Author Shoemaker combines stark memories with collected declarations, recollections, and confessions from family and other sources, painting a haunting portrait of a dangerous religious cult and its devastating effect on family and friends. In his teen years, Shoemaker became attracted to Shirley. They married and had children, but Shoemaker's serious drug addiction resulted in shoplifting and encounters with the law. When family members introduced him to the gospel message of Christ, he soon accepted Christ as his Savior, regaining control of his actions and renouncing drugs.

He and Shirley joined the family group, or cult, which, he would discover, was being eroded from within by his power-mad brother-in-law, Leviathan, whose perfidies included numerous "wives" and physical torture for anyone daring to disobey. Shirley began having sexual liaisons with Leviathan, resulting in the dissolution of the author's marriage. As the cult spread to Africa, quelling it seemed hopeless, but Shoemaker and others close to him, enheartened by his vision of the Lord's protection, persisted in the struggle even as they also worked to rescue his younger children from the group.

Ultimately, the power of the redemptive grace of God is front and center in Shoemaker's story. The author, now a deacon and minister, has for years dedicated his energies to such tasks as facilitating a trauma recovery ministry. With contributions from others who observed his powerful perception of Christ's oversight, he vividly recounts his sometimes harrowing memories, forming a valuable alert to anyone tempted to follow a downward path. The writer shares accounts crafted credibly and realistically by his companions and family, including those in his carefully cultivated spiritual circle. Shoemaker's Christian values and the seemingly insurmountable barriers he overcame in gaining them will doubtless serve as an inspiration to Christian readers and all of those in need of spiritual support and guidance.

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