You remember Rev. Ike. He is a dynamic, suave black man who preaches how God is going to make all his believers rich. 

Rev. Ike, with headquarters in Boston and New York, says if you want a new car, send him a few bucks and he'll pray for you and you'll soon have your new car, compliments, I suppose, of Holy Spirit Autos. 

Anyway, I now know what Rev. Ike has been up to lately. The same old thing. 

Send cash, Rev. Ike is still saying, and you will receive "health, happiness, love, success, prosperity and more money." 

Roy Brady of Atlanta got this message in a letter he received from Rev. Ike. Mr. Brady, who had no intention of sending Rev. Ike the time of day, passed the letter on to me. 

Here was the deal Rev. Ike was offering Roy Brady: 

In the letter Rev. Ike sent along what he described as a "blessed, red token string." 
 

A `faith donation'
 

Mr. Brady was instructed to hold the string in his hand, while reading Rev. Ike's letter. 

"My eyes are filled with tears of joy as I write this letter to you," Rev. Ike went on. 

"I was working and praying for you this morning in the prayer tower, and I felt in my heart you needed some extra help this month." 

Rev. Ike further instructed Mr. Brady to put his red token string into his window as soon as possible and to leave it there overnight. 

Then, he was to mail the string back to Rev. Ike along with - you guessed it - a "faith donation." 

Rev. Ike said when he received the red string from Mr. Brady he would put it in the prayer tower and in no time at all Mr. Brady would get his health, happiness, love, more money, etc. 

This was interesting, too. 

"Do not keep this blessed, red token string longer than overnight," Rev. Ike warned. 

"Get it out of your home tomorrow, no later than 8:37 p.m." 

What, God closes shop at 8:37 p.m. and doesn't handle any more miracles until the next morning? 
 

`Enough is enough'
 

We've all had a lot of fun over the last few weeks with Jim and Tammy Faye and the boys. But do you know how many people are out there, old and ignorant and desperate, who believe the kind of bull Rev. Ike and his despicable ilk sen d out to them? 

I still don't understand why the sort of letter Rev. Ike put into the mail to Roy Brady doesn't constitute mail fraud. 

We're chasing insider stock traders while the real crooks are up in their prayer towers. 

If you want to send your money somewhere it will do some good, don't send it to these thieves. 

Give it to your own church. Give it to the poor and homeless, give it to the hungry of the world. 

Give it to the American Heart Association or the American Cancer Society or to any number of reputable charities. 

When The Charlotte Observer began coming down heavy on Jim and Tammy Faye and the PTL Club, Jim came up with a motto around which his followers could rally against the heat of the criticism. 

"Enough is enough," was that motto. 

Damn right, enough is enough. It's time to run these money changers back into the black holes from whence they sprang.