Can We Not Also Say That It Is God That Caused or Made the Unbeliever to Choose Not to Believe?
1) Direct Answer
No—not in the same way. God is not the author of unbelief or sin. Unbelief springs from man’s own fallen heart and love of darkness. Yet the Bible also shows that God judicially blinds and hardens those who refuse the truth, and He withholds saving revelation from those who are not His sheep.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- James 1:13: God “tempteth no man.” He does not create evil in the heart.
- John 3:19–20; John 5:40: Men “loved darkness rather than light… Ye will not come to me.” The refusal is theirs.
- Acts 13:46: “Ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life.”
- John 10:26: “Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep.” Those not given do not believe.
- John 12:39–40 (Isaiah 6): “Therefore they could not believe… He hath blinded their eyes.” Judicial hardening after rejecting light.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:10–12: Because they “received not the love of the truth… God shall send them strong delusion.” Judgment fits their chosen unbelief.
- Romans 1:24–28: “God gave them up” to their own desires.
- Romans 9:18: “He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.”
- Acts 13:48: “As many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” God grants faith to His own.
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- God positively grants faith to His sheep; that is grace.
- Man, left to himself, already loves darkness and will not come.
- God never forces a willing heart to reject Christ; rather, He righteously leaves some to their own choice and then seals that choice in judgment (hardening/blinding).
- So we must not say, “God made them not believe,” but rather, “God did not give them saving grace, and He judicially hardens those who reject the light.”
4) Reinforcing Statement
Now notice, the Gospel separates: as many as are ordained to life believe, and those who spurn the light are blinded by the very light they refuse. God authors faith in His own; unbelief is man’s sin, and hardening is God’s righteous judgment.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 9:E-44
But now He is standing in the midst of the Church. As He stands there revealing Who He is in this last age, He calls Himself the "Author of the creation of God". This is ANOTHER CREATION. This has to do with the church. This is a special designation of Himself. He is the CREATOR of that church. The heavenly Bridegroom created his own bride. As the Spirit of God, He came down and created in the virgin Mary the cells from which His body was born. I want to repeat that. He created the very cells in the womb of Mary fo...
Looking for Jesus
54-0228E §78
All right, tell her to accept Jesus. [The interpreter speaks.] Tell her her heart trouble's gone. [The interpreter speaks.] God bless you. Let us say, "Praise be to God." Bow your heads real quick, there's a deaf spirit coming around me now. Bow your head. O Lord, Creator of heavens and earth, Author of everlasting life, Giver of every good gift, send Thy blessings upon this man. And make this evil to leave him. O Thou eternal God, who was before the day spring from on high, You was God then, You'll be God when the...
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever
63-0627 §33
Now we all know that sin is unbelief. "He that believeth not is condemned already." Now, sin is the attribute of unbelief. Smoking cigarettes is not a sin. Stealing is not a sin. Lying is not a sin. Committing adultery is not a sin. "What is it then, you'd say?" It's the attributes of unbelief. If you were a believer you would not do those things. The reason you do it proves that you're a unbeliever. There's only two factions. That's either you are a believer, or not a believer. And how, always puzzled me, that a m...
Three witnesses
51-0728 §69
How do you do, sister? Yes, want the audience to look to her. Something's happening, isn't it, lady? You suffered so much. You've been nervous; that's been for a long time. Have heart trouble too, don't you? And a kidney trouble, isn't that right? You believe me as His prophet? Come here. The Word of God said, "These signs shall follow them that believe." Do you believe I'm a believer? "They shall lay their hands on the sick, and they shall recover." Now, go home and be well, for you are. God bless you, sister, God...
The authority of the Word
53-0602 §18
Now, just a moment ago, you started fading away, and then you come back. I knew that you was a Christian, because I seen you praying. You were kneeling, praying somewhere. You were praying about this meeting. And you said if you could ever get here to the platform, in your prayer---asked if you could be---that you'd be made well. Is that your prayer? Now, see, God can reveal your prayer. You suffer with... It's a tumor. You have a tumor. And the tumor is in the stomach. Is that right? It's causing... Then you also...