The Self-Proclaimed Ultra-Right Prophet On Indiana GOP Ticket
Last month, pastor Micah Beckwith secured Indiana’s GOP lieutenant governor nomination in an unexpected upset against gubernatorial candidate Mike Braun’s pick for running mate.
Beckwith is a right-wing podcaster, promoter of Christian nationalism, and suburban pastor at an Indianapolis-area church affiliated with the Pentecostal network Assemblies of God. The network describes same-sex marriage as “symptomatic of a broader spiritual disorder that threatens the family, the government, and the church" and discourages "divorce by all lawful means and teaching.”
Beckwith has spent years blasting his extreme positions to the world on his podcast Jesus, Sex and Politics, as well as in Facebook livestreams. In this content, Beckwith has claimed that God was behind the January 6 insurrection and Trump’s rise to power, dabbled in numerology, and talked at length about his “prophetic calling."
Beckwith has been trying to immerse himself in the right-wing culture war for years
In 2021, Beckwith bragged on Facebook about giving out hundreds of religious exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccine.
In May 2022, Beckwith’s church hosted a Turning Point USA Faith event with founder and right-wing troll Charlie Kirk, which was posted on The Charlie Kirk Show. During the show with Beckwith, Kirk spouted conspiracy theories about the World Economic Forum, fearmongered about “globalists trying to squeeze the American way of life,” and told audience members that “college is a scam for most young people.”
Earlier this year, Beckwith resigned from his local public library board of directors. He spent his time on the board championing a controversial book removal policy that author and Indiana resident John Green later criticized after his book The Fault in Our Stars was removed from the young adult section.
Beckwith’s penchant for livestreaming has created a digital archive of his wild ramblings
Sporting a backward cap and a bald eagle cutoff T-shirt, Beckwith went live on Facebook on the Fourth of July in 2018 to talk about working with “prophet” Cindy Jacobs, who he described as “a lady that I truly think has a gift from the Lord.”
Jacobs is a self-proclaimed prophet who, according to Right Wing Watch, “once declared that a rash of bird deaths in Arkansas was the result of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” She claims that her prayers have stopped terrorist attacks, prevented coups, and saved the economy. Jacobs also claimed that her children have the power to stop tornadoes and presidential assassinations.
Beckwith enthusiastically recalled Jacobs telling him that there are archangels protecting each nation. He claimed he asked if Jacobs had ever seen the angel that stands over the United States and she said yes, saying that the angel “has a flaming sword” in its right hand and “is holding the torch of the Statue of Liberty” in its left, with a sash of the United States flag across its shoulders.
Beckwith excitedly agreed with Jacobs later in the video, saying, “I truly believe that every nation has an angel that the Lord has placed over it.”
Beckwith has claimed that God has given him a “prophetic calling” as well, and he occasionally mentions his own prophecies.
“The devil has always tried to keep the Christian voice out of government,” Beckwith said in a livestream. “I’m not saying everyone needs to run for office. I know God has called me to do that and I will be a strong voice of truth in office. But that’s what he’s called me to do.”
Beckwith said in one video, “I remember that the lord back in 2012 told me very specifically that he was going to send a wrecking ball through our political system to expose the darkness and the corruption that has been there for years. … And years later, here we have a guy named Donald Trump.”
Beckwith claimed God is behind Trump’s ascension and January 6 insurrection
Beckwith compared Trump to the biblical figure of King Cyrus who, according to the Bible, was anointed by God to liberate Israel from Babylonian captivity, saying, “This sounds just like our 45th president.”
“What I think is happening is God has anointed him [Trump] to take the mantle of leadership in America and God is saying, ‘I’m going to use you for good. I’m going to use you in ways that bless my people,’” said Beckwith.
Then came the numerology: “Oh, by the way, what chapter in Isaiah do you think that chapter is? It’s the 45th chapter of Isaiah. Do you think the lord may be sending a message to the church, saying, ‘Church, trust me. I am leading this man to do good throughout the world and to proclaim my goodness’?”
Beckwith also claimed that Trump is divinely protected by God: “Everything the world is trying to do to take him out isn’t working. And that is the lord. That is supernatural. It can’t be anything else.”
In a livestream that has since been deleted from Facebook, Beckwith claimed that God told him that the January 6 Capitol insurrection was divine: “And you know what the lord told me? He said, ‘Micah,’ he said, ‘I sent those riots to Washington. … What you saw yesterday was my hand at work.’”
Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.
