Overnight, Morris became the target of ridicule, misinformation and worse. Most assume it was because he impugned the reputation of the organization known for those famous cookies we’ve all enjoyed at one time or the other. But from a different view, I’m not so sure all of this noise is so much about the Girl Scouts as it is about – once again — Planned Parenthood.

It certainly isn’t about giving Morris a fair shake. In fact, in my limited Twitter stream I kept seeing news reporters making comments like “is this guy kidding”? Maybe the better question is: “why is this guy so concerned”? This lack of asking the right question has led every single report that I’ve read to overtly ignore the fact that former Girl Scouts of America CEO Kathy Cloninger stated on NBC’s Today Show that yes, the Girls Scouts partner with Planned Parenthood. That’s not urban legend, that’s YouTube.

Call me silly, but when a CEO says her organization partners with Planned Parenthood, I take it that her organization partners with Planned Parenthood.

So what does this all mean?

First, there are a boatload of reporters not doing the work required of serious journalists. Welcome to the real world.

Second, defenders of Planned Parenthood resent the implication that involvement with Planned Parenthood somehow makes the Girl Scouts or any other organization controversial.

Third, and perhaps most importantly to the life community, the outcome of all if this uproar is that Girls Scout councils will be much less inclined to partner, cooperate, or in any other way cozy up to Planned Parenthood after expending so much energy to deny any association. Parents will be watching, pro-life groups will be reporting, and future denials will be baseless if, indeed, we see more evidence surface such as a Girls Scout CEO acknowledging a partnership.

For Planned Parenthood – well, it just seems that the Girl Scouts is one more dance partner that doesn’t want to be seen holding hands in public.

The truth is, we are always in over our heads in the abortion struggle. Why? Because at its core it is a spiritual battle, and you can’t wage this type of fight with spreadsheets, speeches and MBAs. Biblical preparation for spiritual battle is fundamental to successful leadership in the life movement.

Fortunately for us, the Bible gives us clear instructions for preparing for spiritual battle in Ephesians 6:10-18. We are to put on the full armor of God, every day and without fail, including the shield of faith to extinguish the flaming arrows that will eventually come from directions you will least expect.

Beware of cultivating an attitude that presumes that since you are standing for a moral position, your spiritual base is covered. Such a presumption will set you up for a fall while bypassing the enormous power of God in your life and leadership.

The playing field never seems to be level when it comes to abortion, whether it is in the area of funding or policy. But when it comes to the field of prayer, never forget that the abortion industry is utterly powerless.

real life application

Make it a priority in your daily routine to go through the process in your mind of putting on the full spiritual armor of God as outlined in Ephesians 6:10-18. It will quickly become the most powerful part of your day and will separate your leadership from others around you.

Division is a tool of choice for progressives worldwide. It basically boils down to this: create enough dissension in any culture and eventually a sizeable percentage of the population will drift away from any form of consensus that unifies. The result is turmoil that destroys from within, creating a platform for the orchestrators of the division to call for peace and unity. That’s the insidious irony of it all.

Distraction is the use of hot button issues to keep like-minded opposition from unifying for a common purpose (let’s say, defeating the progressive agenda at the polls) by creating a never-ending stream of rabbit trails.

Discouragement is an underlying goal of the whole strategy: throw enough aggressive changes at the people and sooner or later, a lot of those same folks will throw up their hands and give up hope.

Conventional politics has always been about identifying a base, qualifying that base to vote, i.e registration, and turning that base out on Election Day. Progressive politics will indeed incorporate these same strategies, but the three D’s of division, distraction and discouragement inject a much deeper, much more sinister element than most of us would care to admit.

Can it work in America? To quite a degree it already has. But progressive politics, as indicated by the name, never rests. It’s always pushing the envelope, always breaking the establishment, always grabbing more power. How much power remains to be seen, but we’ll know that answer soon enough.

It’s true. The Book of Proverbs is the culmination of God-breathed wisdom that applies to every facet of your life, including leadership principles that will keep you on the path to excellence. I am often amazed at how many leaders will attend seminars, spend big money on motivational best-sellers, or endlessly pursue college courses while never bothering to crack open the black book collecting dust on the night stand.

Sound old-fashioned? I guess you’re right. It’s so old-fashioned that it plumbs the depths of wisdom found in God before the creation of the universe. You can’t get any more old-fashioned than that. But let me ask you this – whose wisdom would you rather follow?

The Book of Proverbs carries with it another unique benefit by way of it being broken into 31 chapters. Hence, your leadership program is made quite simple – one chapter of Proverbs each day, corresponding with the day of the month. It doesn’t get any easier than that.

Remember, the Book of Proverbs isn’t hocus-pocus, meaning you won’t absorb its meaning by cursory review. In fact, it’s so deep that you can spend a lifetime studying its wisdom and you’ll continuously find something new. It’s that good.

real life application

Commit to reading one chapter of the Book of Proverbs each day by reading the chapter corresponding with the day’s date. Pray that God will open your eyes and give you understanding.

This is the unfolding of an American eugenics program. Proponents of the mandate have shrewdly branded it a women’s health issue, and for a certain percentage of the population that explanation will carry with it political advantage. What far fewer proponents have the courage to say is that there is another percentage of the population – the “surplus population” as Dickens’ Scrooge might say – that is the targeted recipient of the entire scheme.

More simply stated, this isn’t really about women’s health at all, at least not to the upper echelon of social engineers who must be breathless at the pace in which all of this has unfolded. In reality, the HHS mandate is an extension of a progressive philosophy that only has room for the haves and the have-nots. The “haves” are elitists, not above using populist messages and rubbing elbows with the great sea of humanity as long as there is a pragmatic reason to do so, which normally involves power. The “have-nots” are necessary only to the extent that they provide a utilitarian reason for taking up space. The key to the system, in the progressive way of thinking, is to exert control, total control, over the have-nots. In this case, it is the children of the have-nots.

Eugenics dreamers at universities across America have waited for nearly a century for this day to arrive. Now that it is on our doorstep, what will now become?