An Army chaplain has confessed to adultery and threatening to murder his mistress, according to an Associated Press article.
FORT DRUM, N.Y. - A 10th Mountain Division chaplain was stripped of his rank and sentenced to five months in military prison after pleading guilty to adultery and threatening to kill his mistress when she wanted to end their relationship, Fort Drum officials said Friday.
Capt. John Lau - a Southern Baptist minister described by the mistress as a manipulative sadist - was tried by a military judge who also ordered him dismissed from the Army with all pay and allowances forfeited.
Lau, 50, admitted he threatened to hunt down and kill Amanda Tyler, a 34-year-old British woman he met in 2004 while stationed in England, brought to the U.S. and “married” during a mock ceremony last year at Niagara Falls.
This is quite a sordid tale. Mr. Lau stated that he and his wife wanted some “spice” in their sexual relationship. So, he brought in Ms. Tyler to engage in such immorality. It is unclear to me whether Ms. Tyler was actually complicit in the lurid relationship. She stated that she was “under duress” in the relationship, though she apparently lived with the family and even went on vacations with them.
When Mr. Lau was deployed to Iraq, Ms. Tyler stated that she was going to move out. He apparently responded by threatening three times that he would kill her.
So, let’s see…if all the details of this story are true, there are adultery, enslavement, and murderous threats involved. I think that’s three strikes against the chaplain, both as a military officer and as a minister. He admitted to adultery and threatening to kill Ms. Tyler. The article included no reference to whether he has been defrocked. One can only hope that he will be expelled from ministry in the Southern Baptist Convention.
daniel
actually i am in the unit that lau was chaplain for. because i am a christian i actually spent a fair amount of time with him and his wife.
first, i want to make sure i am not gossiping. but second, i want to make sure everyone understands that this man and his wife are not representative of chaplains or southern baptists. though i am neither sbaptist nor a chaplain, i believe that most of both are good men and women.
when john first came to ft drum, we had him and his wife over after church to meet our small group. the first day, his wife was telling my wife about how great fornication was and all kinds of crazy stuff. at first, i thought it was just his wife, then the more i got to know him, the more i thought it was both. he was the wicca representative for his past army post. i think this says something right there.
if you know about wicca, then the sexual perversion makes a lot of sense.
anyway, may God find glory in all of this. may john and his wife and his mistress all find the redemptive power of Jesus. and may we escape the corruption of this world
peter
Peter, thanks for your insight on this story. I agree that this is not typical for either chaplains or Southern Baptists. I pray that they will repent and be restored to godliness. I pray that your unit will supported by a godly and wholesome chaplain.
How sad. I have encountered a number of situations with fellow chaplains. They are after all fellow sinners in need of God’s mercy and grace. That is why we continually need to be in prayer as Christians and to challenge ourselves to actively stop sinful thoughts (lust, jealousy, etc), to have an accountability partner(s) and so on. I feel a special sense of sadness when a brother Chaplain falls pray to sin and brings discredit on himself, clergy as a whole, and the cause of Christ.
By the way, I love your web site Ch Sparks!
There seems, to me, a very important piece of evidence missing from amongst the ’sordid details’ of my encounter with Lau. He wrote over 40 emails to me in a 3 weekd period, most over 4 pages in length. In at least 7 he clearly writes passages from the Bible. He informed me that i was the ‘whore of Babylon’ and that ‘not even the jackles would come near me’, that i would be ‘plaqued by Gods angels and they shall haunt me and bring me to me knees’, he said that i was brought to him by God so that i could be judged and punished by him with God as his witness.
As a man who knows the Bible inside and out, he cleverly manipulated passages and tormented my soul. I dont expect you to realize what an effect that had on me.
Lau did not fall pray to sin….He is sin. He lured me into a totally false sense of security, at a time when i was at my lowest ebb. He made demands on my mind and spirit that to this day i cannot forget.
I AM NOT A MISTRESS…..MY NAME IS AMANDA TYLER AND I WILL NOT LET ANY ONE MOMENT DEFINE WHO I AM.
Amanda Tyler
Ms. Tyler, I only know the details of this story that were shared in the press. Therefore, I have limited my commentary to the statements that were made in the article I referenced.
We all fall prey to sin because of our fallen sinful natures. Some men may become so possessed by the hold of sin that they inflict their vile and evil desires on others. If all has happened as you describe, this certainly seems to be the case with Mr. Lau. And, if this is so, I certainly encourage you not to let your life be defined by this one moment.
If you wish to discuss this matter further, please feel free to contact me directly. I am interested in learning more information.
Well…I am shocked about all this happening to a family I came to know very well, while staying as an exchange studet at their home. All I want to say is that I feel terribly sorry for his wife Beverly. She sure is one of the sweetest and generous persons there are. I hope she will find the strength to realise what John really is My thoughts are with here and with her son.
Finally I have to say that I can’t belive it took the army so long to realise what was going on, since even while I was staying with them, wich was in 2001 there were accusations of this kind! Trying to cover things like that up, expecially when a chaplain which is a authority figur and a person of confidence for many of his soldiers is a tremendous mistake!
Please excuse my english, but I hope you will understand what I’m trying to say.
Cara