About The Book
John Knight’s “The Sanctuary” is a powerful story of one man’s fifty-year journey from an ever-present sense of condemnation, to a genuine grasp on God’s grace through Jesus Christ, with the final twelve-year, brutal—yet victorious—stretch involving over fifty thousand hours living with abused wolves. This long and incredibly difficult wilderness experience is where God showed John how he felt about him by showing him his own thoughts and feelings toward the abused wolves he rescued.
“The Sanctuary” is one of those rare books that draws the reader in on the very first page—in the Introduction. Once you’re in, the book is nearly impossible to put down!
The story is an absolute roller-coaster ride from start to finish, both mentally and emotionally, beginning with child abuse and the dysfunctional family dynamic, then evolving into Adult Child of Alcoholic issues, addiction, and recovery, followed by decades of failures and an array of health issues—including a long and intense battle with depression and later social anxiety disorder—before finally transitioning into a soul-penetrating type of triumph with which everyone can identify.
The latter part of John’s fifty-year journey includes dozens of heart-warming examples of the life-transforming power of grace in the lives of the previously abused wolves living at Big Oak Wolf Sanctuary, exemplifying how God’s grace through Jesus Christ works in the lives of people—once they genuinely grasp it!
“Once the previously abused wolves realize that nothing they do out of the fears acquired during their abusive pasts will result in them being treated in any way other than with love and nurture, they soften, begin to desire our presence, and their lives are gradually transformed.
The dog rules imposed on them by their previous abusive owners only exacerbated their fear-based wolf behaviors, while the grace we extended them to be wolves resulted in them gradually becoming more dog-like in their behavior.”
The intimacy John and his wife Debra develop with the wolves alone is awe-inspiring, revealing the relationships God intended us to have with His awesome creatures and providing a glimpse into what’s to come—as prophesied in Isaiah 65:25.
This unique story also explains how the previously abused wolves will often pass their abuse issues along to their new packmates who were not abused, and therefore, won’t necessarily act on them, but will still pass them along to other wolves who often do act on them.
This illustrates how the diseased thinking and behavior of addiction is passed from a family member actively using drugs or alcohol, to other family members who manage to avoid using drugs or alcohol, yet pass the same diseased thinking and behavior along to other family members who later fall into active addiction.
Considering the massive opiate crisis, these analogies are profoundly illuminating and help us understand that addiction is actually diseased thinking and behavior with many different symptoms and is often passed from one person to another through people whose obsessive-compulsive behavior doesn’t involve alcohol or drugs at all. The analogies also help us to see how the disease of addiction affects the entire family and how easily it’s passed from generation to generation. The biblical solution to arresting this diseased thinking and behavior is articulated in the book in a manner that will immediately resonate with both the afflicted and the affected members of families dealing with the disease of addiction.
Also included in the story is scriptural confirmation that animals really do have souls, and that they do, in fact, go to Heaven, allowing us to confidently look forward to seeing our beloved pets again. But the story’s greatest value, by far, is in the heart-penetrating visual it creates in the mind of the reader, of the life-transforming power of God’s grace through Jesus Christ, and how it works in our lives, once we genuinely grasp it.
Please help us continue our mission to share God’s grace through Jesus Christ as we care for the five-dozen rescued wolves and wolfdogs here at Big Oak Wolf Sanctuary, by donating and receive your copy (or copies) of John Knight’s “The Sanctuary” as our gift to you for your tax-deductible donation.
There are two versions of John Knight’s The Sanctuary, and three donation options:
The Standard Edition—a 6×9, 618-page Paperback—features the full story, but does not include pictures of the wolves. $23.95
The Special Edition—an 11 ½ × 9, 552-page Coffee Table Book—only features an abbreviated version of the story, but includes hundreds of pictures of the wolves and more. $59.95
The Package Deal—for $69.95—includes both books, a savings of $13.95.
1) The Standard Edition is a 6 × 9, 618-page paperback book for a tax-deductible donation of $23.95. It DOES NOT include images of the wolves. We recommend this option for the full story and an easy read.
2) The Special Edition is an 11 ½ × 9, 552-page coffee table book which includes hundreds of high-quality images of the wolves and more for a tax-deductible donation of $59.95.
While the Special Edition is one of the most beautiful books you will ever own, if your primary interest is in reading the story, we DO NOT recommend getting it unless you’re getting the Standard Edition as well. Also, due to the volume of high-quality images of the wolves, those from John’s childhood and early adult life, and the complexity of the book design, the Special Edition only features an abbreviated version of the story. Furthermore, the Special Edition is a large, heavy, coffee table book, and therefore, not as comfortable to read as the smaller (6×9) Standard Edition. It is intended to serve as a supplement to the Standard Edition, which features the full story, as the images in the Special Edition tell the story as well and help bring it to life.
3) The Package Deal includes both versions of the book for a tax-deductible donation of $69.95—a savings of $13.95. For the full effect of this captivating story, we highly recommend choosing the package deal.
TO GET THE BOOK, CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING OPTIONS. OR, TAKE A MINUTE TO WATCH THE VIDEO PREVIEW OF JOHN KNIGHT’S THE SANCTUARY BELOW.
Get The Book
Big Oak Wolf Sanctuary is a 501c3 non-profit corporation. All donations are tax-deductible.