“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” (Jeremiah 1: 5). Thus spake the Lord unto Jeremiah, and the same certainly applied to Joseph Smith. For Joseph was “among the noble and great ones who were chosen in the beginning to be rulers in the Church of God. Even before [he was] born, [he] received [his] first lessons in the world of spirits and [was] prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men” (D&C 138: 55-56).