Over the past couple of days, we’ve had some fun–and proved a point about karma–at the expense of Sen. Jason Rapert (R-The Land of Rampant Hypocrisy1). All of that was wholly deserved. It dawns on me, however, that the spread of those recent Stanleycentric posts across the internet might have introduced people to the concept of Rapert2 without giving them a full picture of StanJay.
So I went back to the beginning, or at least as far back as I could stomach reading about the Bombardier of Bigelow, to piece together a biography. But a funny thing happened on the way to the blogosphere.
You see, when SJR was initially elected to the Arkansas Senate in the wave3 of Republicans in 2010, his professed place of employment was Rapert & Pillow Financial, Inc., which was a financial-advisory company in Conway.
At some point after that — for reasons that are an untold story all their own — Rapert and his business partner, Greg Pillow, split, and Rapert started something awkwardly named Rapert Financial & Associates, Inc.
Regardless of which entity he was working under, however, the listed address for his business was 4150 Tyler St., Suite 3, Conway, AR 72034, which he also lists as his district office for constituents to come see him. That’s also the address that Bro. Hilljack uses for his Holy Ghost Ministries, because of course it is.
Funny thing about that address, though. Were you to drive by it recently, you would have noticed some interesting signage.
That’s…odd.
So, were one to do a little digging, one might find “Dr.” Rapert4 having abandoned the Tyler St. address and now claiming 707 Parkway St., Suite 104, Conway, AR as his new address. That’s what he told the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in a mandatory filing.5
Then, assume you asked someone to go over to the Parkway St. address, mainly because you’ve reached a point where you don’t trust anything Jason Rapert says — and you know that FINRA requires a notification of change of address within 30 days of the change — whereupon you see…this:
That doesn’t look like a place that a licensed financial advisor and insurance agent is doing business, now does it?
So you do a little more digging, and you learn that the Parkway St. address used to be the location of Conway Wealth Management, which is owned by Rapert’s former business partner, Greg Pillow. At which point, you then learn that Pillow moved his office to 1105 Deer St., Suite 8, Conway, AR.
You head to that address and find…nary a mention of Jason Rapert or his business interests.
Having learned all of that information, what do you do? Well, if you’re the curious sort, you keep digging. You go back to the FINRA website and get into the detailed report on Stanley Jason Rapert, at which point you realize that he is no longer actually working in any capacity that allows him to do investments, because he has not been registered with a brokerage firm since July of last year.
That’s when things get really interesting. As you’re doing this digging, trying to make heads or tails of just what Stanjay is doing for income these days, he sends out a mass email about his “exciting” career change!
I’m not posting it in its entirety — because it is absurdly long and self-congratulatory — but all bold text is in the original. All footnotes, of course, are mine.
Dear Friends,We pray that 2017 has greeted you with good health and blessings upon your family.6We have some very important news to share with all our friends and ministry supporters. This is life changing news that we hope you will be interested in.7In Habakkuk,8 the Word of God says, “Then the Lord answered me, Write the vision. Make it clear on tablets so that anyone can read it quickly. The vision will still happen at the appointed time. It hurries toward its goal. It won’t be a lie. If it’s delayed, wait for it. It will certainly happen. It won’t be late.” – Habakkuk 2:2-3 (GW).9In the next few10 lines, we will share our hearts with you on a very personal decision we have made that we want you to know about. We want to share with you the vision God has given to us and ask you to pray about partnering with us to fulfill that vision as God directs you.[***]We truly believe that every follower of Christ is called of God to be salt and light in the world in which we live. God has been good to us as we have fulfilled our ministry bi-vocationally,11 but God is asking even more of us now.God has placed a tremendous burden on us for the United States of America.12 For the past several decades13 our nation has continued to slide into immorality and our leaders seem resigned to godlessness as they have allowed the reverence of God and the honor of God to be displaced in our once great Republic. America is in need of spiritual revival or the nation will face further decline and may not survive for future generations.14The increasing burden and call of God in our lives has required more from us than at any other time in our lives. In July of 2016, after much prayer, planning and counsel from trusted advisers, we sold our business and made a serious commitment to fulfill the call of God in our lives with all our talents, resources and energy.15 Many people in our nation are confused, worried and have forgotten God – only the power of the Gospel and the convicting power of the Holy Spirit are able to fill the void that troubles so many across our great land. We intend to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone that we know, through every means that we know and everywhere we go.16[***]We are also excited to share with you that we have developed a new initiative to help train leaders and educate believers about America’s Judeo-Christian history and heritage. It is important to train leaders to become men and women of God who will not compromise Biblical principles. 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.[***]If you are able, we would truly enjoy you becoming a part of this vision in some way. We believe that God has shown us four important ways that you can partner with us now at Holy Ghost Ministries if you believe God has prompted your heart today:1. You can join our intercessory prayer team as a Prayer Partner to pray daily for our ministry. Prayer is the foundation of our ministry and we appreciate any of you who will commit to covering our ministry, our staff and our family with your prayers.2. You can become a Gospel Partner by sowing $30 monthly to support our ministry efforts. We believe that Christians are called to first support their local church with their tithes, but we would be grateful for you to consider Holy Ghost Ministries as part of your offerings as you are able. Your donation of just $0.98 – ninety-eight cents – per day will help us accomplish our goals and touch the world with the Gospel!3. You can become a Covenant Partner by sowing at least $100 monthly into the vision God has entrusted us with. We are believing God for at least 1,000 Covenant Partners by December 31, 2017 and we are thankful for any of you that feel led to be part of our first 1,000 for $100. We believe that the $3.28 per day that you will be sowing into Holy Ghost Ministries is a worthy investment into the Kingdom.4. 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!17[***]Please contact us at jasonrapert@holyghostministries.org with your feedback, your ideas, your prayer requests or your questions. You can also write to us at:
Last things first, because this cannot be understated: Liberty Counsel is recognized as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Raperts are literally bragging about teaming up their “ministry” with a person (Mat Staver) that the SPLC notes:
has warned about homosexuality, abortion, and the consequences for Christians who oppose homosexuality and marriage equality, saying they will be targeted for their views. He even went so far as to call for a new revolutionary war as marriage equality advanced. In March of 2015, Staver stated that he would personally advocate disobedience to any U.S. Supreme Court ruling that favored marriage equality, and that “collectively, we cannot accept that as the rule of law.” During the 2015 brouhaha over Indiana’s religious freedom law, Staver likened “the homosexual lobby” to terrorists, claiming that “it’s hard to negotiated with people who are irrational and who are inventing things that simply don’t exist.”
He has also supported the criminalization of homosexuality both in the U.S. and in other countries, stating in one instance that Malawi’s anti-homosexuality laws were in its “own best interests” after the U.S. reportedly withheld monetary aid to the country because of its efforts to outlaw homosexuality.
Secondly, y’all, let’s do some quick math. Rapert’s goal is to get 500 people to pledge $500 and 1,000 to pledge $100 per month. That’s $350,000/month, or $4,200,000 per year, for the Rapert’s to spread the word of some bigoted hate group and go on trips to whatever place tickles their fancy. Even Pat Robertson only asked for 700 members to pledge $10/month ($84,000/year), but maybe Pat’s brand of hateful bigotry had less overhead?19
Keep in mind, Jason Rapert is the same guy who has consistently commingled Holy Ghost Ministries with his political life. This is a guy whose Form 990s for 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 expend almost all of the money available as a “ministry expense,” regardless of how much money came in that year and with no visible accounting for what that expense actually entails. Perhaps worse, this is a guy who apparently has not bothered to file a Form 990 for HGM for tax years 2013, 2014, or 2015.20
This is also a guy who has taken the lead on the fundraising for the 10 Commandments monument, through an entity called American History & Heritage Foundation, Inc. Despite the fact that the AHHF was formed in 2015, it does not appear to have ever filed a 990, 990-EZ, or 990-N. Oh, did I mention that Rapert is the president of AHHF? Because he is.
This is also the guy who, when called out for his shenanigans regarding HGM’s commingling with his campaign information, claimed that he was an open book and then refused to answer any questions or provide any information.
But, yeah, I’m sure there would be complete transparency and accountability if you gave him access to millions in donations. After all, it’s not like he’s an unhinged egomaniac who thinks he is completely above all man-made laws.
—–
A couple other interesting wrinkles are also present in this whole thing.
For instance, Jason says that they “sold their business” in July of 2016. While that would match up with the date that he ceased to be associated with ProEquities, it would NOT explain why he still claims to own Jason Rapert Financial & Associates in his FINRA report (which he was required to update if he no longer was involved in the business).
Additionally, Rapert Financial & Associates, Inc., was barely a functioning entity by July 2016, at least as a financial advisory service. It had no physical address and no discernible presence as a financial-services company, and it merely used Rapert’s former business partner’s address as a claimed physical address for FINRA purposes. Point being, how much could that part of the business have been worth?
Regardless of what the financial services and insurance components of the company were worth, however, Rapert has created a catch-22 — either he sold both parts of the business, in which case he has failed to timely update his FINRA report, or he’s intentionally misleading would-be donors and his “sold the business” story is just a cover for “stopped pretending like I was still a financial advisor.” Either way, it fails to add up to a complete story that passes the smell test here.
The pessimist might say that I am being overly negative about Rapert’s new path because of my feelings about religion. That’s not true. I am being negative about his new path because of my knowledge of Rapert’s own track record, coupled with the fact that I think his request for $4M+ in contributions so that he can spread the bigoted message of a known hate group is one of the most transparently disgusting things I’ve seen from an alleged Christian in a long time.
But at least he managed some transparency there, I guess.
By way of Douchebag Mountain↩
Think of Donald Trump, then remove any of the personality or success that made Trump popular. Then add a goatee.↩
Feces can form a wave, right?↩
Awarded an honorary doctor of theology degree in 2013 from a college no one has ever heard of, but it certainly doesn’t stop him from touting it!↩
Teaser: We’re gonna come back to this FINRA thing….↩
Unless you are a minority, a non-Christian, a Democrat, or someone who mocks overly groomed facial hair.↩
SO WE PUT IT IN BOLD TEXT, JUST TO MAKE SURE YOU DIDN’T STOP READING AFTER THE FIRST PARAGRAPH, BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT MANY OF OUR STRONGEST SUPPORTERS ARE NOT PARTICULARLY BRIGHT!↩
Citing a Hebrew minor prophet? Someone is trying too hard to pretend like he’s well-read.↩
That might be the most meaningless platitude ever. “The vision will come quickly, unless it doesn’t, in which case you should wait, because it’s really going to happen at some point, I swear!”↩
This is a goddamned lie.↩
Lol. That’s not a word, but it might be a Freudian slip.↩
I see where this is going, so consider this a preemptory “Go fuck yourself.”↩
Define “several.” Seriously, give us a starting point for this asinine assertion.↩
Eat shit, Stanley, you pandering charlatan twatwaffle.↩
We’ll come back to this “sold our business” business.↩
You guys must be a huge hit at parties.↩
If you are going to give this moron $500/month, call me. I’ll have someone come over and punch you in the face until you come to your sense, and it won’t cost you a dime.↩
If, for whatever reason, you can’t reach the Goateed Messiah at that email or his P.O. Box, note that you can get his personal cell phone and email in this post.↩
$84,000 in 1962 is worth about $660,000 today.↩
Instead, opting to file a 990-N, claiming that he had less than $50k in gross receipts and, therefore, didn’t have to file a 990, even though he’d filed 990s with less than $50k in receipts previously.↩