Naturally, the identity of the Holy Ghost remains unknown to the church, and the saints are not required to believe one way or the other on this inherently speculative topic.
Adam Michael is NOT The Holy Ghost: Proofs
Adam was baptized by the Holy Ghost.
Adam had a body.
Adam died and was resurrected at the resurrection of Christ.
It was thought by some that Adam Michael is the Holy Ghost as he was the 3rd person involved in the creation of the earth, but others have explained that it must have been a different 3 overseeing the creation than the 3 in the Godhead we worship, which is the Father Son and Holy Ghost.
On the off chance that Adam Michael is the Holy Ghost, some special laws must be at play which we know not of. Generally speaking, we don’t support theology which requires complex exceptions to the revealed rules we have already received.
Plausibility of Michael as Holy Ghost
11.18.24, updated 12.9.25
I must say that after years of deliberation on this subject, the theory of Adam/Michael as God the Holy Ghost is one of the most logically, prophetically, and scripturally consistent theories I’ve heard. Here I’ll review some points for it, and a few possible contrasting points.
Advocates of this theory generally hold that the Godhead is Elohim, Jehovah and Michael, with Jehovah having filled the Holy Ghost role during Adam’s mortality.
There were some good thoughts on this at this Troy Ables ‘Last Dispensation’ channel lecture with Christian Ziebarth who advocates the theory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c-loJXiiGc.
Michael having keys of the universe, yes, he was one of three who did have them. As the 3rd member of the godhead, he has the keys too.
Each member of the godhead is a father. There’s God the father of spirits. There is Jesus who becomes the covenant father. There’s Michael who is the paternal Father of the human race.
Adam our father and our God and the only one with whom we have to do as Brigham said in JD 1:50, in this telestial world, we deal most directly with the Holy Ghost. And Adam is our father genealogically.
Each member of the Godhead could be called our father and our God.
Moses 5:9 Holy Ghost fell upon Adam, says I am the Only Begotten. The Holy Ghost says I am the only begotten of the father. It’s Jesus talking there.
And Elder Cook said sometimes we get info directly from the Savior.
And note it could mean the spirit of that calling them was fully upon him in mortality like it was in the premortal world.
Some have suggested that the pre-mortal Christ could fill the role of Holy Ghost while Adam was in mortality. After death (multiple verses say Adam died), Adam would again be a spirit being.
However, after the resurrection of Christ, Adam would also have risen. Perhaps Adam could continue to influence us in this resurrected state, but this does remain a puzzling point for the theory of Adam as God the Holy Ghost. In some places the Holy Ghost is described as the spirit of God, and perhaps this spirit could still operate through the resurrected Adam.
Another stirring possibility is that perhaps Adam deliberately was allowed and chose to not be resurrected at the time of the resurrection of Christ in order to fulfill a unique mission.
Lectures on Faith 5 speaks of the 3 of the Godhead, presidency.
The three members of a presidency are all called president. Similarly call each member of the godhead God. And each one of them a father
Mormon doctrine speaks of the governing 3. And says it’s by Michael that all revelation comes, that it’s through Adam that Christ is revealed.
He references JS teachings 157-159, 167-169.
TPJS manual speaks of Adam being under the direction of the Lord.
D&C 76:16 Michael Acts under the direction of the Holy One. For one this shows Adam is under Christ, for two it shows Adam being directly under Christ first him in the Godhead as 3rd member.
One Joseph Smith quote speaks of the God Creator, God Redeemer, and God Testator, according to their dispensations. Dispensation could here mean jobs generally. Joseph Smith also taught of the Holy Ghost coming to Earth in the last days. Could this not be a reference to Adam the Ancient of Days coming to Earth at the council of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and continuing to rule Earth under the authority and direction of Christ thereafter?
Brigham spoke of being Adams and Eves someday. Joseph spoke of saints progressing into role of each position of Godhead. Perhaps these both align, and that our next mission is to go to an Earth to serve as an Adam and an Eve. The origins of Adam are mysterious, but it has been suggested that he came here from another world. Either way, we know that Adam was a son of God (Luke 3).
One possibility is that the Holy Ghost is an office which various occupy at various times. In one perspective, any righteous spirit being could function as a ‘holy ghost.’ This could make our pre-mortal life as our time in that phase. That puts us in this life as the phase of Christ or Christians, then the hereafter as the time of Father, etc.
Heavenly Mother is NOT The Holy Ghost
Some have called Heavenly Mother the Holy Ghost, suggesting that the Hebrew for spirit is feminine, but this doesn’t work, as we know he is a male from scripture, official Church doctrine, and that presiding priesthood bodies consist of males.
This doesn’t undermine Heavenly Mother or other women, it’s just different jobs that different people have.
The wonder of Heavenly Mother and her roles have not been fully revealed.
It is apostacy to teach that The Holy Ghost is female. This is a popular thoery being promoted in our feminist era, but it is not grounded in true doctrine.
Just because wisdom is a feminine word in some languages doesn’t mean the Holy Ghost is female.
Joseph Smith is NOT The Holy Ghost
It is popular among Adam-God advocates to call Father as Adam, Son as Jesus, Holy Ghost as Joseph Smith, and to claim that each of these had a dispensation on earth. As I recall Ogden Kraut is a particular advocate of this theory, as is Jacob Vidrine, gentlemen and scholars to be respected to be sure, but with whom I would disagree on this point, though I admit it’s a fun idea and I couldn’t have more respect for brother Joseph, nor do I claim to understand the greatness of Joseph.
Why some speculate Joseph was the Holy Ghost: Some speculate that Joseph Smith was the Holy Ghost because
- his ministry was in the end times,
- and because he helped people remember things they had forgotten,
- he called himself “the testator”,
- and because he was such a noble person and witness of Christ,
- and because he presides in the world of spirits as taught by Brigham Young.
No doubt, all righteous beings can become holy and help God after death, as they must have before birth. However, theories of Joseph as THE Holy Ghost, that being of Godhead, are not doctrinally sound.
Quotations against the Joseph Holy Ghost theory:
Joseph was quoted to have said, “… the holy ghost is yet a Spiritual body and waiting to take to himself a body.”
https://emp.byui.edu/…/Holy%20Ghost%20to%20Get%20a…
“The Holy Ghost is not a personage with a body of flesh and bones, and in this respect differs from the Father and the Son.” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation; Vol 3)
Additional reasons for Joseph not being The Holy Ghost:
First, the doctrine of the church is that Joseph is in fact not the Holy Ghost.
Second, Joseph himself supposedly spoke of the future coming of the Holy Ghost to live in flesh on the earth.
Some speak of various people filling the role of the Holy Ghost at various times, but it remains true that there is 1 male spirit being who is the Holy Ghost.
Joseph Smith was influenced by the Holy Ghost.
Joseph Smith was here in person, so the Holy Ghost could not have been influencing people during his lifetime, which it was.
In our hymn we sing “holy spirit keep us till the Savior comes.” This could suggest that when the Savior is here, we won’t need the Holy Ghost’s influence, and that time would be when He comes for His turn on earth. Another scripture supporting this idea is that Christ didn’t send the Holy Ghost until after his departure, they didn’t need it while he was with them.
For the Jospeh Smith Holy Ghost theory to work, a person must subscribe to the theory of “role swapping”, of Gods stepping in to do each other’s primary positions when the other is busy doing something else. A remote possibility, but a stretch. Divine investiture, speaking on behalf of another as though you were them (a sort of power of attorney) is similar but still very different than the idea of complete role swapping. This said, there must have been some role swapping done with Christ (Jehovah) came to earth for his 33 year ministry: someone else must have overseen the affairs of earth during that time.
Joseph Smith Holy Ghost advocates are typically Adam God advocates. They speak of 3 dispensations in the earth, 1 for each God. 1st for Adam (Father), next for Christ (Son), and last for Holy Ghost (Joseph). It is reasonable to see how they get this idea, but due to the evidences to the contrary, we dismiss this theory. We honor and praise Adam and Joseph for their righteousness, but we do not worship them.
