No, the Protestant notion of election has been REJECTED by YOUR Church for the vast majority of years since Pentecost. Neither of us can say to what degree it was believed by the people or not until the Reformation. Augustine, who couldn't have been a lone wolf, absolutely put forth the idea, and I assume that counts as being "known". In fact, many of Augustine's ideas are agreed to by today's Protestants, so I reject any idea or suggestion that Luther, Calvin, et al., just "made it all up" in the 16th century.
As to the "spin" of Strong's, as you say, you are in a minority. Strong's is the most widely used and respected Christian concordance of the KJV in the entire world.
“As to the “spin” of Strong’s, as you say, you are in a minority. Strong’s is the most widely used and respected Christian concordance of the KJV in the entire world.”
Considering that Latin Rite Catholics, Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox make up the overwhelming majority of Christians in the world, I sincerely doubt that Strong is either the most widely used or respected concordance. Now that said, I obviously was in a particularly and uncharacteristically pissy mood when I posted #13518, wasn’t I! Sorry!
The Scriptural basis for our understanding of election is a direct threat to the power the RCC claims to have. So it's not surprising that during the dark ages, when church and state were merged, that any open discussion about it would not be allowed.
After all you can't have a bunch of people running around believing they are saved without the church controlling the process. ;-0