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.
Proving His Word
64-0816 §37
But in the face of all these un... doubting ages and things that we have went through and live in today, the worst of all, in the face of all this doubt, God does go right on proving his Words to be right, as He has in every age. He... Unbelief doesn't stop God, it doesn't hinder Him. I don't care how much the world unbelieves, it's still going to happen. Unbelief doesn't do nothing but condemns the unbeliever. The unbelief will send the unbeliever to hell. It'll rob him of every blessing God promised to him, but i...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 9:E-29
The second thought that must be impressed on our hearts is that the seven church ages started out with the antichrist spirit as well as the Holy Spirit Who is to be blessed forever. I John 4:1, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." Did you notice it? The antichrist spirit is identified with false prophets. The ages came in with false prophets and they will go out with false prophets. Now of course there is going to...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 7:E-93
Since this portion of the Word is hard for the human mind to grasp, it must be accepted and believed by faith. Some will be offended by what I have set forth because they fail to understand the sovereignty of God which sets forth that GOD IS GOD, and because He is God one cannot defeat His counsels or thwart His will and purpose; but He, being omnipotent, is ruling in ALL affairs and is doing whatever He will with all His creation because all were created for His good pleasure. Therefore, as Paul says, "If God shou...
Perseverant
64-0619 §87
Have faith in God, see. See what... Now please be reverent. Don't move. God heals diabetes. You believe that? You believe He'd heal you? Just go ahead and say, "Thank you, Lord," and believe it with all your heart and you'll be healed. Do you believe God can heal that female trouble that you have? Then just go on saying, "Thank you, Lord, I believe it with all my heart." All right, let the lady come. You have a lady's trouble and you also have diabetes. Do you believe that God will make you well? Just keep walking,...
Have faith in God
58-0105 §43
I have no way of knowing you, or knowing what your conditions are, or what you're here for. But the Lord God, omnipotent, knows your heart, and if He will reveal the things that's in your heart... Now, for instance, you needed healing, and I would say... Lay my hands on you and go to saying, "The devils go away, and the sickness go away." Then say, "Lady, you're well." You'd have a right to doubt that, because you don't know what that future will be. But if He will reveal what the past has been, then you know wheth...