This book, described by James L. Snyder as Tozer's valedictory, was his last message ever given to God's people. Written shortly before his death in 1963, it was published two days after his passing. It is a challenging message to all who want to walk with Christ.

"This is the burden of my heart, and while I claim no special inspiration for myself, I yet feel that this is also the burden of the Spirit," Tozer writes. If he knows his own heart, it is love alone that moves him to pen these words. What he writes is not the sour ferment of a mind agitated by contentions with his fellow Christians, for there have been no such conflicts. He has not been abused, mistreated, or attacked by anyone. Nor have these observations grown out of any unpleasant experiences in his association with others. Tozer's relations with his own church, as well as with Christians of other denominations, have been friendly, courteous, and pleasant. His grief is simply the result of a condition which he believes to be almost universally prevalent among the churches.

Tozer laments that the modern church is in a sad state, having lost much of its power and prestige in the world. Once the church's witness was a beacon of hope, but now it has become weak and ineffective. The church has become like a eunuch in the presence of the world, utterly impotent to demonstrate the transforming power of the gospel. Tozer believes that the church's power has been sapped, and its testimony rendered ineffective, by the prevalence of certain unholy influences that have been allowed to creep in and become established.

The author's heart is heavy as he contemplates the breathtaking scandal of low living among Christians. He is appalled by the spectacle of respect, worldly ambition, and love of ease that have been permitted to corrupt the character and all but destroy the influence of the modern church. Tozer is deeply concerned that the church has become so much like the world that its voice is but a whisper, and its witness is so attenuated as to be negligible.

In this book, Tozer issues a clarion call for the church to return to its true calling – to be a light in the darkness, a beacon of hope in a world that is lost and dying. He urges believers to embrace a life of holiness and devotion to Christ, to reject the seductive allures of the world, and to stand firm in their faith, no matter the cost. Only then, Tozer believes, can the church regain its rightful place as the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

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