On Wednesday morning, seven Wheaton community members and one Wheaton student protested on the public sidewalk in front of the Billy Graham Hall.
This protest was prompted by Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac’s lecture “The Theology of Sumud” on Monday, March 25. The protesters held a sign with a 1967 quote from Billy Graham: “The Jews are God’s chosen people. We cannot place ourselves in opposition to Israel without detriment to ourselves.” Graham was commenting on the Six-Day War, fought between Israel and several neighboring Arab countries.
Bonnie Bristow, a Wheaton resident originally from the Seattle area, organized and led the demonstration. She heard that Isaac, a Palestinian pastor and theologian at Bethlehem Bible College, would be speaking in Barrows Auditorium and decided to attend the lecture. She left the event after five minutes. Bristow said she was “grieved” by Isaac saying Israel was committing genocide, as well as by the hundreds of people in attendance at the event, whom she called “innocent lambs.”
After departing the lecture, Bristow began praying in the coat closet in front of Barrows Auditorium. She then went home and prayed with her husband for the remainder of the night, resolving to make the banner and organize the demonstration. She emailed friends, family and congregants of her church, the Church of the Resurrection in Wheaton, to join her.
“I felt the Lord’s heart breaking for Wheaton, and I felt a stronghold of the enemy here,” she told the Record in an interview. “I felt like I saw a Goliath here, and I felt the Lord say it only takes a stone, slung in faith, to lay a giant.”
In addition to Bristow, the group included two other adult Wheaton community members; three local high school students; Dillon Moran, a Wheaton graduate student studying systematic theology; and Krista Ortlund Scheidt ’99, daughter of Rev. Dr. Ray Ortlund ’71. Ortlund serves as president of Renewal Ministries and is a guest instructor at Wheaton.
Regarding the demonstration’s mission, Bristow said, “Jesus is coming to build that kingdom in Jerusalem, to reign from Jerusalem.”
“We believe in God’s covenantal relationship with Israel and the Jewish people,” she said. “We believe in their future and in all the promises that God has made throughout the Bible to restore, redeem and bless Israel.”
Bristow has no connection to Wheaton College outside of occasionally walking the campus with her husband. However, she developed a “soft spot” in her heart for the college and its Christian heritage while living in the Seattle area, eventually moving to Wheaton almost 20 years ago.
Moran agreed with Bristow, but his motivation for being there that morning related to larger patterns he’s witnessed at Wheaton. Specifically, Moran cited an event held in the Phelps Room on Dec. 9, 2024, featuring Messianic Judaism advocate Daniel Juster ’69.
Moran said the event, titled “Dialogue for Peace,” got less attention than Isaac’s lecture.
“Wheaton has this tendency of giving a big platform to certain things, and it’s starting to look familiar,” he said. “This is a tough discussion, and we don’t think it’s being well had.”
Alexander Massad, assistant professor of world religions, did want to have that conversation and listen. After seeing Moran and the others who held the banner on his way into work that morning, he parked and talked with them.
Moran was a previous student in Massad’s Jewish traditions class, and the professor said the two hold different positions “with regards to Zionism and the nation-state of Israel.” Massad said that he wasn’t approaching Moran to convince him but rather to listen in a “pastoral” position.
“I decided to speak with them because I thought it was important that they feel recognized by the person who organized the event — me,” he said. “I felt like it was important that they felt heard, that they felt seen, that their concerns were understood.”
Noah Chapman, a senior studying communication, felt a mixture of anger and disbelief when he saw the poster on his way to class. Chapman, who grew up in Jordan, was shocked that anybody’s takeaway from Isaac’s lecture was that it was anti-Jewish. Furthermore, he said he was surprised that they chose to protest a week after Israel ended the ceasefire by launching airstrikes into Gaza, killing more than 400 people.
Once he saw Dr. Massad talking with the protesters, however, Chapman said he “knew the situation was in good hands.”
“Regardless of your belief on whether Israelis have a divine right to the land, it’s dangerous to say they are above criticism,” said Chapman. “Christian and Muslim brothers and sisters are dying in Gaza and the West Bank, and it seems antithetical to the gospel to let that continue without public outrage, especially from the church.”
Noelle Worley, Staff Writer, contributed reporting to this piece.
