A Little Context

Some context is necessary before I respond to Mr. Meelker’s letter. As I write, almost two months have passed since he first sent this letter out to the congregation of Zion. Though by now the letter has not only circulated throughout the Reformed Protestant denomination but has also gone abroad, the actual events leading up to the sending of this letter remain, perhaps, unclear or unknown. A summary of these events is provided below in an announcement that was sent to the congregation of Zion by her consistory in response to Mr. Meelker’s letter:

Beloved congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ,

We inform you that the consistory has granted the request of Mr. Nick Meelker for the membership papers of his family to be sent to his home.

After the evening service on Sunday 12/10, Elder Nick Meelker refused to shake Rev. Bomers’ hand due to his disagreement with the sermon. On Monday morning 12/11, Elder Nick Meelker submitted a protest wherein he charged Rev. Bomers with public slander against “all churches in the world who do not belong to the Reformed Protestant denomination” because Rev. Bomers had preached, “No other denomination has that truth, has that standing. It’s all wandering.” This charge was retracted during a consistory meeting on Monday evening 12/11, and matter was resolved.

On Wednesday 12/13, Mr. Nick Meelker requested his membership papers from the consistory. He also sent a public letter to the congregation, wherein he informed the congregation that he has departed because he disagrees with how the antithesis has been preached in this church and will not defend it. He has faithlessly deserted his office as elder in Zion. The consistory rejects Mr. Meelker’s assertion that the preaching in this church is “not a word of comfort for their weary souls.” The consistory also stands behind the antithesis as it has been faithfully preached out of the Scripture. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God” 1 John 4:1.

“God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof” Psalm 46:1-3.

In Christ’s service

Consistory of Zion RPC

As this announcement makes clear, a few important events took place before Mr. Meelker sent out his letter. All began when the former elder disagreed with my sermon on 2 Peter 3:17–18 that was preached on December 10, 2023.¹ After the evening service was concluded, he gave a public show of disapproval by refusing to shake my hand.

The following morning Mr. Meelker submitted a protest against the sermon to the consistory and charged me with public slander. Since Mr. Meelker’s actions were all public, I see no ethical reason that this protest cannot also be published, nor do I have any hesitation to bring this document to light. Here is the protest against the sermon on 2 Peter 3:17–18:

Dear consistory of Zion RPC,

I write to protest the teaching of Rev. Bomers in the sermon “Final Doxology,” preached December 10, 2023. Attached is an excerpt from the sermon with which I am aggrieved.

“The congregation here has been given a standing, as that truth that centers in Christ has been developed and has increased throughout over two millennia. You, at present, Zion, have been given an astounding standing; a standing that is unlike any other church of any other denomination; an incredible, gracious, and marvelous insight into God’s covenant. And I want to stress that to you. I want to stress that to you this evening. What is the standing that you have been given? It’s this. All that governs all things in this world is Christ and the decree of the covenant. That is God’s everlasting delight. That is the end of salvation. That is the truth according to which God works all things in this world. That is the end of man. To be brought into covenant fellowship with God, and to know God as God is known. For the tabernacle of God to be with men. No other denomination has that truth, has that standing. It’s all wandering. They teach the covenant this way. That it’s some pact that the Father and the Son hammered out in eternity, so that the Son would assume flesh and work out salvation, and then upon his doing of whatever the Father required, that he would receive heaven and receive a people for his reward.

Does that glorify Christ? And is God exalted in that doctrine through Christ? No! It’s in the truth. It’s in the standing that you have been given. That God who is himself a covenant God, as triune, will reveal that covenant through Christ. That relationship of friendship and fellowship. Not a bargaining, not a cold agreement, not a pact. It is the end of salvation itself. Not a means unto salvation, not something that is discarded along the way. No other church has that. I should say no other church of no other denomination. That is the standing that Christ has given to you.”

The main point in this part of the sermon is this. Zion RPC, and really the Reformed Protestant denomination has been given this standing. “All that governs all things in this world is Christ and the decree of the covenant.” Rev. Bomers goes on to say “No other denomination has that truth, has that standing. It’s all wandering.” He then gives an example of what “they” teach. That is to say every other church that is not in the Reformed Protestant denomination teaches some form of heretical doctrine regarding the sovereignty of God and the decree of his covenant, whatever it may be. This is an assertive and unproveable charge against every church that is not Reformed Protestant. The condemning charge against all churches can simply not be proven by giving vague examples of false doctrines in some churches. This is slanderous, which slander the Lord condemns. Proverbs 10:18 “He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.” Slander is a violation of the ninth commandment. “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.” Exodus 20:16.

I urge you to reconsider the rash condemnation of all churches in the world who do not belong to the Reformed Protestant denomination and to see this as the sin of public slander. May God redirect your hearts through the consideration of this protest.

Your brother in Christ,

Nick Meelker

Zion’s consistory met Monday evening, December 11, to judge the elder’s protest. The consistory did not sustain Mr. Meelker’s protest on the basis of the following grounds:

Ground 1. The peculiar standing of the Reformed Protestant churches, and Zion Reformed Protestant Church in particular, is a simple historical fact. No other church shares the heritage that Christ has given to our church. The sermon made this fact clear, and the protestant fails to identify any church that shares our standing. Since we are convicted that this standing is the pure truth, we also teach that all departure from this standing is wandering.

Ground 2. “Q. 112. What is required in the ninth commandment? A. That I bear false witness against no man, nor falsify any man’s words…also that I defend and promote, as much as I am able, the honor and good character of my neighbor.” As Lord’s Day 43 shows, there must be a specific man or neighbor that is the object of slander. The protestant’s charge of slander cannot stand without specific proof that another church shares the standing of the Reformed Protestant churches.

After this judgment was passed, the elder withdrew his charge of slander and apologized to me. The consistory can bear witness that I joyfully received his apology and encouraged the consistory to continue in their labors.

However, only two days later did it become clear that Mr. Meelker’s apology was an empty act. On Wednesday, December 13, Mr. Meelker sent out his letter, wherein he shows clear contempt for the teaching of that sermon. This is evident in two ways. First, he disdains the consistory’s conviction that the Reformed Protestant denomination stands alone on the pure truth, saying, “This is the view that our church holds to. The churches in the Reformed Protestant denomination are the only churches who have the uncorrupted truth.” Second, he disdains a warning in the sermon against wandering to Sodom, saying, “When the sheep are downcast, they need to hear that they are ‘trees of righteousness’ rather than that they ‘wander to Sodom.’” (As an aside, Mr. Meelker utters a blatant lie. I never told the members of Zion that “they wander to Sodom.” In the light of the text that I preached, I explained what the way to Sodom was, and I warned Zion against that way. But I never told the members that they were going to Sodom. Anyone who listens to this sermon will see that what Mr. Meelker asserts is a disgusting lie.) In his letter Mr. Meelker shows that he still does not agree with what the sermon taught.

Furthermore, Mr. Meelker reveals in his letter that it was not only the sermon that was preached on December 10 that he despised. Mr. Meelker makes reference to “dogs and pigs” and to “feral pigs who you mow down with a machine gun from a helicopter.” These references come from previous sermons that I preached in a series on 2 Peter. When Mr. Meelker refers to “feral pigs who you mow down with a machine gun from a helicopter,” he quotes from a sermon on 2 Peter 2:10–16 that was preached on September 8, 2023.² When Mr. Meelker refers to “dogs and pigs,” he quotes from a sermon on 2 Peter 2:20–22 that was preached on October 1, 2023.³ I shall have more to say about these quotations in a future article, the Lord willing. Here, I point out that, although the former elder never breathed so much as a wisp against these sermons to me at the time that they were preached, it is clear from his letter that he secretly harbored great resentment against them.

These are the events that stand behind Mr. Meelker’s letter.

An Introductory Analysis

Now what is your judgment after reading Mr. Meelker’s letter?

First, I point out that if what Mr. Meelker wrote is true—if the preaching at Zion wearied and beat and cast down Christ’s flock, if the preaching caused division within Christ’s body and violently assaulted that spiritual bond between the Head and his members, if in mercy the faithful Shepherd has led Mr. Meelker and his family out of Zion to guide them in the way of truth—then a terrible evil came upon Zion.

However, this letter minces words when the strongest possible language ought to be used. Keep in mind that Mr. Meelker was an elder at Zion. Christ himself charged Mr. Meelker to be diligent in the government of the church and, as a watchman over the house and city of God, to be faithful to admonish and to caution every one against his ruin. Christ charged Mr. Meelker to be an overseer over a church that Christ purchased with his own blood. If the preaching was so unbearably wicked that Mr. Meelker’s only proper recourse was to flee, then permit me to say what he left unsaid: “Woe! Woe to the pastor of Zion! Woe to the consistory of Zion! You have destroyed and scattered the sheep of God’s pasture! You have driven them away! Christ comes upon you! Christ comes quickly to visit upon you the evil of your doings! Christ comes in righteous fury and holy vengeance to pummel you into the dust for abusing his most precious bride!” This is the warning that ought to have been shouted from the ramparts.

But where is Mr. Meelker’s conviction in his letter? He leaves implied what should be stated explicitly—namely, that Christ was not ministering his word at Zion. Christ was not speaking through Zion’s pastor. Rather, the minister at Zion was bringing his own personal agenda to the pulpit. From the open sepulcher of his throat, the minister was spewing forth wicked imaginations of his foolish heart, deadly speech from his darkened understanding. Let Mr. Meelker boldly say that what came from Zion’s pulpit was not the word of God but the word of man. If all that Mr. Meelker wrote is true, then there should be no hesitation in asserting that the minister at Zion committed the most heinous and wicked thing that a minister of the word can do: he sought by false doctrine to drive a wedge between Christ and his church. If all that Mr. Meelker wrote is true, then it would be good for that minister at Zion to be cast into the sea with a millstone hung about his neck. If all that Mr. Meelker wrote is true, then there should be no hesitation in warning all who defend the preaching at Zion that they only strengthen the hands of the evildoer. Where is Mr. Meelker’s call to God’s people to flee from the hireling and the wolf?

All those who have now left Zion and have either returned to Hope Protestant Reformed Church of Redlands or departed for the local Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and all those who are not members of Zion but sympathize with what Mr. Meelker has written—do not cower behind softened speech or hesitate to say anything less than this!

One ought not mince words if such a terrible offense has occurred in the church. Let all those who sympathize with Mr. Meelker also affirm with the apostle: “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy” (1 Cor. 3:17). If what Mr. Meelker wrote is true, then his letter is weak—pathetically weak—in its condemnation of this alleged evil occurring in God’s holy house.

Second, I judge Mr. Meelker’s letter to be not only pathetically weak but also astoundingly wicked. Mr. Meelker may be soft in his condemnation of the preaching at Zion. But I will not be soft in my response to his letter.

Mr. Meelker was confronted with the glorious name of God in the preaching. Mr. Meelker was confronted with God’s glorious sovereignty as it was faithfully expounded from 2 Peter. Mr. Meelker was confronted with the awesome truth of God’s decree of election and reprobation as it lives on the pages of Peter’s second epistle. When the apostle speaks of false teachers and the hordes that follow after them, the apostle does not keep God’s decree at a distance, distinguishing between pagans and church-going people. No, the apostle brings God’s decree of election and reprobation to bear upon false teachers who rise up “among you” (2 Pet. 2:1). With great swelling words of vanity, these false teachers whose names you know allure people who you know. These false teachers and those who follow them are former acquaintances and friends and lovers. And when such things happen in the church—as the inspired apostle promised that they will—how does one interpret these things? In light of God’s living decree! For in eternity God determined that he will be glorified in his gracious deliverance of his beloved elect and in his just condemnation of the ungodly reprobate in the midst of the church. God manifests his decree in the sphere of the covenant. But when the preaching at Zion applied this truth to the historical and ecclesiastical context of today, Mr. Meelker hated it. Despising the application of the truth, he despises the truth of God’s decree. And despising the decree, he despises God. That is what this letter demonstrates: a hatred of God.

And all that this letter becomes is a cloak for Mr. Meelker’s unbelief in the doctrine of reprobation. What lies lurking beneath all Mr. Meelker’s words is his unbelief that God actually rejects many who say to Christ, “Lord, Lord.” Next time, I will demonstrate this unbelief with three specific examples. In the meantime, you may judge Mr. Meelker’s letter yourself in light of the sermons that have been referenced in the footnotes.