Sen. Jason Rapert
has distributed an appeal for contributions to his move into full-time evangelizing through his Holy Ghost Ministries. He’s established the RiverStone center across the Arkansas River from the Conway airport for programs that will include leadership training  for state legislators around the country.

The training? It will likely be  instructing lawmakers in ways to infuse secular law with Rapert’s  brand of religion, as he has done in Arkansas. He mentions in a long-winded newsletter:

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We have forged a joint effort to partner with one of America’s most well respected religious liberty organizations to equip government leaders and future community leaders through the Liberty Center for Law & Policy affiliated Dr. Mat Staver and his team at Liberty Counsel. Liberty Counsel has offices in Washington, D.C., Florida and Virginia. This new program will be operating from our headquarters facility near Conway, Arkansas and is already garnering widespread support from across the nation.

The Liberty Counsel and Staver have fought to protect or inject religion in public schools and government around the country, fighting lately particularly to support legal discrimination against gay people. Staver defended the Kentucky clerk who refused to sign same-sex marriage licenses and also has spoken in defense of North Carolina’s gay discrimination law.

Rapert inserts in a listing of his efforts to promote religion in public life a photo of the Ten Commandments monument he has legislated for placement on the Arkansas Capitol lawn. The image might be useful in the coming lawsuit over the monument to dispute Rapert’s contention that the monument is not about religion, but the foundation of law.

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Writes Rapert:

Last, over the past six years, I have been involved in major national debates regarding the sanctity of Life and the protection of unborn children, defending the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman as ordained by God in scripture and religious liberty issues that are now front and center in the United States. I have been interviewed numerous times by national television networks, national newspapers and radio broadcast media organizations around the country. God has opened doors for me to speak to larger audiences through the media than I could ever hope to visit personally. During the most recent presidential election one of my live social media broadcasts reached over 7,000,000 people and had 2,400,000 live viewers. Holy Ghost Ministries intends to continue utilizing the media to spread the message of the Gospel and influence our nation to honor God through Biblical values. We are called to be salt and light in the world (Matthew 5:13-14) so we are excited to incorporate radio, television, Internet and print media to accomplish the vision God has given to us.

The RiverStone facility takes money to operate and Rapert reaches out for regular contributors to his ministry. For example:

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You can become a Kingdom Ambassador by sowing at least $500 monthly to help us accomplish all seven areas of ministry emphasis that God has assigned to Holy Ghost Ministries. We are believing God for 500 Kingdom Ambassador Partners by December 31, 2018. By committing to sow $16.44 per day into Holy Ghost Ministries you will be helping us spread the Gospel, touch the world and honor Israel. We would love to have you be one of our first 500 for $500!

A preacher can take cash love offerings,  of course. They presumably aren’t covered by f the strictures of Arkansas ethics law when it comes to acceptance and reporting of gifts to legislators.

This could be a professional move for legislators with “consulting firms” that take cash payments forvaluable insights on public policy matters, lately a point of controversy in reporting on legislative kickback schemes. Just proclaim yourself a minister and seek monthly contributions. In the bargain, religious organizations may claim significant tax exemptions.

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