June 18, http://www.tribtimes.com
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William Zambrano MD
Jun 17, 2025, 3:33:56 PMJun 17
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Tribulation Times
(Mat 5:43-45) You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thy enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you: That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust.
POPE LEO XIV: 'On the night of June 13-14, a terrible massacre took place in the town of Yelwata, Gouma Local Government Area, Benue State, Nigeria, in which about two hundred people were killed with extreme cruelty, most of whom were internally displaced persons hosted by the local Catholic mission. I pray that security, justice and peace will prevail in Nigeria, a beloved country so affected by various forms of violence. And I pray in a special way for the rural Christian communities of Benue State, who have been incessantly victims of violence'
ACN: Nigeria: Up to 200 dead in worst killing spree
Militants massacred up to 200 Christians in Nigeria’s Benue State on the evening of Friday, June 13. They targeted displaced families, set fire to their buildings as people slept, and attacked with machetes anyone who tried to flee. The IDP families were in buildings repurposed as temporary accommodation in the market square in Yelewata, in Guma Local Government Area, near Makurdi, when militants stormed in, shouting “Allahu Akhbar” (“God is great”), before killing people at will.
In a first-hand report given to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), local clergy said that earlier the same evening, police had repelled the attackers as they tried to storm Yelewata’s St. Joseph’s Church, where up to 700 IDPs lay sleeping. But then, the militants made for the town’s market square, where they reportedly used fuel to set fire to the doors of the displaced people’s accommodation, before opening fire in an area where more than 500 people were asleep.
Speaking to ACN from Yelewata less than 12 hours after the atrocity, the town’s parish priest, Father Ukuma Jonathan Angbianbee, described how he and other IDPs narrowly escaped death, dropping to the floor of the church’s presbytery at the sound of gunfire. He said, “When we heard the shots and saw the militants, we committed our lives to God. This morning, I thank God I am alive.”
Father Jonathan also described visiting the market square: “What I saw was truly gruesome. People were slaughtered. Corpses were scattered everywhere.” An initial report from the FJDP, whose staff had just visited the scene of the massacre, said, “It was an eyesore, not a sight for anyone to behold.” The FJDP added, “Some [bodies were] burned beyond recognition: infants, children, mothers, and fathers just wiped out.”
Father Jonathan said that some were so badly burned, it was difficult to identify them, and that Yelewata had absorbed thousands of IDPs from neighboring villages – as it was considered relatively safe, lying on the main road to Abuja – but now was largely deserted, with many taking refuge in nearby Daudu and Abagena. Father Jonathan said that he and others identified the attackers as Fulanis and that the attack was carefully coordinated, with the militants accessing the town from multiple angles and using the cover of heavy rains to mount their assault. He said, “There is no question about who carried out the attack. They were definitely Fulanis. They were shouting ‘Alahu Akhbar.’”
BISHOP J. STRCKLAND: My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, With a heart weighed down by sorrow and righteous anger, I join the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, in mourning the brutal massacre that took place in Benue State, Nigeria. Nearly 200 souls—many of them our own brothers and sisters in Christ, internally displaced and seeking refuge in the arms of the Church—were savagely slaughtered in Yelwata, Guma, during the night of June 13th.
They were not soldiers. They were not armed. They were poor. They were vulnerable. And they were targeted.
Let us be absolutely clear: this was not merely a tragedy. It was a targeted massacre of innocent Christians, many of whom had already lost everything. And they were murdered while under the shelter of the Church.
How long, O Lord? How long will the world remain silent as the blood of martyrs cries out from the soil of Africa?
We cannot look away. We cannot remain silent.
To the faithful of Benue—especially the survivors: we see you. We grieve with you. And we stand with you. The Body of Christ is one. When one member suffers, all suffer. Your blood is the seed of faith; your perseverance is a rebuke to the comfortable; your tears are mingled with the tears of Our Lady, who stood at the foot of the Cross.
I call on the Nigerian government to fulfill its sacred duty: to protect the innocent and punish the wicked. Justice delayed is justice denied. And when Christians are slaughtered in their hundreds with impunity, it is not only a failure of governance—it is a scandal before Heaven.
I call on governments around the world, especially in the West, to open their eyes to this ongoing persecution. Christian blood is being spilled in Nigeria with alarming regularity—and yet, the world’s conscience remains dormant.
Let us not be numbered among those who looked away. Let us not be the priest or the Levite who passed by on the other side. No. Let us be the Samaritan. Let us kneel in prayer. Let us fast in reparation. Let us raise our voices and demand truth, justice, and peace.
To my fellow shepherds in the episcopate: if we do not cry out now, we are complicit in the silence.
May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced and bleeding still, hold the martyrs of Benue close. And may the Immaculate Heart of Mary wrap the survivors in her mantle of consolation.
Let us pray:
“Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.” — Psalm 30:16
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.
And let perpetual light shine upon them.
May justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
In Christ our King, Bishop Joseph E. Strickland
The Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Charity
23. A brother said to a hermit, 'If I see a monk about whom I have heard that he is guilty of a sin, I cannot make myself invite him into my cell. But if I see a good monk, I bring him in gladly.' The hermit said, 'If you do good to a good brother it is nothing to him, but to the other give double charity, for he is sick.'
"Have ANY Catholic Question? Just ask Ron Smith at: hfmin...@roadrunner.com
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June 18, 2025(Mat 5:43-45) You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thy enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you: That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust.
POPE LEO XIV: 'On the night of June 13-14, a terrible massacre took place in the town of Yelwata, Gouma Local Government Area, Benue State, Nigeria, in which about two hundred people were killed with extreme cruelty, most of whom were internally displaced persons hosted by the local Catholic mission. I pray that security, justice and peace will prevail in Nigeria, a beloved country so affected by various forms of violence. And I pray in a special way for the rural Christian communities of Benue State, who have been incessantly victims of violence'
ACN: Nigeria: Up to 200 dead in worst killing spree
Militants massacred up to 200 Christians in Nigeria’s Benue State on the evening of Friday, June 13. They targeted displaced families, set fire to their buildings as people slept, and attacked with machetes anyone who tried to flee. The IDP families were in buildings repurposed as temporary accommodation in the market square in Yelewata, in Guma Local Government Area, near Makurdi, when militants stormed in, shouting “Allahu Akhbar” (“God is great”), before killing people at will.
In a first-hand report given to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), local clergy said that earlier the same evening, police had repelled the attackers as they tried to storm Yelewata’s St. Joseph’s Church, where up to 700 IDPs lay sleeping. But then, the militants made for the town’s market square, where they reportedly used fuel to set fire to the doors of the displaced people’s accommodation, before opening fire in an area where more than 500 people were asleep.
Speaking to ACN from Yelewata less than 12 hours after the atrocity, the town’s parish priest, Father Ukuma Jonathan Angbianbee, described how he and other IDPs narrowly escaped death, dropping to the floor of the church’s presbytery at the sound of gunfire. He said, “When we heard the shots and saw the militants, we committed our lives to God. This morning, I thank God I am alive.”
Father Jonathan also described visiting the market square: “What I saw was truly gruesome. People were slaughtered. Corpses were scattered everywhere.” An initial report from the FJDP, whose staff had just visited the scene of the massacre, said, “It was an eyesore, not a sight for anyone to behold.” The FJDP added, “Some [bodies were] burned beyond recognition: infants, children, mothers, and fathers just wiped out.”
Father Jonathan said that some were so badly burned, it was difficult to identify them, and that Yelewata had absorbed thousands of IDPs from neighboring villages – as it was considered relatively safe, lying on the main road to Abuja – but now was largely deserted, with many taking refuge in nearby Daudu and Abagena. Father Jonathan said that he and others identified the attackers as Fulanis and that the attack was carefully coordinated, with the militants accessing the town from multiple angles and using the cover of heavy rains to mount their assault. He said, “There is no question about who carried out the attack. They were definitely Fulanis. They were shouting ‘Alahu Akhbar.’”
BISHOP J. STRCKLAND: My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, With a heart weighed down by sorrow and righteous anger, I join the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, in mourning the brutal massacre that took place in Benue State, Nigeria. Nearly 200 souls—many of them our own brothers and sisters in Christ, internally displaced and seeking refuge in the arms of the Church—were savagely slaughtered in Yelwata, Guma, during the night of June 13th.
They were not soldiers. They were not armed. They were poor. They were vulnerable. And they were targeted.
Let us be absolutely clear: this was not merely a tragedy. It was a targeted massacre of innocent Christians, many of whom had already lost everything. And they were murdered while under the shelter of the Church.
How long, O Lord? How long will the world remain silent as the blood of martyrs cries out from the soil of Africa?
We cannot look away. We cannot remain silent.
To the faithful of Benue—especially the survivors: we see you. We grieve with you. And we stand with you. The Body of Christ is one. When one member suffers, all suffer. Your blood is the seed of faith; your perseverance is a rebuke to the comfortable; your tears are mingled with the tears of Our Lady, who stood at the foot of the Cross.
I call on the Nigerian government to fulfill its sacred duty: to protect the innocent and punish the wicked. Justice delayed is justice denied. And when Christians are slaughtered in their hundreds with impunity, it is not only a failure of governance—it is a scandal before Heaven.
I call on governments around the world, especially in the West, to open their eyes to this ongoing persecution. Christian blood is being spilled in Nigeria with alarming regularity—and yet, the world’s conscience remains dormant.
Let us not be numbered among those who looked away. Let us not be the priest or the Levite who passed by on the other side. No. Let us be the Samaritan. Let us kneel in prayer. Let us fast in reparation. Let us raise our voices and demand truth, justice, and peace.
To my fellow shepherds in the episcopate: if we do not cry out now, we are complicit in the silence.
May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced and bleeding still, hold the martyrs of Benue close. And may the Immaculate Heart of Mary wrap the survivors in her mantle of consolation.
Let us pray:
“Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.” — Psalm 30:16
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.
And let perpetual light shine upon them.
May justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
In Christ our King, Bishop Joseph E. Strickland
The Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Charity
23. A brother said to a hermit, 'If I see a monk about whom I have heard that he is guilty of a sin, I cannot make myself invite him into my cell. But if I see a good monk, I bring him in gladly.' The hermit said, 'If you do good to a good brother it is nothing to him, but to the other give double charity, for he is sick.'
Prayer request? Send an email to: PrayerR...@aol.com
"Have ANY Catholic Question? Just ask Ron Smith at: hfmin...@roadrunner.com
This month's archive can be found at: http://www.catholicprophecy.info/news2.html.
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