We are at War! (1 Timothy 1:18-20)

Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf served as the foreign minister of Iraq under Saddam Hussein. You probably know him as Bagdad Bob. During the second gulf war, he appeared on television regularly, proclaiming that the forces of Saddam Hussein were in fact winning the war. At one point he claimed that the American troops were committing suicide by the hundreds, and denied that any US tanks were in Bagdad when in fact the battle was only yards away from where he was speaking and the sounds of tank fire could be heard in the background. 

His rabid denial of the truths about the war became fodder for comics and satire. He became the poster child for denying the obvious. He denied the war, and then he lost the war. 

Sadly, too many of us are Bagdad Bob. We fail to recognize that we are embroiled in a cosmic war. We are in a battle for our souls and the souls of those around us. Too concerned about our own comfort, and too ignorant of the truth of Scripture, we deny reality. And because we deny the war, we lose the war. 

In our text this morning, Paul reminds us that we are at war. This war is far more important than any struggle between nation. This is a war which has been raging since the fall of Satan. And Paul reminds us that we have an obligation to fight for the truth against all who would oppose it.