1. VIRTUE & VIRTUOUSITY – NEEDED AT SUCH A TIME AS THIS!

Three days ago, the 18th August, 2020 to be exact, I read a news story of an incident, and viewed the short video which accompanied it. The story was of a woman who had been physically abused in the middle of a public street, by a man with whom she was in a relationship with but was not married to and for whom she had borne children.

Due to this man’s abuse, the woman, clearly in pain from being pushed roughly to the ground, began to crawl on all fours, not having the strength to stand. Her abuser was unfazed by the fact that a few people were about and were therefore viewing the incident and that a woman had even begun to record what was taking place on her cellular phone, given that the man refused to stop. He only made a hasty retreat when he observed a police vehicle approaching. Thankfully, someone had contacted the authorities and thankfully, he was captured a few minutes later.

The story saddened me, as this type of physical abuse and violence (one of many other forms of abuse against women) was a constantly recurring theme in the society in which I lived and globally.

The news story made me sad because it was a stark reminder of the fact that, due to the influence of today’s dysfunctional world culture, most women today are out of touch with their Creator and therefore, do not understand their true value and worth. As a result, they align themselves with persons who are not good for their well being and success, conduct themselves in ways that are beneath their call as women and make reckless decisions that adversely affect them, their loved ones and society in general.

It was clear to me that there existed an enormous gap between THE TRUTH of how God perceives women and what he had in mind when he created them and THE LIE of how they perceive themselves based on the lies with which the devil has deceived them.

While women are not responsible for how men conduct themselves, if they were to better understand the truth of who they are, who created them and for what purpose, if they were to understand that as women, they have value and worth in God’s eyes, then they would understand that they are deserving of respect and dignity. They would make better decisions, hold men to higher standards and many would avoid what transpired with this poor woman.

The concepts of VIRTUE, VIRTUOSITY and the VIRTUOUS WOMAN, although placed on the backburner, held in contempt and considered to be obsolete in today’s society, need to be brought back to the fore. Indeed, this is critical at such a time as this, where the safety and well-being of women are being threatened every day increasingly and at an alarming degree.

Having spent some time thinking on the above, the idea to create a Page called ‘VIRTUOUS Daughters of God – Hephzibah Diaries’ suddenly came to mind, together with a general structure in terms of content for the Page. In similar fashion to what took place with most of my other Pages therefore, I obeyed what I believed to be God’s call and established a Facebook Page on that very same day.

‘VIRTUOUS Daughters of God – Hephzibah Diaries’ was therefore created to promote, highlight, bring to the fore and revive the virtues, values, conduct, beliefs and principles espoused and esteemed in the Bible, which should characterize women and especially those who name the name of Jesus Christ.

Due to the fact that the sin virus (which plagues all mankind from birth), has separated human beings from God (who is light), clouded their reasoning and plunged them into darkness, the society we live in today has dismissed these traits, principles, values and beliefs so highly regarded by God, as irrelevant, outdated, not important, of no worth and undesirable. The society we live in today has deluded women and young ladies into thinking that they are cheap, have little or no value, must conduct themselves in a desperate manner if they are to catch the eye of a man and keep him and it has caused them to believe the lie, that the way to success in life is to adopt the lowered, immodest, God-dishonouring, reckless standards promoted brazenly today, as normal.

This Page does not promote feminist views but BIBLICAL TRUTHS, as given to us by God in his Word. For, whereas the feminist movement aims to empower women through the assertion of what it refers to as ‘women’s rights’, the Bible makes it clear that there can be no real empowerment of any person, other than by the Holy Spirit of God indwelling such an individual. This only happens where a person believes from his or her heart in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, confesses with his or her mouth that he is Lord, thereby surrendering his life and his way of thinking to the Lordship and control of Jesus Christ.

In a nutshell therefore, this Page aims to empower women and young ladies, not by fighting for rights and equality with men which brings no satisfaction but by pointing them to the source of successful living: Jesus Christ. He is the one who created them, had a vision, plan and blueprint in mind for their existence and the only one authorized as Creator and Lord, to tell us what our role, function and life purpose is and was meant to be. He is the only one that can gives us meaning for our existence, not anybody else and certainly not any movement.

In summary, the Page therefore aims to help women and young ladies to understand:

1. What it means to be a virtuous woman;
2. That a virtuous woman is highly approved of and valued by God;
3. That it is God’s desire that all women and young ladies he created, be virtuous women;
4. That being a virtuous woman guarantees a life of success, as such a woman attracts the blessings and favour of the Lord;
5. That, despite their past, all women and young ladies should be or aspire to become a virtuous woman;
6. That the road to becoming a virtuous woman begins when a woman or young lady comes to know Jesus Christ as her Lord and personal indwelling Saviour, thereby agreeing voluntarily, to surrender the control of her whole life to His Lordship.

(Written on 21st August, 2020)