The more the NAR tries to justify their fetish with carnal politics the more unbiblical it becomes...

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Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. - Genesis 1:26-31 (ESV)

Joseph Mattera: God, Politics and the Kingdom of God -- Charisma News

It is difficult sometimes to discern what we should believe and what we should not. There are crazy false Christians like Jennifer LeClaire who are low hanging fruit. We should be able to discern for example that someone suggesting there are sneaky squid and wild-ass spirits probably should not be considered in least bit serious. On the other side of the spectrum however are slicker, more well-polished charlatans who have more biblical chops than the LeClaires of the world. Even in the realm of dominionist and the NAR we have those who are easier to expose such as Kris Vallotton and some who require a bit more work. Joseph Mattera is one of the latter. He is the leader of the US Coalition of Apostolic Leaders, whatever that is. He is a stark dominionist who is unapologetic in his beliefs that the church should conquer the world. His knowledge of the bible requires us to do our work as Bereans to see behind what he is saying and find what God is actually speaking through His word. The above linked article is the latest attempt by Mattera to incorrectly link politics to the kingdom of God. Let us reason once more together.

"Whether Christian or non-Christian, any group that has an unbalanced concentration of power (e.g. the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11, or certain points of corruption in Western European history that compromised the Roman Catholic church, such as the Inquisition) will eventually be decentralized by God so that proper checks and balances can prosper both the civil liberties of people and the aforementioned jurisdictions. As far as I am concerned, the key verse in the entire Bible that explains the mission of the church is Genesis 1:28: "God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'" Many theologians have called this passage the cultural mandate because this original covenant with Adam, the federal head of the human race, gives the human race the responsibility of stewarding the earth, which involves managing every aspect of life and society. After the fall, God recapitulated this same command by giving it to Noah in Genesis 9:1-2: "Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Every beast of the earth and every bird of the sky and all that moves on the earth and all the fish of the sea will fear you and be terrified of you. They are given into your hand.'" This proves that the cultural mandate was still in effect after the fall. - Joseph Mattera

The Tower of Babel more rightly represents the age-old sin of Lucifer. The very same sin he successfully tempted Eve with, in the Garden. It is the sin of wanting to be God. Ironically, it is of course at the heart of many NAR dominionist teachings. The very notion that God cannot send Jesus back to earth until we, the created, conquer the earth for Him is indeed this very sin. Word faith is also the belief that we have God's power of creation in our words when we most certainly do not. Mattera opens here with the greatest flaw in all dominionist theology and that is simply not understanding Genesis and then blowing it way out of proportion to the rest of scripture. The usage of the word dominion in verse 28 is in fact where dominionism gets it name. I have included the entire context in the key verses so we can examine what Mattera is proposing. In the same second God creates man in His own image and gives him dominion. The question for us is dominion over what? God provides the answer within the context. To rule over the fish, birds, every living thing that moves, every plant yielding seed, and every tree that bears fruit. He even says why - you shall have them for food. Now, today's deep theology is what is NOT listed. Humans! There were no other humans yet! The context clearly reveals that the dominion God is giving is over the rest of creation and for the purpose of sustenance. Mattera and the dominionists however believe this is some form of "cultural mandate" to manage every aspect of life and society. Mattera then doubles down on his poor interpretation by citing Genesis 9:

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. - Genesis 9:1-3 (ESV)

The dread of man will be in every bird, fish, beast and all the creeps on the ground but again no mention of humans. No mention of a covenant agreement to rule all societies. Now granted at this time there were no other societies after the flood but God sees all time. The hard truth for dominionists such as Mattera is there is no cultural mandate. All one needs to do is look at the life of Christ while He walked this earth. His people were under the thumb of the pagan Roman Empire! They were oppressed! They were in fact the opposite of exercising dominion. Yet did Jesus lift one finger to change this status quo? Of course not because He was there to address a far greater dominion problem and that was the dominion of Satan over the earth. If dominionists could ever switch their gaze from this world to the kingdom, their theology would finally stand bare for correction.

"Furthermore, Mathew 28:18-20 has been called by some theologians the Second Commission instead of the Great Commission because Jesus as the second or last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45) gave the godly seed (the church) another form of the cultural mandate when He told the church to disciple the nations. Discipling whole nations must include applying the commandments of God to all of practical life: politics, business, art, science, history, education, sociology and so forth. Thus, it is a recapitulation of what God told the first Adam in Genesis 1:28." - Joseph Mattera

Except there is no mention of politics, business, art, science, history, education, or sociology in the first chapter of Genesis. Likewise, there was no mention in the ninth chapter either. The flawed rationale expands with the notion that discipling all nations, which is in the bible, must include applying the commandments of God to the "practical" areas of life, which is not in the bible. This is what makes teachers like Mattera slippery. There are slivers of biblical reference surrounded by entirely made-up theology. We do not see this cultural mandate anywhere in scripture nor the life of Paul as he evangelizes the world. Here is a microcosm for how we are to carry out the Great Commission:

And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. - Acts 19:8-10 (ESV)

We are to speak the Gospel boldly. We are to reason with people and persuade them about the kingdom. When people resist however the story changes. When people become stubborn in their unbelief or begin to speak evil of the Gospel, then we are to pick up ourselves up and move on to where the Gospel will be received. In this snippet we see that because Paul did this all of the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord. Paul did not stay because he thought he had some form of dominion over those who were stubborn.

"When someone wonders whether or not the church should be involved in politics, they are missing the bigger picture of the cultural mandate, in which the church is called to be the center of all of culture by influencing every discipline and jurisdiction with the biblical worldview.

Second Corinthians 10:5 tells us to take every thought captive to the knowledge of God. This is not just an individual but a corporate command for the created order. Although I believe in the separation of church and state, I do not believe in the separation of God and state because we are called to bear fruit, multiply, replenish the earth (consecrate the earth to God), subdue the earth (disarm the enemies of God) and have dominion (work for the reformation of every system and institution on earth so that it reflects the biblical ethos)." - Joseph Mattera

Now this first sentence may sound pious but it is actually heretical to the core. Nowhere does God call for a worldwide theocracy. Narrow is the path and few are those who find it. The command in Corinthians is most definitely a personal command. There is no contextual indication of anything to the contrary. Notice the duplicity in the theocracy Mattera has created. Replenishing the earth from the key verses today have nothing to do with consecrating the earth to God. Absolutely nothing. Read the verses above! Bear fruit, multiply and replenish the earth. Scholars have all determined that this simply means to fill the earth. As you use, replace. Likewise, subdue the earth does not mean disarm the enemies of God! Where do you see that in the key verses? Nowhere! Remember the context is that God gave humanity control over the other forms of creation, for the purpose of sustenance. The notion that one can read the key verses and conclude that God meant that the usage of the word dominion means we should work for the reformation of every system and institution on earth so that it reflects biblical ethos is logically absurd and scripturally criminal. It is straight up NAR dominionist fantasy.

"Many Christians have an unscriptural belief that the spiritual world is important and the natural world is unimportant.! Jesus told us to pray that His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven (Luke 11 and Matt. 6). This shows that God wants us to focus on the earth in our life and prayers; even though, the present "last days" focus emphasis is on "escape, retreat and get caught up to heaven" indicates the church currently emphasizes the opposite of this! My book Ruling in the Gates shows that the cultural mandate in Genesis 1:28 was never annulled but is the common theme throughout both the Old and New Testaments in regards to God's mission for His covenant people." - Joseph Mattera

Except there is no cultural mandate in Genesis 1:28, which has already been discussed. Mattera then misrepresents the Lord's Prayer. This prayer is personal. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive our trespasses. As we forgive others. The line about His will is simply that our will should give into His. It is not a focus on the earth, which is once again absurd. Why didn't Jesus discuss any of this during His ministry? All of His disciples wanted Him to deliver them from Rome but He was there for something much bigger. Just as the disciples missed it then, Mattera misses it today. This is not about retreat or escape. It is about preaching the Gospel so that the Lord may draw the lost unto Him. Mattera continues to butcher scripture to fit is failed theology of focusing on this world instead of the eternal. He finishes this article with some terms that he feels have political implications but this is largely more of the desperate same. I will only highlight a couple in closing.

"This is political, not merely spiritual, because it means Jesus is judging these authorities in regard to public policy, international issues, the economy, taxation, tort laws and so forth. In other words, how their policies and laws reflect the law-Word of God, especially the laws extrapolated out of the Ten Commandments in the civil laws of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy." - Joseph Mattera

This was listed under the term "King of Kings." So Mattera actually believes that Jesus will judge people in authority related to their policies, international issues, economy, taxation, and tort laws. Are you kidding me? Where is this in the bible? He is called the King of Kings because He is above any worldly ruler. The problem with Mattera's theology here is that the interpretation for these "leadership sins" are left to the wickedly deceitful hearts of men like Joseph Mattera. The Great Commission does not instruct us to make sure the tax code of the countries we preach in measure up to a feigned biblical standard.

"In Greek culture, the ecclesia were the citizens who came together in a community to enact public policy. Ecclesia, broadly speaking, means to come together to rule. In other words, Jesus called His followers the new congress of His kingdom." - Joseph Mattera

No dominionist NAR screed is worth anything without a clear misunderstanding of the word ecclesia. It means a called-out assembly. We are called out from the world. That is our assembly. We are called out to be a shining city on a hill. To be salt and light to a dying world. Not some authoritative branch of new kingdom government created by Joseph Mattera.

"In Matthew 16:18, Jesus says the church would assault the gates of hell, which are ungodly political and social systems. "Gates" is an Old Testament term that denotes where the elders of a city met to enact public policy, declare war and conduct financial and legal business." - Joseph Mattera

First of all, it says the gates of hell will not prevail against the church not that the church would assault the gates. What Jesus is obviously referring to here is His impending death and resurrection. The very next section in Matthew says that Jesus started foretelling His disciples about His death and resurrection! It is the reason the church will prevail! It is all about Him! Don't we get that today? Apparently not Joseph Mattera and NAR dominionism. Mattera closes out by claiming the crucifixion was because of politics and not religion. Without the religiosity behind why Jesus ended up in the hands of the Romans you never get to the politics of Pontius Pilate. Mattera actually states that one cannot even understand the Gospel itself, without understanding its political implications. What absolute rubbish. The Gospel is not restrained by anything designed in the wickedly deceitful hearts of men. Preach it and men will be saved - so says the word of God in Romans. The Gospel transcends whatever limitations you wish to place upon it. It transcends time as the same exact Gospel saved the fourth century serf that saves the 21^st century factory worker. And yes Joseph, it even transcends your petty, carnal politics. Amen and hallelujah to the King of Kings!

Reverend Anthony Wade - March 7, 2021

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.