Rev Ike – A Biography

Rev Ike – A Biography

You must have read the powerful saying that suggests if you feel and think in all honesty that you deserve a million bucks, it must come to you. Indeed, this affirmative saying or the actual quote is electrifying; however, the man behind this quote is much more electrifying. The American Clergymen Rev Ike or Frederick Joseph Eikerenkoetter II (1st June 1935 – 28th July 2009) was more than just the first advocate of “Prosperity Gospel”. His charisma and teachings have transformed the lives of many, and this allowed Reverend Ike to become a legend in the African-American community.

Who was Rev Ike?

Prosperity Gospel, in a nutshell, is a form of teaching in Protestant Christianity that states believers can draw in wealth, health, and happiness by expressing faith via positive declarations and thoughts, and donations to the church. Reverend Ike taught his concept of Prosperity Gospel, primarily based on material satisfaction and self-motivated wealth.

Reverend Ike was born in South Carolina and attended Chicago’s famous American Bible College. He became an assistant pastor as a teenager and dedicated 2 years of his life as a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force. He founded his church in his home state. While in Boston, he practiced faith healing. He later moved to New York (1966). In New York’s Harlem, he turned an old movie theatre into his world-renowned Christ Community United Church. In 1969, he again took over another old movie theater and converted it into the United Church Science of Living Institute.

His congregation that encouraged channeling the “God in you” was considered nontraditional philosophy and many well-known civil rights activists and traditional Christian clergy criticize him and his teachings. However, he was still popular and his popularity was the highest during the 1970s when he had about 2.5 million audiences. His teachings were broadcasted over 1770 radio stations and also television.

He also sold motivational tapes, books, videos, and magazines. The sales and the donations from his followers made him a multimillionaire. He did meet with some controversy in the form of his businesses getting invested by the IRS and the U.S. Postal Service. However, he is still popular to date despite these controversies.

Rev Ike’s personal life

Reverend Ike’s father was a Dutch Indonesian while his mother was an African-American. He married Eula May Dent in the year 1962 and the couple has a son whom they named Xavier F. Eikerenkoetter.

Rev Ike’s powerful teachings on wealth

The supporters of Reverend Ike follow and appreciate all his teachings. However, the mass knew him for referencing the teachings of Neville Goddard. Many do not know that he considered Neville as his teacher and mentioned many times that after the Bible, his second all-time favorite book is Neville’s “Resurrection”. Rev Ike’s explanation of “The Minds Eye” is a prime example of the influence of Neville’s teaching on Rev Ike. Neville’s teachings on wealth were based on manifesting money, and Rev Ike’s controversial philosophy on wealth is almost similar. As per Rev Ike, a believer’s mind power is his/her money-getting power.

How did Rev Ike die?

He suffered from a stroke in 2007, and he never fully recovered from it. Rev Ike passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 74. In June 2009, his son Xavier took over his ministry and became the Spiritual Director of his father’s United Palace House of Inspiration. He later founded the United Palace of Cultural Arts.

How much was Rev Ike worth?

Wondering, how much was Reverend Ike worth when he died? At the time of his death, Rev Ike’s net worth was estimated around $6 million. He is survived by his son and his wife Eula M Dent.

Is Reverend Ike still alive?

No, Reverend Ike is not still alive. He passed away on 28th July 2009 at the age of 74, after suffering a debilitating stroke in 2007 from which he never fully recovered.

Reverend Ike’s funeral and legacy

Reverend Ike’s funeral service was held at his own church — the converted Harlem movie theatre he had turned into the Christ Community United Church, and which later became known as the United Palace. His son, Xavier F. Eikerenkoetter, took over as Spiritual Director of the ministry within weeks of his father’s passing, and went on to found the United Palace of Cultural Arts to preserve the building as a community and performance space. Reverend Ike’s wife, Eula M. Dent, survived him. His legacy endures less in any single sermon than in the idea he insisted on louder than almost anyone of his era: that the believer’s own mind, not external circumstance, is the source of every condition they experience.

Reverend Ike’s house and Rolls-Royce collection

Part of Reverend Ike’s ministry was showing, not just telling. He was known for arriving at his own church in a Rolls-Royce — at points he owned several — and for a wardrobe of tailored suits, diamond rings, and a residence that matched the abundance he preached. Critics called it excess. Reverend Ike called it proof: if the teaching worked, he reasoned, it should be visible in the teacher’s own life. Whether or not you agree with the display, the underlying claim — that inner conviction eventually shows up as outer condition — is the same principle Neville Goddard taught through the state of assumption, just expressed through a very different pulpit.

The prayer cloth — and its surprising link to Neville Goddard’s “I AM”

One of Reverend Ike’s most recognisable ministry practices was the prayer cloth: a small piece of fabric, blessed and mailed to congregants, meant to be carried or placed on the body as a point of focused faith. Skeptics dismissed it as a fundraising gimmick. But look past the object and the mechanism is familiar to anyone who has studied Neville Goddard: the cloth itself has no power. It is a physical anchor for an inner state — a way of holding attention on the assumption of the wish fulfilled long enough for it to take root as belief. Neville taught the same law under a different name. He called the source “I AM” — the awareness within you that assumes and becomes. Reverend Ike called it “the God in you.” Different vocabulary, same claim: the outer symbol only ever works because of the inner state it is used to sustain. A practice, held with conviction, will always outperform a talisman held without it.

What Rev Ike Understood About Consciousness and Wealth

Rev Ike was controversial precisely because he refused to separate spirituality from material abundance. At a time when most religious teaching asked the faithful to accept poverty as godly, Rev Ike pointed directly at the inner life as the source of all outer conditions. You cannot get rich, he taught, by thinking poor. The mind held in poverty produces poverty. The mind held in abundance produces abundance. That is not a prosperity gospel trick — it is the same principle Neville Goddard, Joseph Murphy, and every serious consciousness teacher has articulated across different traditions and languages.

His legacy is a reminder that the power to change any outer condition lives inside the person looking at it. Not outside. Not in the hands of circumstance, luck, or the approval of others.

Whatever you are carrying right now — the financial pressure, the gap between where you are and where you want to be — none of it has the final word. You do. The power that runs through every living thing runs through you. Not as a metaphor. As a fact. You are the operant power. Activate it.

To learn more about Neville Goddard’s life and complete body of work, read our definitive guide: Neville Goddard — The Complete Guide.