A pastor didn't like it when a boy under his care allegedly tried to "test God" by rejecting Him.
Angered by the unnamed boy's insolence, Pastor Dong Wook Kim, 51, of Good News Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and his 19-year-old son, Joo Seong Kim, apparently decided to give him a lesson he won't likely forget: They allegedly beat him for at least four straight days in the basement of the church, The Christian Post reported.
The pastor and his son were subsequently arrested and are now facing felony charges after the badly beaten boy escaped from the church and sought help. The two Kims were each charged with two counts of assault in the second and third degree, and one count of malicious punishment of a child.
The police reported that the boy showed what appeared to be a black eye and a busted lip, bruising on both arms, whip marks, healing scabs on his back, and bruising on his buttocks and thighs, "one of which was the approximate size of a football."
He was taken to a hospital for treatment.
The boy told the police that on Dec. 14, Pastor Kim told him to get into a push-up position. The pastor then allegedly kicked him in the head and face. The next day, the pastor's son joined his father in beating him, striking him in the back and on his foot. Then, last Friday, the pastor's son allegedly punched him in the head and stomach many times.
The pastor, according to the boy, also slammed his head multiple times in a doorframe.
According to the boy, the pastor got angry when he told him that "he wanted to test God" by rejecting Him. He said this led to the beating.
The police said pastor admitted to striking the boy on Dec. 14 because he "was really upset at the time" over the boy's rejection of God. He admitted that "I lost control."
The pastor's wife defended her husband, saying he and their son did not have "bad intentions" when they hit the boy.
"It was out of greed of wanting to make him a better person. We were like family. Since both of his parents worked, my husband would go and pick him up every day after school and bring him to church. We would eat dinner together as a family. It was out of discipline, not rage," she said.
