Mormons teach that Jesus’s atonement started in Gethsemane and ended on the cross, putting the emphasis on the garden. The very fact that the cross isn’t the sole place for the atonement helps us know that Mormons are teaching a false gospel. Because they teach a false atonement also, they are unsaved. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve tried to help Mormons and their missionaries know how wrong they are with their atonement teaching, as they brush it off each time. You can see why by reading this article from their site. “The Atonement is the sacrifice Jesus Christ made to help us overcome sin, adversity, and death. Jesus’s atoning sacrifice took place in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross at Calvary. He paid the price for our sins, took upon Himself death, and was resurrected. The Atonement is the supreme expression of the love of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.” (What is the Atonement of Jesus Christ?) This atonement teaching is heresy!
Gethsemane is emphasized more often than anything else when it comes to the atonement. The cross is simply a place where Jesus died in the sight of Mormons. See for yourself by reading the words of Bruce McConkie. This false teacher wrote, “we do not know, we cannot tell, no mortal mind can conceive the full import of what Christ did in Gethsemane. We know he sweat great gouts of blood from every pore as he drained the dregs of that bitter cup his Father had given him. We know he suffered, both body and spirit, more than it is possible for man to suffer, except it be unto death. We know that in some way, incomprehensible to us, his suffering satisfied the demands of justice, ransomed penitent souls from the pains and penalties of sin, and made mercy available to those who believe in his holy name.” (The Purifying Power of Gethsemane) This teaching is blasphemy as the Bible teaches nothing to the fact. This man surely died and is in hell now.
If only Mormons had the Holy Spirit and could understand the Bible, they would know that Jesus died for our sins. How His death and atonement took place on the cross and no other. Paul wrote, “for when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” (Romans 5:6-11) Through Jesus’s death on the cross, we received the atonement. He shed His blood while He was suffering for our sins. Amen.
Let us pray:
Oh Lord, I pray that not only me but millions of other Christians will reach the Mormon people with the truth. They are blind and cannot see. Their false teachers have raised them since they were little to think that only they have the truth. Only those whom You have given sight to can see their false teachings and know that they are on the path of destruction, not heaven. God, help me to portray what is true and faithful in a way that will interest people. I can reach them in better ways then I have in the past. All I ask is that the Holy Spirit gives me words to speak, then I will do Your will and not my own. Lord, their false atonement teachings are complete heresy and I simply don’t understand why Mormons cannot see this. How can they take away from the true atonement, which is the cross, and move the suffering for sins in the garden? Lord, this is blasphemy. I feel sorry for them. Lord, lead me to people who will hear You. I love You, Jesus. Amen.
