FOREORDINATION
(Before 1805)Joseph was foreordained to be a true messenger before his mortal birth, chosen to serve
the inhabitants of this earth from the foundation of this solar system.To properly introduce Joseph Smith, Jr. and the importance of his calling as a true
messenger sent to the inhabitants of the earth, we must consider what took place before his
birth on December 23, 1805. It is also important that we understand the role of a true
messenger and how one is called to perform this responsibility.
To be “foreordained” as a true messenger means to have been chosen, after
volunteering for the position, before being born into mortality. This occurred during the
planning stages of our solar system. There are two ways of approaching the viewpoint that
Joseph Smith existed and was chosen to perform this role before he was born. The first way
is to use the Bible and the Book of Mormon in their religious context. The second way is to
introduce the concept based on human reality, or better, based on the indisputable facts
about human existence, as they are currently understood upon this earth.
Scriptural Viewpoint
True Messengers are Foreordained
Jeremiah 1:5 describes the calling of Jeremiah as a prophet. It is the best Old
Testament reference available to indicate that there are chosen messengers who are
foreordained before their mortal birth:
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out
of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.The best New Testament reference is Peter’s description of the foreordination of Christ in
1 Peter 1:19–20:
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the
world, but was manifest in these last times for you.Both of these references indicate that the messenger existed and was given his
assignment long before his mortal birth. To understand the concepts of prior existence
before mortality and foreordination, one must consider that we once existed in an actual
place located somewhere else in the Universe outside of our solar system, where other
humans live (in a religious context this place might be called “heaven”).
For example, when the scriptures speak of returning to “heaven” to “go no more
out,”^1 this must refer to a location where we once lived before we came to mortality. This