The Lake Don Pedro Baptist Church Mouse Is Dead!

The Lake Don Pedro Baptist Church Mouse is dead! Of all the ways a mouse could find its demise in the end this true Baptist rodent drowned in the baptistry. However, the jury is out whether or not this was one final act of religious devotion gone wrong or simply a life of heathen rodency catching up.If it was the former then this mouse was seriously deficient in its theology. A good Baptist mouse would have not just gnawed on Bibles but actually have read the scriptures. Then it would have understood that baptism cannot save you. True repentance does not lead one to religious rites but to confession of sin and trusting in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of those sins, because he alone has conquered both sin and death. This mouse would have known that baptism cannot wash away sins but rather is a public confession of faith in Christ, who grants forgiveness of sins based on the sacrifice of himself, his own blood (Hebrews 10:19, 1 John 1:7). This mouse would not have trusted in religious performance but in the mercy and grace God offers everyone through Jesus Christ. And finally this mouse would have been clear on the fact that it was a mouse and not a person, that mice don’t need a savior but that people like you and me do.If it was the latter, which I am inclined to believe (except for the “heathen” part), then this mouse services as a reminder of several truths. Carelessness can kill you, cost you your life, and religious labels offer no protection against it. Stupidity is not confined to just those outside of the church. God gives us one life to live, live it wisely. Being careless with the things of God, or God Himself is dangerous. Death stinks, all of creation yearns to be delivered from it, and Jesus Christ is the only hope for that deliverance (Romans 8:19-39).In 28 years I have seen many things in the baptistry of the Lake Don Pedro Baptist Church, various bugs, an assortment of arachnids  (spiders), ants, scorpions, puppeteers, kids hiding, equipment, and one solitary and very dead church mouse. But the very best that has been in our baptistery has been men and women, young and old, who through Jesus Christ found forgiveness of sin, went from death to life, from darkness to light, and were transformed from being enemies of God to children of God. Glad and grateful women, men, young people, and children who were gloriously saved by the love and power of God in Christ. It might be that God is calling you to be one of them.To God be all glory, love you, Pastor Hans