Editor: Readers may recall a recent story about a man named Marcus carrying a cross and baptizing college students at Leddy Beach in Burlington. Last weekend, Marcus Szczecinski of Breaking Chains Christian Fellowship decided to bring his large wooden cross to the Essex Pride Festival and hold a silent prayer vigil. Here’s what happened…..
By Marcus Szczecinski
A large crowd had gathered at the Maple Street Park in Essex for an event sponsored by many companies and organizations called the Essex Pride Festival.
The Bible clearly tells us that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). But we also know according to 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.” As the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 10:14-15, “How then can they call on the One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach?”
The Lord was telling me to have another person with me and I reached out to a few, but no one responded, but the Lord provided my brother in Christ, Jacob Sexton, who carries the Israeli flag. I didn’t know he was going to be there, but I praise God he was because there were a lot of people including many children, some of those young children were dressed in clothing for the opposite gender, and those children were exposed to the pride “parade” of people dressed up and parading things, which ought not to be paraded, and for which, if they continue, they will not inherit the kingdom.
Though they may have been parading, we who are followers of Jesus are led triumphantly, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us triumphantly as captives in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him” (2 Corinthians 2:14).
At multiple times, security came up and also Essex Police Community Service officers approached me. I had to remind one of the security officers that we were in a public park and that I was exercising my Constitutional rights.
As a general rule, in the ministry to which the Lord has called me, people come up to me and initiate contact and a conversation. So anyone with whom we had contact came up of their own free will. Many said obscene things, and cussed and cursed at me and at Jacob Sexton and most disturbingly, also cussed and cursed at God.
But Jesus says in Luke 6:28, “bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” So that is what we did. We simply said, “God bless you. God loves you.” When people would come up and engage, again, the Lord had impressed upon me, even that morning, to be respectful. But security and the Essex Police Community Service officers often came up when there would start to be a conversation, not initiated by myself or Brother Jacob, but by the people there.
The Lord had me go to my knees in prayer, about 30 to 40 feet to the right of the pavilion where the people were parading. The Lord told me to seek out a place to pray, for what was going on was abominable to the Lord. It was in no way blocking anyone’s view, and there was no one close to me. but at the same time, it was in view of the people who were watching what was happening in the pavilion.
Almost immediately, a group of people surrounded me and put up their pride flags to attempt to hide the cross from the view of the people there. During my weekly zoom call that morning, Revelation 12:11 was brought up, “They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death.” So as people surrounded me, the Lord had me on my knees and that was my prayer to be surrendered unto Him to do His will.
When there is a group of hostile people surrounding you, there is some amount of pressure.
After a considerable amount of time, some left so I was no longer surrounded, but there was still a group holding the pride flags in front of me to attempt to hide the cross from the people in the field in front of us.
Praise be to God, my brother in the Lord, Jacob Sexton, came over and also prayed. It was surely a comfort and a great help to have a brother in the Lord also praying and witnessing to the people there. Brother Jacob took some pictures at the event. Brother Jacob did engage in a conversation with people there while I was on my knees in prayer and it was respectful, but truthful and again, security and the Essex Police community service officers came up.
Again, when I first went to my knees in prayer, no one was around me, with the closest people being at least 30 feet away, if not more. Actually, the security officers and Essex Police community service officers abridged the free speech rights of those who came up to the cross. The people there had a right to hear what the Bible has to say, what I had to say and what Brother Jacob had to say, just as the people there had a right to say what they had to say.
The Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 5:15-16, “Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the ways are evil.”
What I sensed from interactions with many of the people, many who cussed and cursed us, while we simply blessed them, was hurt and pain. God truly loves them, just as He loved us. “But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
Even so. Even though the group of people there attempted to hide the cross, in their attempt to hide it, they were drawn to it. Jesus says in John 12:32, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw everyone to Myself.
Please be in prayer, that though there was hardness of heart, that somehow a seed of the gospel was planted. What the Lord has made clear time and time again is that oftentimes the first interactions with people in the name of Jesus may be hostile, but persistent consistency, or consistent persistency, simply having a ministry of presence opens up doors to share the gospel.
There is hurt and there is pain in many of this population. God wants to heal them and take away their pain. “Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that was brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:4-5).
If they would but receive Him and His great love for us.
“For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes; hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.” (Matthew 13:15, Isaiah 6:10)
Categories: Society & Culture
Marcus is a true Christian…Vermonters would be best served by his message.
When I hear “Pride,” it simply reminds me that “Pride Cometh Before the Fall” … Left leaners will soon understand this after their vain parading…
this is technically true but it’s more accurate to say pride cometh between may and july
These people are so lost, where is their pride in their creator?
Marcus is a good man.
this is so funny the other day i yelled a bunch of expletives at my neighbor whom i think has been making some bad choices (NO judgment i’m JUST SAYING) and she walked over to me and told me to be quiet. clearly she was feeling a lot of hurt and pain, and yet she was drawn to me…this must be a sign i was doing the right thing. anyway what was this article about i didn’t get it lol
Thank you for your faith and courage Mr. Szczecinski. You are an inspiration to me to remain so.
God Bless you Marcus. When these people with souls that have been taken captive speak blasphemy we will turn the other cheek and pray for them.
Christianity is a poison.I was raised in a very religious enviroment and when I reached the age of reason I began to have questions but they were considered a sign of weak faith. This was a red flag to a thinking mind. Christianity has all the ear marks of man-made drama. The old testament is centered around Yahweh worshipers and anyone who worshiped other gods were targeted for killing, this is very human not very inteligent. The new testament is about a troubled character who’s message is love me or die. And gods best idea to save humanity is offer his son to be tortured and murdered this is demented and wildly unreasonable. People who have suffered great trauma or a propensity for narcissisim and people who feel dispair in reality are attracted to the absurd story in the so called holy book. Christianity is not about peace its about us and them.
My mother was a Catholic. When she filed for divorce, she received a letter from the local church excommunicating her. As a strong woman of faith, she was not daunted by the letter. One night, she was visited by the presense of evil. It was standing over her and her blood ran cold. She reached and grasped the cross on her neckless and prayed. The evil presense moved away and didn’t come back.
There is much reconciliation and humbling that needs to take place in the church. The times we are in is making that abudantly clear. Faith is personal in my opinion. Humanity is at stake. The Bible (first book ever published) has been messed with by man in different ways. The one thing man cannot mess with is the laws of the universe, the Creator, and the supernaturual spirits that intercede when evil attempts to supercede over creation.
I applaud those who are raising the standard. Many more need to stand this day.
Some will be saved, while others will choose otherwise. It is freewill. As a person of faith, I made my choice. I will encourage others to do so as well, but it is their choice which direction and path they follow.
And yet i will pray for you.
The “yahweh” like the “elohim” are just other names for the Annunaki “gods” worshiped by the Sumerians. Abraham was a Sumerian mystic, born in Nippur, who did the bidding of the Annunaki gods Enki (creator of humans) and his son Ra/Marduk. Christianity is just the worship of the Annunaki in a confused and perverted form. You most likely will never meet a Christian that has a clue about the origin of their “religion”.
Good to not hear of any physical violence or illegal intimidation for someone who goes to a PUBLIC PARK to spread a simple message. I am grateful to live in a Country where we, the citizens are protected by a Constitution that guarantees the right of free expression and the right to engage in religious activity. We also have statutory law to protect us from individuals who may wish to stifle that legal expression. It is courageous and challenging to willingly and knowingly immerse yourself into a crowd of people who do NOT necessarily respect and acknowledge that the right of free expression is protected. These are people who tend to live by the rules of the “microaggression”, and may feel justified to respond physically when their feewings are threatened. They may not react positively to your message of faith, but they surely got a sorely needed civics lesson about the First Amendment.
Marcus, when they responded by gathering around you with their flags, you could have simply thanked them “for drawing near and listening to the message”. That would piss them off.
Yeah – man-cults with leaders in long dresses and jewelry, worshpping a crucified closeted gay guy – and father, son, holy ghost, but no woman except a virgin – protesting our religious freedom from all this XY-deletional-mutant sociopsychpathy?!? Read our Constitution, and some basic biology which, from the molecular level, shows that there’s a natural organic bell curve of variables in every living thing. Stop imposing ridiculous cult-fantasy limits on actual reality.
Seriously? Your stance is men wearing dresses, pancake makeup, falsies, and stealing identities through mind control is the norm? Alfred Kinsey is no different than Allister Crowley. Funny how your group denies the endocrine system and the vital role it plays in physical and mental health. No, your group prefers big pharma castration and a cornicopia of drugs to make a natrual human being into something else. There is no informed consent of the consequences of these procedures. Stop messing with children that are not yours! Even members of the gay community are fed up with LGBQT, Inc. and starting to speak out – of course, they are cancelled and maligned for doing so. Careful when painting with a wide brush, the paint may splatter back upon you.
The “pride flag” is nothing more than a collection of the major colors of the rainbow and of the spectrum of visible light. It has been diverted and adopted to become the supposed symbol of deviant sexual behaviors (deviant is a statistical term meaning “outside of normal”, that’s science, you know). It has been stolen, just like the words “gay” and “pride” have been stolen from the common lexicon of their original meanings. If you use those words for their original meaning it creates confusion, just like addressing a single person as “them” creates confusion. Some people it seems, just like to create confusion. Next time you see someone waving the rainbow flag in your face, say to them: “it’s nice to see you promote all the colors of the visible electromagnetic spectrum. When someone uses the word “gay”, tell them: “yes, happy and carefree is a wonderful way to feel”. When they use the word “pride”, say:
“I am also proud…to be a patriotic American citizen who celebrates the rights of all citizens to freely express themselves”. Spread some confusion.
So the guy representing the biggest cabal of child predators in the world (and have been for several centuries) are worried about boys wearing dresses? Is it just too much temptation for them?
God Bless you Marcus and Jacob. Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
1 Corinthians 6:9.
Marcus continues to offer the single answer to our lost world: Jesus Christ and Him crucified.