Legio Maria Altars

Legio Maria altars

20 Legio Maria Questions and Answers

These are responses to some common questions posed to Legio Maria.

Question 1: Will Simeo Ondeto Come Back to Earth? Are Legio Maria Members waiting for the second coming of Jesus?

The coming of Simeo Ondeto fulfilled the New Testament promise of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. There is no other coming of the son of God. So Legio Maria members are not waiting for the son of God again but are working towards receiving the glory of God once they die.

When Simeo came, he declared that Jesus Christ had returned. He used these words:

 “My children, I have come again. Truly I have come again.”

Therefore, believers in Simeo know that the promised return of Christ has been fulfilled and there is no other coming.

Question 2: Are Legio Maria members waiting for universal resurrection?

Legio Maria members believe that they face their judgment as soon as they die. They do not wait for bodily resurrection. In Legio Maria theology, there is belief in endlessness of life so that a human body dies to make transition from physical life to spiritual life. Those who are just pass into everlasting life while the unjust pass into punishment for their sins.

Many Legio Maria members have been made saints by Simeo Melkio and they live in eternal life. The notable Legio Maria saints include Angi Clement, Silvester Okweto, Timothy Atila, Philip Odero, Rosa Olima, Petro Otieno, Tobias Oongo, Maria Ombwayo, Dalmas Omolo “MaloMalo”, and Mumbo Carilus, among others. Indeed, Legios do not wait for universal resurrection but hope for glorification soon after death.

Question 3: Did Simeo Ondeto Resurrect? If he did not resurrect, can we still believe he is God because he must be rotten in Calvary Migori?

Simeo taught while he was with us that he took up human flesh for our glorification. And when he returns to his father, he would remove that human garment (flesh) and return to the father as a spirit. He also requested Legios to build his tomb at St. Joseph church Calvary (nowadays called St. Mary), for the permanent burial of his flesh as a monument and testament for his actual historical existence as a human being. So, right from the beginning of his ministry, there was no question and no promise he made that he would resurrect. In fact, he made it clear that his body would be buried at Calvary.

As God, Simeo Ondeto was revealed publicly to over 1150 Legio Maria faithful gathered at John Baru’s home in Suna Migori on March 9, 1962. It is on that day that they saw him seated on his heavenly throne and knew truly that he is the son of God. So, they worshipped him when he was alive on earth as God. They were not waiting for the miracle of resurrection of the body to confirm if he was truly God.

We must believe Simeo is God because the Holy Spirit from heaven declared he is God and because he was revealed as God to over 1000 people at once.

Question 4: Is the public revelation of Simeo Ondeto a stronger evidence of his godhood than the resurrection of Jesus?

Yes. Nobody saw Jesus resurrecting from the grave. The people who say they saw Jesus actually saw a person who was disappearing and appearing as a Ghost. Had Jesus actually rose from the dead with his real human body; he could have not been disappearing and appearing as ghosts do. Moreover, while the bible states that the grave was empty and fronts this as the strongest evidence of Jesus bodily resurrection, the story was written down many years later by people who probably never saw the empty grave. Furthermore, the story of bodily resurrection could have developed and trickled slowly as oral tradition among Christians so that when it was finally written down more than 30 or so years after the actual event had occurred, there was already enough room for myth making.

On the contrary, the public revelation of Simeo Ondeto occurred at once to 1150 people. All these people had their eyes opened by God concurrently and simultaneously and saw the heavenly throne of God with Simeo Ondeto seated on his glorious throne. And they at once saw the angels and saints of heaven coming down on the clouds of heaven and communing with them and Simeo at John Baru’s home. They also saw the angels and saints worshipping Simeo. Because this spiritual experience occurred at once to 1150 people and made them suddenly worship Simeo as their God, accepting to go to prison and to die for him, and accepting to walk barefooted and to kneel and prostrate on their stomachs before him as God, it is more believable.

Question 5: Is resurrection the best proof that a person is God?

 The best proof that a person is God is a public revelation. Since nobody has seen God and we are bound to disbelieve the words told to us by prophets and seers, the best God can do is to have all of us experience him together in public so that we at once accept him to be God.

Bodily resurrection can be a good proof of a person being God if it is actually observed by many people at once and if the person who has resurrected actually goes on to live and interact with people in his real body. As it were, Jesus did not go on to do the things he used to do with his real body, and the body he had after resurrection was not real because it was appearing and disappearing as a ghost.

Question 6: So is the true resurrection spiritual?

God is spirit and we are bound to enjoy his eternal life as spirits. Christ is spirit and we are bound to be with him in the mansions of paradise as spirits. So the true resurrection is living on after our bodily death. It is living on as Simeo Ondeto has said, becoming glorified beings in heaven just as Atila Timotheo, Angi Clement, Philip Odero and Tobias Oongo have become.

Humans are both physical and spiritual beings. As physical beings we face our bodily deaths, but not our spiritual deaths. Our spirits should survive death and face the just judgment of God. If our God is spiritual, we should not aspire more for physical glory in the resurrection of the body, but should aspire for spiritual glory in the endlessness of our spirits. This is the true resurrection.

Question 7: Will the earth finally end or be destroyed by God?

 As humans, we cannot know the plans of God except if he reveals them to us. Therefore, just as God created this earth, he can choose to destroy it when he prefers. Nevertheless, there is no tangible connection between individual responsibility for sin and the earth’s destruction. We die sooner, and in only a few years, but the earth thrives for millennia. So, our focus should be on our individual salvation as opposed to weird fears for the destruction of the world.

Question 8: Do Legio Maria members read the bible?

Yes, we do. We read the bible just as other believers in Jesus Christ. The only difference between us and many Christians is that we believe more in the authority of the Holy Spirit than in the authority of the scriptures.

Question 9: Why do Legio Maria members believe the Holy Spirit more than the Bible?

The Holy Spirit is God so we must believe him more than we can believe any written document. Moreover, it is the Holy Spirit that inspired the authorship of the Bible and must therefore be above the document he inspired its creation. The Holy Spirit is the master of the scriptures but the scriptures are not the master of the Holy Spirit.

Besides, scripture is a record of the reports and experiences of another generation on what the Holy Spirit inspired them to do, and their experiences with God. And just as those generations listened and heeded God’s voice and His Holy Spirit, our generation must not turn the scripture into a law against everything else that God is telling our generation. Our generation too can listen and find God; we too can experience God and His Holy Spirit and have our experiences recorded in scriptures.

Question 10: How did Simeo Ondeto come from heaven?

Simeo came from heaven with his angels and saints, together with St. Mary. They came as spirits who could not be seen by human eyes. And then he chose to take up flesh at the home of Joseph Owiti Obimbo of Angoro Awasi, Watombori Clan, Kisumu County.

Question 11: Was Simeo Ondeto born or adopted?

Simeo was born by Margret Aduwo in 1926 and became the third child in a family of four children, three boys and one girl. He took up flesh by birth.

Question 12: So how did the spiritual God take up flesh?

Through the Holy Spirit, the spirit of Christ the son of God took up the human body by having the divine nature of Christ indwell the human body that grew in Margret Aduwo’s womb.  It is God who facilitates the creation and birth of humans through man and woman. So, God chose Margret Aduwo and Joseph Obimbo to be the parents of Simeo Ondeto in flesh and to actually give him the human body he needed to be a human being. Just like Jesus took up the human flesh through Mary, Simeo Ondeto took up human flesh through Margret.

Question 13: What of the explanation given by Legios that Simeo Ondeto was not born but was just adopted as a small child?

Owino Obimbo who is older than Simeo Ondeto actually says that Simeo was born and he saw the young Simeo Ondeto as an infant and actually baby-sitted him. The testimony of Owino Obimbo should be taken here as the truth without question. Moreover, there are men in Kano who are older than Simeo Ondeto who states that he was actually born. They saw Margret pregnant and knew when she had delivered her son Simeo.

People who insist on adoption narratives are only turning the true message of Simeo Ondeto into a myth. In reality, Simeo was a real human being born of a woman and having human parents. And it is the spirit of Christ; the spirit of the son of God that took up the human body we call Simeo Ondeto. It is that spirit which is the real Christ. The body was just his vessel.

Question 14: Was Simeo Ondeto God right from birth?

Simeo is the pre-existent son of God who is eternal and uncreated. He did not begin to exist at his birth, but had come from heaven as spirit and merely took up a human body. So, even in the womb, he was God. And even at birth, he was God. And he is God forever.

Question 15: Some opponents of Legion Maria say Simeo Ondeto is simply a good man and charismatic?

Well, he was a good man and a charismatic, but he was more than that. He was God. God is good and God has powers that make him appear to humans as a charismatic, but beyond that he is God.

Question 16: Why do Legion Maria members really believe Simeo is God?

Simeo was revealed publicly to them as God. The Holy Spirit came from heaven, filled Legios and declared Him God. His mission was accompanied by real spiritual power. He could spiritually indwell and take control of any person while he was still alive as a human being. He did thousands of miracles, including the unforgettable raising of the dead such as Amoke of Asembo, a Roho church member at Gombania Church in Tanzania, Angelina of Seme, and Son of Kalaudia in Nairobi.  A voice from heaven was heard twice saying that he was the son of God, while Angels and Saints were always present with him and were seen by men whose eyes were opened.

He taught his faithful even when he had died; He has appeared more than five times after his death; everything asked of God in his name happens; and Evil spirits cry and leave when his name is invoked.  He knows everything and everyone even before they tell him their names and problems.

Question 17: Did Simeo Ondeto fulfill scriptural prophecies of the Second Coming?

Yes. He fulfilled all of them. Maybe, we may struggle to explain how this happened just as the disciples of Jesus only learned later that Jesus had actually fulfilled scriptural prophecies, but as long as the Holy Spirit has declared him the second coming of Christ and God has revealed him publicly as the awaited promise of the return of Christ, all the prophecies must surely have been fulfilled.

When Simeo came, he was a spirit that came down upon the clouds of heaven. He came with his angels and saints who were finally revealed at John Baru’s home during the Legio Maria Pentecostal Day. He was seen seated on his heavenly throne and passing judgment on the living and the dead. Here on earth too, he used to sit on his glorious seat where Legios used to go to him for blessings. He made saints and gave eternal life to his living followers such as Philip Odero and Tobias Oongo, and glorified those who obeyed God in the past ages such as Daniel, Joseph, Peter, Paul and Andrew. He actually fulfilled all the prophecies.

Question 18: But why did the dead not resurrect?

They actually lived spiritually. This is why people like Peter, Paul and Andrew, and other faithful of God of the past ages appeared with him. They had resurrected and were living in God’s glory. True resurrection is not breaking the earth in bodily form, but taking up the incorruptible spiritual form and entering God’s glory.

Question 19: Why is there death and sin on earth if Simeo had actually fulfilled the promise of second coming?

There is no death and sin in paradise. The death that was to be destroyed by Christ when he came again was not physical human death, but spiritual death. He was to give humans the form of glory and immortality so they would become immortal, incorruptible and sinless. That is exactly what Simeo has done. He has given life and glory to humans who are faithful to God in his heavenly paradise where there is neither sin nor death.

Question 20: Why should people believe in Simeo Ondeto?

He is the giver of life and the glorifier of humans. He is the one through whom humans receive their inheritance of everlasting life. Belief in him is belief in God and in God’s promises and redemption of humanity.

“Our Lord Simeo Melkio, give us the wisdom to know that you are God. Amen.”