Aim to understand that a person of faith is not stupid and weak, but smart and strong

Aim
* To understand that a person of faith is not stupid and weak, but smart and strong
* To understand how Father could have hope when he was sent to a labour camp

Materials
•Father Works Again in Pyongyang, by Ken Weber & Linna Rapkins
•Sun Myung Moon: the Early Years, by Mike Breen
•The Path of a Pioneer, HSA Publications
•Visual Aids
– Father in court
– Karl Marx
– Lenin
– hammer & sickle
•Children’s worksheet

Lesson Outline
1. Review the previous story
2. Discuss Communism
3. Tell the Story
4. Discussion
5. What can we learn from the story?
6. Activities – worksheet
7. Review the lesson
8. Prayer

1) Review the previous story
Torture in Prison – The prison guards found Father’s note to Mrs. Huh. They questioned him many times, but he said nothing. They became angry and decided to torture him, in order to break his spirit. Father was so badly beaten, that he seemed dead and was thrown outside in the snow. His disciples found his body and took him home. Miraculously he survived.

Review the key points of the previous lesson
Why Father was tortured?
– the failure of the prepared people meant Father was no longer protected
– the communists thought he was a spy, so they tried to force a confession
– they wanted to prove a religious person is weak, by breaking his spirit

What was Father’s attitude towards his situation?
– He was determined to live so he could fulfill his responsibility. He prayed to God for strength to survive
– He trained his mind to withstand the pain. Every time he was struck, he thought it was a blessing.
This way of thinking gave him the power to keep mentally strong
– He forgave his torturers.

2) Discuss Communism
Talk about Karl Marx, Lenin and the Communist flag.
Does anyone know what Communism is? Communist believe we can make an ideal without God.
They don’t believe in God. They have persecuted religious people.
The ideas first came from a German, Karl Marx (1818-1883), who wrote the Communist manifesto. 
The first person to rule a communist country was Vladimir Lenin (18760-1924) of the Soviet Union. 
The Soviet Union’s flag was red with a hammer and sickle, which represents the workers and work.
They are the ones who can build the ideal world.

3) Tell the story
Summary – When Father recovered he started teaching again, and once again many people came.
Church ministers became jealous, because they were losing members. They reported Father to the communist police, accusing him of breaking up churches and families and of being a spy. He was arrested,taken to court and sentenced to five years in a labour camp.

4) Questions to discuss
* Why did the church ministers dislike father?
1. They lost members and donations
2. He taught heresy. He claimed the Messiah would be born in Korea and some of his followers even said he was the Messiah
3. They were jealous of his success

* What did the church ministers do about Father?
1. They tried talking to him to show his ideas were wrong
2. They wrote letters of complaint to the communist authorities, saying that he was breaking up the churches and breaking up families

* Why were the communists happy to get letters of complaint?
1. They wanted the churches to be divided, so they could get rid of all them. They were atheists.
They didn’t believe in God

* What did the communists accuse him of?
1. Deceiving poor people in order to take their money
2. Telling lies

* What did Father do when he was sentenced?
1. He asked the charges of deceiving people and telling lies to be dropped
2. He showed alot of courage
3. As he left he raised his arms and smiled

5) What can we learn from the story?
* How could Father have hope when he was sent to prison?
1. He understood the way of indemnity. If you suffer for righteouness sake, eventually you will be blessed and be victorious. If you love people who hate you, eventually you will win It is the power of true love. Give love and forget that you gave it 

2. He practised the words of Jesus that explained about persecution, judging, forgiving and loving.

Read the Bible passages that talk about these things
Matthew 5: 11-12 – persecution
Matthew 5:43-44 – love
Luke 6.6-7 – judging and forgiveness
Matthew 22.36-40 – love

* What did Father do to show that a person of faith is smart and strong?
HOW WAS FATHER SMART?
– Father was trained as an electrical engineer. He could explain electricity in detail, and use it to show that God exists.
– His knowledge of the Bible was very good. He gave clear explanations, that Christian ministers couldn’t explain
– He understood the law of indemnity. If you suffer for righteousness, you will eventually be blessed

HOW WAS FATHER STRONG?
– He had courage. He asked the judge to drop the charges of deceiving and telling lies
– He left the courtroom with hope. He was smiling and holding his arms in the air, even though he was sentenced to a death camp.
– He could forgive his enemies

* What can you do to be a strong person of character?
– Develop a life of faith – study God’s word, talk to God, go to Sunday School, make conditions to be a stronger person

* What can you do to be smart?
– be a good student at school, work hard, have a goal in life,develop a skill, read alot

6) Activities
‘ Complete the worksheet. Cut out the pictures of the Communist flag and Lenin and stick them onto the picture. Fill in the missing words. Answer the questions.

7) Review the lesson
Discuss with the children what they could learn from this story. Conclude by talking about the two key points from the lesson
* To understand that a person of faith is not stupid and weak, but smart and strong
* To understand how Father could have hope when he was sent to a labour camp

8) End with a prayer