Jukun Custom in the Bible by Apo

"Whosever possesses riches, since he has sufficient to eat and clothe himself, the rest he must give to his needy brother, for whom Christ died on the cross. If he doesn't give, if he closes his heart to the needs of his poor brother, he is committing a mortal sin, because the love of God is not in him."

"Woe betide those whose cellars and granaries are well-stocked, whose closets are full, while the poor people of Christ beg at their door, starving and naked."

"It isn't enough to hold out one's hand, one must continue to gesture with love and affection. It isn't true charity if while seeing the need of their soul, or if seeing to the needs of the soul, we don't see to the needs of the body. He who suffers needs to be consoled. Think of all those unhappy people who, ostracized by society, are found to beg, crying in rags, imagine the misery" No one may consider his own that which he obtained through violence, nor convert to luxury and pleasure that which is the nourishment of one and all. That piece of bread you keep in the pantry belongs to the hungry, those clothes you accumulate in the closet belong to the unclothed, the money you keep hidden belongs to the poor.

Be aware that you are committing a crime against all those to whom you deny charity. Nature creates us poor; naked we die. Iniquity created the rich, and who craves to be rich will fall into the trap of the devil." St. Anthony of Padua

And they made Solomon the son of David king the second time, and anointed him unto the Lord to be the chief governor, and Zadok to be priest. Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him" 1 Chronicles 29:22,23

The Jewish kingship has a strong concept of Theocracy with the king appointed as God's vicar or ( Representative). Solomon sat on the Lord's throne as King. It wasn't really as if God threw or dispatched Angels to bring a very wonderful-looking throne from heaven. Because it was the very throne that David his father sat upon to rule over Israel for forty years.

In Haggai 2:23 GNB "On that day I will take you, Zerubabel my servant, and I will appoint you to rule in my name. You are the one I have chosen, the Lord Almighty has spoken.

The Jukun system of government is also based on the concept of theocracy where the king is the representative of the gods divinely appointed to meditate between the gods and the people.

In obeying the king the people believe they are obeying the gods. The king is supreme. His decision has a divine authority, and there is no appeal. In his person all legislative, judicial and executive functions were merged. He exacted tributes in kind, bundles of corn from all at harvest time, and gifts of beer on the occasion of any private religious celebration. He was the recipient of gifts from all persons seeking any of the numerous offices.

"The authority of the king of kwararafa was therefore based purely on his religious supremacy without the concurrence of the people of the chiefdom. It was apparent within his discretion to summon any head of a chiefdom to his capital."

"The group of believers was one in mind and heart. None of them said that any of their belongings were their own, but they all shared with one another everything they had. With great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God poured rich blessings on them all. There was no one in the group who was in need. Those who owned field or houses would sell them, bring the money received from the sale, and hand it over to the apostles; and the money was distributed to each one according to his need" Acts 4:32-36

"All the believers continued together in close fellowship and shared their belonging with one another, they would sell their property and possessions, and distribute the money among all, according to what each one needed." Acts 2:43-46.

"The people had given willingly to the Lord, and they were happy that so much had been given. King David also was extremely happy" 1 Chron. 29:9

The texts I quoted above show us that the Bible contains lots of passages where God's people gave to God through His representatives willingly. Out of a free will.

Among the Jukuns "in those days the subject brings in everything they have, to the palace and the Aku(King) feeds them. Now, these are no more." Says Bishop Sangari, he further added that "Nobody sends in harvest to the palace as in former times, everybody now returns his property to himself. Another account says that nowadays, the chiefs and rulers of these localities pay tribute to the Aku Uka in the form of cash, or vehicles or clothing and the like. In addition to tributes from the various chiefs of the jukuns, everyone in the area is expected (by freewill) to give the Aku Uka food items at the end of annual harvests.

The tribute paid to the Jukun king from people far and near showed how important he was in the life of the people. The tributes from the chiefs of other tribes were sign of their subjugation to the sovereignty of the Aku Uka. According to Rev. Kwabe "the food items given to him(Aku) by jukun families were expected to make the king to continue to care for the poor in the community. He is to be given enough to enable him to assist the needy who go to him, such as the destitute, widows, orphans, the aged and generally the weak or disadvantaged. Though this giving to the king is no longer emphasized, many Jukun families including chieftains continue to send annual gifts to the Aku Uka.

" At the end of every third year bring the tithe of all your crops and store it in your towns. This food is for the levites, since they own no property and for foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in oyur towns. They are to come and get all they need. Do this, and, the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do." Deut. 14:28,29

‘He spent his life in fellowship with God, and then he disappeared, because God took him.' Gen. 5:24

‘So Moses, the Lord's servant, died there in the land of Moab, as the Lord has said he would. The Lord buried him in a valley in Moah, opposite the town of Bethpeor, but to this day no one knows the exact place of his burial.' Deut. 34:5,6

‘Not even the chief angel Michael did this. In his quarrel with the devil, when they argued about who would have the body of Moses, Michael did not dare condemn the Devil with insulting words, but said, "The Lord rebuke you" Jude vs 9

"They kept talking as they walked on: then suddenly a chariot of fire pulled by horses of fire came between them, and Elijah was taken up to heaven by a whirlwind. Elisha saw it and cried out to Elijah, "my father, My father! Mighty defender of Israel! You are gone!" And he never saw Elijah again." 2 Kings 2:11,12

‘He was taken up to heaven as they watched him, and a cloud hid him from their sight." Acts 1:9 GNB

The Jukuns cannot locate the graves of their past kings because they generally believe that the king does not die but disappears or vanishes into the spirit world(Mando) where spirits of rulers go to. There are also myths concerning some Jukun kings who "have entered the ground or entered a tree and disappeared never to be seen again. Hence, for the Jukuns, it is a taboo to say that the king dies" (Kwabe, Nyampa Tizhe, Messianic Themes in Psalms 72 Jukun Kingship)

Agbukenjo, the fortieth King, when an old man, and feeling his end approaching sent for his two sons. Katakpa and Ajonwudu, who had founded the town of Wukari. At the same time he sent his two younger sons, Ate and Abe, who lived in Kwararafa, but who lacked respect for him, off on a hunting trip. On Katakpa's arrival he gave him all the articles connected with the chieftainship, collected the people, and pointing to their new chief, said ‘follow him across the river' (that is river Donga) adding the Canoe man to take him through must be a deaf man. After Katakpa had gone, Agbukenjo, accompanied by a youth went to a ‘Kiriya' tree and clapped his hands where upon the trunk split open, Agbukenjo stepped inside and the trunk closed around him." (Relics of Kwararafa Volume 2, Issue 1)

In conclusion the Holy Bible states in Acts 17:30,31 "God has overlooked the times when people did not know Him, but now he commands all of them everywhere to turn from their evil ways. For he has fixed a day in which He will judge the whole world with justice by means of a man He has chosen. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising that man from death."

The Bible also says in 2 Corinths 5:17 "therefore if any person is (engrafted) in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! (AMP)

According to Pastor Daniel Paul DeGracia (II) "The number one problem with the body of Christ today is something I call inferiority complex-it's the notion that we are somehow so powerless and unable to live life that we are destined to go from failure to failure, crises to crises, getting worse all the time as a perpetual reminder that our home is not below, but above. We have become so excessively diluted by worldly philosophy and opinions that the miraculous and wonder working force that so typifies every page of the Bible is perceived in our modern day to be extinct."

Jesus Christ has called His servants to be His personal representatives of authority on earth, and to all those that believe, he grants the power of God Almighty so that whatsoever is born of God might overcome the world. We need to seriously consider the fact that God gave us authority and power to represent the kingdom of heaven, and we need to use that power proactively to bring the world under the dominion of God and His Christ Jesus.

God has chosen you my brother/sister in your capacity to be His REPRESENTATIVE. Isn't it time you start representing Him with authority and power?

Now I charge you to receive the power, and go shake the planet as God's representative.

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The Journal of African History

The Journal of African History (1967), 8: 383-393
DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700007921 (About DOI) Published online: 22 Jan 2009

Articles

Christian Traces and a Franciscan Mission in the Central Sudan, 1700–1711

Richard Gray

In 1700 reports from Tripoli reached the congregation of Propaganda Fide in Rome that Christians, ‘little or uninstructed in the Faith’, were living in Bornu. Further enquiries revealed that these rumours related not to the kingdom of Bornu, but to a neighbouring, rival kingdom, that of ‘Gourourfa’ or ‘Carnorfa’. Two sons of the ruler of Bornu, interviewed in Cairo, stated that in ‘Canorfa’ there were people ‘who venerate the Cross and erect it over the houses and churches’, while the French Consul at Tripoli reported how he had seen slaves from ‘Gouroufa’ who made the sign of the Cross. In June 1710 two Franciscans, attempting to establish contact with these ‘Christians’, set out from Tripoli, passed through Murzuk and Agades, and were later reported to have died in Katsina in August 1711.

Hausa and Bornu sources indicate that these reports almost certainly referred to the Kwararafa, who on several occasions in the seventeenth century attacked Kano and Bornu. It is then pointed out that a Maltese cross was one of the motifs still used in the twentieth century as a decoration by an Aku of Wukari, a ruler of the Jukun, who are among the principal survivors of the Kwararafa. At least a section of the inhabitants of Wukari also preserved a clearly remembered tradition of having taken part in a migratory journey from the Nilotic Sudan to the Benue. It is suggested therefore that the reports of the French consul and the Franciscans, although garbled and consisting in the main of second-hand evidence, strengthen the possibility that the Maltese crosses used among the Jukun, in Nupe and at Benin indicate an influence which emanated originally from Christian Nubia and is perhaps connected with the Kisra traditions.