Adam was among the intelligences spoken of by the Lord to Abraham who were appointed to be rulers on this earth. He was Michael, a prince, and son of God chosen to come to this earth and stand at the head of his posterity, holding the "keys of salvation under the counsel and direction of the Holy One, who is without beginning of days or end of life." This Holy One is Jesus Christ. On the earth Michael was known as Adam. In the pre-existent state he was a spirit like the others of our Father's children. In the Book of Genesis we are told that Adam obtained his body from the dust of the earth, and that he was not subject to death is inferred in the commandment the Lord gave him, that if he transgressed the divine commandment and ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he should surely die. In the Book of Mormon we are positively informed that Adam would have lived forever in the garden if he had not partaken of the forbidden fruit. So Adam was in no sense mortal until after his transgression. That his immortal spirit came from another world is verily true, just as it is true of each one of us, for we all lived in the spirit existence before we came into this world and obtained bodies which inherited mortality through the fall of Adam.
We are also informed in the scriptures that before Adam and Eve transgressed they were without children, and the fall was essential to the peopling of the earth with their offspring. When the truth in relation to the consequences of the fall were made known to Adam and Eve, they rejoiced, and Eve said:
"...Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient. ....
Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, Vol 1, Chapter 2.
So much to address here!
First: There was and is no such thing as pre-existing intelligences or spirits waiting to be created/born. 1 Cor. 15:46: However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual. Adam was created out of the dust of the ground and did not exist spiritually prior to that.
Second: Adam was NOT “Michael, a prince.” Michael was/is an archangel (Jude 1:9, Rev.12:7) who is referred to in Daniel as a “prince” (Dan. 10, 12). Angels were never humans, nor will humans ever be angels; they were created before humans (Job 8:37). Adam was created after the angels.
Third: Adam never had any “keys of salvation.” There are no such things ever mentioned in Scripture, and Adam was not responsible for salvation in any way, shape, or form.
Fourth: Referring to the Book of Mormon is only teaching lies about lies, since the BOM is a fraudulent document.
Fifth: Adam and Eve were able to have children before the Fall; after all, God told them to “be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28); if they were unable to have children before the Fall, then God is lying to them here. The fact that they had no children prior to the fall only means that the Fall came before a child was born, for there is no reason Eve couldn’t have, or wouldn’t have been with child.
This whole ideology is based on the NEED for Adam & Eve to sin so that they could procreate. This is utter unbiblical nonsense, as anyone actually reading the Bible should understand.
(For some humor about Smith’s grammar, I’d like to point out that the phrase, “that he was not subject to death is inferred in the commandment…”, should read “implied” vs “inferred.” We infer what is implied. This is a very common mistake nowadays, but you’d think a “prophet of God” would know better.)
What about Brigham Young’s teaching that Adam was God? Mormon teachers seem to be quite mixed up as to just who Adam was. Of course they are also mixed up about Jesus and God; perhaps they should read the Bible once in a while.