My
Conversation with Baba Simeo Melkio Messias
On
8th September 1991 at around 12 noon, Simeo Melkio Ondeto, the Lord
of Legion Maria was speaking to our congregation through the Holy Spirit. As I
was not in the church because I had gone out to play with fellow children, I
was called to hear the message the Lord had for me. Our conversation went like this:
Simeo Melkio: Tobias, why do you go out playing football on
Sunday?
Tobias: (silent, no answer).
Simeo Melkio: Did you know my altar was in a great mess?
Tobias: I am sorry I didn’t check it this morning before
leaving for the playground.
Simeo Melkio: From today, you must never go out to play on Sunday
morning. Every Sunday, make sure to arrive in church before 8 a.m. Once you
arrive, clean the church and change the flowers on my altar. Assist with
preparations for the mass and help the priests and teachers of the church in
their work. Do you understand?
Tobias: Yes Lord.
Simeo Melkio: I see you came here without a robe? Tell your parents
that I have ordered them to buy you a white robe as soon as possible. Tell them
I do not want to see you again in church in those clothes.
Tobias: I will do so Lord.
Simeo Melkio: I want young children born in Legion Maria to learn
the faith. You are the future of this faith. If you do not learn this faith, it
shall not be passed to the next generation. You know, when the generation of your
parents die and go, it is you and your generation that will carry the faith forward.
That is all I wanted to tell you.
Tobias: Thank you Lord.
Haunted by the Conversation
About
2 hours after this conversation with Simeo, news broke out that Simeo was dead.
I could not believe it. I had just spoken to him and I was not ready to believe
he had passed on. Therefore, I joined the group of Legion Maria faithful who
were waiting for the news to be confirmed. We waited at our home compound in
silence for some hours as the news was being confirmed through a telephone call
to the diocese. And by around 4:30 pm, we had confirmed the truth.
At
the confirmation of this news, the conversation with the Lord started haunting
me. I asked myself so many questions about it over and over again? Why did he choose
to call me of all the small boys in our home, let alone our parish? Why did he
outline those responsibilities just before I learned of his death? I asked
myself so many questions. But as it was time to go out to the burial at Got
Calvary, I could not sit down with a priest or an older adherent to help cool
down my worries.
The Work Begins
Days
after the burial of Simeo Melkio and the drama that followed, the faithful of
our parish settled down. They had now learned to cope with the mockery and
outright insults that followed the death of their God. Well, I have to say it
was not easy to be a member of Legion Maria those days. People waited for our
processions along the roadside just to mock us and tell us that our Lord had
died. Some courageous ones even pulled the Rosaries violently from our necks.
For children, we had to get used to being reminded by fellow children that our
God had died.
To
help us children cope with the challenge of the time, our priest developed a
Sunday school program for kids. The program included training on catechism,
prayers and answers to common questions on Legion Maria. We would arrive for
the program as from 7 a.m. on Sundays and would be in there until around 8:30 am
when adult members of the church would arrive for prayers. Then we would be
freed to go back home to refresh a bit before coming back for Mass.
During
the training, I quickly built a good rapport with our teacher and he would sit
down with me after Sunday church services to answer my questions. He would also
bring me the tapes of Reverent Romanus Odongo and Sister Hellena and I could
listen to them worship Simeo Melkio. I really loved those tapes and would sit
for many hours over the weekend just listening to them. In fact, by early 1992,
I had mastered the words Odongo and Hellena used for Simeo Melkio and even
copied their styles so much so I could mimic the way they worshipped when I was
alone.
Because
of my mastery of catechism, I was soon appointed a peer catechist at our parish.
Peer catechists are young catechists who have mastered the teachings so well
that they can teach their fellows. I served as a peer catechist for around 3 years then I was promoted to a chapel catechist, helping both adults and
children in our chapel to learn catechism, prayers and other teachings. In
short, I became a teacher of the faith.
Saved and Christian Union Leader
When
I joined high school, I had a big challenge for my faith. Our school was
sponsored by the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church and every often, their
preachers would come to the school to conduct services. We had to attend the
services. There was no Legion Maria church close to our school and the church
was being mocked regularly by the visiting preachers that it was really
difficult to declare in public that you belonged to the faith. Even I could not
do so publicly as a form one, a mono!
In
form two, I joined the ecumenical students’ organization, the Christian Union.
There was also the alternative of the Young Catholic Students (YCS), but they
did not conduct their services in the school and the students used to go to the
church for Mass, several kilometers away from the school. So I decided to join
the group of Christians that worshipped in the school compound and attended
Sunday services in school. In the organization, I was persuaded by the pastors
that frequented our services to declare that I was born again, so I did exactly
that and accepted Jesus as my personal savior. For me, accepting Jesus as my
personal savior had nothing to do with rejecting Simeo Ondeto. I believed they
were one and the same person and by taking the step to declare by rebirth, I believed
I was moving a step further in my relationship with the Lord.
Soon,
I became a pillar of the organization, a preacher, a praise and worship team
member, a bible teacher and leader. In 2003, I was elected the secretary
general of the Christian union and became a critical cog in the operations of
the group. In fact, I got the opportunity to interact with great pastors,
preachers from Kenyan universities, born-again Christians from different churches
and people of different denominations. I attended gospel challenges in many
schools and also hosted weekend gospel challenges in our school.
My
Faith in Simeo Gets Tested
As
I worked as a Christian Union leader, various brethren in Christ started
questioning my adherence to Legion Maria faith. How can you be a Christian and
be a Legion Maria member? Don’t you know Legion Maria is a cult? Don’t you know
that Simeo Ondeto is a man from Kano who just cheated gullible people with his
miracles? Loads and loads of verses were opened frequently to persuade me to
give up my faith in Legion Maria. During the holidays, I would be requested to
attend Christian crusades to avoid being yoked together with followers of Simeo
Ondeto.
I
have to say 2003 was a very difficult year for me in my faith. At times, what I
was taught by the Christians conflicted with the practices of Legion Maria so
much that I thought it was right to abandon the faith of my dad. In fact, I
rarely attended Legion Maria services in 2003 and 2004. Those were my lowest
years in knowing Simeo. I was slowly drifting away from him. Sometimes, I doubted
him. I felt what I was being told had a lot of truth. I also thought there were
bigger opportunities for me in the Christian ministry than in Legion Maria. As
a Christian preacher, I had gained ground and known pastors. I could be given
the chance to preach the word of God in crusades. I also had opportunities for
scholarship with one of the Pentecostal Churches and I could have easily
studied theology. Besides, Legion Maria just appeared odd and uncouth for a young
man looking for opportunities to progress in the faith and in life.
Second Conversation with Simeo
Ondeto
But
in 2005, a prophet visited our home and I had another conversation with Simeo
Melkio that changed my perspective for good. Speaking through a prophet called
Samson on the floor of my mother’s house; these are some of the things Simeo
told me.
Simeo Melkio: Tobias, what does a son do when he feels he has
become a fully grown-up man?
Tobias: He takes up a wife and builds his home away from his
father, starting up his own family.
Simeo Melkio: All right! You have given a mature answer. Now, I ask
you another question. Have you ever been told the person who gave you the name
Tobias?
Tobias: No. I just know I was baptized and given this name.
Simeo Melkio: Okay! (Turning to my mother who was kneeling some two
meters from where I was) Mary, have you told Tobias who gave him his name?
Mary: No, my Lord.
Simeo Melkio: Ooooh, then tell him now briefly.
Mary: Before he was born, you spoke through the Holy Spirit
and said he would be named Tobias. He was still in the womb.
Simeo Melkio: All right! Tobias, God does not lie and his promises
are always true. His promises may take longer to be realized but they will come
to pass at the ordained time. Now, do you know why I named you Tobias even
before you were born?
Tobias: No.
Simeo Melkio: Hahahaha! You can’t know and you won’t know unless it
is revealed to you. But I want to tell you today, all the work you have been
doing as a Christian minister, as a preacher was my entire plan. You were in
the training ground preparing for the work ahead. At this time you will not
know the work that is ahead, but in time I will reveal to you what you shall
accomplish for me.
Tobias: Lord, may your
wish be done.
Simeo Melkio: It shall be. But for now, I want you to go before the
cross and my prophet shall pray for you to be filled with my spirit of truth.
Thereafter, you shall know what I have planned for you.
Tobias: Thank you Lord.
Prayer before the Cross
When
I went before the cross, Simeo Melkio sent St. Joseph the Glorified to speak to
me. It was a long conversation. St. Joseph took me through my life, my studies
and my role as child of Simeo. He answered many of the questions that I had
about the faith. He taught me about the Gospel of Glory for which Simeo Melkio
was sent to accomplish as the second Christ. At the end of the conversation,
St. Joseph the Glorified told me that I was required to fast for 3 days and
thereafter to request our priest to perform for me 4 types of Holy Masses:
Exorcism (Red), St. Mary’s (Blue), St. Abraham’s (Yellow) and All Saints Mass.
At
the end of it all, St. Joseph spoke to me saying:
“You
shall be filled with Abrahamic spirit and you shall proclaim the gospel of
Simeo, defending this faith wherever you go.”
My Last Christian Union Crusade
It
was in 2005 when I attended my last Christian Union crusade at Mbita. That was
a repentance crusade led by Prophet Owuor, then a young and charismatic
preacher. It was in that crusade that I finally realized I did not belong
there; I belonged somewhere else. In the crusade, pastor Owuor of the
Repentance Ministry spoke animatedly about other denominations and how sinful
people were in those denominations. But more unpleasantly, he mocked and ridiculed
the followers of Simeo Ondeto, using the words devil worshippers, the lost, the
blind, the gullible etc several times to describe them.
In the process, I realized how distinct we
Legion Maria members were from what Owuor proclaimed. I realized how Christians
liked scoffing at and insulting Simeo Ondeto at any opportunity. A fire burned
inside me. Something arose in my heart. A voice called me. Someone was telling
me it is time to stand up for Simeo. So as I listened to Owuor’s message, I
started feeling like someone needed to respond. Simeo had been insulted long
enough and it was time someone stood up to his insulters. In fact, I couldn’t wait for the convention to
end. I walked out and on that day, I chose to heed the call to defend Simeo, to
become his apologist.
Work in Progress
It
is in the same year that I started researching my faith. I organized visits to
different places and to meet different leaders of our religious organization for
interviews. I wanted all the information I could get. I collected papers of
Simeo’s teachings, the tapes I could get, wrote down interviews with different
witnesses of the gospel of Simeo, kept loads of notes of the faith and started
writing short pamphlets on our faith. I also learned to preach Simeo in public
and to defend him.
I
am Simeo’s ambassador. I am his apologist. I am his servant.
This
is the promise I made to Simeo Melkio Ondeto.
May
he also call many of you to be his apologists and servants?
Amen.