The Prophet Joseph Smith (1805–44) taught that those who are ordained to a calling in mortality were foreordained to that calling in the pre-earth life: “Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpose in the Grand Council of heaven before this world was. I suppose that I was ordained to this very office in that Grand Council” (History of the Church, 6:364).
Those who were “called and prepared from the foundation of the world” were chosen by God in the pre-earth life because of their “exceeding faith and good works” (Alma 13:3; see also D&C 138:55–56; Abraham 3:22–23).
President Wilford Woodruff (1807–98) taught that all of the elders of Israel who hold the Melchizedek Priesthood were foreordained, in addition to the prophets: “Joseph Smith was appointed by the Lord before he was born as much as Jeremiah was. … So I say with regard to Joseph Smith, he received his appointment from before the foundation of the world, and he came forth in the due time of the Lord to establish this work on the earth. And so it is the case with tens of thousands of the elders of Israel. The Lord Almighty has conferred upon you the Holy Priesthood and made you the instrument in His hands to build up this kingdom. Do we contemplate these things as fully as we ought?” (Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, ed. G. Homer Durham [1990], 281–82; see also Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Wilford Woodruff [2004], 15).
President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) taught that both men and women were given assignments in the pre-earth life: “In the world before we came here, faithful women were given certain assignments while faithful men were foreordained to certain priesthood tasks. While we do not now remember the particulars, this does not alter the glorious reality of what we once agreed to. You are accountable for those things which long ago were expected of you just as are those we sustain as prophets and apostles!” (“The Role of Righteous Women,” Ensign, Nov. 1979, 102).
Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles described the responsibilities God’s children have in mortality regardless of their chosen state in the premortal life: “Premortality is not a relaxing doctrine. For each of us, there are choices to be made, incessant and difficult chores to be done, ironies and adversities to be experienced, time to be well spent, talents and gifts to be well employed. Just because we were chosen ‘there and then,’ surely does not mean we can be indifferent ‘here and now.’ Whether foreordination for men, or foredesignation for women, those called and prepared must also prove ‘chosen, and faithful.’ (See Revelation 17:14; D&C 121:34–36.)” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1985, 21; or Ensign, Nov. 1985, 17).
President Harold B. Lee (1899–1973) described the source of some of the blessings we receive in this life: “All these rewards were seemingly promised, or foreordained, before the world was. Surely these matters must have been determined by the kind of lives we had lived in that premortal spirit world. Some may question these assumptions, but at the same time they will accept without any question the belief that each one of us will be judged when we leave this earth according to his or her deeds during our lives here in mortality. Isn’t it just as reasonable to believe that what we have received here in this earth [life] was given to each of us according to the merits of our conduct before we came here?” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1973, 7–8; or Ensign, Jan. 1974, 5).