>> we've heard the phrase death by 1,000 lashes. that's basically what this was. >> lydia's parents pleaded guilty and were sent to prison. michael pearl the man whose teachings they follow is spreading his goss pel through a popular christian book "to train a child." the pearls wrote it as a blueprint for raising children they say the way the bible commands. >> it says that if you spare the rod, you hate your child. but if you love him, you chasten him timely. >> the pearls say they're not to blame for what the family did, but spare the rod, spoil the child is a message that many fundamentalist christians and preachers embrace. you'll hear from some of them tonight. you'll hear from a woman whose parents followed the treatment when she was growing up. she calls it abuse. >> this is systemic form of brainwashing these children. >> our investigation led us to a corner of christian fundamentalism that operates almost entirely beyond the reach of authority. fundamentalist baptist homes for troubled teens. they say they help character and found wayward young christians found their way back to god. >> they bodily man hadled me to the floor. and he hit me with a board as hard as he could. and i was shocked. i had been paddled my whole life. i've never been hit like that. >> i have nightmares about it all the time. very vivid dreams like i'm trapped inside this house again and i can't get out. >> accusations of abuse both physical and emotional all inflicted in the name of god. you'll hear their stories ahead. you'll hear from the pastor who runs the home. >> we've had a lot of people complain that there's abuse at your house. can you give us a comment about that. >> >> well, i would rather not. >> he wasn't happy to see us. he did answer some of our questions. that's ahead. we begin with a case that's put a popular book on the defensive. it's a book familiar to many fundamentalist christians who rely on their teachings to help raise their kids. until now it didn't get much attention outside those circles now that's changing now that a little girl has died. here's part one of the report. the small town of paradise, california, where these children lived with their parents in a fundamentalist christian home for the nine children life in paradise was anything but. we covered up eight of their faces because they are the survivors. survivors of a violent form of discipline practiced by their parents kevin and elizabeth shots. the one face not covered is their 7-year-old adopted daughter lydia, she was killed by her parents. mike ramsey is the district attorney of buick county in northern california. >> we've heard of the phrase death by 1,000 lashes. that's basically what this was. >> this is where the family used to live. the children's sand box is still here so is their slide. and their tree house. but the surviving children are now in foster homes and the parents are in prison. >> violated section 273-a. >> they pleaded guilty to killing lydia and seriously injuring her 11-year-old sister who almost died. >> authorities say kevin and elizabeth shots beat their children regularly because they believe god wanted them to. the district attorney said the shots believed -- >> to spare the rod will spoil the child. and if you can train your horse and you can train your dog, you can train your children. >> 7-year-old lydia suffered terribly supposedly in the name of god. but authorities say this was torture and murder by parents who were supposed to love and cherish their skmield. inside this house they found important evidence the so-called biblical rods the shots had inside. what they were were 15 inch long plumbing supply tubes used to beat the children and also important a book was found inside. a book that appeared to light the fuse to the deadly brutality. the book is called "to train up a child." it's author is this man on the tractor michael pearl and his wife debbie. they consider themselves christians who run an organization called no greater joy ministries from their tennessee farm. >> i'm a preacher, a minister of the gospel. >> their book and others they've written stacked in a warehouse on their farm. all of them guided they say, by the teachings in the bible. >> and it says that if you spare the rod you hate your child. but if you love him, you chasten him timely. >> a rod according to the pearl's manual can be a tree switch to a rod. the pearls say parents should stay in control and not act in extreme. they declare any spanking to effectively reinforce instruction must cause pain. >> let's say a 7-year-old slugs his sister. he would get a -- a 7-year-old would get a ten or 15 licks it would be a formal thing. in other words, you maintain your patient air. you explain to him what he's cone is violent and that's not acceptable in society and it's not acceptable in his home. i would take him into his bedroom and tell him i'm going to give him 15 licks. >> with what? >> probably a belt. a kid that big, a boy i'd probably use a belt. it would be handy. i might use a wooden spoon a piece of like plumbing supply line, a quarter inch in diameter, flexible enough to roll up. >> why not just use your hand instead of all these materials? >> look here. let me show you something. does that hurt? >> doesn't feel good. >> you don't use your hand on somebody. that's a karate chop. >> when you're using this material -- >> my children never had marks left on them. >> but look at the body of this girl. the daughter who was seriously injured by her parents. these are just some of her wound. other wounds and bruises on her body and on the body of her sister lydia who died are far too graphic for us to show. lydia was so severely beaten she died of a condition usually associated with earthquakes and bombings. what do you think influenced the shots to beat, terrorize and torment the children? >> the book by mr. pearl. there's no doubt about that. >> lydia was beaten for seven continuous hours interrupted by short prayer breaks on the day she died. the sound of the police siren was recorded by a paradise police officer racing to the house. when he arrived he tried to save lydia with cpr both the parents present. >> she was like, really tired and her eyes, her vision was blurry. >> listen lart to the day to the seriously injured girl. >> on my bottom and on my back last night, too. underneath my feet. >> underneath your feet? zaria, i'd like to take you to the hospital, okay. >> i probably need to bring a pot cause i'm going to puke. >> at the sentencing hearing the 11-year-old who is still recovering from her serious injuries had the courage to address her parents in open court about her deceased sister. she said why did you adopt her? to kill her? it's a heartbreaking story. kevin pleaded guilty to murder and torture and will be in jail for at least 22 years. elizabeth for at least 12. do you think if the shots did not read the pearl's book, there'd be a good chance that lydia would still be alive. >> i think there would be. >> we reviewed to case to see if there was going to be any blame pointed at us a. so we looked into it. >> when we come back, has the death of little lydia caused the pearls to rethink any of their parenting advice? gary gets a lesson in language. >> i don't use the term hitting. >> what's the word? >> spanking. >> >> a difference? >> absolutely. >> also ahead, gary investigating some disturbing allegations of harsh abuse and brainwashing at a fundamentalist baptist home for so-called troubled teens. is special report ungodly discipline continues in a moment. ♪ [ electronic beeping ] [ male announcer ] still getting dandruff? neutrogena® t/gel shampoo defeats dandruff after just one use. t/gel shampoo. it works. neutrogena®. we started working on tonight's special report after hearing about a little girl beaten to death by her parents. that's the little girl there. that in itself is a horrifying story. the fact that her parents allegedly believed god wanted them to beat their daughter made the story everybody more disturbing. kevin and elizabeth are now serving prison sentence. they kept a controversial parenting book in their home. a book that says god wants parents to spank their children with rods and switches and rubber tubing. and that the spanking should be hard enough to cause physical pain. the couple who wrote the book say they're not to blame for what the couple did. the district attorney sees it differently. >> michael pearl is a competitive knife and tomahawk thrower. he never misses the target. but it's just a hobby. his life's work is preaching. he targets what some might call extreme discipline of children. >> i've never met another well trained emotionally secure, happy, creative children that weren't spanked. >> pearl is a minister of the gospel, a devout christian. he and his wife are best-selling authors who have written many religiously themed books. but their most popular and most controversial is a book called "to train up a child." in which they write about the need to inflict physical pain. >> i don't use the term hitting. >> what's the word? >> spanking. >> is there a difference? >> absolutely. a hand is hitting. a little switch is spanking. a wooden spoon or a spatula, a rubber spatula. >> in the book the pearls who live in rural tennessee declare the rod is a gift from god. use it as the hand of god to train your children. they say any spanking to effectively reinforce instruction must cause pain. this couple believed in the pearls. kevin and elizabeth parents of nine children read their book. as a matter of fact, the book was found in their house and put in an evidence bag after the california couple pummelled one of their daughters for hours. 7-year-old lydia who had been adopted by' bierria died after suffering horrific injuries all over her body. mike ramsey is the district attorney in butte county california. >> as we're talking about is and we charged torture. torture over hours. this past spring they pleaded guilty to the killing of their daughter lydia and seriously injuring her older sister. these are the photos of the sister's wounds. the marks left by the rods. many images too griesome to show. the couple said they regularly beat the other children. we're covering the faces of the survivors to protect their privacy. >> the book was there and underlined in various areas. >> there's no question in your mind that this book by the pearls influenced the couple to beat, brutalize and terrorize the children? >> none at all. >> no question? >> no question. >> but the pearls feel differently saying the book rejects parents losing control and acting out of anger. you're not accepting any blame? >> absolutely not. >> are you scared there would be blame pointed at you? >> we weren't scared at all. there's never been a suggestion that someone's lost control because of what they read in our book. >> the district attorney clearly disagrees and puts blame on the pearls for the tragedy. he acknowledges that's as far as he can go. >> was there any ever any legal consideration. >> not really. >> the pearls say they feel badly for the girl who died. but they're unapologetic. they're not shy in using props and humor. >> i'm going to spank the cnn man to show how they believe god wants parents to spank. >> rubbing the spaghetti all over your head. you shouldn't have done that at 7 years of age. okay? >> that hurts and i'm 50. >> did i leave any marks on you? >> you would hit a 5-year-old like that? >> sure. >> the pearls say you can never be too young for some physical pain. for example, when a baby bites during breastfeeding. >> i would gently pull their hair. very gently. it's enough to make them let go. >> the spankings with various objects say the pearls are actually done out of love. the pearls appear to be staying prolific with their writings and preachings. they say they are simultaneously writing four new books. there is no indication that any controversy slows them down. and why should it, say the pearls? they say it worked for their children and most importantly this is what god wants. >> we don't punish our children. we sometimes need to get their attention. >> the eight surviving children are now all in foster homes. they and their sister lydia certainly got our attention. gary tuckman, cnn, paradise, california. >> harsh discipline in the name of god. it's not just happening inside private homes like these. just ahead what we uncovered about a fundamentalist baptist home for so-called troubled teens. a facility that operates outside the reach of regulators because of religious affiliation. also ahead a girl whose childhood was filled with beatings. >> these pastors are advocating abuse. the case of a 7-year-old girl beaten to death by her paints raises the question if parents are using the bible to justify their own bad parents. the case of a 7-year-old girl beaten to death by her paints raises the question if parents are using the bible to justify their own bad parents. before the break you heard from michael pearl a christian minister and author the popular book to train up a child. his book says god wants his parents to beat their children with rods and switches enough to cause pain. here's part of an audio recording of a sermon. >> this evening i'd like to preach on spanking according to the bible. this is not a new subject here at fair d hayes venn bapt church. >> he talk t about the right way in administer discipline in his opinion. >> what is a rod? i don't think it's a ball bat, i don't think it's a rod. the rod in scriptures is never carefully defined, but it's obviously some kind of a stitch or switch and it's designed to give a sharp, unpleasant pain. if that isn't the result of your spanking, then you're failing. a sharp, unpleasant pain. >> fairhaven is part of the network of independent fundamentalist baptist churches. joycelyn grew up in the church, i spoke to her earlier. what was your upbringing like? you underwent what i think was called biblical chastisement, what did that actually mean? >> there are a large network of churches known as the independent fundamentalist baptist, we use the acronym ifb as a simplistic way to define the group. they believe in breaking the will of a child. my father was an ifb pastor, he currently is an ifb pastor. he practiced this form of discipline that michael pearl is advocating in his book. that could mean that our spanking sessions, i refer to it as beating sessions could last 15 minutes to several hours at a time because basically these pastors believe that a child needs to have no will of their own. so that will continue to administer discipline until a child is completely docile until they show no emotion. >> these pastors say we're not calling for abuse of a child, this can be misused by bad parents who are out there who act out in anger and are irresponsible. but that's not what they're calling for. >> michael peril said that he does not advocate anyone spanking a child in anger or being out of control. that's what's really difficult to explain to the outside of the ifb. because the ifb pastors are not advocating losing control and beating the child to death. these pastors ared a voighting a systemic form of punishment that outside of their community would be referred to as abuse. inside the community it's called spiritual spanking. it's a matter of semantics. they would say you shouldn't be out of control. when we hear of parents who kill children we think of parents who lost control completely and it ended in the death of a child. these patients are making a conscious decision to beat a child for several hours at a time because it's something that's embedded within their belief system in the ifb. >> you run a website called freedom fromabuse.net. plenty of parents believe in punishment in our country, i think the majority of people at this point in time would say a time or two i swatted my 2 or 3-year-old on the butt when they were running out into the street. that's not what's being promoted within this group. this is systemic form of brainwashing of these children to again to break them completely of a will. we were to be completely submissive. here's another way i would explain it. when you imagine a 3 or 4-year-old being spanked the parent is laying the child down, they are spanking them and you know if you're a 3-year-old you're going to squirm during a spanking session like that. that squirm is revelation to them that the child is exerting their will and that will needs to be broken so the parents continue to spank. so in the lydia case i believe that they interpreted any kind of bodily movement of lydia's as a willful spirit that they needed to break so that's why the session last ds as long as we've heard of seven hours. >> i guess there's clearly abuse and in the lydia case i don't think anybody in the church would say it's acceptable. is it fair to be casting aspersions against an entire church organization as opposed to just bad individuals who clearly abuse a child? >> well, i think that that's where the history of the ifb has come into light now. abc 20/20 did a documentary on april 89th called shatter faith in which they did a whole year to do a piece on this culture. the findings were yes, this is what's being taught from the you will pits of these pastors. >> i should point out we called the church for a response to talk to the pastor and did not get a response, but we look forward to continuing that discussion. joycelyn, i appreciate your time the findings were yes, this is what's being taught from the you will pits of these pastors. >> i should point out we called the church for a response to talk to the pastor and did not get a response, but we look forward to continuing that discussion. joycelyn, i appreciate your time tonight. thank you very much. >> sure. thank you. >> we reached out a number of times to request an interview or statement. he declined so did the fairhaven bapt church-our invitation is still ahead. still ahead in our special report, what's really going on in this baptist home for troubled teens. the special protection law gives religious group home. gary tuckman investigates. >> we has a lot of people complain about the abuse at your house. can you give us a comment about that? >> well, i would rather not. good evening, everybody. i'm gary tuckman. three american college students studying in egypt are now free. the men were arrested monday after being accused of throwing molotov cocktails during the unrest that has taken place in egypt since last week. they have left the police station in cairo and are planning on boarding three separate commercial flights back to dust. black friday turned ugly today. at a walmart in north carolina off duty police officers used pepper spray to keep anxious shoppers at bay before the start of an electronics sale. at another walmart outside of los angeles a shopper used pepper spray on another shoppers to ensure she got her hands on an x box video game console. unfortunately it worked but not before harming others around her. >> my throat was burning. i saw people around me got it really bad. i tried to get away from it as quickly as possible. i don't think those were worth it. >> police are reviewing the security tapes to try to track down the woman. as black friday takes a close, it's time to look ahead to cyber monday. analysts are expecting a record $1.2 billion in sales on one of the internet's biggest shopping days of the year. eight out of ten retail will be offering promotions. the dow losing 26 points that was the worst thanksgiving week for stocks since 1932. 79 years. standard and poors taking action downgrading belgium's credit rating the country's gone 530 days without the coalition government. more news later. stay tuned to cnn. there's a network of religious affiliated reform schools that cater to fumist bap