Reverend Ike

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Reverend Ike, formally the Right Reverend Dr. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II (June 1, 1935, Ridgeland, South Carolina - ), Th.B., D.Sc.L., Ph.D., founder and pastor of the Christ United Church, is an American minister and electronic evangelist based in New York City. Reverend Ike is of African American and Indonesian descent.

He began his career as a teenage preacher and became assistant pastor at Bible Way Church in Ridgeland, South Carolina. After serving a stint in the Air Force as a Chaplain Service Specialist (a noncomissioned officer assigned to assist chaplains), he founded, successively, the United Church of Jesus Christ for All People in South Carolina, the United Christian Evangelistic Association in Boston, Massachusetts (which is still his main corporate entity), and the Christ Community United Church in New York City.

Reverend Ike's ministry reached its peak in the mid 1970s, when his weekly radio sermons were carried by hundreds of stations across the United States. He is still active as of 2007, with a presence on the Internet and a syndicated television program.

He has stated that he owns a fleet of Rolls-Royces (a different color for every day of the week, appointed in mink), diamond rings, expensive suits, and multiple mansions - far from hiding his wealth, Reverend Ike makes it a point of his preaching. His theology centers around the "Science of Living" and "Thinkonomics," his own version of economics based on the premise that poverty, a lack of luck, poor health, etc., are the result of incorrect attitudes, a lack of confidence, a lack of faith and a failure to get in touch with the "presence of God within each of us." "Unlearning" these attitudes, according to Reverend Ike, leads to wealth and health and his own flamboyant prosperity, and that of some of his followers, is, he claims, evidence of this. (His television programs, for instance, used to include the "Blessing of the Cadillacs," where prosperous congregants were invited to drive their luxury cars past the church's doors for his laying on of hands.)

His mail ministry has long included an ever-changing variety of items: miracle prayer cloths, lucky coins, "blessings" shower caps, prosperity bracelets and the like, each said to help the user tap into his or her own inner divine power (Reverend Ike suggested, for instance, that the prayer cloth be used to rub lottery tickets or horse track betting slips).

He fully restored and owns the Christ United Church "Palace Cathedral" in Manhattan's Washington Heights section, formerly the Loews 175th Street movie theatre (one of the grandest and most extravagant of the "Wonder Theaters" movie palaces of the 1920s; restoration included the seven-story high, twin chamber Robert Morton organ). The "Miracle Star of Faith," visible from the George Washington Bridge, now tops the cupola of the building. He is also the "chancellor" of the United Church Schools, which include the Science of Living Institute and Seminary (which awarded him the D.Sc.L.: Doctor of the Science of Living); the Business of Living Institute (home of Thinkonomics); and other educational projects. He also offers a large number of books, audio and video tapes and a magazine to followers. His latest offering are "Musivation Ringtones," ringtones for cell-phones he says will motivate followers towards propserity and success.

The Reverend Mrs. Eula M. Dent Eikerenkoetter (“Rev. Mrs. Ike”), B.A., M.A., D.Sc.L., his wife, serves as Senior Co-Pastor, and his son, The Right Reverend Xavier Frederick Eikerenkoetter (“Rev. Ike’s Son”), B.A., M.Sc.L, D.Sc.L., is his "Bishop Coadjutor."

Reverend Ike has his own personal style of “preaching prosperity” and it is purported that he influenced a succeeding generation of "prosperity teachers" such as E. Bernard Jordan and Neale Donald Walsch.

He is the subject of an unpublished song by Billy Joel. [1]

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