What the Enemy Meant for Evil… | Cups on Head

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NEEDED:

•  2ea 12 or 16 oz styrofoam cups
• Super absorbent polymer [SAP] – The one I use can be found in large quantity on Amazon at the link below
  • Science Educational Products – Superabsorbent Diaper Polymer 1 Lb Sodium Polyacrylate – One Pound of the Superabsorbent Polymer
  • To purchase this in smaller quantities (roughly enough to do the lesson 3-5 times) you can purchase it from the online store here at apostolicsundayschool.com (CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE)
• Bottle of water

PREPARATION:

Put about a tablespoon of the SAP into one of the cups and mark it somehow so you can recognize it easily.

LESSON:

Setup:

Tell the class that you have someone coming in that did something to you and that you have a bit of a grudge against and today you are going to get even. Have that person come in and “help” you teach a lesson.

Optional:

I try to make this lesson, one in a series of smaller lessons that lead up to this point. I will have a couple of silly magic tricks that my assistant has messed up and when he steps away for a moment I  tell the class that I am going to pay him back for what he did to me.

Hello Mr. Helper Person, can you help me do a quick Christian Illusion for the class today?

YOUR HELPER WILL NOD ENTHUSIASTICALLY

Perfect, this is really easy, all you have to do it exactly what I do… nice and slow and the Christian Illusion will happen all on its own. Take this cup and then when I tell you, do exactly what I do.

HAND THEM THE CUP WITH THE TABLESPOON OF SAP INSIDE

Ok, first, we are going to pour some water into each of these cups.

TAKE THE BOTTLE OF WATER AND FILL ABOUT ⅓ OF EACH OF THE CUPS FULL OF WITH WATER. THE CLASS WILL NOT SEE IT BUT THE CUP WITH THE S.A.P. WITH BEGIN TO ABSORB ALL OF THE WATER SO THAT EVEN IF YOU TURN THE CUP COMPLETELY OVER, NOTHING WILL COME OUT AND IT WILL LOOK LIKE THE WATER HAS DISAPPEARED.

AS YOU ARE NARRATING THE FOLLOWING, YOU ARE ACTUALLY DOING IT

Now, when I tell you, you will do what I am going to do. First, place the cup on your head and very slowly turn in a complete circle. Pause briefly halfway around and then finish your turn leaving the cup of water on top of your head when you are done.

WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED, HAVE YOUR HELPER DO THE EXACT SAME THING, HOWEVER, AS SOON AS HE BEGINS TO TURN AND CAN NO LONGER SEE WHAT YOU ARE DOING, PUT YOUR FINGER OVER YOUR LIPS AND SIGNAL TO THE CLASS TO BE QUIET. YOU WILL THEN QUICKLY DRINK ALL OF THE WATER IN YOUR CUP AND THEN PLACE IT BACK ON TOP OF YOUR HEAD.

Excellent! That was perfect… the magic should have happened. So now we are going to provide the finishing touch. We are going to dump the cups upside down onto the top of our heads and you will see that the water has completely disappeared.

THE KIDS WILL PROBABLY START YELLING THAT YOU DRANK THE WATER BUT JUST IGNORE OR TALK LOUDER THAN THEM

Ok, Here we go! ONE, TWO, THREE!

BOTH YOU AND YOUR HELPER WILL TURN THE CUPS UPSIDE DOWN OVER YOUR HEADS AND NEITHER OF YOU WILL GET WET. PLAY IT UP AND MAKE IT LOOK LIKE YOU CANNOT BELIEVE THIS HAS HAPPENED! THE CLASS WILL BE BEWILDERED!

That’s crazy! You were supposed to have water all over you… how did you do that? Are you a Christian Illusionist?

You know, this reminds me a lot of a verse in the bible …

Genesis 50:20 – But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good…

Sometimes, the enemy of our souls, the devil will try to do things to hurt us but God has a funny way of making his weapons turn against him. What the devil means to us for evil, God sometimes will make it turn out to be something that will help us.

TURN TO YOUR HELPER

And I am really sorry… today I was going to try to play a trick on you and embarrassed you in front of this class but it backfired on me. Can you please forgive me?