Was the publishing of a Book like Rough Stone Rolling by Bushman an attempt at covering up the past? Its sold mainly through Deseret Book, and was heavily advertised. To my knowledge all of Josephs Smiths writings and teaching are readily available to whoever wants to read them. Where is the deception and hiding?
What should be sought after by anyone who wishs to worship God in truth is what God taught to Adam. After the Fall Adam sought redemption and a return to the relationship he shared with God in the Garden of Eden.
This is a excerpt from a Hugh Nibley article listing various Non-mormon sources about Adam and the plan of redemption:
Figure 50. From a 1934 copy of an old Mandaean magic scroll, Adam, Sitil, and other perfected souls in priestly dress give the kusta, or ritual hand-grasp, to each other.
The Sent Ones emerge most frequently and most dramatically in the apocryphal literature in the story of Adam. "After the physical Adam was created," says the new apocryphal Book of John, "a messenger was sent to the head of all creations, Adam, and at his call Adam awoke and said, 'How the precious, beautiful life has been planted in this place. But it is hard on me down here.' Then the Sent One reminded Adam and said, 'But your beautiful throne awaits you, Adam. Why then do you, the image of God, sit here complaining? All this is being done for your good. I have been sent to teach you, Adam, and to free you from this world. Listen and return to the light.'" Then the messenger gives him instructions.129 The Ginza (which means "a treasure, mystery, what is hidden and precious") tells us, "when Adam stood praying for light and knowledge, a helper came to him, gave him a garment, and told him, 'Those men who gave you the garment will assist you throughout your life until you are ready to leave earth.'"130 The commonest account, also found in the Ginza, is that "When Adam was created, he was found in a deep sleep, from which he was awakened by a helper, who forthwith began to instruct him. And at his death also, the Sent Ones came to take Adam back to the great first Paternal House and to the places in which he formerly dwelt."131
It describes how he went back: "First - he was taken to a place of detention, a shomai (a treasure place] - where he meets the one who holds the nails of glory and the signs in the hands, and the key of the kushta of both arms."132 That is the code for the signs that Adam had to receive - his instructions. The one who holds the nails of glory, and the signs in the hands, and the key to the initiation rites is the master of the Treasure House (fig. 50). "Hither a messenger from the house of light was sent to fetch Adam farther when he was ready."133 The reason it is so often the Adam of Light, the premortal Adam, who is sent to help suffering humanity (he's our great helper), is that he, as our first Father, was himself thus helped in the beginning. He couldn't have helped himself out of things had not a Savior been provided.
"When Adam awoke," we are told in the Ginza, "he faced the light and called for help. The Lord Himself approached him, in glory, and took him by the palm of the right hand and calmed him and instructed him. Then he comforted Eve. In this way, I have brought joy and aid to his descendants."134 "The Sent Ones came to bring hope to Adam, who was in the image of God."135
This "Adam incident" is repeated in the case of Abraham, who took a trip to heaven, to the stars, and when his spirit came back to his body, he awoke as if from sleep or a daze. After he had first spoken with the Lord, he fell to earth, for his spirit had left his body, which "became as a stone." "Then the angel who had been sent to me took me by the right hand and said, 'Abraham, awake and arise! I have been sent to you to strengthen you and bless you in the name of the Creator.'" Then the angel instructed him.136
In the vast majority of accounts, it is three Sent Ones who instruct Adam. There is no conflict, since the Sent Ones are many. They come whenever they are needed. Indeed, according to sources, Adam himself was one of the three great Sent Ones who created the world in the beginning. The Berlin Papyrus says, "The first man was the third of the Sent Ones - the Father, the Son, and Adam" - when they came down to create the world. According to the Apocryphon of Adam, Adam was awakened from a deep sleep by three men from on high, who said to him, "Adam arise and hear the teachings of the Savior."137 "It was through a team of three," according to the Sophia Christi, "that God created everything, employing them as his agents."138 As the Abbat?/i>puts it, "The Father instructed the Son, who in turn instructed that first angel to go down and form a new world." But they didn't merely delegate the work, they worked together. "The three," says our source, "stretched forth their hands, took clay, and made man. And many expeditions were sent to the earth before things were ready to receive Adam."139 "Whenever that life-giving spark is sent to initiate a first step of creation in the material world, it is always followed by three Sent Ones who come down to give proper instructions. So in any world, those that receive the spark (the word sent from God) will also find three helpers sent to instruct them."140
At the creation, says the Ginza, God gave orders that the angels should come to keep Adam company. At the beginning, it was the Lord himself and two companions who instructed Adam and Eve in everything.141 "When Adam was placed on earth, three messengers were sent to oversee him, with myself at their head," says the Lord to the apostles during the forty days.142 "1 taught Adam and Eve the hymns, and the order of prayer, and the ordinances which would help one to return to the presence of the Father."143 "I'm sending three, God says to them, giving them instructions. He said to the pure Sent One, his Son, 'Go call Adam and Eve and all their posterity and teach them concerning everything about the Kingdom of Light and the Worlds of Light. Be friendly with Adam and keep him company, you and the two angels which will be with you. Warn them against Satan; also, teach them chastity.'"144
Because the three were always there to supervise, the evil spirits protested. They didn't like the interruption. A very interesting passage from the Ginza says, "The evil spirits, who claim this world for their own, resent the Sent Ones' instructions. These three men are in the world," they say, "but they are not really men. They are light and glory, and they have come down to little 'Enosh' [physical man - Adam] who is helpless and alone in the world. They are intruding on our world. The children of men have taken over the earth. They are really strangers who speak the language of the three men. They have accepted the teachings of the three men and rejected us in our own world. They refuse to acknowledge our kingdom and our glory." The devils don't like the three men interrupting their program and spoiling things. "Thus, the evil ones plotted to overthrow Adam, who was hoping for Mandadihaya (Teacher of Life), the messenger from the Father, to come"145 and give him aid and support. We read also of another team of three men: When Adam called upon God, the Great Spirit sent them from the land of brightness, those who would belong to the twelve. So at one time three of the apostles were sent down. These were the three, the pillars of the Church as described later in the New Testament in Galatians 2:9 - Peter, James, and John (cf. Matthew 17:1). Whenever that expression is used - "The three who belonged to the twelve" - it means Peter, James, and John, who were hidden then within the veil of light (Goodenough shows who they were). The three Sent Ones in another account are Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel. But if you go to the same account in the earlier Greek version, they are the Father, Michael and the angels, when Jesus says, "I will come, and my Father, and Michael." So it's Elohim, Jehovah, and Michael (and all the angels); this is the highest committee (cf. fig. 47, p. 239).
Throughout Christian literature, going to heaven is consistently described as a return to an old home, which raises the notion of premortal existence. In the First Apocalypse of James, the Lord says to the apostles, "They will ask you where you are going. Your answer: The place from which I came. I return to that place."146 "The elect are those individuals," says the Gospel of Thomas, "who shall find the Kingdom, because they came from it in the first place."147 The Gospel of Truth dwells at length on the theme of the return:
Whoever has this knowledge is a being from on high. When he is called, he hears, answers, and turns toward him who calls and reascends to him. He knows when he is called; he knows whence he has come, and where he is going. He has turned many from error and proceeded unto places which belong to them, but from which they have strayed. Joy to the man who has rediscovered himself, awakened, and has helped others to wake up.148
Those are non-mormon sources discussing very Mormon things. To understand what Adam knew, is to understand our God and the plan of salvation.
Gaz
Source:
http://farms.BYU.edu/display.php?table=transcripts&id=57We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. - Plato
