To the Point

What is Adam-ondi-Ahman? What is its importance?

Better Than Paradise, by Kendal Ray Johnson

Joseph Smith learned about Adam-ondi-Ahman through revelation and inspiration. It’s the name of a place near where Adam, the first man, lived with his wife, Eve, for at least some time. This was sometime after they were cast out of the Garden of Eden. Three years before he died, Adam gathered all his righteous descendants there and blessed them.

In the last days, Adam, as a resurrected being, will come again to the place called Adam-ondi-Ahman, located in northern Missouri, USA. There he will again gather with others, including many other resurrected beings. Prophets who have held priesthood keys will deliver their keys up to Adam, who was the first to hold such keys and is the father of the human family on earth. He will then deliver the keys to Jesus Christ. This will be an important event to help prepare for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to all the world.

See Doctrine and Covenants 78:15, 20; 95:17; 107:53–56; 116; 117:8, 11; Daniel 7:13–14, 22. See also Jacob W. Olmstead, “Far West and Adam-ondi-Ahman,” in Revelations in Context: The Stories behind the Sections of the Doctrine and Covenants, Matthew McBride and James Goldberg, eds. (2016), 235–41.