The Mow Cop Cross and Rose on Good Friday 2025

 

The Story of the Mow Cop Rose

On Easter Saturday of 2022 I took an early morning stroll up to the top of Mow Cop, a high point that straddles the East Cheshire county line with Staffordshire, between my home town Congleton and the City of Stoke-on-Trent. I went up to reflect and pray but was saddened to see the desecration of a Palm Sunday floral tribute. There were signs that it had been fastened to the security railings, but now torn down and strewn everywhere.  I looked to my right and spotted a miniature rose in a small tub that was most likely the centre piece of the tribute, it had been hurled against a rock and badly damaged, and there were signs of frost on it due to the cold mornings we were experiencing that week and looked like it would not survive. 

Somehow, a deep spiritual insight came to me concerning the rejection of Christ amongst men. He was mocked, scorned and rejected and this Rose was symbolic of the fact that Christ went to the cross to save us sinners, and yet today, still our dear Lord is mocked and despised. I felt a pain that surged in my heart and I was compelled to pick up this damaged rose, so I took it back home to try and nurture it back to life. 

I cared for this rose daily and kept it inside for three days, there was no sign of life and then a fresh green leaf budded out from the stem, and soon after, a new rose bud! After around 10 days this beautiful plant was in full bloom and looking very healthy. The weather outside was improving and much warmer so I re-potted it and placed it outside in the garden. We had many warm days but also much rain. That's fine I thought, and I didn't even think to check on the rose for days, the warmth and rain would only nourish it further, and I took for granted that it was doing well. 

Then, on the one day I decided to check on it, horror! A totally withered, brown and very dead rose plant is what I found. Devastated, I turned to the Lord in prayer and asked for forgiveness in neglecting this plant. Now I know it was only a small minature rose but it represented so much more. The Lord answered my prayer and told me that the rose, as well as representing His blood also represented His church here on earth. There was a warning, that we must not neglect Christ and we should stand with Christians everywhere, encouraging and nurturing each other in the word of God constantly. Neglect will see the demise of the church and yes, here in the UK we have seen this happening over the last few years but not to the point where all is lost. I thank our Lord that there are green shoots still out there, and that Easter is about New life, being resurrected in Christ. 

This is a personal story, and one that continues year after year. Every Easter time I make a visit to the top of that rugged hill at Mow Cop, I bring with me my offering of prayers and a small rose and cross in a pot that I leave at the foot of the very rock where I first spotted that discarded rose back in 2022. The picture at the top is of the Cross and rose I prepared for today. The cross, is the palm cross that was given to me on Palm Sunday at Hope Church in Congleton, Thank you to my church family for your contribution to this story, and most of all Thank You Jesus for the sacrifice you made for us on the cross at calvary, that we might be saved and have eternal life with you.

Related:

Here's my blog from Easter Saturday 2022 with pictures and a little background information about Mow Cop. No mention of the rose was made in this blog at the time, but this is when I first had that touching spiritual experience.

Easter Saturday: April 2022

An appeal for prayer following a statement from the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem

 

A Statement Issued By The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem - Jerusalem Patriarchate - News Gate (jerusalem-patriarchate.info)

Palm Sunday this coming Sunday 13th April

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - Please view this wonderfully inspirational YouTube video by Aline who guides us through the streets and by the ancient gates along the route Christ took as He rode into Jerusalem. Not a long video but packed full of interesting facts and beautifully presented.

(698) THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY OF JESUS! Easter 2025 Special in Israel with Aline - YouTube

Cultural Traditions Latest - The Doukhobors Christian Community in Georgia.

Follow this fascinating story of the Doukhobors from the nation of Georgia. Their lifestyle is so different from ours here in the West. 

Link to article

AP News - Doukhobors Video

Can you help PW33 develop a good cross-section of indigenous Christian groups from different regions worldwide? You may have met such groups on mission trips abroad. Your impressions, testimonies, and photos could be of interest to all who visit these pages and help us build up a network of prayer.

You can contact me via email:  theo@prayerwatch33.org 

Thank you 

Remote Islands - Updated to PW33 Prayer Calendar List

I am always listening out for news reports from remote regions to check that I have them on PW33's Prayer Calendar list. Recently I have picked up on Islands so remote that I missed them in my initial search a year or so ago. Last month there was a story running on the most isolated island in the world in the South Atlantic, Tristan da Cunha, and this month an archipelago of islands in the Indian Ocean known as the Chagos Archipelago. The Chagos Islands have had a 50-year sovereignty dispute, this was settled this week on the 3rd of October when UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed to the handover of this territory to Mauritius. 

Both Tristan da Cunha, and The Chagos Islands have now been updated to PW33's Prayer Calendar list, and as it happens, Tristan da Cunha coincides geographically to be part of this month's Prayer Calendar.

Festival Celebrations in Ethiopia and Eritrea

A few days ago, on the 27th of September, Ethiopia and Eritrea celebrated the public Christian holiday of Meskel. This is the first time I have heard of this ancient religious tradition and it fits in well with my recent posts in August on cultural traditions. In addition to the festival of Meskel, Ethiopia enjoyed the festivities on the 11th of September celebrating the start of the Ethiopian New Year. 

Photo by EPA-EFE/MINASSE WONDU HAILU / MaxPPP

Links to Articles

Meskel - AP News

Meskel - La Croix International

Meskel - Wikipedia

Ethiopian New Year - Public Holidays Global 

Peace Walk in Stoke and a Special Tribute

Today a peace walk is taking place in Stroke-on-Trent. It is starting right now as I write this post at Stoke Minster in the city center. The walk is a yearly event and is particularly poignant this year following the riots that broke out last month in many cities including Stoke. The riots sparked off in response to the murder of three girls at a dance studio in Southport, Merseyside back in July. I did cover this in a post at the time, if you are interested then please check out my post from 30/07/24 - Reaching out to minority groups after UK riots 

Stoke is close to where I live and over the years I have had a good association with several churches in and around Stoke. It is a city that welcomes immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers and is truly a multicultural community. My late brother Chris, a fervent campaigner for the rights of refugees was very interested that I had an opportunity to connect with these minority groups through the churches in Stoke and encouraged me to be more involved. But then, . . . Covid came along and we were all banned from meeting in churches.

Somehow I lost momentum but still, there was an unfulfilled desire to help people from minority groups in communities like Stoke. This desire has now been rekindled through all that has happened over these last few months concerning the safety and welfare of refugees and asylum seekers who continue to come and settle here in the UK. A possible way forward for me to be actively involved has been outlined in what I wrote in last month's post. This is only one way forward, there are other options open to me that I am presently looking into. 

My own efforts to be involved with community projects for refugees may have stalled at the outbreak of Covid, but for my brother, it was a very different story. Whilst Covid was still rampant Chris wrote an extraordinary letter to parliament with a heartfelt plea concerning the plight of refugees. I will let the video below tell the full story.    

A Tribute

This post is dedicated to my brother Chris who left us to be with the Lord on this day one year ago. Chris, we love and miss you but carry on your heart's desire, to help those who have a far greater need than ourselves.

Thank you dear brother for the inspiring content here and to my nephew Tim, Chris' son for creating this video of his Dad's work and mission. Everything you did Chris was an outward expression of your love and devotion to our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Thank you Lord for Chris' life.

In Memory of Chris Elsey

21/06/56 - 22/09/23

PW33 - 2 Years Old Today

Today is the 2nd anniversary of Prayer Watch 33. Each year the 22nd of September is a special day in which I thank the Lord for the vision He gave me on the last day of a prayer walk that finished in London on the 22nd September 2018, 4 years before the launch of Prayer Watch 33. The vision was for the spiritual healing, restoration and revival of London and the UK, it then developed and expanded further towards an international outreach for all nations through the start of Prayer Watch 33.

The defining years for my work here are from 2022 to 2033, every passing year carries more meaning and revelation as to why The Lord has singled out this period of time. He has shown me so much that I am still waiting to share with the body of Christ. The fact that I haven't released these words from the Lord to date has nothing to do with any delays from myself, rather it is a case that the content is time sensitive and I am bound to release it only when the Lord tells me to. Having said that I can say this coming year is when part of what I have been given will be brought to the fore involving an event that will take part in a major UK city, most likely London or possibly Manchester, Liverpool or Birmingham. This event will introduce a prayer project that I believe the Lord wants to birth here in the UK, that it will be a model that can be replicated throughout every nation globally. It will start on Monday 22nd of September 2025, a year on from today and continue through to Sept 22nd. 2033. 

Reaching out to minority groups after UK riots

New pages have recently been added to PW33's website including Advocacy and Action and as of today Cultural Traditions. This latest page has been created in response to the riots here in England following the tragic murder of three young girls attending a summer holiday dance club activity in Southport, Merseyside. Far-right extremists took the opportunity to twist this tragic event to act out their racist hatred towards immigrant groups by starting riots in numerous cities and towns. They wrongly assumed that the attacker at Southport was a Muslim and the Mosque at Southport came under attack as a result of that suspicion. There were so many thugs who didn't care a bit as to who was responsible for the killings, they just wanted an excuse to collectively cause public unrest, violence and damage to public property. The recent change of government with Labour in as the majority party has more than likely added fuel to the anger of the far-right protesters. The reason for this is due to Prime Minister Keir Starmer declaring on his first day in office the scrapping of the controversial Rwanda illegal immigration bill.

The killings and rioting started a month ago and around the same time I had a vision and dream regarding the sharing of experiences between people from many different countries and lands in friendly community gatherings. The name Cultural Traditions kept coming to me repeatedly, was this to be a friendship club that I would be a part of, or was I the one to start this project?   

Please join me in discovering more of how this project might advance by visiting PW33's Cultural Traditions page. Thank you.

 The following is from PW33's Cultural Traditions page.

During the end of July and the beginning of August 2024 I had a vision and a dream of a number of club meetings and events between people from different cultures and traditions. These were joyous occasions where everyone involved benefited in learning from each other through Music, Dance, Arts and crafts, poetry and storytelling. I think this came to me in part at least following a family celebration at an engagement party where the happy couple came originally from two very different African countries, each having their own distinct customs and traditions. The Groom to be is from Nigeria in West Africa and the Bride to be from Uganda in East Africa. It was a joyous occasion and we enjoyed the exchange of different African culture between the two families.

My own wife is from Uganda and our three children are of mixed race, between my wife and myself we know many people where we live from different ethnic backgrounds. For this reason I can see how we could be involved in starting a friendship club, even if we all met just once a month it could add value to many peoples lives. I would be hopeful that any such venture would ease any tensions that exist with those in the community who, if not racist as such, are nonetheless mistrusting of outsiders who have come to live in their neighborhood.

A friendship club where all respect each others background, faith and religion is what I would imagine. From a Christian point of view, yes of course I would love to share the good news of Jesus to all, but wisdom and discernment is needed here. First and foremost there is need to build up friendships, and then in time speak individually to people on matters of faith. 

The alternative would be to look at starting up a club within our local churches where the diversity of culture is viewed entirely through a Christian perspective. The traditions of music and dance from different countries being celebrated as a vital part of Christian worship. This reminds me of the incredible work of Feba Radio, when I first became a Christian I remember purchasing a FEBA cassette tape that I played constantly of various artists from different countries. I loved the variety of gospel songs and hymns in many languages sung and played on all sorts of different musical instruments. The work of FEBA is to evangelise to nations that oppose the spread of Christianity by broadcasting outside those nations from safe neighboring countries.

Cultural Traditions may have started out as a vision and dream but presently I am not getting much confirmation from the Lord as to how involved I should be. It's not that I am looking for something to do as I have plenty of other projects going on at the moment, all of which I have felt led by the Lord to do but how much more can I take on without spreading myself too thinly? In the vision for Cultural Traditions perhaps I have been looking into something that is for someone else to spearhead and for me to have more of a back seat involvement with? 

Please pray for me over this matter, that I don't miss what the Lord wants of me concerning this potential outreach. Thank you.  Any suggestions please contact me at: theo@prayerwatch33.org

Latest news on Iran and North Korea

This month two nations well known for their totalitarian leadership have shown signs of cracking or softening. North Korea is preparing to relax its borders to allow a small controlled flow of tourism from the outside world. Iran earlier this month was predicted by some military experts in the West to launch a full-scale war with Israel. This hasn't happened and at the same time news has been released of a massive decline of Iranians attending Islamic mosques with over 50,000 mosques closing their doors. There are many reports of conversions to Christianity, for more on this story please follow this link:

Over 60% of mosques in Iran closed - World Prayer Centre

Have you heard how the Elite Globalists are about to vote on the controversial Pandemic Treaty?

May the 27th is the date set for members of the World Health Organisation to vote on how to control the populous in compulsory lockdown measures during future pandemics. This, potentially is very dangerous and could allow them to power grab over our freedom!  

Citizen Go is a Christian organisation that challenges and fights for our rights by protesting and running extensive petition campaigns. You can find out more about the Pandemic Treaty by visiting the Citizen Go website. Please support their effort by signing the petition. Thank you

Block the UN's Last-Minute Pandemic Treaty Push! (citizengo.org)