If your “church leader” makes you work for free and sleep in his call center, you might be in a cult.
Two leaders of Kingdom of God Global Church were arrested Wednesday for their alleged roles in a forced labor and money-laundering conspiracy across multiple states, including Texas, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The JMMI Global “Campus for Harvest”, a property owned by Kingdom of God Global Church, was raided early Wednesday morning in Houston.
According to the DOJ, David Taylor, 53, was arrested in North Carolina, and Michelle Brannon, 56, was arrested in Florida.
The indictment charges them with conspiracy to commit forced labor, forced labor and money laundering conspiracy.
According to the DOJ, Taylor and Brannon are the leaders of Kingdom of God Global Church, formerly known as Joshua Media Ministries International.
Taylor reportedly operated call centers in Michigan, Florida, Texas and Missouri to solicit donations for KOGGC/JMMI. The DOJ says they received millions of dollars every year through the call centers.
Taylor and Brannon are accused of compelling their victims to work at the call centers and work as Taylor’s “armor bearers,” his personal servants.
According to the DOJ, the victims’ lives were controlled by Taylor and Brannon, they slept in the call center facility or in a ministry house, and they were not allowed to leave without permission.
Taylor allegedly had his armor bearers transport women from ministry houses, airports, and other locations to Taylor’s location and ensure the women took Plan B emergency contraceptives.
Doesn’t sound very godly, does it?
“In addition, according to the indictment, Taylor and Brannon required victims to work in the call centers long hours without pay or perform other services for Taylor. Taylor set unobtainable daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly monetary donation goals for victims working in the call centers and required victims to follow the orders he created without question. If victims disobeyed an order or failed to reach his monetary goals, Taylor and Brannon punished the victims 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,” the DOJ wrote in a news release.
I am not a lawyer, but I’m pretty sure a bunch of those are illegal under both state and federal law.
Not to mention the Thirteenth Amendment.
According to the allegations, Taylor and Brannon used much of the money to buy luxury properties, luxury vehicles and sporting equipment like a boat, jet skis and ATVs. The DOJ says Taylor has received around $50 million in donations since 2014.
In the northeast Houston-area, federal agents have raided a hotel owned by JMMI Global, a ministry led by David E. Taylor. FOX 26’s Sherman Desselle has more information on the raid.
FOX 26 was on the scene of an FBI search warrant execution at the JMMI Global Campus for Harvest in the 14000 block of North Freeway in Houston early Wednesday morning. According to property records, the property has been owned by Kingdom of God Global Church since 2023.
According to Taylor, the former hotel would be used as a Bible school, campus, and housing center for missionaries and students.
At the scene, officers could be heard on a loudspeaker announcing the FBI had a search warrant for the location and for anyone inside to come out.
Several men and women were escorted out by officers, some handcuffed. According to sources, 17 individuals, nine men and eight women, were removed from the building.
All of this sounds (sex abuse, slavery) like classic cult behavior. if any of this is happening to you, you need to find a new church and call the police.
(Hat tip: Dwight.)