Boy oh boy....
The argument goes round and round, like watching a front load dryer. At some point, we must simply come to the place, where we realize, that neither side is going to give.
While it is important to defend the Gospel Truth against nay sayers, one must realize as well, that it is pointless to continue to try and convince others of Biblical points who are not willing to explore those points. Certainly, when others throw around terms like Calvinism, then make them equal to cultist, you are wasting your breath or strokes on a keyboard. They have proven themselves unwilling to have a reasonable conversation.
Any side that refuses to explore the possibilities of error, is not going to grow in Grace and knowledge of the Truth. The whole purpose of Biblical study, is to learn more about God and the Savior, Jesus Christ. To learn about God's Purpose for His creation and how man fits into this Purpose. Biblical study is not about supporting some kind of humanistic understanding or even Church Dogma. The true question should be, "Do we understand God's True Purpose?"
God only revealed, for our study, one side of the sphere, the other side is hidden from our view, because in our temporal state of existence, we could not yet understand it. God's purpose is much larger than the mere redemption of sinners. There are lessons to be learned by the observing Angels. A Universe to be cleansed, from the fall of Satan and Adam. A Father's love gift for His Son, which is not yet completed in time but stands completed in Eternity.
If one understands Eternity, the ever present NOW, then God knowing the exact number of those given (past tense) to the Son, should not surprise anyone. Only in the temporal sense is God waiting on the plan of redemption to complete. In the Eternal sense, God is waiting on nothing, the plan has always been completed (the ever present now). The chosen of God are all with Him in Eternity, and always have been. You cannot place time into Eternity. There is "order" in Eternity but not "time". Time came into existence the moment God created but God is not Temporal, He is Eternal. Time has no bearing on God. His Decrees go out in their proper order but not in a temporal sequence, (past, present, future). These Decrees are received into the temporal plane in time order because, Eternity cannot exist on a temporal plane. The Temporal being cannot invade Eternity, it must step out of time into Eternity. However the Eternal may invade the Temporal. This how things like "the mount of transfiguration" took place, even though in time, no Resurrection had taken place. This is how an Old Testament prophet, can just disappear, into the heavens. A Divinely given right, to step out of time, alive.
For some who read this, it will seem like Philosophy or Humanism but it has taken Centuries of Prayer and meditation, to come to this understanding. Many of the things written in the Bible, were influenced by the Holy Spirit, on the writer, with an Eternal view clearly pressed upon the writers mind. Things, such as the language of being Predestinated, Elected, Called, Justified and glorified -- all in the past tense, while many are still future, for the believer trapped in time. This is the language of Eternity.