Faith, fear, and forced labor: The Kingdom of God Global Church scandal

Federal indictments reveal how "apostle" David E. Taylor and Michelle Brannon turned the KOGGC into a machine of abuse, coercion, and greed

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Months after a Christian compound in Florida was raided by federal law enforcement officials, we’re learning more about just how deep the alleged criminal activity went for the Kingdom of God Global Church (KOGGC).

The full story goes back over a decade, but a lot of the allegations first came to light in August, when David E. Taylor and Michelle Brannon were arrested after a federal grand jury indicted them for their supposed “roles in a forced labor and money laundering conspiracy.”

David E. Taylor (screenshot via YouTube)

Michelle Brannon (screenshot via YouTube)

The 23-page indictment found that KOGGC, formerly known as Joshua Media Ministries International (JMMI), ran a number of call centers to solicit money. Taylor was the self-described “apostle” behind the operations while Brannon was the Executive Director. The call centers alone weren’t the problem, though.

The people who worked the phones also had double-duty as Taylor’s personal servants, a.k.a. “armor bearers.”

Armor bearers were Taylors’s personal servants who fulfilled Taylor’s demands around the clock. Taylor and Brannon controlled every aspect of the daily living of their victims. Victims slept in the call center facility or in a “ministry” house, and Taylor and Brannon did not permit them to leave without permission. Taylor demanded that his Armor Bearers transport women from ministry houses, airports, and other locations to Taylor’s location and ensured the women transported to Taylor took Plan B emergency contraceptives.

It was the Christian version of Epstein’s Island. It’s unfair to even call them workers since it’s not like they got paid. Furthermore, Taylor set financial goals for them to reach through their solicitations, and if they didn’t hit those marks, they were punished with “public humiliation, additional work, food and shelter restrictions, psychological abuse, forced repentance, sleep deprivation, physical assaults, and threats of divine judgment in the form of sickness, accidents, and eternal damnation.”

Some of the threats were very direct: “As of now there’s a 21 day peanut butter and jelly regiment [sic] like before…” and, if they didn’t reach their goals, “they don’t eat dinner at all.”

All of this made Taylor and Brannon very wealthy. Over the past decade, they took in about $50 million, which they spent on “luxury properties, luxury vehicles, and… a boat, jet skis, and ATVs.”

According to the solicitations, however, donations were supposed to go toward things like “providing water wells” overseas and—ironically—”supporting victims of human trafficking.”

Recently, there was some back and forth between lawyers for Brannon and the government regarding where she should remain detained as the trial proceeded. She wanted to be released on bail in Michigan and argued she was merely “another person subject to Taylor’s influence and control at a more supervisory level.” The government said absolutely not because they didn’t trust her: They couldn’t “reasonably assure her appearance [in court], the integrity of this proceeding, or the safety of any person or the community” if she were set free.

But in that response, we learned even more about what Taylor and Brannon did.

For example, we found out there were 57 “KOGGC workers and victims.” (Brannon had lied to officers and said she lived in a ministry compound with her son and “six co-workers” and that two of those co-workers were actually her “employers.”)

We learned that Brannon was the person who lured those victims to the compound by promising to fulfill their “spiritual hunger.” How else did she convince them? By engaging in “love bombing” (by making them feel extra special) and telling them Taylor was “God’s best friend.”

After they took the bait, the abuse was non-stop.

During a rebuking, Taylor, BRANNON, or a worker (as instructed by Taylor or BRANNON), got inches from the face of another worker and screamed at them, calling them names like stupid, dumb, wicked, n***a, Lucifer, etc. Many times, workers were forced to kneel and repent to Taylor and God. Rebukings could last a few minutes to a few hours depending on the situation. The rebukings, sometimes coupled with the threat of being “put out” into a garage or a homeless shelter, constituted psychological coercion designed to compel the workers’ labor.

Among the text messages Brannon sent to the victims to force them to do her and Taylor’s bidding were ones like “He can die for this” and “You will be punished constantly until you obey and train your heart and mind to obey the training.”

When federal authorities raided the compound in August, they also came across evidence of sexual manipulation:

[They found] an explicit masturbation video sent to Taylor by a female worker in which the worker cries and apologizes for the “delay” in completing the “assignment,” referring to the masturbation video, and states that she “understand[s] that [she] need[s] to do this and can’t delay.”

There were many other videos from female victims where that one came from.

Oh. And they were trafficking children, too. Because of course they were.

… after the execution of search warrants at KOGGC/JMMI properties, the government confirmed that multiple minor children of KOGGC/JMMI workers lived in the call centers and/or properties operated by KOGGC/JMMI. Some of these children have been separated from their parents for years…

So given all that and given that Taylor tried to legally change her name this past summer; and given that as recently as two weeks ago, a worker with KOGGC told viewers of their broadcast, “We’re in a war and it is time for you to decide if you’re a warrior or you’re not”; and given that she has access to a ton of cash if she’s allowed to use PayPal and Venmo; and given that she has a lot of supporters “who would likely assist her in intimidating current and former members of KOGGC”; and given that she’s loyal to Taylor; and given that there’s evidence Taylor recently told workers “God will kill officials” when referring to the Michigan Attorney General’s Office (“We will watch you burn and the flesh melt off of your bones,” he added); and given that Taylor also told those workers that if government officials raided the place, “you kill them on contact if they come in here with that foolishness… They need to die”; they didn’t feel comfortable letting her go free.

Thus, given BRANNON’s own reign of terror over her victims, her leadership role in the forced labor and money laundering conspiracies, her close personal and criminal relationship with Taylor, and her years of following Taylor’s directions with fierce loyalty, she is a danger to the community if released.

The judge later allowed her to be released to a home in Michigan as long as she complies with a long list of rules.

Some of those details went viral last week, but it would be a mistake to think most of this is new information. We’ve known for months just how damning the allegations are and the only question is whether Taylor and Brannon will face any real consequences for what they’ve done. We’ve also heard from a number of former KOGGC members who have openly described how awful their situations were while living in the compound:

Driving Taylor, washing his car, cooking and cleaning were all a part of [Clifton] Ware’s responsibilities he did without pay. Nearly every moment of his life revolved around Taylor with little to no time in his day reserved for himself or his family.

“(My ex-wife and I) were too afraid to even verbally speak amongst one another, because we thought that we would be speaking against God,” Ware said. “And that’s the way that David wants it.”

…

“My children have suffered trauma, emotionally speaking, especially after I had left,” Ware said. “There were things that they witnessed happen to their mom, things being said to their mom that I’ve had to help them with emotionally and mentally.”

It’s not like allegations of Taylor’s deception are new either. While the new allegations are criminal, he’s been a religious grifter for well over a decade.

For example, in 2016, Taylor claimed he resurrected a woman from the dead… by sending her a message on Facebook.

In that post, which has since been deleted, Taylor explained how he heard from the woman’s daughter after he sent the woman a message through his phone:

Thank you sooo much Dad (Apostle Taylor), the doctors were sooo amazed for my Mom ‘s speedy recovery , she was dead for 40minutes but God resurrected her !!! After clinical studies / they tried not to give her diabetic pill and guess what – she got healed from her diabetes as well…. She doesn’t need to take her medication no more – she will go home today ….. Thank you thank you sooooo much for praying for us …This was her yesterday!

When the Christian Post tried to verify any aspect of that story, they hit an immediate dead end:

The Christian Post reached out to Joshua Media Ministries International on Monday and requested an interview with the woman and her family. A representative said they were unable to divulge personal information about the family but explained that they would pass along this reporter’s contact information and would reach out if the family wished to talk.

Shocking how those supposed miracles always involve people who refuse to share information that could verify what they’re saying…

But that’s not all. In 2015, when Taylor was accused of financial corruption, his videotaped deposition made people’s jaw drop.

He couldn’t answer basic questions about someone he claimed as a dependent on his tax returns:

ATTORNEY: On your 2012 tax return, who’s Brooklyn Mitchell?
TAYLOR: Brooklyn? I don’t know.
ATTORNEY: You don’t know who Brooklyn Mitchell is?
TAYLOR: No… uh-uh.
ATTORNEY: You have no idea?
TAYLOR: No.
ATTORNEY: Never heard of that person?
TAYLOR: No. Brooklyn Mitchell? Nope.
ATTORNEY: On your 2012 tax return, you claimed Brooklyn Mitchell as a dependent through an exemption.

In an earlier deposition, he claimed that his mansion was really a training center for other pastors:

ATTORNEY: What goes on at the residential center?

TAYLOR: It is… really, it’s a gathering place for our ministry, where I bring in different leaders and also the staff that we have as a place of, um, you know, maybe, um, resort and teaching…

ATTORNEY: A resort?!

TAYLOR: A resort where we teach and train.

He didn’t know the address of that location.

He also said he shopped at high-end clothing stores because “Macy’s don’t have the kind of suits that I wear.”

ATTORNEY: So, June, 2014, you spent $3,500 by JMMI to Versace in the Bahamas. Yes?

TAYLOR: I’m sure that’s right…

…

ATTORNEY: So you don’t see that there’s any problem when you’re ministering to the poor, the sick, the needy, to be appearing in Louis Vuitton and Versace?

TAYLOR: Well, that ain’t something I purchase all the time…

ATTORNEY: Well, it looks like you did several times in, uh…

TAYLOR: I’m a very frugal person when it comes to this. I go to the right places to get a lot of suits, and if I get some from those places, you don’t see that in that bill.

ATTORNEY: I don’t see Macy’s.

TAYLOR: No, you don’t see that because Macy’s don’t have the kind of suits that I wear.

There’s a lot more from those depositions here.

Separately from all that, Taylor falsely predicted that the Denver Broncos would win Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014. (Days after that “prophecy,” the Broncos were crushed by the Seattle Seahawks, 43-8.)

All of that obviously pales in comparison to the allegations now levied against Taylor and his sidekick Brannon. But the point is: People have known for years that this guy was a religious fraud, pretending to be a Christian leader for the purpose of enriching himself and manipulating others. They’ve also known for years that he’s abusive. Here’s an article from 2019 in which a former member of the cult openly talked about “misbehavior by church officials, including physical assault and sleep deprivation.”

Gospel singer Vicki Yohe, who once dated Taylor and later wrote a book (affiliate link) subtitled “Free from a Hidden Cult” all about how she suffered at his hands, said of him, “He preys on women… He does not honor women. Women are just a vagina.” She also said he violated his own supposed ethics by having “sexual relations with more than 40 women, many of them in his ministry,” as one article noted. He told Yohe that if she ever went public with her stories, she “would get cancer.” And she said that he made women send him naked pictures… which he later used to blackmail them in an act of “revenge porn.”

Long before getting arrested, but after that damning deposition video went public, Taylor dismissed allegations against his ministry by calling reporters who were critical of him racist. In fact, when he was announcing a new campus in Texas—one of the places that was recently raided by law enforcement—look at how he condemned his so-called enemies who were “trying to destroy my ministry” by alleging sexual manipulation:

This is not a labor cult, or cult of any kind. They are liars. In America, the word “cult” immediately instills fear in individuals. They slap this title on anything they don’t understand, or that they know is more powerful than them. They always try to flip the script. For example, Martin Luther King fought for equal rights, but the Caucasian culture made him out to be a communist person like he was doing something wrong! They’ve even tried to disparage my name and character as a black man through false sexual allegations. This is nothing but slander and lies. You see, I’m not trying to not only unify blacks and Caucasians, but my mission is to preserve the future and destiny of America.

It’s never good when you need to describe your ministry with the words “This is not a labor cult”…

If Taylor and Brannon are convicted of the crimes they’re accused of, they could each face up to 20 years in prison (though it could be longer if the sentencing isn’t concurrent). Given that they’re both in their 50s now, that would effectively be a sentence that takes up the majority of the time they have left on this planet.

Ultimately, this isn’t just about two religious cult leaders. This is about about what happens when unchecked religious authority has a chance to spread in a country that refuses to scrutinize faith the way it deserves. Taylor’s empire of abuse thrived in plain sight because it was a Christian “ministry,” and that label was both a shield against accountability and a sword to wound the vulnerable. Taylor spent years working on his grift, taking advantage of people who fell for his faith-based promises.

The result appears to be a human trafficking ring built on scripture.

KOGGC is evidence of religious privilege in America. “Men of God” who claim to be prophets are all too often exposed as predators—just look at what happened to Trump ally Robert Morris last week. Even if there is justice after all this, the downfall of Taylor and Brannon won’t undo the trauma they’ve inflicted upon dozens of people (not to mention everyone whose money they took under false premises). But perhaps it would signal the beginning of a reckoning.

Until the law treats religious manipulation with the same severity as every other form of abuse, and until we stop treating faith as an alibi for evil, there will always be another Taylor, another Brannon, another “ministry” promising salvation while creating their own form of hell.

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