Behind the Bastards: Part One – Bishop David E. Taylor: Jesus Christ’s Best Friend

Podcast: Behind the Bastards
Date: October 28, 2025
Host: Brett (Robert) Evans Weinstein
Guest: Jake Hanrahan (Sad Oligarch)

Episode Overview

This episode pulls back the curtain on Bishop David E. Taylor and his cult, known as the Kingdom of God/ Joshua Media Ministries International (JMMI). Host Brett Weinstein and guest Jake Hanrahan explore how Taylor transformed from the son of a Memphis Baptist preacher to the self-proclaimed “best friend” of Jesus Christ—and how he led a multi-state organization characterized by slave labor, manipulation of the vulnerable, and outlandish claims of supernatural powers. The episode combines grim humor, skepticism, and a cold appraisal of Taylor’s exploits, with a focus on cult structure, recruitment, and the social techniques of manipulation.

Key Points & Discussion

1. Authoritarian Drift & Cultic Thinking in Modern Society

• Opening chat: Brett and Jake reflect on rising authoritarianism in the US and UK. They point out how cult-like, authoritarian behaviors are seeping into mainstream life.
• Quote:
  “It’s actually really boring. Like, it’s just happening and that’s it.” – Jake Hanrahan (01:50)
  “I think it’s almost a mistake to purely couch it in terms of fascism. Part of what’s going on is a growth in sort of, like, cultic behavior and cultic abuse techniques becoming normalized across the political spectrum.” – Brett Weinstein (03:45)

2. The Kingdom of God Cult – FBI Bust & Initial Digging

• New cult to the hosts, recently subject to a major multi-state FBI raid.
• Previously unknown except for internal criticism from other charismatic Christian groups.
• “These guys are really… this is just a pure cult. Right? And when you’re getting called out by other members of that chunk of Christianity, you really have to be going hog wild on the stealing people’s money stuff.” – Brett (10:28)

Key Details:

• FBI discovered at least 57 people forced to work for the cult in slave labor conditions (food and shelter withheld if they didn’t meet work requirements).
• Notable: The labor was primarily operating a call center—effectively enslaved telemarketers (11:42-12:08).
• Sexual trafficking of female members by the cult leader.
• Organization leveraged sophisticated online stalking to identify and recruit vulnerable people, not just broad-based scamming.

3. Cynicism, Facebook, and Digital Recruitment

• Discussion about Facebook and other social media as enabling environments for cult recruitment and personal harm (13:02-13:55).
• Quote:
  “I would love to know what percentage of [Facebook’s] profits is just a mix of inciting little kids to have eating disorders and directing people into cults.” – Brett (13:25)

4. Origins of David E. Taylor

• Born 1972, Memphis. Seventh of nine children in a devout Baptist family.
• Influenced by his father’s heroic act (stopping an armed robbery as a young pastor).
• Claims of a wild youth: “gang life,” drug dealers, and a miraculous encounter at 17 when Jesus visited him in a dream.
• Brett and Jake call out the implausibility and performative aspect of his “bad boy” narrative:
  • “I love that he went from swearing to drug lords. Like, mate, fuck, swearing to drug lords.” – Jake (21:19)
  • “It sounds like the kid at school that's like, oh, yeah… you probably fucking haven't.” – Jake (22:01)

5. The “Face-to-Face” Meeting with Jesus

• Taylor reports a highly eroticized account of meeting Jesus, using language of ecstasy, physical sensation, and “blistering with a static eruption.” (25:07-26:15)
• Jake and Brett riff on the overtly sexual undertones of the description.
• “That's a guy who wants to fuck Jesus, right?” – Brett (26:15)
• The pattern of cult leaders inventing intense conversion stories and supernatural encounters to justify authority.

6. Taylor’s Path: The Cult Leader Script

• Taylor describes Jesus instructing him to cut off his best friend—a classic high-control group tactic.
• Quote:
  “You can’t truly follow Jesus and maintain worldly relationships or friendships you once had. You must be willing to give up your best friend if Jesus requires you to.” – Taylor, paraphrased by Brett (35:03)
• Brett notes the boldness: Taylor puts cult-control words directly in Jesus’s mouth.
• Comparison with other cult founders (Joseph Smith, L. Ron Hubbard) and their flair for creative mythmaking.

7. Rise Through Charismatic Christianity

• Transition from Baptist roots to Pentecostalism under Bishop G.E. Patterson (a leading figure in that world).
• By the late ‘90s and 2000s, Taylor claims to have had over 150 face-to-face visitations from Jesus, and made big—usually false—prophecies involving Russia, 9/11, and American doom (43:04-44:29).
• Brett and Jake lampoon the vagueness and falsity of these prophecies—“if you throw enough shit at the wall, some of it’s going to stick.” (44:29)

8. Cult Growth, Awards, and the “Best Friend of Jesus” Title

• The cult’s main work: 24/7 call center, outreach, relentless donation-seeking, and property hoarding (spread across multiple states).
• Taylor receives the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award (from Obama)—but, as Brett explains, it’s a largely meaningless and easily self-nominated honor (53:26-54:41).
• Taylor’s church describes him as “Best Friend of Jesus Christ”—a branding decision both Jake and Brett find darkly comic.
  • “I am an apostle and the best friend of Jesus Christ.” – Brett, summarizing Taylor (56:20)

9. Cult Operations: Call Centers, Lies, and the Preying on Desperate People

• The call center is the lifeblood of the cult—workers are unpaid, forced to shill for donations, and threatened with expulsion/homelessness if not productive.
• Members must sign over their money and property, isolate from non-believing friends and family, and work ceaselessly “for the great heavenly harvest."
  • “You can't do that [save 7 billion souls] by having people come into a physical church. 7 billion is a lot of people. There's only one way… The call center.” – Brett (59:20)
• The sales pitch is targeted at the most desperate and vulnerable—people at risk, ill, or in dire financial straits.
• Workers instructed to tell callers that donations would go to building wells/fighting human trafficking—when in reality it funds Taylor’s luxurious lifestyle.

10. “Miracles” and Outrageous Claims

• Central to Taylor’s grift: the promise of supernatural interventions (raising the dead, curing the sick) in exchange for money.
• A recurring claim: Taylor can “raise the dead” by command—his cult’s propaganda includes dramatic videos and staged testimonials (65:21-66:36).
• Brett and Jake dissect one such story, revealing how a supposed resurrection was really a sham—an instance of Taylor taking credit for what was ordinary medical resuscitation, often with the collusion or credulity of cult members (68:47-69:45).

11. How Cult Control Morphs from Hope to Threat

• The darker turn: For full-time cult members, Taylor’s supposed supernatural powers swing from blessing to curse—he threatens to bring divine harm if his demands are not met.
• Quote:
  “He’s telling them that, you know, I can save your loved ones or I can make God take them away, right? I can have God curse you or the people you care about and destroy them or you, if you’re not bringing in enough money…” – Brett (69:45)
• Psychological manipulation escalates from hope to outright fear-mongering and emotional extortion.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On the banality of authoritarian creep:
  “The rapid descent into state control and authoritarianism is actually really boring… I’m still going to birthday parties and stuff.”
  — Jake Hanrahan (01:11–02:01)

• On cultic norm-breaking:
  “When you’re getting called out by other members of that chunk of Christianity, you really have to be going hog wild on the stealing people’s money stuff.”
  — Brett (10:28)

• On the arc of Taylor’s claims:
  “Jesus is thousands of years old, so it’s not problematic, right?”
  — Brett (31:52)

• On self-mythology:
  “Did you just do that or say you did that to have this, like, cool backstory?”
  — Jake (20:04)

• On outright manipulation:
  “It’s the evilest thing, I think, that you can pretty much do outside of, like, directly murdering people…”
  — Brett (63:22)

Timestamps for Major Segments

• Intro & Authoritarianism Chat: 00:01–04:10
• Cult's FBI Bust & Structure: 04:10–13:57
• Digital Recruitment & Facebook Rant: 13:02–15:15
• Taylor’s Early Life & Family Mythmaking: 15:15–20:44
• Face-to-Face with Jesus, Conversion Narrative: 25:06–26:15
• Transition into Cult Leadership: 35:01–37:12
• Fantasy Prophecies & Cult Expansion: 43:04–46:48
• Cult Operations & "Best Friend" Branding: 56:20–59:15
• Call Center Exploit & Donation Extraction: 59:44–62:00
• Supernatural Claims & Debunking: 65:21–69:45
• Manipulation Turns to Threats: 69:45–71:23
• Outro & Jake’s Plug for Sad Oligarch: 71:35–72:23

Conclusion

This episode provides a detailed portrayal of how Bishop David E. Taylor built a modern American cult on a foundation of grandiose biblical cosplay, strategic emotional manipulation, and call-center exploitation. It highlights not only the familiar mechanisms of cult control—emotional isolation, “miraculous” intervention, and the carrot-stick of hope and fear—but also contemporary twists: internet stalking, social media targeting, and grifts adjacent to corporate America’s worst instincts.

For Next Time

Part two will dig further into the cult’s practices, finances, and the fallout from the federal bust.

Further Listening

• Sad Oligarch (Jake Hanrahan): Season 2 now out, as plugged at the end.
• Behind the Bastards: New episodes Wednesdays and Fridays.