By LaSilva Starks // Crime // EEW Magazine Online

*UPDATE: Tallying the value of what was taken, a spokesperson from the office of the deputy commissioner for public information said the three gunmen "removed more than $1 million worth of jewelry from the victims”—more than double the previous figure originally reported by EEW Magazine Online. The original story continues below.

Jesus once made a salient point in the form of a question: “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?” (Mark 8:36)

A soulless crime was committed against a Brooklyn, NY bishop and his wife who were robbed Sunday during a live-streamed sermon by three armed assailants that made off with around $400,000 worth of jewelry, police said.

Bishop Lamor Whitehead, 44, and his spouse, Asia K. DosReis-Whitehead, 38 – and congregants at Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries church in Canarsie – were stunned and “traumatized,” according to the pastor’s own account, when masked gunmen barged in at around 11:15 a.m.

The armed assailants "displayed firearms and demanded property" from the couple, the New York Police Department said.

Whitehead complied and told everyone to “get down,” he said on Instagram Sunday.

“Sometimes, when you are a known bishop, it’s a gift and a curse. When you have somewhat of a celebrity status, it is a gift and a curse. You become the talk of the town,” he explained to his more than one million followers on his verified page.

The streetwise preacher, who said he regularly assists “gangsters,” has rappers as “mentees,” and does a lot of good “community work,” told online supporters, when he first noticed the intruders, “I didn’t know if they wanted to shoot the church up or if they were just coming for a robbery. They were all Black men. They had masks, but I could see their face.”

Though some commenters online have been unsympathetic toward Whitehead, referencing his flamboyant wardrobe, Rolls Royce, and criminal past, in his own defense, he said, “It’s not about me being flashy. It’s about me purchasing what I want to purchase, and it’s my prerogative to purchase what I want to purchase. If I worked hard for it, I can purchase what I want to purchase.”

The ex-con turned pastor, who served five years in prison for a $2 million identity theft scam and was released in 2013, according to a NY Post report, uses his criminal history as the driving force behind his ministry to lost souls in urban communities, underprivileged neighborhoods, and disadvantaged households. “We are a young, thriving ministry. We connect with not only the church, but we connect with the streets,” said the bishop.

Those connections, as evidenced by Sunday’s events, come with risks even more heightened by the bedazzled jewels the husband and father of two daughters—Heaven and Brooklyn—enjoys wearing. “It was hundreds of thousands of dollars in jewelry that was taken from me,” said the bishop. “But those are all material things.”

While having possessions stolen is disturbing and disappointing for anyone, this is not the main source of the public figure’s distress. “It hurts me because my church was hurt,” he said. “My daughter is traumatized right now. She still is not even talking because of that experience. They had the gun in my 8-month-old’s face. The women of my ministry, my wife, everybody’s traumatized.”

As for him, he said, “I grew up in these streets. I understand the streets. I understand the rules of the streets. That’s why I got out of the streets, but that’s how I understand how to communicate with the streets.”

Whitehead said the criminals stole his watch, bishop’s cross and ring, wedding band, and other chains worn beneath his shirt, as well as jewels owned by Mrs. Whitehead who is a talented songstress and founder of an empowerment network.

“Y’all brought guns in the church to do harm and to take something from a man of God and the woman of God,” the pastor said, taking moments throughout the live video to directly address the marauders.

“It’s so hard being a Black man,” opined the pastor who was visibly upset.

Despite the unfortunate incident, Whitehead is grateful for those who reached out to him to express concern and support. He is most thankful, however, for being alive and unharmed.

“Jewelry is material; you only get one life,” he said. “And I thank God that God spared my life, my wife’s life, my children’s life, my church’s life.”

In a word of warning to churches, Whitehead said, “We have to really beware of the enemy. We have to make sure that we stand ten toes down and not be afraid because that’s what the enemy wants. The enemy wants the members to be afraid to come into the house of the Lord. That’s what this is about. It wasn’t about me.”

Whitehead believes his family was targeted because of the publicity he received when he helped turn in the suspect wanted in the fatal subway shooting of 48-year-old Daniel Enriquez in May. 

According to police, the assailants escaped in a white Mercedes. The NYPD is investigating, while Mayor Eric Adams and top police brass have pledged to find the suspects.

Watch the incident and see Bishop Whitehead speak about it below.