No, God does not arbitrarily or unconditionally predestine (preselect) specific individuals to heaven (salvation) or to hell (damnation) before they are born, independent of human response.

Predestination and election in Paul’s epistles are interpreted very differently from how they are in Reformed/Calvinist circles or even in some other dispensational systems. Mid-Acts dispensationalists reject Calvinistic unconditional election (where God sovereignly chooses specific individuals for salvation and passes over/reprobates others to damnation, often tied to double predestination). Instead, we believe that man must exercise a free-will response to the gospel of grace, with predestination focused on God’s foreknown plan for believers in Christ rather than individual selection apart from faith.

According to the Apostle Paul, predestination is corporate and to a predetermined destiny/glorification for those who believe, not individual preselection to salvation or damnation.

Ephesians 1:4-5,11 reads, “He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world…Having predestinated us…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.” “Us” refers to believers in the Body of Christ (Jew and Gentile united in one new man). God predestined the plan and position (adoption, inheritance, conformity to Christ’s image—Rom. 8:29-30) for all who would be “in Christ” by faith. It is not God arbitrarily picking individuals for heaven and others for hell.

Romans 8:29-30 reads, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” This order of events is as follows: foreknowledge → predestination → calling → justification → glorification.

Foreknowledge is God’s knowing in advance those who would believe (not causing belief irresistibly). Predestination secures the destiny of believers to be conformed to Christ’s image and glorified—not a decree forcing some to believe and others to reject.

We also see that election is primarily corporate (the Body of Christ as a group) or to service, not unconditional individual salvation. God elects (chooses) the mystery program itself and those who respond in faith to Paul’s gospel (1 Cor. 15:1-4; Eph. 1:13—“after that ye believed, ye were sealed”).

In Israel’s program (e.g., Rom. 9-11 context of national election, Jacob/Esau, Pharaoh), there was corporate/national election and hardening for prophetic purposes, but that’s not the pattern for the dispensation of grace. No one today is predestined to hell; damnation results from personal rejection of the truth (Rom. 1:18-20; 2 Thes. 2:10-12).

In today’s dispensation of grace, salvation is by grace through faith alone, available to whosoever will believe Paul’s gospel (Rom. 3:21-28; 10:9-13; Eph. 2:8-9). No one is irresistibly regenerated first (contra-Calvinism); the gospel itself is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16).

While God desires all to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9), He does not cause all to be saved. Christ’s death was sufficient for all (2 Cor. 5:14-15; 1 Tim. 2:6), but its salvational aspects are only applied to those who believe. Human responsibility is real: People go to hell because they reject God’s offer in grace, not because God preselected them for it.

The idea that God selects some for salvation and others for damnation is called double predestination, and we soundly reject this idea because: (1) It would make God the author of unbelief and sin, contradicting His character; (2) It undermines the urgency of Pauline evangelism (2 Cor. 5:11,20) if outcomes are fixed regardless; and (3) It confuses Israel’s election (national, with some conditional aspects) with the Body’s (grace-based, faith response).

In summary: God does not preselect individuals for heaven or hell in the sense of unconditional, individual double predestination. He foreknows, predestines the plan of salvation by grace through faith in Christ’s finished work (as revealed to Paul), and secures the eternal destiny of all who believe. Heaven is for whosoever trusts Paul’s gospel; hell is the just consequence for those who reject it. This upholds both God’s sovereignty in providing a genuine offer to all and human responsibility in response.

See also:
Accepted by the Father – Ephesians 1:6
What is the Mystery of God’s Will? — God’s Eternal Purpose in Christ Jesus?
According to God’s Good Pleasure