There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, "Cornelius!" And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, "What is it, lord?" So he said to him, "Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. "Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. "He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do." And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually. So when he had explained all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa. The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, "Rise, Peter; kill and eat." But Peter said, "Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean." And a voice spoke to him again the second time, "What God has cleansed you must not call common." This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again. ........ Later, on the next day ....... As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, "Stand up; I myself am also a man." And as he talked with him, he went in and found many who had come together. Then he said to them, "You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean." Acts 10:1-16 & 25-28 NKJV.
This story from the Bible is about Peter. Peter is an Apostle - someone to whom Jesus has granted special permission to speak and act on His behalf. Peter clearly states that he was given to understand by God that it was improper for him to speak of humans as being "common or unclean." At the risk of overstating the obvious, Peter, the man appointed by direct authority of Jesus, learns that the people he had always considered to be reprobate, worthless, vile, unclean, impossible to include in salvation and permanent outsiders, were now to be considered as candidates for God's grace through Jesus blood.
1500 years later, Calvin, a man with no direct revelation from Jesus and operating under his own foolish imagination, decides to ignore Peter's quote and constructs a teaching about "reprobates." According to Calvin, God preprogrammed some humans to be unclean and worthless and never intended to save them. In direct contrast to the teaching of God to Peter, calvinists believe heartily in the worthlessness of most humans. Instead of following the clear teaching of the Bible that Jesus loves sinners, the calvinist maneuvers against the Word of God by trusting a 16th century bigot.
One thing to note against those who like to say that the prayers of unbelievers are never heard by God is that Cornelius was honored by God for His prayers. For those people who like to say that all human works amount to nothing of value, God honored the heathen Cornelius for the good works that he had done...the report of those works having come into the very throne room of the Father Himself. Perhaps the works were recorded in a book in the heavenly realm before Cornelius name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life (Revelation 20:12). Notice that Peter was not instructed by the Holy Spirit to explain to Cornelius that he had been preselected before the foundation of the world. Peter preached Jesus and the cross and, before he could finish preaching, the Holy Spirit endorsed the faith of these "outcasts" (Acts 10:34-44).
Salvation still works in the same way. The faith that God has built into mankind can reach out to trust in Jesus Christ, His death on the cross, His burial and resurrection and the offer of forgiveness of sins through His blood. The cross happened in time and, while there is still time, Jesus continues to offer salvation to all who believe.
Sinner.
Come to Jesus.
Come to the Cross.
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