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.
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