According to the Associated Press, California’s official state fish, the golden trout, may be declared an endangered species.

Just thought you’d like to know.

I must confess that, prior to reading the AP newswire story, I was not aware California had an official state fish. (Though it doesn’t surprise me that we do. We have an official state everything. Did you know that the dogface butterfly is our official state insect?)

Or, if I’d heard once that we had an official state fish, I did not recall what it was. (Actually, we have two official state fish. The garibaldi, an orange fish often seen in saltwater aquariums, is California’s state marine fish.) I certainly did not know that the golden trout, a subspecies of the more familiar rainbow trout native to a few streams near Mount Whitney, is that fish, or that it may be endangered.

How did our official state fish become endangered? One might suppose that a species accorded such lofty status would receive the kind of special attention that would avert such a catastrophe. And indeed the golden trout has — hatchery programs have extended its range beyond the Kern River headwaters it calls home. But it was never a very plentiful fish to begin with, and such factors as loss of habitat, encroachment of grazing livestock and competition with more hardy strains of freshwater fish have dwindled the golden trout population.

I suspect that part of the problem may come from the fact that most Californians don’t know we have an official state fish, or that the golden trout is it. It’s hard to do much about something you don’t know exists.

When the apostle Paul arrived in Ephesus (Acts 19:1-7), he encountered some disciples who had been instructed by Apollos, another preacher of the gospel. Paul asked these disciples — twelve men, perhaps some women also — whether they had received the Holy Spirit. The disciples were puzzled — they had never been told about any Holy Spirit.

“Into what then were you baptized?” Paul asked them. “Into John’s baptism,” they replied, referring to the baptism of repentance first administered by John the baptist.

Now it was clear to Paul why these godly people lacked something. John’s baptism had been supplanted by baptism into Jesus Christ for remission of sins, a practice Jesus’ apostles began preaching on Pentecost (Acts 2:38, 41). When Apollos had arrived in Ephesus, he did not yet know about this new baptism, until Aquila and Priscilla explained the way of God to him more accurately (Acts 18:26).

Consequently, those Apollos had taught before he fully understood the truth had been left with the same insufficient knowledge, so they were not yet reaping the benefits of salvation in Jesus. When Paul told these earnest people the whole truth, they were baptized into Christ and received the forgiveness of their sins. Paul was then able to impart miraculous spiritual gifts to them (Acts 19:5-6).

Apollos was a good man who wanted to do right. The disciples he made in Ephesus were also good people who wanted to do right. They just didn’t know yet what that right thing was. And they couldn’t do it until they knew about it.

The Scripture affirms, “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). It also asks some essential follow-up questions: “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have never heard?” (Romans 10:14). No matter how willing one might be to obey God given the opportunity, he can’t do anything until he knows there is a God, and what that God commands him to do. Like the Ethiopian treasurer, one can’t know these things unless someone tells him (Acts 8:31). As Paul observed, “How shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14).

Knowledge I don’t have does me no good. I can’t be concerned about the endangerment of our state fish if I’m not aware such a creature exists. Similarly, no person can be concerned with the endangered status of his or her soul unless the word of God is presented. Nor can he or she know how to remedy that condition until being shown the way. If we can be concerned about the well-being of golden trout, much more should we be concerned for precious souls who haven’t yet been told they are lost.