Yes, he too gets his fair share of abuse at the pen of Keely Emerine-Mix, who apparently thinks that the very concept of "reprobation" has no legitimate usage in the English language and should be banned as a detestable heresy. (Except perhaps when used with reference to Christ Church elders and other Calvinists.)
Seriously, nobody can presume to know God's eternal decree with regard to any particular individual, but the use of the word "reprobate" does not have to presume such knowledge. The word can be and frequently is used in a provisional sense. Every Christian is aware that a person who has for all his adult life rejected the Triune God as nothing more than a fiction, a fantasy and a crutch might be led by the Holy Spirit today, tomorrow or the next day to repent and believe in that very same God. At the same time, there is a path which, if it is not repented of, leads to eternal damnation, and anyone who follows that path to the very end is definitely reprobate. Accordingly, there is nothing wrong with using the word to refer to a person who is currently on that path and who has been very doggedly and self-consciously following it for a long time -- even though by tomorrow morning he might no longer be on that path.
In this context it is kind of ironic to see an expression like "arrogance, belligerence, and combativeness" being tossed out by Mrs. Mix . . . pot, kettle, black? Anyway, it's good to know that she can always find gainful employment using her skills in Room 12.
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