“...the past gives you an identity and the future holds the promise of salvation, of fulfillment in whaterver form. Both are illusions.”

“A promise fulfilled may be a classic moment, but prophecies mean anticlimax. How much more awesome was an unexpected salvation?”

“There are different ways to be confused about how someone's disappointed you. Some lie about the future because they wanted to forget the past. But some will lie about the past because they think it will give you both a future.”

“There is nothing in the record of the past two years when both Houses of Congress have been controlled by the Republican Party which can lead any person to believe that those promises will be fulfilled in the future. They follow the Hitler line - no matter how big the lie; repeat it often enough and the masses will regard it as truth.”

“- and Stella had that kind of face. One that looked permanently guilty, as if some form of mischief was in the recent past, the near future, or both.”

“The First Testament gives the baseline meaning to the gospel in the promise of God that will not be thwarted by anyone or anything. The New Testament gives us the fulfillment in the form of a person. These testaments are meant to be read in parallel, allowing each testament to illuminate the other.”