Sen. Jason Rapert, left, with Franklin Graham, center. ( Sen. Jason Rapert/Facebook )

Senator Jason Rapert spoke with Charisma News recently about an uptick in spiritual warfare against his family since he started bringing God back into the public square. Here's part of his story.

What is your specific involvement with the Ten Commandments statue?

I was the original sponsor of ACT 1231 the Arkansas Ten Commandments Monument Act. I filed the legislation in 2015 when it was originally passed by the Arkansas legislature and signed into law by Gov. Asa Hutchinson. After the bill became law, I formed the American History & Heritage Foundation, installed a board of directors and we began raising private money to pay for the monument and installation as the law required. After the monument was destroyed, I vowed to raise the money again to ensure the monument was re-installed. You can read more here: www.americanhistoryandheritage.org

How were you attacked for your involvement?

From the beginning, I started receiving hostile e-mails, threatening messages and hate mail. I endured public ridicule by the atheist community, extreme liberals and even by organized satanic organizations.

There is no question the American public has been successfully confused about the Judeo-Christian history and heritage of our nation by secular humanist organizations over the past few decades. The ignorance present in our country about the Ten Commandments as a historical and moral influence on the development of American jurisprudence has fueled the intensity of organizations that seek to undermine any reference to God in the public square.

If a public display of the Ten Commandments is good enough for the United States Supreme Court to have carved on the doors leading into the court chamber, then it is appropriate and good for every state, county and city in our nation to honor the Ten Commandments as well.

How has your faith been strengthened throughout the ordeal?

Psalm 56:11 has been one of my favorite verses—I put my trust in God; what can any man do to me as I stand up for truth? The Word says "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me" (Matt. 5:11). No one likes to have people talk bad about them, attack their business, their ministry and seek to defame their name.

We have definitely endured public persecution by those who hate the things of God in our country, but I am revolved to stand up for what is right, advocate righteousness in the public square and do my best to ensure our nation lives up to our national motto "In God We Trust."

I was ordained into the ministry before ever entering into politics. I was also a businessman, raising my daughters and enjoying life with my wife, just like many people reading this article today. Our family has been active in evangelism and mission work through our ministry, holyghostministries.org, since 2002.

But in 2009, God began to deal with me about what was going on in our nation and I found myself stirred to run for elected office and do my part to help turn our nation around. This struggle about staying focused purely on our ministry which was our heartbeat—building water wells in Ghana, West Africa; conducting village feedings; funding scholarships for African pastors to spread the gospel in their own country; preaching and teaching on the power of God to transform lives and helping those who cannot help themselves—or actually running for political office was a tough one at first.

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I prayed and fasted for God to clearly direct me on what He wanted me to do. I will never forget the clear answer God gave me in early 2010 during my prayer time. He actually posed a question to me, "Why are you not willing to sacrifice to serve at "home" at the same level you have sacrificed to serve overseas in mission work when it is your country that is now in trouble?" I realized that America was in terrible spiritual decline, and if I did not stand up and do something, the nation would continue to dishonor God and the future of our nation was in jeopardy.

Just like so many reading this article today, I have a strong faith in God. History shows that most of our Founding Fathers had a strong faith in God as well. The Pilgrims set their hand to a contract asking for God's blessings on this nation during their first voyage to the New World when they executed the Mayflower Compact.

Decades later when the Declaration of Independence was drafted, our Founding Fathers made sure to incorporate references to God as our "Creator", "Supreme Judge of the World" and "Divine Providence" throughout the founding document of our nation. American history is full of references to God in our public and private lives.

The recognition of this history and my dedication to a biblical worldview has always led me to take stands honoring God and the influence of the Bible whether it be sponsoring the nation's first successful heartbeat bill in 2013 when we passed the Arkansas Heartbeat Protection Act; passing resolutions to honor Israel; sponsoring resolutions to defend marriage between one man and one woman; honoring George Washington and the Washington Cruiser Flag, which includes the phrase "An Appeal To Heaven" or sponsoring the Ten Commandments Monument Act which honors the historical and moral foundation of law in our country.

These bold stands have resulted in vicious personal attacks by the liberal media, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the American Atheists, Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, the Satanic Temple and other extreme liberal activists. My work against abortion and advocating for the Ten Commandments have made national news, and this publicity has drawn tremendous attacks against our family—from death threats in 2013 for my work on the Arkansas Heartbeat Bill to false police reports being filed against me by a liberal activist who came to our community just this year who has been dispatched to "bring me down."

That man was arrested, he has been charged and is being prosecuted for his false police report against me.

I have given everything I have to be a voice for what is right in our state and our nation. Greater is He that is in me than He that is in the world. Genesis 1:26-28 is a clear directive to all who serve God—we have been given dominion and authority over everything in the earth.

God meant for His people to subdue and influence the entire world and every aspect of life—this passage is the foundation of that notion. We need Christians all over this nation to pray and ask God if He would have them serve on school boards, city councils, county quorum courts, state legislative offices and Congress. Regardless of the false accusations, the personal attacks and the plans meant to silence my voice—I remain committed to upholding the United States Constitution and being a voice for Judeo-Christian principles in our nation.

What sort of spiritual warfare have you encountered over the last year or so with the project?

Over the years, I have come to recognize the rise in spiritual warfare surrounding struggles in the political arena in our nation. I happen to believe we are in a very critical time in our country. Spiritual warfare is manifesting into the physical realm—school shootings, the nearly 60 million killed in our nation by abortion, crumbling marriages, opioid abuse, the rise in youth suicides and churches' struggle with apostasy in their pulpits because of ordaining homosexuals and more. The country and the church are under spiritual attack. We must stand up and be strong, earnestly contending for the faith as Jude commands (Jude 20).

On a personal level, our family depends upon prayer and fasting to endure the personal attacks that have come against us. God's Word sustains us, as it says in Isaiah 54:17: "No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment, you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication is from Me, says the Lord" (Isa. 54:17).

Jason Rapert is an Arkansas state senator and the founder of Holy Ghost Ministries.

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