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Pastor punches youth for "not taking the Lord serious"

"I punched him in the chest as hard as I could," said Pastor Eric Dammann of the Bible Baptist Church in New Jersey in the video clip.

The clip of the sermon, which was given in July 2014, was originally uploaded to the Church's website but has since been deleted.

Speaking to the congregation Pastor Dammann said the young boy, named Ben, was a "smart aleck" so he "walked over to him and went, Bam! Punched him in the chest as hard as I could".

"Then I leaned over and said, 'Ben, when are you going to stop playing games with God?'"

The pastor then claims the incident led the boy to God: "I led that man to the Lord right there."

Premier has approached the pastor for a reply but has yet to hear back.

He told the New York Daily News his actions were "inexcusable" and he feels "deep sorrow."

"I do not endorse child abuse or the punching of children," he said. "My intention in the sermon was to make a point of how God can use our mistakes. The viral clip does not show the whole sermon, where I say what I did was wrong," he said.

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