Farewell, Rev

I was startled to read of the recent death of the Reverand Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II, better known to us old-timers as Reverend Ike. During the 1970's, I never went to bed on a Sunday night without watching his television show.

Rev Ike was a refreshing breath of fresh air in a country filled with religious TV hypocrits. Ike admitted that he loved wealth. One of his favorite sayings was: "I got what it takes, to take what you got." He sold special coins that were like "money magnets", guaranteed to help you "get some dough."

His TV show was extremely entertaining, with a marvelous choir that rivaled the Motown groups. On these shows, he loved to bring people out of the audience who had monetary success because of his coins. At the time, The Jeffersons was a "hot" TV show, and some of the words of the theme song were: "And we're movin' on up.. to a deluxe apartment on the East Side..."

On one of his shows, he brought up a couple who said they had success with his "money magnet" coin.. in fact, they had gotten "a lot" of money and this was their conversation with Rev Ike:

Ike: So you got a lot of money?

Couple: Yes. A lot.

Ike: What happened because of the money?

Couple: We bought a condo on the East Side.

Ike: Was this better than what you had before?

Couple: Yes, we moved on up.

Ike: Do you mean... you were movin' on up?

Couple: Yes, Rev, we're movin' on up.

Ike: To the East Side?

Couple: Yes, Rev, we're movin' on up to the East Side. We've finally got a "piece of the pie."

Ike: You mean, you're movin' on up to the East Side and you've finally got a "piece of the pie?"

Chorus: We're movin' on up.. to a deluxe apartment on the East Side, we've finally got a piece of the pie!

This was a wonderful moment.. perfect theater and so much fun. This is what I loved about Rev Ike's show. (And I'm not going to tell you if I sent him any money for his coin.)

Reverend Ike was only 74 years old.. he should have had another 10 or so years to go. I wonder what happened to his fleet of Cadillacs, Bentleys and Rolls Royces. At one time he said: "My garages runneth over."

..... Many years ago, I came upon a full page cartoon in a German satirical magazine called Symplicismus. It showed a poorly clad beggar (looked a lot like representations of Jesus)... this person was peering through the open doors of a massive cathedral with gold covered images and marvelously attired priests... the beggar was asking one of the worshippers: "Excuse me, but what religion is practiced here?" I think that this cartoon illustrates how far religion has gotten away from the original concept of Christianity that "Saint" Paul tried to broadcast.

Reverend Ike recognized this hypocricy and played on it.. and had some fun with it. But mainly, he gave some hope to people who needed it. He will be sorely missed.

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