Vineyard Church pastor defends 'prophet' who claims to travel to Hell with God ‘every Easter’
Luke Haselmayer, senior pastor of the Vineyard Church Northwest in Cincinnati, Ohio, defended his prophetic ministry pastor, Micah Turnbo, on Monday after he was recently dismissed as a false prophet by Mike Winger of the BibleThinker online ministry.
“He's a false prophet, [...] there's no way around it,” Winger declared in a May 3 episode of his podcast. “I don't know of a way around this. He's just so nice that it makes you feel mean to say it, but you're actually mean if you don't.”
In his hour-long commentary on Turnbo, Winger said he was surprised that a Vineyard church would entertain someone like him in ministry, and said he spoke with Haselmayer who allegedly told him the church would look into his concerns.
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In one clip highlighting some claims made by Turnbo, the prophetic ministry pastor states that he frequently time travels with God and visits Hell every Easter with God against his will.
“Every Easter, the Lord will take me to Hell. Not my choice. He wants to do it and I don't like it. The Lord allowed me to sit in front of demons and ask them questions,” Turnbo claimed.
The prophetic ministry pastor also professed his love for God’s beard while stating that Jesus has a “sweet tooth,” while God the Father loves “spicy and salty food.”
“I'm with God. You know, the Father, on his lap and my hands are, I love his beard. I love his beard. I put my hands in his beard. [...] God goes for walks. He walks around, you know. He has like favorite things. Like God loves spicy and salty food. Jesus has the sweet tooth,” Turnbo claimed.
“You can touch God the Father. I know what He feels like. I know what His hands feel like. He has hands. He has feet. He took me back in time to where I watched him form Adam out of the dirt, and then He took the rib, and He formed [a] woman. I've talked to Abraham Lincoln before.”
In his critique of Turnbo, Winger stated, “I just was not expecting that.”
“We have to judge things. We have to test things. We do have to consider these things. And the charismatic church, in particular, needs to reenact the gift of discernment or we're going to be in a lot of trouble,” he warned.
In a post on Facebook Monday, Haselmayer described his conversation with Winger as “pleasant” and highlighted both points of agreement and disagreement.
“Where Mike and I agreed — and where Micah and I also agree — is that he could’ve been more theologically careful in some recent podcasts. Mike also flagged a few instances where Micah’s descriptions seemed to contradict Scripture. Micah readily admits that he does not always have full understanding of some of the things he experiences and may even, at times, partially misinterpret them, take them too far. And at times, like any human being, misremember some details,” Haselmayer said.
“However, Mike and I disagreed on much more. He told me I was too charitable in how I receive Micah’s revelations — something that stems from my personal relationship with Micah and firsthand knowledge of his theology of Scripture. In fact, just days before Mike’s video, Micah publicly reaffirmed that he always subordinates his prophetic experiences to Scripture. I’d encourage anyone who wants to genuinely understand Micah’s views on this to check that video out. I had hoped my perspective might affect Mike’s judgment, but it didn’t,” he said before insisting that his prophet is no “liar.”
“Micah Turnbo is not a liar. Micah Turnbo is not delusional. God has supernaturally confirmed this man to me more times than I can count. Many of you have heard of the extraordinary dream I had in 2014 where God indisputably did so,” Haselmayer insisted.
“I’ve been close friends with Micah for 11 years. I’ve seen his character in private and in public. I’ve seen him minister from stages and in living rooms. He has been consistent, trustworthy, full of good fruit, and always wholly committed to pointing people toward friendship with Jesus.”
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