Stephen Andrew Luke, now 47, was jailed last week for a maximum of seven years for setting fire to the Hillsong church at Baulkham Hills and the Lismore Cathedral as well as robbing women at knife-point in Griffith and Sydney and a tense stand-off with police in Lismore. He will be eligible for parole in March, 2024, after serving three-and-a-half years behind bars.

In 2008, Luke started a blaze that caused extensive damage to the interior of the 150-year-old St Clements Anglican Church at Camberwell, north of Singleton.

After his arrest, his solicitor told Maitland Local Court that Luke believed he was the 144,000th incarnation of Jesus Christ and set fire to the church because God told him to.

He was ultimately found not guilty by reason of mental illness and was initially supervised by the Mental Health Review Tribunal and prescribed medication.

But Luke stopped taking that medication a few months before his crime spree started in September, 2020.

He confronted a woman with a knife at Griffith and stole her car before driving to Sydney where he tried to rob another two women at knife-point at Hornsby.

He then travelled to Baulkham Hills where he started a small fire at the Hillsong church before driving north to Lismore where he set a fire at St Carthage's Cathedral that caused $1.3 million damages.

Luke bragged on Facebook about setting the fires and was later that day spotted in Lismore by police. Armed with a knife he tried to enter a shop, triggering a stand-off with police officers who drew their firearms but ultimately used capsicum spray and a taser to subdue Luke.

Consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Richard Furst assessed Luke and said reports from 2008 confirmed he had a longstanding mental illness of schizoaffective disorder.

"His actions in damaging church property by fire on each occasion were driven by delusions with manic elements, psychotic elements, grandiose delusions and delusional religiose attributions relating to a special purpose or mission he believed he was on at the time of his offending," Dr Furst said in a report.

"He also felt compelled by God to act as he did. "He also heard voices convincing him that his course of action was the correct one, to the point of believing that he would become a martyr if he was shot and killed by the police, meaning he was not morally responsible for his offending actions."