Update (Mar. 21): Schaap has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after a judge ruled that a 10-year plea bargain did not meet minimum federal requirements. He will also be registered as a sex offender.

"I thought I wanted to be this family's savior," said Schaap during his sentencing, according to the Chicago Tribune's detailed report. "Sometimes people try to be heroes … in trying to be a hero, I became a fool."

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Update (Mar. 15): The ex-megachurch pastor who pleaded guilty to having an affair with a girl in his congregation wrote to the 17-year-old to say God sanctioned their relationship.

Prosecutors quoted from letters between Jack Schaap and his victim in a sentencing memo released Wednesday, according to reports from area media, including the Associated Press and the Chicago Tribune.

"You have affectionately spoken of being 'my wife,' he wrote. "That is exactly what Christ desires for us. He wants to marry us + become eternal lovers!"

The memo said that Schaap, the former head of the ...

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