This past Monday night, a prominent author, public speaker, and former Charlotte pastor was escorted off and indefinitely banned from the campus of Liberty University by armed police while backstage at a Christian concert.

Liberty University is the largest nonprofit university in the nation, and the largest Christian university in the world, according to their website.

Yesterday morning, Jonathan Martin shared a picture of his restraining order from the University, along with an apology to the students who were hoping to pray with him.

His post has already been shared over 750 times and commented on over 200 times;

A little background…

Who is Jonathan Martin?

Jonathan Martin is the former pastor and founder of Charlotte’s Renevatus Church, and a close friend of Elevation Church’s Pastor Steven Furtick;

Had the great honor of speaking for Pastor Jonathan Martin & the Renovatus team tonight-Amazing people! http://www.renovatuscommunity.com — Steven Furtick (@stevenfurtick) April 22, 2010

Family. So special to have @stevenfurtick in Tulsa tonight, & introduce some of my best friends to each other. And what a word tonight! pic.twitter.com/TyLJNbQsCD — Jonathan Martin (@theboyonthebike) August 10, 2017

Backstage at #U2TheJoshuaTree2017 in Cleveland with @stevenfurtick in Cleveland, one of my best friends. pic.twitter.com/Jur2fSG4vL — Jonathan Martin (@theboyonthebike) July 2, 2017

According to his website, Jonathan Martin is the author of How to Survive a Shipwreck w/ forward by Shauna Niequist and Prototype w/ forward by Steven Furtick. He has a BA from Gardner-Webb University, an MA from the Pentecostal Theological Seminary, and a ThM from Duke University.

Why was he asking students to pray?

According to his social media posts, Jonathan has become increasingly troubled by the “religious right”, and especially those who support alt-right leaders like Steve Bannon;

I agree with every single word of this, by @MJGerson: “The religious right carries its golden calf into Steve Bannon’s battles”: https://t.co/FB5tsYhTEI — Jonathan Martin (@theboyonthebike) October 18, 2017

When Jerry Falwell Jr. (the head of Liberty University) actively supported Bannon’s recent political actions, Jonathan decided to do something;

Don’t spend all 30 pieces of silver in one place, Jerry. https://t.co/8RaGMI5D0i — Jonathan Martin (@theboyonthebike) October 27, 2017

Jerry Falwell Jr. teaming up with Steve Bannon to use an army of evangelicals to oust “fake republicans” https://t.co/6cHWitHjZi — Jonathan Merritt (@JonathanMerritt) October 27, 2017

What did he want to do?

On October 27th, Jonathan Martin tweeted out that he wanted to organize a time of praise and peaceful protest on the campus of Liberty University;

I feel led to organize a time of praise & peaceful protest at one of the most hostile environments for the gospel in the US: @LibertyU. — Jonathan Martin (@theboyonthebike) October 27, 2017

I am calling on students, alumni, pastors, church leaders, & people who simply love Jesus & love prayer to join me. — Jonathan Martin (@theboyonthebike) October 27, 2017

In future tweets, he gave more reasoning for the meeting;

We will stand against the idolatry of nationalism & the politics of demonization in the name of Jesus Christ, & stand for the oppressed. — Jonathan Martin (@theboyonthebike) October 27, 2017

and continued to stress that the meeting would be focused on prayer and peace;

I can’t say this strongly enough: we love @LibertyU & it’s leaders, & it is in a spirit of love & peace we will come. — Jonathan Martin (@theboyonthebike) October 27, 2017

What was he doing at Liberty when forcefully removed?

The night before his scheduled prayer rally, Jonathan was invited on campus by the Christian band “Johnny Swim”, who was performing at Liberty University as part of their world tour. When Jonathan was hanging out with his friends backstage in the green room, several armed Liberty University police officers came in unannounced and escorted him off campus;

Gonna be sharing a story today of something that happened last night night at @LibertyU. — JOHNNYSWIM (@JOHNNYSWIM) October 31, 2017

By want to begin by saying that we’ve got nothing but love for the student and faculty that we’ve met there. — JOHNNYSWIM (@JOHNNYSWIM) October 31, 2017

But, last night a ridiculous act happened in our dressing room by their police. — JOHNNYSWIM (@JOHNNYSWIM) October 31, 2017

More details from us later. But here’s the story from our guest who was escorted out of our dressing room & of campus by 5 armed officers pic.twitter.com/wArbLG2uQt — JOHNNYSWIM (@JOHNNYSWIM) October 31, 2017

When their show was over, Johnny Swim left Liberty University and reconnected with Jonathan at his Hotel;

Not the easiest evening. But @JOHNNYSWIM & @amandasuramirez came back around at the end of a bizarre night & brought much life & laughter. pic.twitter.com/3FO9wzs2Ei — Jonathan Martin (@theboyonthebike) October 31, 2017

The next morning, Jonathan invited the students who wanted to pray with him on campus to pray with him in his hotel lobby;

After that, if any students want to meet for further prayer & conversation, I will be in the lobby at the Lynchburg Fairfield Inn at 8am. — Jonathan Martin (@theboyonthebike) October 31, 2017

The response…

Last night, Liberty University issued a public statement on Facebook as to why they escorted Jonathan off campus and gave him an indefinite restraining order;

“Members of the Liberty University community are always welcome to engage in peaceful debate, intellectual inquiry and protest, but for public safety reasons, organized events by outside groups require advance notice and participating in the appropriate application process. Liberty University learned via social media of an attempt by Jonathan Martin to schedule an event on its private campus without any prior authorization or consultation. Mr. Martin is not a student, faculty member or employee of Liberty University. There are facility use protocols for those who are not members of the University community to schedule events on the campus. Those protocols take into account safety and security, as well as schedule conflicts and costs. Absent such pre-planning and authorization, an event promoted to the general public on social media has the potential to be a security risk. Given the late hour of the notice, the only effective way to prevent the unauthorized event from happening this morning was to issue a trespass warning to its organizer, Mr. Martin, last evening. This was done in a professional and matter of fact manner by Liberty University Police Department.”

However, given the fact that Jonathan scheduled his prayer rally for the morning of the 31st, and he was escorted off campus on the night of the 30th, without violating any campus rules, it seems clear that his forced removal had more to do with his anti-Trump views than with his potential “unscheduled meeting”.

Many of responses on social media have been against the actions of Liberty;

While some applauded the University’s actions;

What are your thoughts on Liberty University’s actions?

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