Are ghosts in the Bible really people who died? Saul asked a medium to contact Samuel, and someone appeared. I examine that encounter alongside other biblical accounts involving the dead, demons, and life after death.

I also share Keaton’s experience with a ghost box, discuss the warnings against contacting the dead, and explore the Christian hope of resurrection.

📖 Get the free Bible Context Cheat Sheet: https://katrinagambill.com

http://www.katrinagambill.com

I had been going to church for three weeks when I joined a Bible study with women who had been there for decades. They could connect passages from all over the Bible. My answers were three or four words. Eventually, I stopped going.

In this episode of Faith for Real, I tell that story and follow Philip, Peter, and other people in Scripture who still had things to learn. We talk about practice, asking for help, and what happens when “I don’t know as much as them” starts sounding like “I don’t belong here.”

Made For This, Episode 2.

Get the free Bible Context Cheat Sheet: https://katrinagambill.com

http://www.katrinagambill.com

Jonah survives the storm and the fish, but his story still has a difficult conversation ahead of him.

In this episode of Faith for Real, Katrina Gambill follows the complete story of Jonah, including his flight, the sailors’ response, his rescue, Nineveh’s repentance, and the plant outside the city. Jonah’s own explanation comes when the story reaches chapter four.

It’s a story about receiving mercy and struggling when someone else receives it, too. We also keep an important distinction clear: mercy doesn’t mean calling evil good or abandoning accountability.

Scripture: Jonah 1–4; 2 Kings 14:23–29 for Jonah’s historical setting.

http://www.katrinagambill.com

At some point, our kids stop asking us first.

They start making plans, forming opinions, wanting things, and taking steps before we even know what’s happening. And suddenly parenting starts to feel different. We’re still responsible for guiding them, but we also know we’re not supposed to make every decision for them forever.

So what are Christian parents actually trying to build while our kids are still at home?

In this episode of Faith for Real, I’m telling the story of how my 13-year-old negotiated the price of a truck on Facebook Marketplace before my husband and I realized how far the conversation had gone—and why one tiny nod from his stepdad made me think differently about what growing up is supposed to look like.

We’ll look at Proverbs, Deuteronomy 6, Ephesians 6, and Luke 2 to talk about wisdom, discernment, parental authority, and what changes as our kids become capable of handling more on their own.

Because the goal isn’t simply raising a child who follows our rules while they live in our house. We want to raise kids who know God, understand why His ways are good, seek wise counsel, and eventually make their own choices before Him when we aren’t standing beside them.

And if you’re parenting a kid in that strange middle stage right now—old enough to do a lot on their own, but definitely not ready to do everything—I want to hear from you. What have you started handing over? And what are you absolutely not ready to hand over yet?

📖 FREE BIBLE CONTEXT CHEAT SHEET
8 questions I use when I'm studying to understand what I'm reading before deciding what it means: https://katrinagambill.com/bible-contex

▶️ WATCH PAUL PART 1: https://youtu.be/1NX3Cw-m2dA

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I'm Katrina, and this is Faith for Real.

http://www.katrinagambill.com

Paul is one of the most important people in the New Testament, but before he became the apostle we know, he was Saul of Tarsus—a man actively persecuting the earliest Christians.

In Part 1, we’re going back to the beginning and following Paul’s story chronologically: his background, his education, his persecution of Christians, the road to Damascus, and the first years after his conversion.

This is Paul’s story with the backstory—the historical and biblical context that helps all those familiar pieces finally fit together.

http://www.katrinagambill.com

Most of us know Paul. He wrote a huge chunk of the New Testament, went on missionary journeys, planted churches… we know Paul.

But I realized pretty quickly while researching this episode that I knew almost nothing about Saul.

So for Part One, we’re going all the way back. Where was he born? How was he both Jewish AND a Roman citizen? What did it mean that he was a Pharisee? And how does this guy go from being so against Christianity that he’s actively persecuting Christians to meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus?

There is SO much backstory here that I had never learned, and suddenly a lot about Paul makes a whole lot more sense.

This is Paul before he was Paul.

http://www.katrinagambill.com

I used to listen to true crime constantly—Crime Junkie, documentaries, unsolved cases, murder trials, all of it. Then one day I didn't want to anymore. But stopping made me wonder: should Christians listen to true crime at all?

In this episode of Faith for Real, I'm looking at true crime and Christianity through the questions that changed how I consume it. We talk about the Netflix Jeffrey Dahmer series and Rita Isbell, the University of Idaho murders and Rebecca Scofield, the Lindsay Clancy trial, morbid curiosity, false witness, spiritual warfare, and what the Bible actually says about where we give our attention.

I didn't find a Bible verse prohibiting true crime, and I don't think my decision to stop listening automatically becomes a rule for every Christian. But Scripture gave me much better questions to ask about why I wanted these stories, how I was treating the real people in them, what I believed about rumors and speculation, and how much of my attention I was willing to give them.

If you've ever wondered whether Christians should listen to true crime—or you've started questioning your own true crime habit—this episode is for you.

http://www.katrinagambill.com

I can have a closet full of clothes and still think I need clothes. I can have cabinets full of kitchen appliances and find another one that's supposed to make dinner easier. I can be perfectly happy with what I own, right up until I see the better version.

Why doesn't having enough stop us from wanting more?

I started with that question and ended up somewhere I didn't expect. First I looked at planned obsolescence, Keeping Up with the Joneses, and the psychology of social comparison. Companies have spent decades learning how to make us reconsider things we weren't planning to replace. But they didn't create our desire for more. They learned how to use a desire that was already there.

So where does that leave Christians?

In this episode of Faith for Real, I'm looking at Eve, surrounded by God's provision and still wanting the one thing she didn't have. Solomon, finding out what happens when you have enough money and power to keep saying yes. Jesus' teaching on what we treasure, serve, worry about, and seek. Paul, who learned contentment in both abundance and need. And Agur, praying for neither poverty nor riches.

I'm not telling you never to upgrade your phone, or to feel guilty for buying something nice. Scripture doesn't ask for that.

The question I'm asking is harder: what am I expecting to get from having what I don't have? And how do we learn to enjoy what God provides without spending our lives looking for what's next?

http://www.katrinagambill.com