spear

Here is a quote from The Last Lion, by William Manchester, a respected biographer, page 380.

"Sir R.S.S. Baden-Powell, the hero of Mafeking, published Scouting for Boys in 1906 and founded the Boy Scout movement with the motto 'Be Prepared,' based on his initials."

Lord Baden-Powell initials BP must have been partly responsible for the motto "Be Prepared."

The roots of the motto 'be prepared' stem from the biblical teaching to "be ready to do whatever is good" (eg. Titus 3:1), which every Christian should practice. The biblical teaching comes from God's good nature, i.e. "God is good." The truth is that we grow more Christlike when we do good works, and the motto 'be prepared' is our discipline of deciding in advance to perform a good work when opportunity presents itself.