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 4:E-18
Why does He stand by? The reason is in Romans 8:17-18, "And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Unless we suffer with Him we cannot reign with Him. You have to suffer to reign. The reason for this is that character simply is never made without suffering. Character is a VICTORY, not...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 7:E-12
The Messenger The messenger to this age is the best known messenger of all the ages. He was Martin Luther. Martin Luther was a brilliant scholar of gentle disposition. He was studying to be a lawyer when the lingering illness and death of a near friend caused him to become serious concerning the spiritual condition of his life. He entered the Augustinian convent at Erfurt in 1505. There he studied philosophy and also the Word of God. He lived the life of severest penance but all the outward acts could not banish hi...
The approach to God
55-0123A §11
And because that the poor man out there is sinning, and murder, and stuff, in our world today, and all kinds of disastrous things happen, is because of unbelief in God. That's all. If we believe... There's just two things: You either believe, or believe not, either one. If you do believe, then the works of righteousness follow a believer. And if you do not believe, the works of unrighteousness follows. Only thing it is ... lying, stealing, theft, and so forth, is attributes of unbelief. And long-suffering, patience...
Prayer Line
53-0500 §11
Do you believe, sir, with all your heart? Lord Jesus, I pray that You'll heal the man. May he go away from here tonight and be made completely whole, through Jesus Christ's Name. Amen. God bless you. Go and rejoice now, be made happy. You believe? Almighty God, Author of life, Giver of every good gift, this deaf spirit has deafened this woman's ear so she can't hear the Gospel. Come out of her, Satan, in Jesus Christ's Name. Can you hear me? How long you been that way? Can you hear me? [Gap in the audio] Three year...
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §19
Now, it may be a little lengthy. I don't want you to be in any hurry and I... Just take your time (all of us) and study the Word of God truly and thoroughly as we know how to study it. Let's begin with St. Matthew, the nineteenth chapter, and beginning, I think, with the eighth verse of the nineteenth chapter, I wish to start. I might start also with the first and read down through the eighth verse of the nineteenth chapter. Now, remember, these things that I say must come from the Word of God. It can't be my own o...