He was born and raised in Lawton, OK. He took classes in architectural drawing, auto repair, and raised a calf in FFA. He attended Cameron University, and later returned and graduated in May, 1995, with a B.A. in Communications (Journalism), with a minor in History.
He was called to preach at the age of 20, but he had no desire to preach. God knew he was not going to preach; the calling turned out to be one of writing books.
In his early 20s, he began studying the Book of Revelation with the purpose of writing a book on the it. The first edition was hand written, followed by several type written editions; then word processor editions, then editions using Windows 3.1, 95, etc. He had no idea that it would take 35 years to his first published edition, or that he was also called to write several other books. All of his books exposed falsehood, and reveal hidden or unknown truths.
Like the Pharisees and Sadducees who attacked Jesus and his disciples, he has been heavily attacked by the established churches. As well as direct attacks by Satan, trying to kill him.
He did not understand during those decades, why God would not allow him to get married, but eventually realized that no woman would have supported his research and writing a book interpreting the book of Revelation when had not been to Bible college or seminary.
He finally had a short lived success with his prophecy books, when one reached number 4 on Amazon, in the Christian Prophecy category. At one time he had four prophecy books in the top 15. But then he was shadow-banned on all social media platforms, so when he issued updated editions, they were not able to reach good sales.
Michael Fortner holds the opinion that the main purpose for his books are for people who will seek them out after the Rapture. All of his books will all then be under General Public License, which will allow anyone to republish them.
He is currently writing his most important book yet, The Fallen Ones: Angels, Humans, and Aliens.