Passion and Pain

take as many ―Siqeh‖ wives as they like. Siqeh ―marriages‖ can last for as short as a single evening or even a single sexual encounter. ―Wives‖ of such ―marriages‖ are not granted rights associated with traditional marriage. Perhaps even more shocking, is that in Iran, girls as young as 9-years-old can be given in marriage to Muslim husbands.

In October 2000, Iran‘s Parliament passed a bill to raise the legal age of marriage for women from 9 to 15. A month later, the Council of Guardians rejected the bill as contrary to Islamic law. Every year since 1999 then, the United States Secretary of State has designated Iran as a country of particular concern under the International Religious Freedom Act for its particularly severe violations of religious freedom. Although many European governments, including Britain‘s, continue ‗business as usual‘ with Iran, President George W. Bush has maintained a strong policy towards Iran, describing it as part of an ―axis of evil,‖ together with Iraq and North Korea.

Prayer Points: * Please pray for the protection and deliverance of Christians in the Islamic Republic of Iran; that he will strengthen them in their faith and comfort them in their suffering; that in His mercy he will spare them from further unspeakable horror, and raise up intercessors and advocates to lighten their heavy burdens. * Please pray for an end to the arrests, detentions, disappearances, torture, maiming, and execution of Christians by Iran‘s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and other Government authorities. Please pray for an end to the Government‘s brutal crackdown against Christian converts, evangelical Christians, and house-church members and leaders. * Please pray that the Government of Iran will accept the religious diversity of its citizens, protect the lives and religious freedom of its minorities, and that the lives and human rights of women and children in Iran would be respected and protected.

Please pray also that, in making this plea for the rights and dignity of Iranian women and children, we recognize and vow to end the indignities done to Western women by our Godless culture and the legalized, common slaughter done to millions of unborn children by abortion in the West. May genuine repentance turn our lives to Godliness.