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lacknothing said:
Why? If someone is "elect" why would they have to hear the preaching of the Gospel? Is that some kind of prerequisite?
And what does Scripture say? I provided several passages which show the absolute necessity of one hearing (reading) the Gospel in order to be saved. It is God's ordained means of calling sinners to Christ unto salvation. As Paul wrote, "it [the Gospel] is the power of God unto salvation" (Rom 1:16).

ALL human beings are under the judgment and wrath of God. All human beings are guilty before God having had Adam's guilt imputed to them. All human beings are born with a corrupt nature. Thus, through the hearing/reading of the Gospel, the means God has chosen to use to save sinners, the Holy Spirit works regeneration in the hearts of those predestinated making the able to hear the truth, repent and believe upon Christ.

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Acts 16:14 (ASV) "And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, one that worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened to give heed unto the things which were spoken by Paul."

Acts 18:8-11 (ASV) "And Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized. And the Lord said unto Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace: for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to harm thee: for I have much people in this city. And he dwelt [there] a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them."
What God has foreordained in eternity must come to pass in time. The Lord Christ was ordained to walk this earth and die for all those for whom the Father gave him. But His coming and death didn't come to pass in eternity but in time when the "fullness of time had come".

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Galatians 4:3-5 (ASV) "So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the rudiments of the world: but when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."

Ephesians 1:9-12 (KJV) "Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; [even] in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ."
In His grace,

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simul iustus et peccator

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