Mark Morgan was born in Australia and has been deeply involved in religion all of his life, working as a lay preacher, Sunday School teacher and missionary – trying to balance the many demands of spiritual life with those of family and paid employment, first as an engineer and later as a software developer. Happily married and blessed with eight children, he has spent many years reading the Bible and learning to teach its lessons. Writing Bible-based novels now fills much of his time.
By Mark Morgan | Jesus
Have you ever done anything completely unexpected, unplanned, sudden, extreme? Something that others would think crazy or irrational – and perhaps your husband, your wife or your parents might agree with those others! Let’s look at some people who did that sort of thing because Jesus called them to follow him.
By Mark Morgan | Daniel
In Australia, where I live, there are many common greetings, including “G’day”, a greeting made internationally famous by the film Crocodile Dundee.
However, we all know that our greetings vary. Family and friends may receive one type of greeting while new acquaintances may warrant another.
We may greet employers, teachers, government officials, doctors, academics, religious leaders or army officers in various other ways.
If, however, we met the leader of our country, we might think very carefully about how address them. And if you live in the British Commonwealth, do you know how to greet a king?
By Mark Morgan | Harmonies , Jesus
Several books and letters in the Bible report Jesus’ interaction with many different people after his resurrection. However, since no one record includes all of the information, we need a harmony of Bible records of appearances of the resurrected Jesus.
The Bible passages which record events surrounding the resurrection of Jesus, the subsequent 40 days during which he met with his disciples and his ascension are as follows:
Jesus’ appearances after his resurrection are discussed in another article (Jesus’ appearances after his resurrection), but the current article tries to put the records of the appearances before Jesus ascension in chronological order.
By Mark Morgan | Jesus
Early on the Sunday morning following his crucifixion, Jesus rose from the dead – to the dismay of his enemies and the complete surprise of his friends! Each of the four gospels records different details of that morning and the forty days that followed, leading finally to his ascension. Putting those records together into one coherent narrative is not easy, but I hope to present a harmony of the gospels for this time in another newsletter. For the time being, we’ll just look at the appearances of Jesus after his resurrection.
By Mark Morgan | Jeremiah , Maps
After the flood, Noah’s descendants spread across the world. Noah’s youngest son, Ham, had a son called Egypt, some of whose descendants were called the Pathrusim (Genesis 10:14). Many believe them to be connected with the Land of Pathros, a part of Upper Egypt (see map below).
By Mark Morgan | Jeremiah
What is the right age to start our life’s most important work? Some people begin to excel in their chosen profession at a very early age (for example, Mozart began composing at four or five years of age), while others shine much later (Oscar Swahn won his first Olympic gold medal at the age of 60). The Levites helped with the worship of God – who has killed people for flouting his rules of worship. For everyone’s good, the job had to be learned thoroughly. So what was the working age of Levites?
We still have rules today about the age at which one can start or stop work, and the same was true for priests and Levites in Israel.
By Mark Morgan | Jeremiah
Jeremiah had prophesied that Nebuchadnezzar would destroy Jerusalem. The destruction happened, just as God had said, but straight after that, Judah had a bumper harvest. This is a very unusual situation. When a nation is attacked and pillaged, a famine normally follows, further increasing the survivors’ sufferings.
Let’s explore what happened at that time, and perhaps we can find out why.
By Mark Morgan | Daniel , Timelines
Daniel was an extremely godly man, presented by Ezekiel the prophet as an example of righteousness along with Noah and Job (Ezekiel 14:14, 20). Angels also say that he is “greatly loved” (Daniel 9:23; 10:11, 19). In short, Daniel is a wonderful character and reading his life’s story in the Bible is very valuable.
This timeline of the prophet Daniel’s life is a rough overview because most of the events cannot be located exactly in his life. Some can be located in history, but we are not told Daniel’s age at any time.
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By Mark Morgan | Miscellaneous
Based on a booklet “The Stewardship of Money” written in England during the 1940s by F. Mitchell and revised by Mark Morgan, November 2021.
The Christian life begins when we receive Jesus Christ as our personal saviour. It was by his coming into our lives that we became Christians at all. No doubt when we first came to him, it was with a sense of frustration or a burden of sin and helplessness, and our conscious need was to receive forgiveness, peace and power. These, we discovered, were available only in Christ, and, receiving him, we enjoyed the gifts he always brings.
By Mark Morgan | Miscellaneous
Money is mentioned more than 200 times in the Bible, starting with God’s requirement that even slaves bought with Abraham’s money had to be circumcised as part of God’s covenant with him (Genesis 17:12-13).
In the Old Testament we are often told of God blessing those whom he loved by giving them riches: Abraham (Genesis 13:2; 24:35); Isaac (Genesis 26:12-13); Job (Job 42:10); David (1 Chronicles 29:28); Solomon (1 Kings 3:13; 10:23); Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 17:5; 18:1); Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 32:27). In fact, there is frequently a connection between righteousness and the blessing of riches, particularly in Psalms and Proverbs (Proverbs 10:4, 22; 22:4).
Yet in all of them, there is the repeated warning not to set our heart on riches. There is a warning that if riches are too important to us, we will fail (Psalm 62:10; Proverbs 11:4, 28; 27:24).
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By Mark Morgan | Family trees , Jehoshaphat
King David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa and then Jehoshaphat: this is Jehoshaphat’s family tree.
King Jehoshaphat was a descendant of King David, from the tribe of Judah, and began to reign over Judah about 100 years after the death of King David. He was a righteous and faithful king who would be high on the list of the best kings of Judah – although he had a problem with being too tolerant of evil people.
A family tree centred on King Jehoshaphat is included below. The family tree extends up to King David in simplified form, however the generations around Jehoshaphat include much more detail.
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By Mark Morgan | Jeremiah , Jesus
In the last two years we have all become familiar with calls to wash our hands frequently. With COVID-19 leaving its mark all over the world, we are all encouraged to be vaccinated, but also to use soap, hand sanitiser and disinfectants. How does our response to COVID-19 compare with cleansing and washing in Bible times?
Many people have observed that the Law of Moses concentrates heavily on cleanliness and frequently mentions washing – yet it is not the only part of the Bible where this is true.
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