Aim to understand why Father was tortured

Aim
* To understand why Father was tortured
* To learn about Father’s attitude towards his situation

Materials
* Father Endures Pyongyang Prison, by Lesa Ellanson
*Sun Myung Moon: the Early Years, by Mike Breen
*Visual Aids
– Father tortured in prison
– Jesus on the cross
* Children’s worksheet

Lesson Outline
1. Review the previous story
2. Tell the story
3. Discussion
4. Activities – worksheet
5. Review the lesson
6. Prayer

1) Review the previous story
The Secret Message – One day, communist soldiers arrested everyone in the ‘Inside Belly Church’
and put them in prison. Father was in the same prison, next to Mrs. Huh. He secretly sent her a note:
The writer of this note has a mission from heaven. Pray to find out who he is. If you deny  everything you have received, you will be released.” But she didn’t. God could not protect her and later she and all the other members died. As a result, all of the preparation to receive Father was lost.

2) Tell the story
A summary – 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. Father was in prison from August 11th 1946 to October 31st 1947 (14 months). He was released because he was found innocent of being a spy.

3) Questions to discuss
* What were the four types of torture Father received?
1. No sleep for nearly a week
2. Water hose treatment
3. The Crane Dance – suspended in the air, dropped and jolted still
4. Beating with bats

* Why was Father tortured?
1) FAILURE OF THE PREPARED PEOPLE.
Because the Inside Belly Church failed its mission, Satan could directly attack the Messiah.
This was similar to Jesus disciples failing their mission. Satan directly attacked Jesus through the cross. Father’s torture was the same, but this time he had to survive and continue his mission. He understood the suffering heart of God. If he died, it wasn’t just the failure of a prepaerd church. The 2,000 years preparation for the Messiah would be lost.

2) THE COMMUNISTS THOUGHT HE WAS A SPY
They thought he was spying for the South Korean government. He had no identity papers.

3) THEY WANTED TO BREAK HIS SPIRIT.
They wanted to prove that religious people are weak. They decided to use the most severe torture and force him to confess.

* What was Father’s attitude towards his situation
1) HE WAS DETERMINED TO LIVE so he could fulfill his responsibility. He prayed to God for strength to survive
2) 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
3) HE FORGAVE HIS TORTURERS
As the Messiah he had to demonstrate that he could love his enemy, otherwise he could not say he was the Messiah. This is the same as Jesus who said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Father knew they were instruments of Satan.

* What would most people do in such a situation?
lose all hope, expect the worst, confess you did wrong just to stop the punishment, beg for forgiveness

* The greatness of Father
This story shows what an extraordinary person Father is. His experience in prison was like going through the crucifixion of Jesus. This time he came very close to death, but miraculously survived!

4) Activities
* write a summary of the story:
The prison guards found Father’s note to Mrs. Bin. 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.

* colour the pictures

5) 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 why Father was tortured
– failure of the prepared people
– the communists thought he was a spy
– they wanted to break his spirit

* To learn about Father’s attitude towards his situation
– determined to live so he could fulfill his responsibility
– thought the pain brings blessing
– forgave his torturers

6) End with a prayer