Forget the Mayan Apocalypse, the new date for doomsday is January 1 2017, claim Sword of God cult

The world may have escaped Armageddon yesterday but the actual Apocalypse is nigh on four years away, Doomsdayers have claimed.
The new date for annihilation is January 1, 2017, according to followers of The Sword of God Brotherhood.

They believe the 'Prophet Gabriel' told the Brotherhood that the 'dying time' will come on this date and only members of the cult will survive, while everyone else perishes in 'hellfire.'

The gloomy prediction follows yesterday's scenes of people around the world preparing for oblivion at 11.11am, when the 5,126-year calender of the ancient Mayan civilisation ended.

It proved particularly anti-climactic for the few dozen people who climbed a mountain in Bugarach, south west France, where they believed they would be rescued by aliens hidden inside the rock.

Bugarach's mayor Jean-Pierre Delord had described the situation as no laughing matter and pleaded with the world not to descend on the small town.

Ian Napolitano, 47, from Southport, Merseyside, arrived with a dinghy as he braced himself for the apocalyptic wave.
He told The Sun: 'I don't know what to say. But I'm sort of glad the world hasn't ended.'

Elsewhere, Mayans marked the end of the solar cycle at Guatemala's Gran Jaguar Temple, while there was a bumper crowd at Stonehenge, where end of the world onlookers joined Druids celebrating the winter solstice.

Other predictions for oblivion include 2023, when Judgement Day will be upon us according to theologist Ian Gurny.
But with some luck of the Irish, man will be around for a little while longer. Irish saint Malachy foretold in 1143 that there would be 112 more popes before catastrophe - and we are on 111.

A more realistic forecast, however, is approximately 4,500,000,000 AD, when the Sun will swell into a giant star, engulfing Mercury, Venus, Earth and possibly Mars.