Authorities in Minneapolis, MN last week arrested a pastor and his son on assault charges after a 12-year-old boy filed a criminal complaint alleging the pair beat him with a 2-by-4 inside the church, the StarTribune reports.

Good News Mission Church pastor Dong Wook Kim and his 19-year old son Joo Seong Kim face two counts of assault and one count of malicious punishment of a child after police say they beat the victim with wood and an electrical cord as a form of religious discipline between Dec. 14 and 17. According to the StarTribune, the Kims felt their young victim was “misbehaving in school and had rejected his faith.” The victim told police his 4-year old sister similarly suffered abuse.

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After one of the beatings, the victim was taken to a hospital after a neighbor found him wandering the streets in the cold having fled the church while his assaulters were distracted. He exhibited bruising over his body, including “one of which was the approximate size of a football,” as well as large lash marks on his back.

Dong Wook Kim, the pastor, told police he beat the kid because the boy had “wanted to test god.”

Watch the video below via Fox9.

