There will be pundits who point to this event, that lapse, or something they perceive personally, labeling them "The End!" and there will be those who agree in each of these instances.
But unless Rusty or a successor stands before a national audience and confesses they've been without spiritual guidance for as long as he's known, and so they've just been making it up as they go, then it's likely they'll always be a mormon church, doing mormon things for mormon reasons and feeling smug about it.
That's my personal view, but lord knows I'm just here to have fun, occasionally indent, and try to use two spaces between sentences in hopes that someone, somewhere, gnashes his or her teeth in outrage.
I don't think it will "end" ever. It will instead slowly revelate itself into a gentleman's club of sorts. Men will still control everything about it and women will still hang around because they are told to.
Nobody will recognize it as a religious entity but somehow it will continue to be a tax free corporation. Donations will become dues.
Second annointings will become so commonplace that third degree annointings, fourth degree annointings, etc. will be sold to those who are willing to pay the price.
While you asked this as if it were one question, it is really two. The first one is: Will Mormonism end anytime soon; and the second one is: Will Mormonism become just another Evangelical church. My answers:
1) Mormonism will hang around as long as there are people who believe in the stories that JS and BY told so they didn't have to keep their pants up. That could be a very long time as there are many LDS families who continue to pass on their traditions to their offspring. And while some of those offspring are leaving for the big bad world, others have decided to continue holding on to the iron rod *and* passing it on to their children.
2) The second is more likely to happen possibly within the next decade or two depending on who the Mormon prophet is at the time. The LDS church has been trying for sometime now to make itself look like "just another church." It has dropped the length of its Sunday services and, more recently, it has been removing some of JS's and BY's more controversial stances from its published materials. The biggest hurdles it still faces in terms of acceptance by its evangelical brethren concern the roles of both JS and BY in the church and if the church can ever remove from the minds of most of its participants how it behaved in the past--especially towards evangelical Christians.
I'd like mormonism to steal a page from the Catholic church and start having Virgin MiaMaids appear in different locals.
This worked exceptionally well for the Catholic Church in Mexico, with the outstanding success of La Virgen de Guadalupe.
They could appear at Dirty Soda store openings and Stake dances, not to mention at Trek. Think of what a positive force the Virgin MiaMaid could be for mormonism!
Such appearances would help prove the church is true, just as it does for the Catholics ... and you know that once those two Scientology actors die, their Thetan behinds will be making appearances on behalf of Mr. Eighth Dynamic!
I think in North America and Europe, the church will continue to constrict, but those who remain will be the most devoted TBMs. Those TBMS will get a temple on every other block and be happy. Their tithes will keep the church going in these places.
The trust fund will finance the expansion into the third world countries. The question is if those countries can come up to speed on generous tithes within a reasonable amount of time. My guess is that most will not be able to do that, at which point the church will be faced with a money crunch.
I think the LDS Church will continue to morph into a seemingly Christian church to try to gain acceptance in the US and Europe but the active membership percentage numbers will continue to move from the US to third world countries in Africa.
The problem that the Church can't overcome is the internet. Despite the efforts of the Church to hide the truth of its historical records, all of the information is out there.
Humans are built to believe and be social, some more so than others, also most all religions are very social, some just don't have any reason to question and therefore it will never go away IMO. Also for alot believe is very blind.
Here where I live, (small town) never hear of anyone leaving.
I questioned because I got pissed over all I was giving, make no mistake I allowed mormonism to take over my life, I would always say to myself, something just doesn't add up, I always felt like Old Joe was up to something, but it just seemed so good. lol