Living a Premortal Life Before an Earthly One

The first part of the Plan of Salvation is the premortal existence. We lived as spirits before we were born on earth. We lived with God, who is our Heavenly Father and the father of our spirits.

God presented to us His Plan of Salvation. It is sometimes called the plan of happiness or the plan for our redemption.

Also while we were in the premortal life, a savior was chosen. Lucifer rebelled and was cast out with his followers.

We Lived Before We Were Born

Before we were born on the earth we existed as spirits and lived in a spirit world in the presence of God, our Eternal Father. We developed talents and gained knowledge. We created friendships and made promises. We also had our agency to choose.

First We Were Spirit Children of God

Before anything was created physically, it was first created spiritually. This includes people.

Not only were we spirits before we were born on earth, but our spirits are the literal offspring of God. He is the father of our spirits, which is why we call Him our Heavenly Father.

He created us in His image. He endowed each of us with our individual agency. During our premortal life we prepared ourselves for our earthly life.

All Spirit is Matter

Latter-day prophets have also revealed that all spirit is made of matter. We do not know exactly what kind of matter; we just know it is matter:

There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes;

We cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter.

God's Plan Was Presented

Even though we were happy in our premortal life, Heavenly Father knew that we would not be able to progress beyond a certain point, unless we left His presence for a time.

He knew we needed to be tested and to learn to choose good over evil. He knew we needed to gain physical bodies to house our spirits.

To help us accomplish these things he called us together in a grand council and presented His plan for our salvation, our happiness and our redemption.

A Savior Was Chosen

Our Heavenly Father knew that for us to be tested we needed to be able to make choices between good and evil and that we would sometimes sin. In His plan He needed to choose someone to be a savior, to atone for the sins of all mankind:

And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first.

Jesus Christ was chosen to be our savior. Lucifer was not.

There Was a War

Lucifer wanted God's glory and power. His plan was to force every soul to choose good by taking away our agency. However that would have defeated God's purpose to test us:

Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down;

When Lucifer rebelled one third of all God's spirit children followed him. The other two thirds supported God and his plan. And there was a great war!

Satan and his followers tried to take God's power and were thrust out of the presence of God, becoming the devil and his angels.

Our First and Second Estates

Keeping our first estate was when we chose to support God and his plan, which makes us a part of the two thirds of his spirit children. Because of our righteousness all of us were blessed to:

• Be born on the earth that God created
• Receive a physical body to house our spirits
• Live a mortal life and progress
• Prove ourselves to see if we will keep our second estate by choosing good over evil.

Satan and his followers were denied temporal bodies and cannot progress. They have not forgotten their choice in the premortal life when they rebelled against God. Because they are miserable they seek to make each of us miserable as well, by destroying our souls if they can.

Every person born on this earth kept their first estate. We are the two thirds of Heavenly Father's children who supported his plan! Our objective now is to keep our second estate.

Updated by Krista Cook