MIND LIBERATION #19
Dr. Pipim's Challenge for Black History Month
AFRICA’S HUMILIATION (Mind Liberation #19)
To those who say that our description of the African condition is a “put-down,” I answer: It is exactly this kind of response to constructive criticism that keeps the African where he is. We don’t want to face the truth. We have swallowed the “don’t judge me” gospel, so that speaking the truth has become a revolutionary act. We as a people are in pitiful denial about our situation. Those who are really “putting down” Africa are those who lower the standard for Africans. If insisting on personal responsibility and accountability is a “put-down,” then Africa really needs many more of this type of “humiliation.”—S.K. Pipim, The Transformed Mind, p. 227.
MIND LIBERATION #18
Dr. Pipim's Challenge for Black History Month
AFRICA’S NEW MASTERS (Mind Liberation #18)
Historically, colonization ended over five decades ago, when we started gaining our independence. But as long as we still have our minds in bondage to the spirit and people who once colonized us, colonization has not really ended. Those whose minds haven’t been liberated by the Gospel of Christ are either the victims or the instruments or agents of modern colonization. … As long as the mental chains are still in place, colonialism has NOT ended in Africa. … But it’s not because outsiders are colonizing us. Rather it’s because we have allowed them. We’re the new faces of the colonial masters in Africa. —S.K. Pipim, The Transformed Mind, pp. 224, 225.
THE SILENT MAJORITY
Injustice is often celebrated because of the shout of silence. For a while, Truth is violently overthrown, exiled, or assassinated because its vanguards are too afraid to speak out. Our days are no different from the days when Ahab and Jezebel, actively aided by the silence of “the elders and nobles,” conspired to murder Naboth (1 Kings 21:1-16). Alas, reputations, prospects, and lives are often ruined because the voices of conscience are mute. NO, the silent majority are never silent! Their voices of apathy are louder than the courage of their convictions. And because they passively go along in order to get along or get ahead, the silent majority are worse than criminals.—Samuel Koranteng-Pipim
MIND LIBERATION #17
Dr. Pipim's Challenge for Black History Month
AFRICA’S EXCUSES (Mind Liberation #17)
We should stop blaming others for our situation. We should quit the self-pity syndrome, the “they-did-this-to-me” or “I-have-suffered-this” excuses. We must stop throwing pity parties everywhere. Africans are not the only race that has been exploited, but it seems we are the only race that refuses to get over it and move on. (This seems to be a universal Black problem: racism this and racism that!) We seem to be so caught up in the past that we stagnate and vegetate there. The new African can only emerge fully when we stop blaming colonization and slavery for everything and start taking full responsibility for our actions today. —S.K. Pipim, The Transformed Mind, pp. 223, 224.
MIND LIBERATION #16
Dr. Pipim's Challenge for Black History Month
AFRICAN IMPORTS (Mind Liberation #16)
We are brainwashed by whatever is imported onto our continent in the name of Christianity. It’s like having someone chew your food for you & spitting it into your mouth to swallow! Of those who get overseas education, many come back with secondhand ideas, like the way we import secondhand electronics, clothes, shoes, underwear, & toothbrush. We allow Biblically half-baked preachers, teachers, & healers from overseas to dupe us into remaining in mental chains. I fear that some of our mindless leaders will simply swallow & later vomit such misguided ideas & practices upon unsuspecting Africans, simply because they refuse to think for themselves!—S.K. Pipim, The Transformed Mind, pp. 207-208.
MIND LIBERATION #15
Dr. Pipim's Challenge for Black History Month
AFRICAN MUSIC (Mind Liberation #15)
Noise pollution sometimes masquerades as edifying music. Is this a special contribution of Christians to the society? At no point in time has there been such a prevalence of assault of the eardrums as now exists in most African countries today. One Sunday morning, when my son was little, I took him with me to a particular church where I had been invited to speak. In response to the relentless assault of the “praise music,” he drew closer to me, and with tears in his voice he whispered: “Daddy, my ear hurts & my head aches.” So much for the contribution of Christians to society—hurting ears and aching heads!—S.K. Pipim, The Transformed Mind, pp. 212, 214.
MIND LIBERATION #14
Dr. Pipim's Challenge for Black History Month
AFRICAN CHRISTIANS (Mind Liberation #14)
If the minds of professing Christians didn’t need to be set free, how do you explain the following facts in many Christian churches today: Feelings & esoteric revelation have replaced commonsense thinking. Faith established on Biblical facts has been replaced by sensationalism & fancy. The gospel of POWER has replaced the power of the Gospel. Prayers are now ultimatums. Petitions that ought to be directed to Christ have now become obsessive shouts and insults against Satan. The term “prophet” sounds very much like profit. Counterfeit revival is viewed as evidence of the Spirit’s renewal. Is this Christianity?--— S.K. Pipim, The Transformed Mind, pp. 206-207.
MIND LIBERATION #13
Dr. Pipim's Challenge for Black History Month
AFRICAN CHURCHES (Mind Liberation #13)
Christianity and churches are not the answer. Christians are not the answer. Christ is. And there’s a difference…. Churches are the fastest growing industries on the continent of Africa. Usually, the only raw materials needed to establish a new church is a set of drums & a male drummer, two or three women to sing & dance, a clown to serve as “God’s anointed” holy man, & any street corner to establish this for-profit business called church. And the types they often attract or produce are those whose minds are still in chains, in spite of being in possession of the source of all wisdom, the Bible, & being able to read it.—S.K. Pipim, The Transformed Mind, pp. 204, 205-206.
MIND LIBERATION #12
Dr. Pipim's Challenge for Black History Month
AFRICAN EDUCATION (Mind Liberation #12)
Enrollment is often confused with educating, teaching with mentoring, & helping with empowerment.... Most institutions are working harder to educate their students, not necessarily working smarter to free them from the mental chains that still hold the continent in bondage. The solution is not merely more education, but mind renewal. … Postcolonial education may have helped to emancipate the African mind from the metal chains of traditional idol worship. It has provided us with impressive degrees & diplomas. [But] this education has not succeeded in liberating us from the mental chains of secularism and “selfism.”—S.K. Pipim, The Transformed Mind, pp. 235, 202-203.
MIND LIBERATION NUGGET #11
Dr. Pipim's Challenge for Black History Month
AFRICAN CHICKENS (Mind Liberation #11)
The unfortunate tragedy in Africa is that we have allowed the chickens to lead the eagles!You know the chickens are leading the eagles...
— when one’s worth, ability, & position are determined by one’s degree, pedigree, and blind agreement;
— when respectability depends on activity and not productivity;
— when excuses are the best explanation for failure;
— when we prefer watching TV to reading (eagles read while chickens watch TV);
— when we manage to convince ourselves that chickens are actually eagles;
— when plain stupidity is paraded in the guise of administrative savviness.
This is the order of the day in much of Africa—S.K. Pipim, The Transformed Mind, pp. 235-236.
THOUGHT NUGGET #64
By Samuel Koranteng-Pipim, PhD