By Joseph Mattera
May God help us to not lead from insecurity, through manipulation, or for personal ambition! Here are 25 practical examples that indicate when someone is leading from their dark side:
1. You inwardly celebrate when a colleague or fellow minister falls.
2. Your spirit of competition causes you to inwardly celebrate when other organizations or ministries in your field aren’t doing as well as you.
3. You are more concerned about your local church or organization than the good of the kingdom of God and cultural transformation.
4. You manipulate people to promote yourself and try to make things happen instead of allowing God to open doors and promote you.
5. You look for opportunities to backstab other leaders in your region or field of work.
6. You are driven to succeed to counter your insecurity, poor self-esteem and a sense of insignificance.
7. You thwart the emergence of other strong leaders in your organization.
8. You are closed-up relationally and have no open, transparent relationships in which you share your weaknesses and fears.
9. You do not share power and work on your own in regards to major decisions that impact your organization or ministry.
10. You are shifty in relationships, taking sides with those you are presently with, then taking another point of view when with another person when there is a conflict or controversy.
11. You will sacrifice the future for the present in regards to debt financing and risk taking instead of leaving a legacy of financial sustainability.
12. You do not receive correction kindly but always get inwardly defensive.
13. You are constantly blaming others when things go wrong.
14. You constantly justify yourself instead of facing your failures.
15. You have no deep relationship with God and lead out of your flesh and soul life.
16. You don’t lead out of sound biblical principles unless it is convenient.
17. You view yourself more as a pragmatist than a principled person.
18. You are loyal to people only until you have used them to get to the next level.
19. You avoid confrontation and walking in the light according to Matthew 18:15-17 and 1 John 1:7.
20. You only care for those who care for you and serve your agenda.
21. Your greatest desire in life is to make a name for yourself.
22. The bottom line in regards to organizational effectiveness is more important to you than people.
23. You have a hard time forgiving those who offend you.
24. You carry resentment and baggage from the past that you refuse to let go.
25. You don’t walk in the peace of God but in the stress of the world.###
[Original post: http://josephmattera.org]
[Editor’s note: Previously, we have republished some of this author’s articles because we obviously agree with his observations and commentary in those particular articles we republished and believe they speak to issues currently confronting the Church in this hour, thereby serving an important purpose. However, we, nevertheless, strongly disagree with some of the author’s other doctrinal beliefs; e.g., his eschatology, i.e. preterism, amillennialism, his frequent condescending comments against strongly-held, Biblically-sound teachings concerning what is commonly referred to as “the rapture” as being “escapism,” and the millions who wholeheartedly believe in a coming rapture as “escapists,” et al.; his ecumenical views and what appears to us to be soul-tie-generated sentimentality for the Catholic church, which we regard as the one-world end-times church identified in the Bible as the Babylon church system led by “the false prophet” (who we believe to be the final Roman Catholic Pope) into which all the false religions of the world, Biblical Christianity excluded, will be coalesced; and his advocacy for syncretism or reintegration of Roman Catholic false and idolatrous doctrines into the Pentecostal/Charismatic stream. Some of his viewpoints, in our view, essentially establish him as an apologist for Roman Catholicism, an opponent of the Protestant Reformation, and an advocate for the dismantling and reversion of Protestant reforms. Indeed, that this author can write so correctly, poignantly, and prolifically regarding so many problematic issues extant in the ecclesiastical realm in this hour, and yet maintain the heterodoxical viewpoints he does, is to us an inexplicable enigma, except to point out that all these matters are rooted in Roman Catholicism, that he self-identifies as a former Catholic (see, his paid-content article: Seven Reasons Why I am Not a Roman Catholic), along with many of his family-members and friends, and as mentioned before, appears to us to have a psychological soul-tie to the Roman Catholic church, and some of its traditional religious trappings, which, again, is highly enigmatic in consideration of an article such as this one as well as many of the others we’ve republished. Update (10-13-18): In a recent phone and email exchange in which I confronted him regarding his self-publicized alliance with, endorsement and promotion of postmodernism (i.e., spiritual formation, pre-reformation mysticism, contemplative spirituality, etc.) proponents, as well as apparent acceptance and espousal of their teachings, his unequivocal response was, in essence, that he does not regard any of same to be in any way problematic or heretical, and sophomorically attempted to censure me for confronting him on these matters, despite providing him a “best of short list” of hundreds of the millions of available articles available on the Internet describing the irrefutable heterodoxy of these anti-Biblical teachings and how they lead ultimately to total apostasy. More to come on these matters in future articles. Again, despite agreeing with the concepts Joseph Mattera expressed in this article and others we have published on this site, sadly, I am also compelled to state categorically that I do not in any way endorse him or his ministry, and, in light of my recent exchanges with him regarding specific doctrinal issues, including some not mentioned here, must issue a strong warning to anyone and everyone to steer clear of his ministry, teachings, and all organizations he leads, due to his current intransigence and apparent refusal to properly consider the substantial areas of doctrinal error he espouses and promulgates. Consequently, we will not be republishing any additional articles by Joseph Mattera.]
Dr. Joseph Mattera is currently the Presiding Bishop of Christ Covenant Coalition, Overseeing Bishop of Resurrection Church in New York, and the president of U.S. Coalition of Apostolic Leaders (USCAL). His website is at: http://www.josephmattera.org.
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