Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. - 2Timothy 3:12-17 (ESV)
In his defense, Joseph Mattera has always seemed to sincerely try. There are some people in this game we call churchianity for the money. For others it is for the power or the fame. Being in the hierarchy of a billion-dollar global enterprise can be quite enticing for the ego. For some however, like Mattera, it just seems like he cannot see his own heresy. He is unapologetically Charismaniacal. Note I am not saying Charismatic, which is entirely biblical. It is the Charismaniacs who sully the notion of the gifts of the spirit being for today by falsely manifesting them. Secondly and most important, Mattera cannot see how being a part of the dominionist camp of the New Apostolic Reformation is wildly unbiblical. When I think of people like Mattera I always am brought back to the key verses for today which find Paul teaching his prote'ge' Timothy before he starts his pastorship. When it comes to evil people and imposters, he is speaking of those who teach falsely. He speaks about two facets of these people. They not only deceive others with their heresies and false teachings but they themselves are deceived as well. This is why there will be so many people standing before Christ on the last day saying "Lord Lord." Their intentions were right. Their sincerity was right. None of that matters however when you entire doctrine is wrong. That is why I try to tell people who defend false teachers by declaring how much they love God that if they did, they would do as He commands. Instead, they have recreated a god they would rather serve. A god who needs them on many levels. A god who just gushes at the chance to bless them and gives them a good attaboy when they make "mistakes" (sins). This god for some reason seemingly does not care about matters of the kingdom and instead is infinitely concerned about trivial matters of carnal government and the politics of man. This is said as the backdrop to the latest article from Mattera, linked above. In it he takes a stab at ten things the global pandemic has revealed about the church. This seemed like a reasonable and worthwhile topic so let's reason together once more beloved.
"Since the beginning of 2020, the whole world has experienced an epochal challenge that has tried our souls. It has revealed character, motivation and maturity levels in the church and the world. Consequently, this should be a time of reflection and correction for us all. Since I am an ecclesial shepherd, In the following 10 points, I will narrow my focus on the church.
1. Many people in the prophetic lack biblical alignment. The inaccurate prophecies regarding both the outcome of the presidential election and post-election predictions have greatly troubled many of us in the charismatic church. It has caused a massive crisis of confidence related to the charismatic movement. For this reason, Michael Brown, several dozen leaders and I have crafted the prophetic standards statement. Biblically aligned prophetic ministry always allows others in the church to judge its words (1 Cor. 14:29, 1Thess. 5:19-22. )": - Joseph Mattera
His short introduction here is fine except for the promo spot where he refers to himself as an "ecclesial shepherd", which of course in not in the bible. The shepherd model set up by God in the bible is one where the under-shepherds, such as Mattera, would tend to the flock. Mattera fancies himself as a shepherd for churches. The problem for Mattera is that role is already filled by Jesus Christ. It seems all false beliefs can be traced back to the sin of Lucifer, desiring to be God. As for the first revelation about the church Mattera misses the mark on a serious subject. What this past two years have taught us is that those claiming the mantle of prophet have been revealed to be liars and false. It is not merely that they "lacked alignment." They LIED about hearing from God. Michael Brown spent four years exalting Donald Trump so he has zero credibility now after he has been exposed.
2. The leaven of Herod has infiltrated the church.
