Behind the Bastards

Part Two: Bishop David E. Taylor: Jesus Christ's Best Friend

October 30, 2025

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  • David E. Taylor's ministry, the focus of the *Behind the Bastards* episode "Part Two: Bishop David E. Taylor: Jesus Christ's Best Friend," preyed on desperate individuals, particularly the sick, by charging for lectures promising direct contact with Jesus to secure divine favors like healing loved ones. 
  • The cult utilized unpaid members to create sophisticated, AI-generated promotional materials, such as trailers for events like "Miracles for the Maimed," while the actual living conditions for workers resembled a homeless shelter, sustained partly through welfare fraud (EBT fraud). 
  • Taylor maintained control over his followers, especially female members, through severe tactics including sleep deprivation, threats of homelessness, physical abuse, and operating a revenge porn ring using solicited explicit photos to prevent victims from speaking out. 
  • Testimony from former member Sorensen detailed physical abuse by David E. Taylor against JMMI members, including slapping and shaking them, which likely served as a method of control within the cult. 
  • Despite numerous red flags over the years, including tax fraud audits, complaints to local police, and even a bomb threat, the organization maintained its tax-exempt status and operated largely unchecked until major FBI raids in August. 
  • The FBI raids uncovered 57 victims of forced labor at the Florida mansion, leading to felony charges against David E. Taylor and Michelle Brannon for running a forced labor and money laundering scheme, evidenced by lavish personal spending including luxury vehicles and massive amounts of seafood. 

Segments

Introduction and David E. Taylor’s Claim
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(00:00:04)
  • Key Takeaway: David E. Taylor claimed a unique relationship with Jesus, calling himself ‘Jesus Christ’s Best Friend,’ which the hosts noted as an unprecedented level of audacity.
  • Summary: The podcast Behind the Bastards begins Part Two of the story on David E. Taylor, focusing on his cult, which the FBI raided. The central premise discussed is Taylor’s claim to be Jesus’ best friend. This claim is highlighted as exceptionally creative or audacious compared to other religious figures.
Cult Grift and Marketing Tactics
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(00:03:50)
  • Key Takeaway: Taylor’s ministry targeted desperate, sick individuals by charging for lecture series that taught followers how to contact Jesus to save dying loved ones.
  • Summary: By 2019, the cult focused on exploiting people with sick relatives, charging for multi-day lecture series promising instruction on securing favors from Jesus. Marketing included social media posts claiming thousands were being healed of cancer through Taylor’s ministry. The hosts noted the grift was explicitly about teaching people how to get favors from Jesus for their dying loved ones.
AI-Generated Propaganda and Aesthetics
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(00:06:33)
  • Key Takeaway: The cult employed unpaid members to create elaborate, AI-generated promotional content, such as a trailer for the ‘Miracles for the Maimed’ event, featuring Taylor holding dozens of crutches.
  • Summary: The PR team created advertisements for events like ‘Miracles for the Maimed,’ featuring an image of David E. Taylor in a gold-filigreed white suit holding numerous canes and crutches. The hosts observed that the intro video for the event was AI-generated schlock depicting Jesus in a gold-plated room with thirty empty beds, contrasting sharply with biblical descriptions of Jesus.
Cult Living Conditions vs. Propaganda
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(00:13:54)
  • Key Takeaway: The living conditions for cult members were depicted as squalid, resembling a FEMA shelter with people sleeping in tents inside warehouses, starkly contrasting the opulent, gold-plated imagery used in propaganda.
  • Summary: The actual living spaces for cult members were shown to be tent encampments inside large warehouses, looking like a substandard homeless shelter. This reality stood in direct opposition to the AI-generated propaganda showing Jesus in a palace. The poor living conditions were part of the control mechanism, as threats of making members fully homeless were used as leverage.
Control Through Sleep Deprivation
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(00:15:46)
  • Key Takeaway: Taylor enforced extreme control over his ‘armor bearers’ and media team by restricting sleep, exemplified by texts demanding staff work without rest until tasks were completed.
  • Summary: Text messages revealed that Taylor’s second-in-command warned the media team, ’no going to sleep until the mosaic video was done,’ illustrating sleep restriction as a common tactic. The hosts noted that restricting sleep is a top cult leader tactic, as exhaustion removes a person’s energy to resist authority.
Armor Bearers and Sex Trafficking
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(00:17:14)
  • Key Takeaway: Taylor’s ‘armor bearers’ served as personal servants who managed every aspect of victims’ lives, including trafficking women to Taylor and ensuring they took Plan B contraceptives afterward.
  • Summary: The ‘armor bearers’ were Taylor’s top slaves, responsible for constant service and handling sex trafficking duties. This involved transporting women to Taylor and ensuring they took emergency contraceptives, often because Taylor refused to wear condoms. The armor bearers also managed the collection of thousands of sexually explicit photos and videos used for revenge porn to silence victims.
Spiritual Daughter Flirtation Tactic
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(00:25:36)
  • Key Takeaway: Taylor used the term ‘spiritual daughter’ as a consistent flirtation technique to prey on women, including Dove Award-nominated gospel singer Vicki Yohei, who later escaped and detailed the abuse.
  • Summary: Vicki Yohei, a prominent Christian musician, detailed how Taylor used the ‘spiritual daughter’ label when pursuing sexual relationships, which she claimed was a tactic he used repeatedly on women he targeted. Yohei was able to escape due to her existing resources and clout, unlike many other victims. The hosts noted that cults often reframe words to create an in-group bond, making depraved concepts seem acceptable.
Tax Fraud and Lavish Spending
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(00:29:03)
  • Key Takeaway: Taylor used church funds (JMMI) to purchase expensive gifts, like luxury shoes and a Jaguar, for his mistress, which constitutes tax fraud because such personal expenses are not legitimate church business expenses.
  • Summary: Taylor claimed gifts to Yohei came from God speaking to him, but the money originated from the church accounts. The Trinity Foundation investigated Taylor in 2018, noting that a leader claiming no salary while living lavishly is a major red flag for fraud. While churches have broad tax exemptions, using funds for personal gifts to a mistress crosses the line into taxable income and fraud.
Welfare Fraud to Feed Workers
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(00:38:35)
  • Key Takeaway: Instead of using the tens of millions in donations to feed his unpaid workers, Taylor allegedly forced them to commit welfare fraud by claiming homelessness in Michigan to obtain EBT cards for communal food purchases.
  • Summary: Donated money was not used for the promised training or salaries; instead, workers were fed using fraudulent EBT cards obtained by falsely claiming homelessness to the state. Whistleblowers detailed how workers pooled their EBT cards, which were managed via an Excel spreadsheet, to buy food for the entire staff. This allowed the cult to avoid spending any of its massive donation income on basic sustenance for its laborers.
Food and Shelter as Weapons
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(00:42:07)
  • Key Takeaway: Taylor directly threatened to withhold food, enforce multi-day fasts, and move workers to a garage if they failed to meet impossible fundraising quotas, demonstrating control through deprivation.
  • Summary: Federal indictment texts show Taylor ordering consequences like messing with food, enforcing a 21-day peanut butter and jelly regiment, or denying dinner entirely if quotas were missed. He also threatened to remove workers’ beds and force them to sleep in the garage, calling non-compliant staff ‘degenerates.’ This system ensured workers remained exhausted and compliant by threatening their basic needs.
Association with Financial Criminals
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(00:48:40)
  • Key Takeaway: David E. Taylor partnered his ministry with Andrei Geslerowski, a man who fled Poland after co-founding a company that looted the Polish banking system of hundreds of millions of dollars.
  • Summary: Taylor’s 2019 cancer crusade featured Geslerowski, chairman of the Israeli non-profit Helping Hand Coalition, which claimed to aid Holocaust survivors. Geslerowski previously fled extradition after his company defrauded the Polish banking system, and Taylor’s partnership suggests he was aiding a Holocaust survivor con. Taylor also used the names of legitimate charities, like the Convoy of Miracles, to steal donations.
Recruitment Through Social Media
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(00:55:24)
  • Key Takeaway: The cult recruited new members like Chris Sorensen by monitoring who liked posts from prominent televangelists (like Billy Graham or Joel Osteen) and sending personalized, scripted messages claiming divine direction.
  • Summary: Chris Sorensen joined after reading Taylor’s book and receiving a message stating Jesus told the sender to reach out, which was actually a scripted outreach based on his social media activity. Call center workers were tasked with sending up to a thousand copy-pasted messages daily to people who recently liked posts from other evangelists. This technique targeted vulnerable individuals already engaged with similar religious content.
Cult Member Abuse Testimony
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(00:58:10)
  • Key Takeaway: Former member Sorensen witnessed David E. Taylor physically assault JMMI members during late-night confrontations.
  • Summary: Sorensen reported being told to leave his wife, who was skeptical of Taylor and JMMI, during his six months with the ministry. He witnessed Taylor slap one man two or three times, knocking him down, and then shake him by the collar. The abuse targeted members for infractions like smoking weed or female interactions, suggesting physical intimidation was used to maintain control.
Prior Warnings and Investigations
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(00:59:29)
  • Key Takeaway: JMMI faced multiple audits for tax fraud and lost tax-exempt status twice before 2016, despite numerous police calls.
  • Summary: The organization was audited for massive tax fraud in 2014 and lost its tax-exempt status twice, regaining it quickly both times. Local police in Taylor, Michigan, received at least 30 calls about JMMI by 2016, including one bomb threat from a former member targeting the pastor. Church officials refused police entry when responding to the bomb threat, stating they did not need assistance.
Police Intervention Incidents
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(01:00:47)
  • Key Takeaway: Police were involved in forcibly removing a member and responded to a death during a prayer group.
  • Summary: In June 2018, a former member reported being forcibly pushed and pulled from the property after confronting church members about her attitude. Months later, police assisted a father in a mental health commitment to remove his son, handcuffing him while men in suits filmed the event. In 2017, police found a man dead during a prayer group where members were chanting and pressing down on the body, claiming God would wake him.
FBI Raids and Charges
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(01:02:29)
  • Key Takeaway: FBI raids in August led to the discovery of 57 forced labor victims in the Tampa mansion, resulting in felony charges.
  • Summary: FBI raids targeted multiple properties, including the Tampa mansion, revealing 57 victims of forced labor living there. David Taylor and Michelle Brannon are accused of running a forced labor and money laundering scheme through the church. The indictment details significant personal expenditures funded by the church account, which held over $41 million.
Lavish Spending Details
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(01:05:19)
  • Key Takeaway: Indictment records show Taylor and Brannon spent millions on luxury goods, including crab legs, high-end vehicles, and boats.
  • Summary: The primary church banking account contained over $41 million, funding extensive personal purchases between 2018 and 2025. These purchases included 125 pounds of King crab legs, a $63,000 Mercedes-Benz, a $70,000 down payment on a Bentley, and a $123,000 lease signing payment for a Rolls-Royce Cullinan. The spending also covered multiple ATVs and at least four bulletproof automobiles.
Host Commentary and Plugs
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(01:06:19)
  • Key Takeaway: The hosts reflect on the cynical use of religion for personal gain and promote related media projects.
  • Summary: The hosts express frustration that cults exploit religion for evil purposes, contrasting this with genuinely religious people who do good. The guest plugs Sad Oligarch 2, Popular Front, and his new documentary series, Away Days. The episode concludes by announcing the next episode will cover a different cult.