Is It God That Caused or Made the Believer to Choose to Believe?
1) Direct Answer
Yes—God is the author of the believer’s faith. He draws, reveals, and quickens the heart so that the believer willingly chooses Christ. He does not coerce against the will; He makes the will willing by His grace.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- John 6:44: “No man can come to me, except the Father… draw him.”
- John 6:37: “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.”
- Ephesians 2:8–9: “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”
- Philippians 2:13: “It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
- Acts 16:14: “The Lord opened” Lydia’s heart, and she attended to the things spoken.
- 1 Corinthians 12:3: “No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.”
- 2 Timothy 2:25; Acts 11:18: God “gives” repentance.
- John 1:12–13: We are born “not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
- John 10:27; John 8:47: “My sheep hear my voice… He that is of God heareth God’s words.”
- Psalm 110:3: “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.”
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- Man will not and cannot come on his own; God must draw and open the heart.
- When God reveals Christ, the heart is quickened; the will is made willing, not violated.
- Therefore the believer’s choice is real, but it springs from God’s prior work of grace. The faith that believes is God’s gift, not man’s production.
4) Reinforcing Statement
Now notice, He chose you before you chose Him, He called you, and when His Voice struck your heart, you gladly came. That’s the mystery of grace—sovereign drawing, willing believing.
Existing Follow-Up Answers
- Explain in Detail Romans 9: 10-23 and in So Doing Answer This : Is It Not Unjust to Deliberately Raise Pharaoh and Harden His Heart in Order to Destr?
1) Direct Answer No. It is not unjust. Romans 9:10–23 shows God’s sovereign right to show mercy and His righteous judgment to harden the stubborn - 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 darkn
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.
Why?
61-0128 §79
Now to you people that wanted to renew the joy of your salvation, and to you that... Somewhere you've lost joy. Think back what you did. Did you neglect prayer meeting? Neglect reading the Bible? Neglected praying at your home, asking the blessing at the table? Don't never do that. Oh, my! That's so unbecoming to Christians. No matter where you are, bow your head and pray. Don't be ashamed of Him. Pray anywhere, see. And if ever where you left that joy, that whatever weeded it out, what little root of bitterness co...
Trying to do God a service without it being God's will
65-1127B §59
That's sovereign! That's what God does. And He alone has a right to send a revival. Not get the mechanics together; it's pray for God to send the dynamics. He only reveals His Word in the predestinated. Now, when I use the word predestinate... Now, it's a bad word to use in public, especially when we have mixed crowds between the Armenians and the Calvinists. And I've asked you not to think I know it all, but they're both wrong according to the Scripture. Grace is what God did for me, works is what I do for Him. Se...
Hear ye Him
56-1215 §12
So salvation isn't doing a lot of good works. Grace is what brings us to God, God saves us by grace, and no man never sought God at any time. The Bible says he didn't. You say, "Why, I sought God all night." No, you never. God sought you. Man's very nature in the garden of Eden proved it. Instead of Adam running up-and-down the garden saying, "O Father, where art thou," it was God hunting Adam saying, "Adam, where art thou?" See, we turn the picture around. JOHN6:44 Here, this will settle it for you if there's a qu...
The Queen of Sheba
60-0401E §1
[Pastor introduces Brother Lamsa.] ... he speaks the language and can read the language and read the original documents in which the New Testament was written. So with him, it is so wonderful that he can read directly from the original script the very words that Jesus and the disciples spoke and wrote. He felt that these translations that we have are not always correct and true. And that's where the criticism comes in, because he criticizes the King James version, and some people think that St. Paul preached from t...
A Trial
64-0427 §28
Now, the Holy Spirit, as I say, which is the defense witness, He's called. The first thing He wants to call ... the defense witness (Holy Spirit) wants to call to this court's case that the prosecutor is not interpreting the Word right to you. He wants to call your attention, too, that this prosecutor that's giving you the interpretation of the Word, that's representing the world and unbelief, is the same interpreter that Eve had at the beginning. He misinterpreted the Word just a little bit. Now I might stop here...