John F. Bowman

Mission President

1932-Before 1946

Central States Mission

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Talk given by President John F. Bowman General Conference, October 1946:

Adam-ondi-Ahman

by Elder John F. Bowman
Former President of the Central States Mission

General Conference, October 1946

It is a thrilling experience, my brothers and sisters, to see this great congregation from this point. I had just about forgotten many things about my mission and concluded probably I would never be called upon to report my activities in the mission field. I want to say now, however, that that experience for a little over four years in the Central States Mission was the most thrilling experience in about fifty or fifty-five years of active service in the Church. It was a great thing to labor with your sons and daughters in the ministry and to learn of their faith and their ability to bring this great message of righteousness and salvation to those who sit in darkness. Through their humble efforts, while Sister Bowman and I presided over that mission, the membership of the mission increased from a few over six thousand to about eighty-two or eighty-three hundred. Over two thousand of that number were converts to the faith as a result of the humble, inspired efforts of the fine young men and women who labored in that mission.

It was a thrilling experience for us to live and to labor in that particular mission, one of the most interesting places in all the world and one of the most important. There are many things concerning that part of the United States that many of us, especially the younger generations probably have forgotten all about, or never knew. We lived in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, which was on the western borders of civilization, at the time our Saints first went there. It is east of the Missouri River, which was the borderland of the Lamanites who lived beyond that river to the west. In those parts we have learned, through the inspiration of God to his servant, the Prophet Joseph Smith, that the Lord God Almighty planted His Garden, the Garden of Eden. That always thrilled us while we lived there. That was a sacred, hallowed, holy spot to us because the great beginnings of the world were there, and not on the eastern hemisphere, where it is commonly thought that they were. Of course we undoubtedly have inmind that in that day the earth had not been divided, that the earth was divided in the days of Peleg and as I remember it, that probably was a hundred fifty or two hundred years, after the flood. But the Garden of Eden was planted in what is known now as Jackson County, and the Lord God Almighty placed his great servant, Adam, in that garden and later gave him his wife, Eve, with the commandment that they should multiply and replenish the earth, that of all of the trees of that garden they might freely partake, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they should not partake, but in the event that they did partake of it, in the day that they should eat thereof, they should surely die.

It was an interesting thing to us to know that that happened there, that they did partake of the forbidden fruit, and as a result they were driven out of the garden, and there was brought about what we commonly know as the fall of man. After they were driven out of that beautiful place, Eve found that she was about to become the mother of a child, and they rejoiced before the Lord, that now they evidently were in a condition to fulfill that great commandment for which they were sent upon the earth, to multiply and replenish the earth, and they rejoiced before the Lord because of that blessing which was now to come to them. They went out of the garden, and it is interesting to know, as we understood it there and as I understand it now, that they went not far away. They traveled north-easterly, for about seventy-five miles, and there they lived in Adam- ondi-Ahman of which you read in the revelations of the Church, and that was the land where Adam and Eve dwelt. They may have traveled far, and possibly lived at times in the country that is now looked upon as the place where the race started, in the Orient, but in the valley of Adam- ondi-Ahman is where Adam dwelt, and when he was nine hundred twenty-seven years old, stooped with age, he called his faithful followers together in that valley to receive an accounting of their stewardships and to bless them, and on that occasion, certainly the most important gathering that had been held in the history of the world up to that time, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, appeared at that point upon this land, to bless Adam and comfort him in his old age, and Adam told his people what would happen, down to the end of the world. Those things are written, and in the future, probably not the far-distant future, we will have the history of the world, written in advance by Adam which will undoubtedly be a great blessing to us. There, three years later, Adam died, probably at Adam-ondi-Ahman, and was buried there. That makes that a very sacred place and one of tremendous interest. There, we understand from the prophecies of the ancient prophets and the modern prophets and revelators of our Church, Adam will sit as the Ancient of days upon his throne, and a thousand times a thousand will come there to pay homage to him and ten thousand times ten thousand will come there to receive judgment at his hand. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will appear at that point and through the great conclave of Priesthood leadership that will be called into conference at that point in the next few years, we are inclined to think, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will appear and there he will be crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the reign of Satan will be terminated and the kingdoms of this earth shall become the kingdoms of our God and His Christ, and He shall reign with his people forever and forever. Those are things of tremendous importance to us, and in that land you are reminded of them. I was glad to learn on a trip there about two months ago, shortly after President Smith had been there, that he reminded the people of the tremendous things that are to happen there, the great things that have happened there and that the great Temple of the Lord, the new Jerusalem is to be established in that part. One of the greatest buildings that has ever been erected in the history of the world will be established in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, and the glory of God will rest upon it as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, and from that center will reign our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the law will go forth from Zion as the word of the Lord will go forth from Jerusalem.

We are thankful that we had the opportunity to labor there in that holy land, in that sacred place, because of the tremendous things that happened there and because of the tremendous things that are to take place. These things will happen there, my brothers and sisters you will find them written in the revelations. We haven't been excused from the great responsibility of building up the center place of Zion. Many of us think that we have the center place of Zion here. It is the center place now; these stakes will never be disrupted, but that is the center place of Zion, under the revelations, and that is where the great Temple will be built and people will be called there in the due time of the Lord to build up that place, preparatory to the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Now let me remind you of one thing in closing. From this pulpit, in 1898, President Snow, the Prophet, Seer and Revelator of the Church at that time, in answering some of the questions that were arising in the minds of the people as to whether they had been discharged from their responsibility pertaining to the building up of the center place of Zion, told the people: "We are not going back to Jackson County today, nor next week, nor next month, but I testify to you in the name of the Lord that we will go back there, and there are many, there are hundreds," and then he repeated it, "yes, hundreds sitting in this congregation who will live in the flesh to go back to Jackson County to assist in building the Temple. "This is important to us in that it indicates to us the nearness of the coming of our Lord, and the best council that I can think of to give to myself, to my family, and to you, my brethren and sisters, is the council that our Lord and Savior gave to his apostles, when they asked him when these thing would be, that Christ was speaking of that would happen at the end of the world, and he stated, to watch and pray that ye be not taken as a thief in the night.

May the Lord help us to measure up to our responsibilities of carrying forward this great work, to preach this Gospel in all the world as a witness unto all nations as we are undertaking to do it now, with the realization that when we have filled our responsibility, then the end will come and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will come to reign personally upon the earth for a thousand years. May the Lord help us to do it, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.