Money is NOT the Root of Evil; RIP Rev IKE

Many of you may remember Rev. Ike - the Reverend meant alot to us, personally. we weren't members of his chuuuch, but we believe he had the right stuff - cause he told ya "Moooooooooony is not the root of evil; it's not having enough, go get you some moooooooooooneyyy hooooooneyyyy".

yes those are his actual words - he also said this which is our mantra for good living

"I say there's no virtue in poverty," he would preach. "There is no honor in poverty! There is no style in poverty! Poverty doesn't have any class!"

Today We Honor Rev. Ike - The Man, not the myth.

God Bless Ya and We Shall Remember You Always Rev. Ike.




Obit: Reverend Ike; preached gospel of prosperity -

By Horace Coleman/ from ThinkTank@yahoogroups.com
Date: Fri Jul 31, 2009 11:40 pm ((PDT))

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-reverend-ike30-2009jul30,0,1769574.story

From the Los Angeles Times

Reverend Ike dies at 74; preached gospel of prosperity

The Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II was among the first evangelists to reach an audience of millions through TV. His unorthodox philosophy did not sit well with some ministers and civil rights leaders.

Associated Press

July 30, 2009

The minister known as Reverend Ike, who preached the gospel of material prosperity to millions nationwide, has died. He was 74.

The Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II died Tuesday, according to a statement on his website. The cause of death was not given.

Reverend Ike preached the power of what he called "positive self-image psychology" to his 5,000 parishioners at the United Church Science of Living Institute in New York.

In the 1970s, Reverend Ike was one of the first evangelists to reach an audience of millions through television.

"This is the do-it-yourself church," he proclaimed. "The only savior in this philosophy is God in you."

Reverend Ike stretched Christian tenets, relocating the idea of God to the interior of the self, with the power to bring the believer anything he or she desired in the way of health, wealth and peace of mind.

The philosophy did not sit well with traditional Christian ministers and civil rights leaders who felt that black churches should focus on social reform rather than self-fulfillment.

His critics said he preyed on the poor and conned the faithful into giving him donations that he spent on cars, clothes and homes. The IRS and the Postal Service investigated his businesses.

Others defended his philosophy of mind over matter, which appealed to middle-class believers who felt their hard work should be rewarded in this life.

"If it's that difficult for a rich man to get into heaven," he said, riffing on the famous verse from the book of Matthew, "think how terrible it must be for a poor man to get in. He doesn't even have a bribe for the gatekeeper."

Reverend Ike was born June 1, 1935, in Ridgeland, S.C., to an elementary school teacher and a Baptist minister from Dutch Indonesia.

He became an assistant pastor in his father's church at age 14. He attended the American Bible College in Chicago and spent two years in the Air Force as a chaplain. He founded his first church in Boston and moved to New York City two years later.

He moved his church into a Harlem movie theater with a narrow marquee that forced him to shorten his name to "Rev. Ike."

In the 1970s, Reverend Ike toured the country and preached over some 1,770 radio and television stations in major markets.

He is survived by his wife, Eula May Dent, and his son, Xavier F. Eikerenkoetter, who took over the ministry when his father retired.

NPR - Audio link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111388940

The Everlasting Message Of Reverend Ike

by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

July 30, 2009

Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter, was born in Ridgeland, S.C., to a Dutch Indonesian father and African-American mother. He became pastor of his father's Baptist church at age 14. But eventually he moved to a more charismatic faith — one that which focused on faith healing — and he traded the doctrines of sin and suffering for a philosophy of abundance. He became known as Reverend Ike.

"He was part revivalist, part evangelist, part Johnny Mathis, if you will," says Jonathan Walton, an assistant professor of religion at the University of California at Riverside, who has written about Eikenerenkoetter.



Reverend Ike, shown here giving a sermon in 1977, preached the gospel of material prosperity to millions nationwide. AP

"He would often say these lines such as, 'You know, I come to you today lookin' good, feelin' good and smellin' good.' And this would just kind of ooze off of him. And this charisma just attracted persons from many different ranges of society."

In the 1970s, Reverend Ike's sermons drew hundreds to his Palace Cathedral, a renovated movie theater in New York's Washington Heights. He reached millions more through radio and TV with this message, and started a newspaper and a magazine. He was one of the first to advocate what is now known as the "prosperity Gospel." The idea is that God wants each of us to be spiritually and materially abundant.

At one of his sermons at a Madison Square Garden, for example, he told the packed crowd: "If you can honestly think and feel that you are worthy or deserve a million dollars, that million dollars must come to you!"

"His message is quintessentially American, right?" says Professor Walton. "It's this kind of God is on your side, if you can see it, if you can believe it, you can claim it. And God wants this for you."



And Reverend Ike's own success was Exhibit A. He owned multiple homes and more than two dozen cars, including a few Rolls-Royces. He had many critics, who claimed he was preying on the poor. He faced several lawsuits and government investigations into his ministries. Other Christian leaders derided his theology as shallow and misguided.

Initially, Carlton Pearson, interim senior pastor at Christ Universal Temple, says he was once one of them.

"People would testify, 'I came here in my raggedy car and I'm drivin' away with a Cadillac!' But we just felt it was what we call carnal, unspiritual, that he was talking to the flesh and speaking to the ego and all that kind of thing."

But if leaders didn't like Reverend Ike, his congregants — largely middle- and working-class blacks — did. When others, like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., talked of sacrifice and social reform, Reverend Ike spoke of material empowerment.

"I say there no virtue in poverty," he would preach. "There is no honor in poverty! There is no style in poverty! Poverty doesn't have any class!"

Pearson, who came to appreciate the flamboyant pastor, says Reverend Ike gave his followers license to aspire for more.

"He was helping draw the consciousness of the African American community, that we were not disenfranchised, and we didn't have to be poor and dispossessed, that we can own our own selves and our lives and that we could create money."

That is a message that is alive and well in churches today.