Honestly, although we have heard of many dates predicting the end of this present evil world, we had not heard of this particular one, so we looked on the Internet and found out where it came from. It comes from the “Sword of God Brotherhood.” Little is known of this group. What we gleaned is that they believe that the “Prophet Gabriel” told them that Armageddon would occur in 2017 and that only their members would survive to repopulate the world. Everyone else would "perish in hellfire."
We, as Bible Students, do not believe in a literal hellfire or that only those who believe and follow Jesus now will have an opportunity for life everlasting. We believe that God will destroy this old evil world of sin and death and in its place a new world of righteousness will be ushered in (2 Peter 3:13) where all persons who ever lived, whether they believed in Jesus or not, or whether they were evil or good, will have an opportunity for everlasting life on a perfected earth due to Jesus’ all-inclusive ransom sacrifice. “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:22) If, when individuals come forth from their graves and choose not to follow the ways of righteousness set down for them by Jesus and his Church above, they will, after a period of trial (Isaiah 65:20), be taken away in the second death, metaphorically described as the "lake of fire" (Revelation 20:12-15). They will not be eternally tortured. They will just not exist.
As far as we know there are no direct prophecies found in scripture indicating how long it will be before God sets up his kingdom on earth. But there are prophecies indicating that we are very near the end of this age. In Matthew 24, we are given many signs (the re-gathering of the nation of Israel, as represented by the fig tree [verse 32], being the greatest of these) that indicate that our Lord is present and that his kingdom will soon be established. In Luke 17:26 we also learn that “just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man.” The moral condition of the world today is similar to the moral condition of the world in Noah’s day.
We believe that most of the prophecies in Matthew 24 have already been fulfilled and, thereby, confirm that our Lord is present and in the process of tearing down this present evil system. Some Christians of late have gone further and have calculated by using chronological data as to when the end of the age will actually come. As there is no direct prophecy that pinpoints a future date, we are therefore careful not to focus on any particular date. We prefer to leave the matter as a topic of interest to be studied and discussed among Christians, if their minds are so inclined.
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