• “…those who hold the priesthood authority in this life may be assured that they were ordained to the Holy Priesthood After the Order of the Son of God before they were ever born.  More specifically, as Alma taught, they exercised exceedingly great faith in the Savior and in the Father’s plan of redemption, the great plan of happiness, and were sent to earth on a redemptive mission:  to hold the priesthood, exercise priesthood power, and thereby be a leavening influence in a world that was desperately in need of light and truth and goodness.  Theirs was the call, before they breathed the breath of life, to help fulfill the Abrahamic promise that his posterity would truly bless the nations” (Men of Influence, Robert L. Millet, Pg 3)
  • “As Joseph Smith, the Prophet declared: “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 ” (Teachings, 365).  Elder Parley P. Pratt spoke of the fore-ordination or election of individuals “to certain offices, as written in the scriptures.  In other words, certain individuals…were chosen by the Head to teach, instruct, edify, improve, govern, and minister truth and salvation to others, and to hold the delegated powers or keys of government in several spheres of progressive being.  These were not only chosen but were set apart by a hold ordinance in the eternal worlds” (Key to the Science of Theology, 40)” (Men of Influence, 3).
  • “President Lee pointed out that even though we have our “agency here, there are many who were foreordained before the world was, to a greater state than they have prepared themselves for here.  Even though they might have been among the noble and great, from among whom the Father declared he would make his chosen leaders, they may fail of that calling here in mortality” (Ensign, January 1974, 5)
  • “The real issue is not how others define us but how Christ defines us.”  (Richard C. Edgley, Ensign, May 1998, 12)
  • We “affirm in our lives the importance of at least three things: first, that God, our Father in Heaven, does have a specific mission for all of us to fulfill and perform while we are here upon this earth; second, that we can, here and now in this life, discover what that mission is; and third, that with His help we can fulfill that mission and know and have assurance – here and now in this life – that we are doing that which is pleasing to our Father in Heaven.”  (John H. Groberg, “What is Your Mission?” Speeches of the Year 1979, 92)
  • “I believe this to be the most marvelous age in all the history of the world. For some reason you and I have been permitted to come on the scene at this time…”  (Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, Nov. 2000, 52)
  • “For nearly six thousand years, God has held you in reserve to make your appearance in the final days before the Second Coming of the Lord. Every previous gospel dispensation has drifted into apostasy, but ours will not… God has saved for the final inning some of his strongest children, who will help bear off the Kingdom triumphantly. And that is where you come in, for you are the generation that must be prepared to meet your God. All through the ages, the prophets have looked down through the corridors of time to our day. Billions of the deceased and those yet to be born have their eyes on us. Make no mistake about it – you are a marked generation. There has never been more expected of the faithful in such a short period of time as there is of us. Never before on the face of this earth have the forces of evil and the forces of good been as well organized….Each day we personally make many decisions that show where our support will go. The final outcome is certain – the forces of righteousness will finally win. What remains to be seen is where each of us personally, now and in the future, will stand in this fight – and how tall we will stand. Will we be true to our last-days, foreordained mission?”  (Ezra Taft Benson, “In His Steps,” Speeches of the Year 1979, 59-60)
  • “It is not by chance that you have been reserved to come to earth in this last dispensation of the fullness of times. Your birth was foreordained in the eternities.”  (Ezra Taft Benson, Ensign, May 1986, 43)
  • “You have been born at this time for a sacred and glorious purpose…. Your birth at this particular time was foreordained in the eternities.” (Ezra Taft Benson, Ensign, Nov. 1986, 81)
  • “Your Heavenly Father has known you for a very long time. You, as His son or daughter, were chosen by Him to come to earth at this precise time, to be a leader in His great work on earth. 19 You were chosen not for your bodily characteristics but for your spiritual attributes, such as bravery, courage, the integrity of heart, a thirst for truth, a hunger for wisdom, and a desire to serve others. You developed some of these attributes premortal. Others you can develop here on earth as you persistently seek them.”  Russell M. Nelson, October 2013 General Conference
  • Helaman 5: 20 – 52…Nephi and Lehi go to the Land of Nephi to preach to the Lamanites.  They are thrown in prison, left to starve, and after a few days are about to be slain when they are surrounded by fire.  Astonished, the Lamanites there witnessed this, heard three times a voice from heaven, and saw Nephi and Lehi speaking to the heavens.   Aminadab, a baptized member that dissented from the church, was the one that explained to everyone what was happening and followed the promptings of the spirit to do so.  300 people were converted because of these miracles and Aminadab’s explanations. Those 300 then shared the gospel with others.
  • “… No man could do what he did for us. He did not have to die, he could have refused. He did it voluntarily. He did it because it was a commandment from his Father. He knew what the suffering was going to be; and yet, because of his love for us, he was willing to do it. …”  Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Fielding Smith, (2013), 58–71
  • “It is not by chance that you have been reserved to come to earth in this last dispensation of the fullness of times. Your birth was foreordained in the eternities.”  (Ezra Taft Benson, Ensign, May 1986, 43)
  • “Remember who you are and what God expects you to become.” Teachings of Thomas S. Monson, Thomas S. Monson