I chuckle at all of these doomsday scenarios for the WTS. In twenty years, they'll be smaller, but fine. They've twice survived two major schizms and lost 80% of their membership and survived. They are therefore experienced at it. Why do you think they are getting more and more hardline even though members are leaking out into the real world like water through a sieve?
If they again lose 80% of their membership they can count on the 20% who are braindead, or too tired, or too old the stick around no-matter-what. That will still leave them a million + worker bees. Sell off some extra Corporation property and defunct Kingdom Halls here and there, pay no taxes on the money, cut down staff and they've still got a racket going.
Of course, the other possibility that has been discussed ad nauseum is that they will go mainstream. Considering how slowly the WTS moves to change anything (unless their pocket book is in jeopardy) and considering how far out in left field they are from anything remotely resembling mainstream, it would take them two generations to make the transition.
If they wanted to go mainstream they should follow the lead of their former apocalyptic sister-cult, the World Wide Church of God. They switched from wacko to mainstream almost overnight. They made such a dramatic switch that the latest edition of the classic book "Kingdom of the Cults" has delisted them as a cult. I doubt such a swift transition is possible for the dinosaurs in Brooklyn, though.
Farkel
Farkel