III.       Four Strands of the Antichrist Tradition

A.        Chaos Myth

1.         The mythic conflict between the forces of chaos and order.

2.         The OT picks up on the Babylonian Chaos Myth as seen in the many references to God prevailing over primeval forces that threaten creation, such as the dragon, the sea, the deep, chaos, formlessness and void, sea monsters, Rahab, Leviathan, Behemoth, and the Serpent (Gen 1:1-2; 3:1-15; Ps 74:3-8; 89:11 (10); 104:6-9; Job 3:8; 7:12; 26:12; 40:25-41:26; Isa 27:1; 30:7; 51:9; Ezek 29:3; 38:1-3; Hab 3:8, 15; Amos 9:3).

3.         Several STJ passages pick up on this (2 Bar 14; 29).

4.         So does the book of Revelation (Rev 12:1-17; 13:1-11; 16:13; 20:2).

B.        Cosmic Battle

1.         There is a Cosmic Battle between God and Satan, the leader of the spiritual forces of evil.

2.         The OT speaks of a cosmic battle between God and Satan, Gog and Magog, and the Prince of the Persia (Job 1:6; Ezek. 38:1-3; 39:1, 6; Dan. 10:13; Zech. 3:1).

3.         Many STJ passages pick up and develop this cosmic battle, identifying the leader of the forces of evil as Satan, the devil, demons, Beliar/Belial, Azazel, Melchiresha, the Spirit of Error, the Spirit of Deceit and of Beliar, the Watchers, the Angel of Darkness, the Ruler of Error, the Angel of Malevolence, the Angels of destruction, and the Prince of the Realm of Wickedness (Isaiah_A 1:9; Lives 4:7; 17:2; Moses 8; 10:7; T. Dan 5:6-11; 7:3; T. Levi 3:3; 18:12; T. Simeon 2:7; T. Judah 19:4; 20:1-2; 25:3; Sibyl 2:167-169; 3:63-74; 1 Enoch 6-16; 90:13-16; Jubil 1:20; PsSol 17:23-27; Wis 2:24; CD 4:12-19; 5:17-19; 8:1-2; 12:2-3; 19:13-14; 1QS 1:16-24; 2:4-10; 2:19; 3:17-21; 4:18-19; 9:11; 1QM 1:1-2; 1:1-15; 4:1-2; 11:7-8; 13:1-12; 14:8-10; 18:1-3; 11QMelch 2:12-13).

4.         The NT also speaks of Satan, the devil, Belial, the evil one, the spirit of error, the spirit that is at work in the sons of disobedience, the mystery of lawlessness, deceitful spirits, the spirit of Antichrist, unclean spirits, and the rulers, authorities, cosmic powers, and spiritual forces of evil (Eph 2:2; 6:12; 2 Cor 6:15; 2 Thess 2; 1 Tim 4:1-2; 1 John 4:1-6; Jude 8-19).

5.         Revelation picks up this theme (Rev 2:9, 10, 13, 24; 3:9; 12:9; 20:2, 7, 10).

C.        End Time Tyrant

1.         A human political or military figure opposes God and oppresses his people.

2.         This includes such OT figures as Pharaoh, Assyria, Babylon, Antiochus IV Epiphanies, the abomination that causes desolation, the little horn, the bold-faced king, all nations, Cain, and Korah (Ps 2; 74:3-8; Ezek 38:1-3; 39:1, 6; Dan 8:13; 8:22-25; 9:27; 11:31; 12:11; Zech 14).

3.         Most of the STJ passages that speak of a tyrant that oppresses God’s people refer to a historical figure, such as Antiochus IV Epiphanies, Pompey, Caligula, Nero, Titus or Nero Redivivus (Sibyl 4:119-139; 5:28-34; 5:93-110; 5:361-370; 1 Enoch 37-71; 90:13-16; Mart of Isa; 1 Macc 1:54; 2 Macc 9:12; 2 Esdras 13:5).

4.         The DSS refer mainly to the final apocalyptic battle with the Kittim, the Romans (1QM 1:1-15; 4:1-2; 11:7-8; 13:1-12; 11QMelch 2:12-13).

5.         The NT speaks of this figure as the Abomination that Causes Desolation, the Man of Lawlessness, Gog and Magog, and Korah (Matt 24; Mark 13; Luke 22; 2 Thess 2).

6.         Revelation applies this theme to the beast from the sea (Rev 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 19, 20).

D.        False Prophet

1.         The False Prophet deceives the nations or the people of God, leads them astray to follow after the Antichrist or foreign gods, and entices them to turn from God and his Law to practice evil.

2.         The OT speaks of false prophets who deceive Israel (Gen 3:1-5; Deut 13: 1-7; 18:9-22; Num 22-24; 31; 1 Kings 22:21-23; Dan 8:22-25).

3.         The False Prophet is picked up in STJ either through historical figures who deceived Israel, such as Jason and Menelaus, the Man of Mockery, the Sprayer of Lies, the Wicked Priest, the Man of the Lie, and Yannes and Yambres (Josephus, Antiquities 2:293-349; CD 1:14-2:1; 1QpHab 1:12-13; 1QpHab 2:1-10; 1QpHab 10:9-13; 1Q14 f8_ 10:4-5), or through evil spirits who lead men astray (T. Levi 3:3; T. Simeon 2:7; T. Judah 19:4; 20:1-2; 25:3; Sibyl 2:167-169; 3:63-74; 5:28-34; CD 4:12-19).

4.         The NT speaks of such figures as false prophets, false Christs, the Antichrist, Antichrists, deceivers, the Man of Lawlessness, doctrines of demons, false teachers, and Balaam (Matt 24; Mark 13; Luke 22; 2 Thess 2; 1 Tim 4:1-2; 1 John 2:18-27; 4:1-6; 2 John 7; 2 Peter 2:1-3; Jude 8-19).

5.         Revelation applies this theme to the beast from the land, the false prophet (Rev 13, 16, 19, 20).

II.        History of Research on the Antichrist

A.        Hermann Gunkel, Creation and Chaos, 1895

1.         The Antichrist is the Dragon of the Babylonian Myth, where Marduk is a type of Christ and Tiamat is a type of the Antichrist.

2.         He used a History of Religions approach in his study of Genesis 1 and Revelation 12 to argue that book of Revelation is based on the cyclical death-rebirth theme of the Enuma Elish.

3.         He did not use STJ.

B.        Wilhelm Boussett, The Antichrist Legend, 1896

1.         The Antichrist is a personification of the Babylonian Dragon Myth as the culmination of a long process where the Myth was adopted and adapted by each successive generation.

2.         He used the Pseudepigrapha (the Dead Sea Scrolls had not yet been discovered) to show that the apolitical Dragon Myth, where the sea monster becomes Satan and the Antichrist his personification, was used by Revelation as a polemic against Rome.

3.         A single figure was created out of two separate traditions, one of a end-time tyrant and the other an end-time deceiver.

C.        Moriz Friedlander, “L’ Anti-Messie,” REJ, 1899

1.         He used a History of Religions approach in his study of the antinomian sect the Minim to show that the Antichrist is the personification of apostasy, the culmination of all supernatural beings of who oppose God.

2.         He has been largely ignored.

D.        R. H. Charles, Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Revelation, 1920

1.         The Antichrist is a God-opposing human being modeled on Antiochus IV in Daniel.

2.         Though he was not originally a superhuman nor is he Jewish, but possibly Nero Redividus, Paul turned him into a superhuman opponent of God.

3.         He found three traditions in the STJ literature (200 BC to AD 100): Beliar, Nero, and Antichrist (a fusion of the traditions after AD 88).

4.         He feels that Paul merged the False Prophet theme with Beliar to create the Man of Lawlessness.

5.         He popularized Boussett’s view and most scholars have adopted the Bouseet-Charles thesis and methodology.

E.         Beda Rigaux, Saint-Paul: Les epitres aux Thessaloniciens, 1956

1.         The Antichrist is a collective concept, so Antiochus IV is not a detailed type of the Antichrist but only one strand of the tradition.

2.         Starting with the OT and working through STJ, he sees a connection between Messiah and anti-Messiah culminating in the NT where all the strands are combined into one individual.

F.         W. A. Meekes, The prophet-King: Moses Traditions and the Johannine Christology, 1967

1.         He pointed to the False Prophet tradition, whose common elements, deception, leading astray the elect by signs and wonders, and Jewish origin, are most often associated with the Antichrist in the literature.

2.         He has largely been ignored.

G.        J. Ernst, Die eschatologischen Gegenspieler in den Schriften des Neuen Testaments, 1967

1.         Based on a limited study of STJ, though leaving out the DSS, he concludes that the Antichrist is only one of several end-time opponents, each having a rich tradition that sometimes overlap.

2.         The NT does not have a single concept of an end-time opponent but utilizes all of these traditions, sometimes juxtaposing them.

H.        Adela Yarbro Collins, The Combat Myth in the Book of Revelation, 1967

1.         She developed the Babylonian Combat Myth and showed how it permeates the book of Revelation.

2.         She finds the Antichrist only in contexts where the term Antichrist is used or there is a clear opponent to a Messianic figure.

I.          D. Flusser (writings between 1972-1992)

1.         He used STJ, including the DSS.

2.         He concludes that the Antichrist is the human manifestation of satanic powers who can be identified with Melkiresha (4Q280; 4Q544) and the son of the Most High (4Q246).

J.         Hans Burgmann (writings between 1974-1992)

1.         He used STJ, including the DSS.

2.         He concluded that the historical human figure, called by various names, who is the enemy of the DSS community, becomes the archetype of the eschatological Antichrist, a human being controlled by the evil one.

K.        William C. Weinrich, “Antichrist in the Early Church,” Concordia Theological Review, 1985

1.         Basing his research on the False Prophet motif and Israel as God’s chosen people, he concludes that since both beasts in Revelation parody Jesus, they can both be called Antichrist.

2.         He points out that the prefix anti- may mean “in place of” and not “against.” The early church used the term Antichrist as a weapon against heretics and not the Roman Empire or the Jews.

L.         Gregory C. Jenks, The Origin and Development of the Antichrist Myth, 1991

1.         The Antichrist is the “Endtyrant” who opposes Christ and his people, deceives many, using signs and wonders, teaches false doctrine, unleashed evil on the world, is proud and arrogant, claims divine honors, conquers vast territory and persecutes the people of God, but is destroyed in the end by Christ.

2.         Rejecting oral tradition, he accepts only elements which occur in a Messianic context where there is clear opposition to the Messiah.

3.         Based on his study of STJ, including the DSS, he concludes that there is no concept of an “Endtyrant” in STJ, especially in the DSS.

4.         The many strands of tradition are brought together as the Antichrist only in the NT and developed in Christian theology while later Jewish literature do not have an Antichrist but merge the Beliar and Nero Redividus traditions in a way that is distinct from Christianity.

M.       Bernard McGinn, Antichrist: Two Thousand Years of the Human Fascination with Evil, 1994

1.         He sees two sets of polarities in the literature: External-Internal and Dread-Deception.

2.         He delineates four separate traditions: Chaos Conflict, Satan, End-tyrant, and False Prophet.

O.        L. J. Lietaert Peerbolte, The Antecedents of Antichrist, 1996

1.         He used STJ, including the DSS

2.         He concludes that the elements of the AD third century Antichrist never occur together in STJ and none of them occur everywhere, therefore Antichrist is a Christian invention.

P.         G. W. Lorein, The Antichrist Theme in the Intertestamental Period, 2003

1.         Frustrated with the narrow criteria of Jenks and Peerbolte, he denies that texts have to have opposition to the Messiah or contain the word ἀντίχριστος to refer to the Antichrist.

2.         The concept of Antichrist is derived from the OT, occurs in its fullness in STJ, and is linked to the concept of Messiah across all types of literature, though it is more prevalent in apocalyptic.

Q.        Stephen J. Viccio, The Legend of the Anti-Christ: A History, 2009

1.         He uses STJ, including the DSS, and the methodology of Gunkel and Boussett, adding the study of Caananite myths and the Persian conflict between Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainya.

2.         He concludes that the Antichrist is the manifestation of Marduk or Angra Mainya with additional concepts added to the myth based on Caligula and Nero.

History of Interpretation of Revelation 13:11-18

I.          History of Interpretation (see Appendix I)

A.        Early Church Fathers (See Weinrich; Aune, 753)

1.         Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 5.28.1-2; 5.29.30; 5.30.4. [2nd century]

a.         The number of the beast points to either Evanthas (EUANQAS) or Lateinos (LATEINOS), the Latins or Romans, the fourth beast of Daniel, or τειταν.

b.         The second beast is the “armour-bearer” of the first beast, the false prophet.

c.         He performs signs by magic not divine power.

2.         Hippolytus, On the Antichrist, 49. [3rd century]

a.         The beast from the earth is the Antichrist, and the two horns are the False Prophet.

b.         Like a lamb means he makes himself like the Son of God.

c.         Like a dragon points to his deception.

3.         Victorinus of Petrovium, Commentary on the Apocalypse, 13.4-18. [3rd to 4th century]

a.         The first beast is the kingdom of the Antichrist.

b.         The beast from the land is the false prophet.

c.         He sets up a golden image in the Jerusalem temple and an apostate angel enters it and utters oracles through it.

d.         His number is the name of a man: τειταν (Sol or Phoebus), DICLUX (cut off from light yet makes himself appear as an angel of light), αντεμος, or γενσηρικος.

4.         Tyconius, Commentary on the Apocalypse, 13.11. [4th century]

a.         The two horns are the two testaments that belong to the true lamb.

b.         He pretends to be the Lamb in order to attack the Lamb, the body of Christ.

5.         Oecumenuius, Commentary on the Apocalypse, 13.11-13. [6th century]

a.         The earth is the source of all humankind for the Antichrist is a man.

b.         He pretends to be a lamb and a dragon, but he is neither Christ nor the Devil.

6.         Andrew of Caesarea, Commentary on the Apocalypse, 13.11-18. [6th century]

a.         The dragon is the devil, the beast from the sea is the Antichrist, and the beast from the land is the false prophet.

b.         Coming from the land indicates his groveling manner of life.

c.         He uses sorcery to make mankind believe the first beast is God.

d.         The mark on the right hand brings an end to good works, and the mark on the forehead makes them bold in their deception and darkness.

7.         Primasius, Commentary on the Apocalypse, 13.16. [6th century]

a.         The hand indicates works, the right hand signifies the truth.

b.         The forehead symbolizes the confession of faith.

c.         Since they are defrauded of both they are said to be marked on both.

B.        Middle Ages to Reformation

1.         Middle Ages

a.         St. Anselm: “Towards the end of the world Antichrist will draw the hearts of the Jews to him by his great generosity and sympathetic attitude so much so that they will praise him as a demi-god;... For, the Temple which Solomon built having been destroyed, in its place he shall restore it, he shall circumcise himself, and he shall give forth the lie that he is the son of the omnipotent God…. Antichrist will rule the world from Jerusalem, which he will make into a magnificent city.” (Details Concerning the Antichrist)

b.         Thomas Aquinas: “As in Christ dwells the fullness of the Godhead so in Antichrist the fullness of all wickedness. Not indeed in the sense that his humanity
is to be assumed by the devil into unity of person..., but that the devil by suggestion infuses his wickedness more copiously into him than
into all others.” (Summa III.8.8)

2.         Reformation

a.         Martin Luther: “This teaching shows forcefully that the Pope is the very Antichrist, who has exalted himself above, and opposed himself against Christ, because he will not permit Christians to be saved without his power, which, nevertheless, is nothing, and is neither ordained nor commanded by God. This is, properly speaking, to exalt himself above all that is called God…. The Pope, however, prohibits this faith, saying that to be saved a person must obey him.” (Smalcald Articles, II, IV, 10-12)

b.         John Calvin: “We regard the Roman Pontiff as the leader and standard-bearer of that wicked and abominable kingdom.” (Institutes, 4.2.12)

Religion of Consumption

What has taken the place of religious commitment is the "economy" in the form of an even greater consumption of the goods that science in the service of technology and industry delivers. Combined with an ever more malleable and mercurial "self" defined in terms of the fufillment of material desires, the urge for infinite acquisition has become the default religion even of believers. This "religion" prevails even though in acting it out Christians violate their own religion's claims that self-love and covetousness are close to the essence of sin. The religion is that of Cole Porter's "Anything Goes," or, more recently, "Whatever."
Dale Van Kley, professor of history at Ohio State University

The Long-range Point of View

The long-range point of view is the best solution to the immediate problem.

Worry

"The art of life is to deal with problems as they arise, rather than destroy one's spirit by worrying about them too far in advance." Cicero

Sovereignty of Christ

"No single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'"
Abraham Kuyper

America's Real Religion

What has taken the place of religious commitment is the "economy" in the form of an even greater consumption of the goods that science in the service of technology and industry delivers. Combined with an ever more malleable and mercurial "self" defined in terms of the fufillment of material desires, the urge for infinite acquisition has become the default religion even of believers. This "religion" prevails even though in acting it out Christians violate their own religion's claims that self-love and covetousness are close to the essence of sin. The religion is that of Cole Porter's "Anything Goes," or, more recently, "Whatever."
Dale Van Kley, professor of history at Ohio State University

History

"To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?" Cicero

Why do you believe?

"O God, if I worship thee for fear of hell, burn me in hell; and if I worship thee in hope of paradise, exclude me from paradise; but if I worship thee for thine own sake, withhold not thine everlasting beauty." St. Francis Xavier

C.S. Lewis on the need for Theology

In a way I quite understand why some people are put off by Theology. I remember once when I had been giving a talk to the R.A.F., an old, hard-bitten officer got up and said, "I've no use for all that stuff. But, mind you, I'm a religious man too. I know there's a God. I've felt Him: out alone in the desert at night: the tremendous mystery. And that's just why I don't believe all your neat little dogmas and formulas about Him. To anyone who's met the real thing they all seem so petty and pedantic and unreal!"

Now in a sense I quite agreed with that man. I think he had probably had a real experience of God in the desert. And when he turned from that experience to the Christian creeds, I think he really was turning from something real to something less real.

In the same way, if a man has once looked at the Atlantic from the beach, and then goes and looks at a map of the Atlantic, he also will be turning from something real to something less real: turning from real waves to a bit of coloured paper. But here comes the point. The map is admittedly only coloured paper, but there are two things you have to remember about it. In the first place, it is based on what hundreds and thousands of people have found out by sailing the real Atlantic. In that way it has behind it masses of experience just as real as the one you could have from the beach; only, while yours would be a single isolated glimpse, the map fits all those different experiences together.

In the second place, if you want to go anywhere, the map is absolutely necessary. As long as you are content with walks on the beach, your own glimpses are far more fun than looking at a map. But the map is going to be more use than walks on the beach if you want to get to America.
Now, Theology is like the map. Merely learning and thinking about the Christian doctrines, if you stop there, is less real and less exciting than the sort of thing my friend got in the desert. Doctrines are not God: they are only a kind of map. But that map is based on the experience of hundreds of people who really were in touch with God—experiences compared with which any thrills or pious feelings you and I are likely to get on our own are very elementary and very confused. And secondly, if you want to get any further, you must use the map.
You see, what happened to that man in the desert may have been real, and was certainly exciting, but nothing comes of it. It leads nowhere. There is nothing to do about it. In fact, that is just why a vague religion—all about feeling God in nature, and so on—is so attractive. It is all thrills and no work; like watching the waves from the beach. But you will not get to Newfoundland by studying the Atlantic that way, and you will not get eternal life by simply feeling the presence of God in flowers or music. Neither will you get anywhere by looking at maps without going to sea. Nor will you be very safe if you go to sea without a map.

In other words, Theology is practical: especially now. In the old days, when there was less education and discussion, perhaps it was possible to get on with a very few simple ideas about God. But it is not so now. Everyone reads, everyone hears things discussed. Consequently, if you do not listen to Theology, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God. It will mean that you have a lot of wrong ones—bad, muddled, out-of-date ideas. For a great many of the ideas about God which are trotted out as novelties today, are simply the ones which real Theologians tried centuries ago and rejected. To believe in the popular religion of modern England is retrogression—like believing the earth is flat.

Coping with Difficult People

Coping with Difficult People
Robert Bramson



BASIC COPING STEPS
The six fundamental steps below will help you to cope successfully, no matter what type of difficult person you need to deal with.
1. ASSESS THE SITUATION
Can your troubled relations be resolved by an honest discussion, or are you confronted by a difficult person who habitually acts in a difficult manner?
2. STOP WISHING THEY WERE DIFFERENT
Acknowledge difficult people for what they are. Stop hoping they'll miraculously change or disappear.
3. TRY TO VIEW THE DIFFICULT BEHAVIOR OBJECTIVELY
Try to categorize the person in order to see his or her difficult behavior as a whole.
Try to understand the difficult person's behavior by thinking of instances in which you acted similarly.
4. FORMULATE A COPING STRATEGY
In what way can you change the pattern of interaction between you and the other person so that his or her positive, productive responses are nourished and his or her negative responses are inhibited?
5. IMPLEMENT YOUR PLAN
Choose a time when the difficult person is not unusually burdened with other concerns, and when you have time to carry through with your plan.
Prepare for coping by practicing your responses in front of a mirror or by role playing with a friend.
6. MONITOR YOUR PROGRESS AND MODIFY YOUR PLAN AS REQUIRED
If your strategy isn't working, consider whether you have assessed the difficult person's behavior correctly
Do the benefits of coping outweigh the cost of putting up with the difficult person? If not, is there a way you can avoid the difficult person altogether?

COPING METHOD ABSTRACT
Some kinds of people are more difficult to understand and work with effectively than others. For example: Most of us, at times, encounter clients (or co-workers) who are hostile, complaining, or excessively indecisive, and perhaps find them irritating, frustrating, and very hard to deal with in a constructive way.
There are seven behavior patterns that seem to be particularly difficult to handle:

THE HOSTILE AGGRESSIVE TRIO: Sherman Tanks, Snipers and Exploders
These people display a strong need to shape the world around them; they combine aggressiveness with hostility-throwing tantrums, bullying and intimidating, or making cutting remarks-whenever they don't get their own way.
To cope with these people:
1. Stand up to them, but don't get into an argument.
2. Acknowledge and accept your own opinions andfeelings.
3. Expect to feel rage, but control your behavior.
4. With Snipers, smoke out the attacking nature of the"remark."
5. With Exploders, take what they say seriously andmake sure that they know you do.
6. Manufacture a break in the interaction, if possible.

INDECISIVES
Indecisives are those people who postpone major decisions, as they have learned that the need for most decisions, if they are left unmade, eventually disappears. They may also find it difficult to make a decision until all of the elements are perfect-which means never.
To cope with these people:
1. Help them to voice their concerns or conflicts.
2. Use their "indirectness" as a key to understandingpoints of concern.
3. Provide face-to-face support when possible.
4. Cut down the alternatives you offer.
5. Keep the action step in your hand.
6. Watch for a sudden change in behavior as a signyou've pushed too far.


COMPLAINERS
Although these people point out real problems, they incessantly gripe without ever trying to do anything about what they are complaining about, either because they feel they can't, or because they refuse to bear the responsibility.
To cope with these people:
1. Listen so they can let off steam.
2. Deal with your own guilt.
3. Acknowledge their complaints and feelings, butdon't agree (empathize, don't sympathize).
4. Ask factual, problem-solving questions.
5. Make limiting responses (for example: "You feel youweren't treated well this morning").
6. Ask how they would like things to turn out.

NEGATIVISTS
When others are trying to solve a problem or improve a procedure, Negativists go to work. While they don't intend to throw a wet blanket on every idea, they firmly believe that every obstacle is an immutable barrier out of anyone's power, and thus offer comments like, "it won't work," or "it's impossible"... and deflate the optimism of those around them.
To effectively cope with these people:
1. Watch for and control your own "sympatheticdepression."
2. Make optimistic, but realistic statements.
3. Stay away from solution steps for as long as possible.
4. Don't try to convince them that "things are notso bad."
5. Be prepared to take action on your own.
6. Use their negativism to point out potential problemsthat may need contingency planning.

SILENT-AND-UNRESPONSIVES
When you're looking for information, these people either can't or won't talk. Instead, they respond with a yap, a no, or a grunt. Getting them to talk is the major problem.
To effectively cope with these people:
1. Deal with your own need to fill the silence.
2. Ask open-ended questions.
3. Use the friendly, silent stare.
4. Question their lack of response (for example: "Whatdoes it mean?").
5. End the interaction yourself; don't let it dribble away

EXPERT KNOW-IT-ALLS
These are those "superior" people who believe, and want you to recognize, that they know everything there is to know about anything worth knowing. They are condescending, imposing (if they really do know what they're talking about), or pompous (if they don't), and they will likely make you feel like an idiot.
To effectivelly cope with real expert Know-it-alls you:
1. Do your homework.
2. Ask extensional questions (for example: "Now howwould that apply to our project?").
3. Make factual, but not dogmatic, statements.Be concrete.
4. Choose a subordinate role, if all else fails.
To effectively cope with phoney expert Know-it-alls you:
1. State correct facts or alternative opinions as clearlyas possible, and present them as your own perceptions of reality.
2. Provide a means for the phoney Know-it-all to saveface.
3. Be ready to fill the conversation gap yourself.
4. Cope with this type of person when he or she isalone, whenever possible.

SUPER-AGREEABLES
Having a strong need to be liked and accepted themselves, Super-Agreeables know that people like people who have the good sense to like them. And herein lies the secret of their behavior. They are often very personable, funny, and outgoing individuals who are always very reasonable, sincere, and supportive in your presence. But, rather than directly risk losing your friendship or approval, Super-Agreeables will commit themselves to actions on which they cannot or will not follow through.
To effectively cope with these people:
1. Help them express their true feelings; listen carefullyto what they have to say.
2. Keep in mind that they need your approval.
3. Be appreciative of their humor.
4. Be personal with them.
5. Collaborate with them to help them follow through.


THE COPING PLAN
The Coping Plan consists of a series of questions that can help you to do the best possible job of coping, given your personality and the circumstances in which you find yourself. While completing the plan, keep these things in mind:
YOU'RE THE ONE WHO IS COPING
Expect to have to do more than your share of the work. Remind yourself that your alternatives are to keep on stewing and getting irritated; to get out of the situation; to choose to live with the difficult behavior; or to persist in your coping attempts even if the fault lies with the difficult person.

WISHING THEY WERE DIFFERENT
The feelings of resentment and fatigue that may wash over you stem from "wishing they were different." While feelings such as these are most understandable, they can keep you from working hard at coping.

IF IT'S YOUR BOSS OR SPOUSE
The more relevant and important the relationship is to you, the more important it will be for you to practice, in private, the coping words you are likely to use.

COMBINATIONS
Many difficult people are combinations of difficult behavior patterns.
The rule of thumb is to use the coping methods that are indicated for both patterns, in alternating sequence. For example, you have been assigned a procrastinating staff member. This person sidesteps the issue of work that hasn't been done by kidding a lot. However, there is a bite to the jokes, and you're the one that gets bitten. "Ah yes," you say to yourself, "a super-agreeable, covert hostile-aggressive." In this situation, your coping plan will be to:

PERSISTENCE PAYS
Be ready to persist in your coping efforts. Remember that quickly becoming fed up with difficult people is a very human reaction-most people do. That is why difficult behavior "works," at least in the short run. Enjoin yourself to stay with the effort. Persistence is more important to effective coping than the skill or comfort with which you carry out the methods.
1. Describe in as much detail as possible the behavior of a person youfind difficult.
2. Write down briefly your understanding of that behavior.
3. Think now of your past behavior as you have interacted with that person. Describe in as much detail as you can. Have there been times and/or situations in which the interaction seemed better? Worse?
4. As you review what you have written down under item 3, determine thepersonal traits that have enabled you to cope effectively in the past, and acknowledge those personal strengths.
5. Now, think of the coping behaviors most likely to be useful with thedifficult person you have described. Consider that some behavior represents a mixture of defensive reactions. What have you tried that seemed to work? What has not worked?
6. In what area(s) do you need skill/practice in coping?
7. Action Ran: Identify the difficult people in your life with whom you needto cope; develop a coping strategy and implement it; set a deadline, and expect results after a predetermined period of time has elapsed. If you do not achieve the desired results in that period of time, rethink your plan and try again.

REFERENCE LIST
Bramson, Robert. Coping with Difficult People, Anchor Press/ Doubleday, 1981.
Bramson, Robed. Coping with Difficult People, Cassette Works, Pasadena, CA 91102-0158, 1983. (A Cassette Course)
Fromm, Erich. Man for Himself, Fawcett Publications, Inc., Greenwich, CT, 1947.
Luft, Joseph. Of Human Interaction, National Press Books, Palo Alto, CA, 1969.
Meininger, Jut. Success Through Transactional Analysis, Signet Books, New American Library, Inc., 1972.
Satir, Virginia. People Making, Science and Behavior Books, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, 1972.
Walton, R.E. Intrapersonal Peacemaking: Confrontation and Third Party Consultation, Addison-Wesley, 1969.

The Skeptic

The Skeptic
“…But the new rebel is a Skeptic, and will not entirely trust anything.
 He has no loyalty; therefore he can never be really a revolutionist.
 And the fact that he doubts everything really gets in his way when he wants to denounce anything. For all denunciation implies a moral doctrine of some kind; and the modern revolutionist doubts not only the institution he denounces, but the doctrine by which he denounces it.

Thus he writes one book complaining that imperial oppression insults the purity of women, and then he writes another book (about the sex problem) in which he insults it himself.

He curses the Sultan because Christian girls lose their virginity, and then curses Mrs. Grundy because they keep it.

As a politician, he will cry out that war is a waste of life, and then, as a philosopher, that all life is waste of time.

A Russian pessimist will denounce a policeman for killing a peasant, and then prove by the highest philosophical principles that the peasant ought to have killed himself.

A man denounces marriage as a lie, and then denounces aristocratic profligates for treating it as a lie.

He calls a flag a bauble, and then blames the oppressors of Poland or Ireland because they take away that bauble.

The man of this school goes first to a political meeting, where he complains that savages are treated as if they were beasts; then he takes his hat and umbrella and goes on to a scientific meeting, where he proves that they practically are beasts.

In short, the modern revolutionist, being an infinite skeptic, is always engaged in undermining his own mines. In his book on politics he attacks men for trampling on morality; in his book on ethics he attacks morality for trampling on men.
 Therefore the modern man in revolt has become practically useless for all purposes of revolt.
 By rebelling against everything he has lost his right to rebel against anything…”
G. K. Chesterton

Possible questions Israel asked Hosea

Possible questions Israel asked Hosea

Totally Undeserved
• Hosea, why would a godly, upright man like you love a filthy, treacherous whore?
• You tell me, why would a holy, righteous God love a sinful, adulterous people like us?

Desperately Needed
• Hosea, do you think that whore needs your love?
• You tell me, don't we desperately need God's love?

Extremely Costly
• Hosea, why would you pay such a high price for a woman who despises your love?
• You tell me, why would God be willing to sacrifice his own son for people like us who despise his love?

Wonderfully Transforming
• Hosea, what do you get from loving this worthless woman?
• You tell me, what happens when God loves us unconditionally? That is the only way for him to change us.

Hosea

HOSEA

1. God is the great Cosmic Lover
• God is the aggressor and pursuer
• God is passionate
• God seeks you before you seek Him
• God pulls your heart towards Him
• God wants to capture your heart fully

God “wooed and married” Israel (2:19)
Hosea is commanded to marry Gomer (1:1-3)
Christ is wooing you and wants to “marry” you (you are the Bride of Christ)
[Eph 5:25-27, Rom 7:4, Rev. 19:7-9]
• Intimacy
• Union
• Love
• Partnership

2. Love grows luke-warm or cold
Gomer leaves Hosea for another man and has three children
God commands Hosea to name his children (1:3-10)
• Jezreel [punishment for Jehu’s massacre]
• Lo-Ruhamah [Not-loved]
• Lo-Ammi [Not-my people]
Israel’s love grows cold (2:1-5; 11:1-4)
Has your love for Christ grown cold?
• Initial experience wears off
• Seek the feelings instead of God
• Life happens
• Stress, needs and wants crowd in
• Materialism, hedonism, comfort, ease, excitement

3. Other things or people capture our heart

IDOLATRY (13:1-3)
What has captured your heart and taken it away from Christ?

• Job or career
• Money or possessions
• Fame or popularity
• Entertainment or diversions
• Sports or clubs
• Power or control
• Sex or romance
• Drugs or alcohol
• Friend or lover
• Spouse or children







4. God tries to win us back with His kindness and goodness (Hosea 11:1-4)
Hosea won Gomer back (3:1-2)
God woos Israel back (2:19-23)
God is trying to win you back (Romans 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9)
• He blesses us even though we don't deserve it
• He helps us succeed even though we ignore him
• He grants our desires
• Sense of peace and fulfillment

5. As a last resort He must discipline us in order to win us back
Hosea had to be firm with Gomer (3:3)
God had to discipline Israel (3:4-5)
God may have to discipline you before you repent
• First He warns us
• Often He demonstrates on others
• He lets us suffer the consequences of our sinful and selfish choices
(4:1-13; 5:1-14; 9:11-17; 10:13-14)
- Ruined relationship
- Career failure
- Stress
- Disease
- Debt
- Downward spiral
• Finally He must act towards us
- Health
- Economic
- Relationships
- Career
- Accident
God will show compassion (11:8-11)
Repentance and Renewal
• Repentance
(8:2; 10:12; 12:6)
• Renewal
(6:1-3; 1:10; 2:14-15)

Hosea 14

Christ will restore and renew you if you repent and return to Him

Coping with Difficult People

Coping with Difficult People
Robert Bramson


BASIC COPING STEPS
The six fundamental steps below will help you to cope successfully, no matter what type of difficult person you need to deal with.
1. ASSESS THE SITUATION
Can your troubled relations be resolved by an honest discussion, or are you confronted by a difficult person who habitually acts in a difficult manner?
2. STOP WISHING THEY WERE DIFFERENT
Acknowledge difficult people for what they are. Stop hoping they'll miraculously change or disappear.
3. TRY TO VIEW THE DIFFICULT BEHAVIOR OBJECTIVELY
Try to categorize the person in order to see his or her difficult behavior as a whole.
Try to understand the difficult person's behavior by thinking of instances in which you acted similarly.
4. FORMULATE A COPING STRATEGY
In what way can you change the pattern of interaction between you and the other person so that his or her positive, productive responses are nourished and his or her negative responses are inhibited?
5. IMPLEMENT YOUR PLAN
Choose a time when the difficult person is not unusually burdened with other concerns, and when you have time to carry through with your plan.
Prepare for coping by practicing your responses in front of a mirror or by role playing with a friend.
6. MONITOR YOUR PROGRESS AND MODIFY YOUR PLAN AS REQUIRED
If your strategy isn't working, consider whether you have assessed the difficult person's behavior correctly
Do the benefits of coping outweigh the cost of putting up with the difficult person? If not, is there a way you can avoid the difficult person altogether?

COPING METHOD ABSTRACT
Some kinds of people are more difficult to understand and work with effectively than others. For example: Most of us, at times, encounter clients (or co-workers) who are hostile, complaining, or excessively indecisive, and perhaps find them irritating, frustrating, and very hard to deal with in a constructive way.
There are seven behavior patterns that seem to be particularly difficult to handle:

THE HOSTILE AGGRESSIVE TRIO: Sherman Tanks, Snipers and Exploders
These people display a strong need to shape the world around them; they combine aggressiveness with hostility-throwing tantrums, bullying and intimidating, or making cutting remarks-whenever they don't get their own way.
To cope with these people:
1. Stand up to them, but don't get into an argument.
2. Acknowledge and accept your own opinions andfeelings.
3. Expect to feel rage, but control your behavior.
4. With Snipers, smoke out the attacking nature of the"remark."
5. With Exploders, take what they say seriously andmake sure that they know you do.
6. Manufacture a break in the interaction, if possible.

INDECISIVES
Indecisives are those people who postpone major decisions, as they have learned that the need for most decisions, if they are left unmade, eventually disappears. They may also find it difficult to make a decision until all of the elements are perfect-which means never.
To cope with these people:
1. Help them to voice their concerns or conflicts.
2. Use their "indirectness" as a key to understandingpoints of concern.
3. Provide face-to-face support when possible.
4. Cut down the alternatives you offer.
5. Keep the action step in your hand.
6. Watch for a sudden change in behavior as a signyou've pushed too far.

COMPLAINERS
Although these people point out real problems, they incessantly gripe without ever trying to do anything about what they are complaining about, either because they feel they can't, or because they refuse to bear the responsibility.
To cope with these people:
1. Listen so they can let off steam.
2. Deal with your own guilt.
3. Acknowledge their complaints and feelings, butdon't agree (empathize, don't sympathize).
4. Ask factual, problem-solving questions.
5. Make limiting responses (for example: "You feel youweren't treated well this morning").
6. Ask how they would like things to turn out.

NEGATIVISTS
When others are trying to solve a problem or improve a procedure, Negativists go to work. While they don't intend to throw a wet blanket on every idea, they firmly believe that every obstacle is an immutable barrier out of anyone's power, and thus offer comments like, "it won't work," or "it's impossible"... and deflate the optimism of those around them.
To effectively cope with these people:
1. Watch for and control your own "sympatheticdepression."
2. Make optimistic, but realistic statements.
3. Stay away from solution steps for as long as possible.
4. Don't try to convince them that "things are notso bad."
5. Be prepared to take action on your own.
6. Use their negativism to point out potential problemsthat may need contingency planning.

SILENT-AND-UNRESPONSIVES
When you're looking for information, these people either can't or won't talk. Instead, they respond with a yap, a no, or a grunt. Getting them to talk is the major problem.
To effectively cope with these people:
1. Deal with your own need to fill the silence.
2. Ask open-ended questions.
3. Use the friendly, silent stare.
4. Question their lack of response (for example: "Whatdoes it mean?").
5. End the interaction yourself; don't let it dribble away

EXPERT KNOW-IT-ALLS
These are those "superior" people who believe, and want you to recognize, that they know everything there is to know about anything worth knowing. They are condescending, imposing (if they really do know what they're talking about), or pompous (if they don't), and they will likely make you feel like an idiot.
To effectivelly cope with real expert Know-it-alls you:
1. Do your homework.
2. Ask extensional questions (for example: "Now howwould that apply to our project?").
3. Make factual, but not dogmatic, statements.Be concrete.
4. Choose a subordinate role, if all else fails.
To effectively cope with phoney expert Know-it-alls you:
1. State correct facts or alternative opinions as clearlyas possible, and present them as your own perceptions of reality.
2. Provide a means for the phoney Know-it-all to saveface.
3. Be ready to fill the conversation gap yourself.
4. Cope with this type of person when he or she isalone, whenever possible.

SUPER-AGREEABLES
Having a strong need to be liked and accepted themselves, Super-Agreeables know that people like people who have the good sense to like them. And herein lies the secret of their behavior. They are often very personable, funny, and outgoing individuals who are always very reasonable, sincere, and supportive in your presence. But, rather than directly risk losing your friendship or approval, Super-Agreeables will commit themselves to actions on which they cannot or will not follow through.
To effectively cope with these people:
1. Help them express their true feelings; listen carefullyto what they have to say.
2. Keep in mind that they need your approval.
3. Be appreciative of their humor.
4. Be personal with them.
5. Collaborate with them to help them follow through.

THE COPING PLAN
The Coping Plan consists of a series of questions that can help you to do the best possible job of coping, given your personality and the circumstances in which you find yourself. While completing the plan, keep these things in mind:
YOU'RE THE ONE WHO IS COPING
Expect to have to do more than your share of the work. Remind yourself that your alternatives are to keep on stewing and getting irritated; to get out of the situation; to choose to live with the difficult behavior; or to persist in your coping attempts even if the fault lies with the difficult person.
WISHING THEY WERE DIFFERENT
The feelings of resentment and fatigue that may wash over you stem from "wishing they were different." While feelings such as these are most understandable, they can keep you from working hard at coping.
IF IT'S YOUR BOSS OR SPOUSE
The more relevant and important the relationship is to you, the more important it will be for you to practice, in private, the coping words you are likely to use.
COMBINATIONS
Many difficult people are combinations of difficult behavior patterns.
The rule of thumb is to use the coping methods that are indicated for both patterns, in alternating sequence. For example, you have been assigned a procrastinating staff member. This person sidesteps the issue of work that hasn't been done by kidding a lot. However, there is a bite to the jokes, and you're the one that gets bitten. "Ah yes," you say to yourself, "a super-agreeable, covert hostile-aggressive." In this situation, your coping plan will be to:
PERSISTENCE PAYS
Be ready to persist in your coping efforts. Remember that quickly becoming fed up with difficult people is a very human reaction-most people do. That is why difficult behavior "works," at least in the short run. Enjoin yourself to stay with the effort. Persistence is more important to effective coping than the skill or comfort with which you carry out the methods.
1. Describe in as much detail as possible the behavior of a person youfind difficult.
2. Write down briefly your understanding of that behavior.
3. Think now of your past behavior as you have interacted with that person. Describe in as much detail as you can. Have there been times and/or situations in which the interaction seemed better? Worse?
4. As you review what you have written down under item 3, determine thepersonal traits that have enabled you to cope effectively in the past, and acknowledge those personal strengths.
5. Now, think of the coping behaviors most likely to be useful with thedifficult person you have described. Consider that some behavior represents a mixture of defensive reactions. What have you tried that seemed to work? What has not worked?
6. In what area(s) do you need skill/practice in coping?
7. Action Ran: Identify the difficult people in your life with whom you needto cope; develop a coping strategy and implement it; set a deadline, and expect results after a predetermined period of time has elapsed. If you do not achieve the desired results in that period of time, rethink your plan and try again.

REFERENCE LIST
Bramson, Robert. Coping with Difficult People, Anchor Press/ Doubleday, 1981.
Bramson, Robed. Coping with Difficult People, Cassette Works, Pasadena, CA 91102-0158, 1983. (A Cassette Course)
Fromm, Erich. Man for Himself, Fawcett Publications, Inc., Greenwich, CT, 1947.
Luft, Joseph. Of Human Interaction, National Press Books, Palo Alto, CA, 1969.
Meininger, Jut. Success Through Transactional Analysis, Signet Books, New American Library, Inc., 1972.
Satir, Virginia. People Making, Science and Behavior Books, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, 1972.
Walton, R.E. Intrapersonal Peacemaking: Confrontation and Third Party Consultation, Addison-Wesley, 1969.

Trust the Creator

"All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for what I can't see." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Faith

"Only he who believes is obedient and only he who is obedient believes."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer