planted, these women will buy and build the church for him from start to finish.

However, the privilege was not free. They made him sniff cocaine so that he can have threesome with them. That was the price he paid to get the favours he got from those women.

He was tired of his rough life so he confessed to my mentor's friend. They prayed&fasted for weeks before he released him to go back home to confess to his wife. He knew that a confession would break the cycle of that repeated sin in his life. He did and was freed.

Another purpose of restitution is to prevent a repetition of that sin. That is, when we restitute, we become strengthened in a way that will make it hard for us to fall into the same sin again. To prevent repetition, confession must be made.  One of the ways to break free from the hold of persistent sin that has held us down is to connfess it.

James 5:16 (NLT) says, "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed..."

Secrecy is the power of persistent sin. You break free through confession and accountability.

Proverbs 28:13 (NLT) says,  "People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy".

It should be noted that not all confessions should be made public. Some confessions should be made to mentors or accountability partners only so that they can hold you accountable for your actions forthwith.