Marcus 'Markaos' Brendling was born December 1985 in the city of Norwich where he grew up with his mum, dad and older brother. Although Markaos never grew up like most rappers (i.e. without a parent/parents or doing drugs, etc…) he certainly has been through a lot of hard times in his life.
He was born with asthma, which manifested at 18 months old. During his young years he was in and out of hospital on many occasions and in a few circumstances was very close to deaths door as his asthma took a hold of his life. But this man was born for greatness and to do God’s work and there was no way God was going to let the devil put him down. He survived his childhood years with a machine called a nebulizer, which basically kept him alive every time he had asthma attacks.
His dad was, and still is, a pastor at Taverham Evangelical Church (TEC) and at 8 years old, Markaos gave his life to Jesus Christ, following in his brother’s footsteps. His brother had always been there for him as he was growing up and was very much a role model in his life; in some things he wanted to be just like him.
Markaos was going to school and loving his life but at the age of 12 when he went to high school, he went off the rails. At 12 years old he started drinking and getting involved with girls and this continued through all his high school years up until he left at the age of 16. During his young teenage years he was out drinking most weekends, the majority of the time with girls, but if they weren’t out, then he spent his time with his mates causing trouble and running from the police, pretty stupid as his dad was a police sergeant. He got involved in fights and making teachers lives hell, back chatting and arguing whenever he could. Speaking to him now and asking him why, he gave a simple answer back: “I have no idea, just got involved with the wrong people and you always had to hold your rep at school and to do that you had to do stupid things, ha ha, kids”.
Markaos left school at 16 without many qualifications, apart from 2 B’s in English and P.E; the rest of his results were D’s, E’s and F’s.
He got a job in a warehouse working for a company named Bertram Books, which was mainly manual work, but left after 6 months as his contract expired. During his time at Bertram Books he turned 17. Like most 17 years olds he couldn’t wait to drive, but on his first driving lesson there was a problem; he couldn’t read the number plate. Being told that he had to get this checked out, he went to an opticians where it was discovered that he was developing a disease in his cornea called Karataconeus (this is when the cornea does not go round the eye, it starts to come out of the eye like a rugby ball shape). Being referred to the hospital, they tried to contain it by using hard contact lenses and soft contact lenses, but this was to no avail.
Now out of work and wondering what to do with his life, he became lazy and not giving a damn for anyone or anything; a bad combination for someone who was constantly on the edge of ‘losing’ it. Speaking to his family, he decided to go back to church and get right with God. This made him calm down and he started to accept what he had and got on with enjoying life. He got a job with the Norfolk Constabulary which he started a couple of months before his 18th Birthday.
He turned 18, was going strong with God, speaking in church and taking part in events. He had built a very good relationship with many people there, but unfortunately for him, this came crashing down. A few weeks before he was due to go in hospital for an operation on his left eye, he found out that a breach of confidence in the church had been broken. This brought back the old Markaos and once again was furious and full of rage and came very close to doing something stupid. All confidence completely lost in the church and in people, he left, turning his back on God and walking away.
In March 2004 he had the operation on his left eye which was a success, well, to start off with. A few months after the operation he had 20/20 vision in his left eye.
Still not going to church and refusing to listen to his family about God, he carried on living how he was living, enjoying life to put it politely. He was writing worldly lyrics/songs and performing in Norwich on some occasions. He told me he started getting into the rap scene in 2004 when he was 18, shortly after his operation and that this carried on till he was 20. During this time he had completely backslidden and was involved with many things, mainly girls and drink.
At the age of 20 he was going in hospital to have his stitches removed from his eye. This procedure started well, but at the end had left him going blind again in his left eye. Again the hospital tried to correct this but after a few months his vision in his left eye was nothing but a blur. While this was taking place he developed the same disease in his right eye. This developed rapidly and left him blind in his right eye aswell. Losing his vision in both eyes meant he could do nothing; he pretty much gave up on life. He was off work and spending his time drinking amongst other things with his mates.
His brother was over in Australia studying at Hillsong Bible College to become a youth pastor. Markaos says “He was speaking to me about God and Jesus most weekends and how I needed to get my life back on track. Deep down I knew he was right but I was telling him that I love my life and not a chance”. His brother never gave up on him through the difficult time that Markaos was going through, which is why he states today that his brother was an inspiration and role model in his life and he wouldn’t be where he is today without him.
At the age of nearly 21 he was looking at his life and something hit him hard - he was a mess and also blind.
After another phone call from his brother, he decided to go back to church and get his life right with God. Markaos states, “That’s the best decision I’ll ever make in my life”. He begins to tell me the miracle that Jesus worked in his life and with his eyesight and this is what he said to me: “Within 2 weeks of being back in God’s house, I got vision back in my left eye and even though it wasn’t perfect it could be made perfect by glasses or a contact lens - something that the hospital had been trying for 3 years but failed, it was amazing”. He continues to say, “It all happened when I was in my room at home. I was praying to God about many things like revival for this nation, my own city, my parents, etc… but not just saying it, really believing what I was saying and really trusting Jesus that this was gonna happen. Well, anyway, to cut a long story short, I was praying about my vision and believing that Jesus was gonna heal me. Whilst I was praying, I was listening to Christian music and a song came on that I wanted to sing to and I knew the words were in the album booklet. Expecting to put this close to my face I opened it and then I could just read this small print writing from 3ft away. It was amazing and I just broke down in tears”.
Just before all this happened, Markaos started writing Christian lyrics/songs and he has now completely finished his first album within 4 months. Truly amazing in how God has turned his life around. He has been prophesied over many times by people who have met him and by people who haven’t met him, but they all say the same thing. They’ve had visions of him performing in massive stadiums and at huge venue’s, rapping the word of God and thousands of people getting saved.
I asked him how he felt about all this, and as I asked he laughed and responded, “Yeah that’s great, but I’m not in this for me at all. God’s given me this talent for me to use for his purpose, not for mine. The only thing I want from my music career is to save as many people as possible for the kingdom of God, and like Reinhard Bonkee said, ‘lets see Heaven full and Hell empty’”.
Markaos has now had the operation on his right eye in February 2007 and so far, so good. He’s getting vision and it’s getting better everyday.
After sitting with Markaos for the short time I have and listening to his music, all I can say is, this man is truly inspiring but not just in his testimony but in his lyrics aswell. I have heard many songs in my life, but for me none hit home harder or make you think more than what this new up coming rap artist has said and done. They are about real life situations and events that go on around the world, but they also prove that being a Christian is not boring, in fact its way more exciting than ‘normal’ life. It has certainly changed my opinion on Christianity.
