The Council in Heaven — We Were There
Before this world existed, God convened a grand assembly — and we chose.
The Grand Council
Most Christian traditions teach that existence begins at birth or conception. You were not there before. You have no history prior to this life. God made you, placed you in this world, and what happens next determines your eternal fate.
That reading is not wrong to care about souls — it is wrong about when souls began. The scriptures, particularly those revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith, tell a different and far richer story.
Before this earth was formed, before the mountains had foundations, God convened a council. Every person who would ever live on this earth was present — as spirit children of our Heavenly Father, as conscious, choosing beings. We heard the plan. We voted with our feet. And we came here.
Abraham 3:22–23
“Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.”
Abraham was shown the pre-mortal assembly. He was told he had been chosen there. This is not metaphor. It is what the text says. And it has implications for everyone reading this page.
The Plan Was Presented
The Book of Job contains one of the most striking passages in all of scripture for understanding what went on before this earth existed. God is addressing Job out of the whirlwind, and the questions He asks are not rhetorical cruelty — they are a reminder that Job was there.
Job 38:4–7
“Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
The sons of God shouted for joy when the earth was laid. They were present. They rejoiced. Why would we shout for joy at the creation of an earth if we were not going there? If we had no stake in it?
The plan was presented — a plan to give God's children bodies, experience, growth, and the possibility of becoming like Him. An earth was needed. A Savior was needed. And a choice was required.
Christ Was Chosen
The plan required a Savior. Mortality would bring sin. Sin required an atonement. Someone had to volunteer — and that choice had to be made in the pre-mortal life, before the world was created.
Abraham 3:27
“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.”
Two volunteers. Two very different proposals. Christ said, in essence: I will go, I will do thy will, and the glory will be thine. The other — Lucifer — said something different entirely.
The Father chose the Son. Not because He was the only option, but because His proposal honored the one thing the entire plan depended on: the agency of every soul in that council.
Lucifer's Rebellion
Lucifer's plan, as Latter-day scriptures make clear, was to remove the risk from mortality by removing the choice. He would bring everyone back — none would be lost — but he required the glory for himself and he required the Father's authority. The plan was rejected.
D&C 29:36–37
“And it came to pass that Adam, being tempted of the devil—for, behold, the devil was before Adam, for he rebelled against me, saying, Give me thine honor, which is my power; and also a third part of the hosts of heaven turned he away from me because of their agency.”
One third of the hosts of heaven followed him. That is not a small number. That is a vast portion of God's children, choosing in the pre-mortal life, before mortality, before a body — choosing to rebel.
See Also
- Revelation 12:7–9 — War in heaven; Satan cast out with his angels
- D&C 29:36–38 — One third followed Satan; cast out before the world was
The war in heaven described in Revelation 12 is not a mysterious future event — it already happened. Satan and his angels were cast out. They came to this earth. And the battle continues here, in mortality, on different terms.
The War in Heaven
The rejection of Lucifer’s proposal did not end in quiet disagreement. It erupted into open conflict. John the Revelator was shown that war — not as a parable, but as an event that had actually taken place in the courts above, before the foundations of this earth were laid.
“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”
This is the pivotal premortal event. Michael — whom Latter-day revelation identifies as Adam — led the hosts of heaven against the dragon. The dragon and his angels “prevailed not,” and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. They were cast down to the earth. The war was real, the loss was real, and its casualties walk among the deceived to this day.
The Cause: A War Over Agency
What were they fighting over? Not territory. Not power for its own sake. The war in heaven was fought over the single principle on which the entire plan of the Father depended: the agency of man. The Book of Moses preserves the moment of the rebellion in Lucifer’s own words.
“That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor. But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever. 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; And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice.”
There it is, stated plainly: Satan “sought to destroy the agency of man.” His guarantee that “one soul shall not be lost” sounds merciful until you see its price — the abolition of choice and the seizure of God’s own honor and power. A world without agency is a world without growth, without virtue, without love freely given. To save us by force was to destroy the very thing that made salvation worth having.
Lehi taught his son the same eternal principle — that opposition and choice are the conditions of all righteousness, and that Lucifer fell because he set himself against them.
“And I, Lehi, according to the things which I have read, must needs suppose that an angel of God, according to that which is written, had fallen from heaven; wherefore, he became a devil, having sought that which was evil before God. And because he had fallen from heaven, and had become miserable forever, he sought also the misery of all mankind. Wherefore, he said unto Eve, yea, even that old serpent, who is the devil, who is the father of all lies—”
An angel of God, fallen. Having lost his own joy forever, he now seeks the misery of all mankind. The pattern set in heaven — the assault on agency — is the same pattern he carried to Eden and carries still.
The Choice That Started It
Abraham was shown the precise moment the conflict ignited — the Father’s choice of the First, and the second’s furious response.
“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. And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him.”
“The second was angry, and kept not his first estate.” The rebellion was rooted in anger at not being chosen — a refusal to submit to the Father’s will. And “many followed after him.” The war in heaven was the open battle that this anger became.
The Weapon: Testimony and the Blood of the Lamb
Here is the most easily misunderstood truth about this war: it was not won with swords. A war fought over agency could not be won by force, for force is the very thing Lucifer championed. To overpower his followers would have been to prove his philosophy true. The faithful did not conquer him with weapons — they conquered him with conviction.
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
Two weapons, and only two. The blood of the Lamb — the atonement that Christ volunteered to make, the very plan Lucifer rejected. And the word of their testimony — the free, persuaded conviction of those who chose to follow the Father. The war in heaven was waged by persuasion, and it was won by faith in Christ and the courage to declare it.
This is why the weapons of the war have never changed. The adversary still cannot compel; he can only deceive and tempt. And we still overcome him exactly as the hosts of heaven did — by relying on the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony.
A Third of the Hosts Fell — and Lucifer Became Perdition
The cost of the war was staggering. A third part of the hosts of heaven — our own brothers and sisters in the spirit — were turned away and cast out, losing forever the privilege of mortal bodies and the path to exaltation.
“And it came to pass that Adam, being tempted of the devil—for, behold, the devil was before Adam, for he rebelled against me, saying, Give me thine honor, which is my power; and also a third part of the hosts of heaven turned he away from me because of their agency; And they were thrust down, and thus came the devil and his angels.”
Note the bitter irony in the Lord’s own words: that third turned away “because of their agency.” The very gift Lucifer sought to destroy was the gift they used to follow him into ruin. And Lucifer himself fell furthest of all. Latter-day revelation gives him a new and terrible name — Perdition.
“And this we saw also, and bear record, that an angel of God who was in authority in the presence of God, who rebelled against the Only Begotten Son whom the Father loved and who was in the bosom of the Father, was thrust down from the presence of God and the Son, and was called Perdition, for the heavens wept over him—he was Lucifer, a son of the morning. And we beheld, and lo, he is fallen! is fallen, even a son of the morning! And while we were yet in the Spirit, the Lord commanded us that we should write the vision; for we beheld Satan, that old serpent, even the devil, who rebelled against God, and sought to take the kingdom of our God and his Christ—wherefore, he maketh war with the saints of God, and encompasseth them round about.”
An angel in authority, in the very presence of God, a son of the morning — thrust down, and the heavens themselves wept over him. He became Perdition, “lost.” And the same revelation tells us what he has done ever since: “he maketh war with the saints of God.”
The War Continues on Earth
The war in heaven was not concluded when Satan was cast out — it was relocated. He “was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him,” and the same conflict over agency and worship that began in the premortal council now plays out on this battlefield, in mortality, in the choices of every soul who ever lived.
The terms are unchanged. The adversary still seeks to destroy agency — now through addiction, deception, despair, and every counterfeit that promises ease at the price of choice. He still demands worship and honor that belong to God alone. And he still cannot force a single soul; he can only tempt and deceive those “as many as would not hearken” unto God’s voice.
But the means of victory are unchanged as well. We who kept our first estate and came to earth were on the winning side of that war — and we overcome the same enemy by the same two weapons: the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. Every act of faith, every testimony borne, every righteous use of agency is a continuation of the war we already won in heaven.
You fought in that war once. You did not follow the dragon. You followed the Lamb — and you are here, in a mortal body, precisely because you did. The war is not over. But you have never been on the losing side, and you need not be now.
We Made a Choice
Every person alive on this earth was in that council. Every person here chose the plan of the Father. That is the only reason we are here — we were not randomly assigned to mortality. We chose it.
Jeremiah was told something remarkable at the beginning of his ministry:
Jeremiah 1:5
“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.”
God knew Jeremiah before he was formed in the womb. He was sanctified and ordained before birth. This is pre-mortal existence stated plainly in the Old Testament — not invented by Joseph Smith, not a uniquely LDS idea imposed on the text. It is the text.
Paul echoes this in Ephesians 1:4 — “chosen in him before the foundation of the world.” The concept of being known, chosen, and prepared before mortality is not foreign to the New Testament. Latter-day revelation makes explicit what the Bible points toward.
Why This Changes Everything About Why We Are Here
If you did not exist before birth, then mortality is the beginning of your story. You arrived here with no prior history, no prior choice, no prior relationship with God. You are, in a meaningful sense, an accident of biology — a soul placed into a world without your consent.
If you were there — if you heard the plan, understood the cost, and chose to come — then mortality is something else entirely. It is a mission you accepted. It is a test you agreed to take. It is a chapter in a story that began long before and will continue long after.
When suffering comes — and it comes for everyone — the pre-mortal council changes the question. The question is not “Why is God doing this to me?” The question becomes “What did I agree to, and what does God trust me to become?”
The council in heaven is not a theological curiosity. It is the foundation of why agency matters, why suffering is not arbitrary, why God can be trusted even when life is hard, and why you are not a product of chance.
You were there. You heard it. You chose it. And you shouted for joy.