In these days of perplexity multitudes are turning away from the old landmarks of faith and are following in strange ways and after strange gods. Into the forbidden and enchanted ground of occultism men are wandering, never to return to the faith of their fathers. The advance of spiritism is alarming. Leaders in scientific thought, ministers of orthodox churches, editors of long-established church papers, openly declare their faith in this movement, which professes communication with the dead.
Now and then the headlines of the great metropolitan dailies blaze forth the news of some supposed message from the great unknown. And the world looks on in helpless fascination, while spiritism, with its Christ-like phrases and its mystic allurements, challenges the men of earth to enter its portals.
It is not surprising that men are lured into the dark mysteries of the séance. There comes into some home a messenger of death; drapes of darkness are hung upon the walls, shades of sadness are drawn over the windows, and the vacant chair tells the sad story. “They return,” comes the enchanting call of spiritism, “they return with tidings from the great beyond; they return with a message of hope and cheer; they return with healing balm for bleeding hearts.” A voice from beyond the tomb is heard, a messenger from the spirit world speaks through mysterious mutterings, and the lonely mourner seeks to drown his sorrow by delving deep into the mystic art.
A MALIGNANT POWER
There is no need of attempting to discredit the innumerable “proofs,” the attested “demonstrations” of the séance chamber, for no sooner is one manifestation shown to be the result of trickery than a hundred more are brought forward which cannot be ascribed to the magician’s wiles. But it is well to turn the searchlight of truth upon this dark agency of death, to reveal the hidden voice behind the mask of the departed, to expose the malignant power that masquerades as an angel of light.
In the sixteenth chapter of the book of Revelation is a description of the last battle that will be fought in this world,—the battle of Armageddon. In this conflict hatred reaches the moment of its greatest intensity. But there is something dark and sinister behind the movements of men; there is an unseen, an impelling power that drives men on to battle. “They are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” Verse 14.
Men may imagine that sin is only an apparent evil; they may speak of death as a friend and not an enemy; they may say that the devil is a myth “born of superstition and ignorance,” but it is a fact, nevertheless, that this old world of ours, sick unto death with the cancer of sin, madly delirious, and in its death throes, is largely controlled in its seething hatreds, its inordinate pleasures, its unbridled passions, by the malignant powers of darkness.
“Wicked spirits gather round thee, legions of those foes to God—
Principalities most mighty—walk unseen the earth abroad;
They are gathering to the battle, strengthened for the last deep strife,
Christian, arm! be watchful, ready, struggle manfully for life.”
Once an angel of light, Lucifer made himself a messenger of darkness and death. Once a shining angel of peace, he made himself the archangel, and led a host of angels into rebellion against God. These fallen angels are the powers of darkness that have waged relentless warfare against the truth of God and against the government of God. They are the instigators of every evil passion, the originators of every dark and horrible deed. Here in this world the deadly conflict between light and darkness, truth and error, righteousness and unrighteousness is being fought out. And the record of your life and mine is a record of how we stand in this conflict of the ages.
SATAN IS FIRST “FAMILIAR SPIRIT”
There is a spirit world. The spirits appear in the séance, but they are the spirits of demons impersonating the dead for the sole purpose of deceiving the living and binding them with the fetters of sin. Spiritism is not a new religion. Its modern manifestation may have started with the Fox sisters and the mysterious rappings, but spiritism is as old as sin itself. Its founder was the father of lies. (John 8:44.) In the Garden of Eden came the great test of the loyalty of man to the law of God. The devil as the first familiar spirit, through the serpent as his medium, told our first parents that God had deceived them. “Ye shall not surely die,” were the deceptive words, and these words are the foundation of spiritism,—its basic creed.
The spirits that appear at the instigation of the medium are not the spirits of the dead, because the dead are dead. Death is not life in a higher sphere. Death is not a larger life. Death is the opposite of life. In death there is no life. Let me read to you the positive declaration of the word of God: “The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6. Spiritism says, “The dead know more than the living.” The Bible says, “The dead know not anything.” Spiritism says that in death man finds a fuller expression of a more abundant life. God says that even the thoughts of men perish at death. Which statement do you believe?
In the dogma of the “immortality of the soul” is found the key to the phenomenal success of spiritism. The late Arthur Conan Doyle challenged the inconsistency of the religionist who rejects spiritism and yet accepts her cardinal doctrine, and said, “How strange that the church should attack us for confirming its own doctrine of immortality,—its basic creed, in fact.” Who could answer such a challenge? If the soul is immortal, then spiritism confirms the fact. If man cannot die, if to his “immortal” spirit is given the power to hover around the abode of the living, then spiritism demonstrates the power of communication. Little wonder that so many conscientious Christians follow the will-o’-the-wisp into the desert of demonism, when they cherish the creed that makes spiritism the deception it is.
There was the venerable minister, Russell H. Conwell, who wandered perilously near to the enchanted land. He said: “Some years ago I had a dream that recurred every morning just before I awoke. It seemed to me that the figure of Mrs. Conwell appeared each morning and sat smiling at the foot of my bed. It must be, I thought, a delusion of old age. Yet the figure was as real as life, smiling and asking questions and answering my own. One morning I said, or seemed to myself to say, ‘I know you really aren’t there.’”
“‘Oh, but I am,’ she replied.
“‘To-morrow I will ask you a question; will you be ready for it?’”
She nodded. The next morning she was there again. . . .
“‘Tell me, then, where are my discharge papers?’ I had not seen them for years. . . .”
“‘She answered, ‘Why, they are in the black japanned box behind the books in your library.’”
“I jumped out of bed and found them.”
No one would be deceived by the fallen angel who masquerades behind the form of
GOD WARNED AGAINST SPIRITISM
a dead loved one if he would believe the Bible statement, “The dead know not anything.” Immortality is a gift of God that is given to man on the resurrection morning. Man is “mortal,” and only through Christ and at the second coming of Christ does he receive the crown of immortality. The false doctrine of the natural “immortality” of the soul precludes the belief in a future resurrection, annihilates the Bible fundamental of a future judgment, and relegates to the mythical the blessed hope of the second coming of Christ. But how precious is the Bible doctrine in contrast with the pagan deception! “Behold, I show you a mystery,” we read in 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52: “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
GOD WARNED AGAINST SPIRITISM
Modern spiritism finds its counterpart in ancient necromancy. What an abomination it was in days of old when men forsook the word of God and sought after those who had familiar spirits! From the throne of God came the warning against the corruption that was so common in heathen nations: “There shall not be found among you anyone . . . that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord.” Deuteronomy 18:10-12.
Spiritistic leaders do not hesitate to cite the example of Saul and the witch of En-dor as Bible proof for the reality of the messages from the spirit world. It would be well for us to read the record as it is given in 1 Samuel 28. Because of willful disobedience King Saul had lost his right to the throne and his privilege of calling upon the Lord as his helper. In his extremity Saul sought for a woman that had a “familiar spirit.” What a tragedy it is for a man who has once rejoiced in the truth of God and has been called a friend of God so to fall into sin that he will deliberately follow in the way that God calls an abomination! And the sad record is left us, “So Saul died . . . for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit.” 1 Chronicles 10:13.
The home of the Fox family, at Hydesville, New York, where modern spiritism is supposed to have originated in 1848. However, the delusions of spiritism are as old as sin.
When Saul was in touch with God, he decreed the destruction of all who had “familiar spirits.” After his sin and rejection of God, he turned to the abominations of witchcraft. But it was not Samuel with whom Saul communed through the mediumship of the witch of En-dor. From the description given by the medium, Saul judged the spirit to be Samuel. “He said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel.” Would Samuel, if in heaven, still be a bent old man, clad in a mantle? If in heaven, why was he called up from the earth? Would God permit a dissolute woman, living contrary to His law, to call up His prophet? Could she make the prophet answer, when God had refused to answer Saul? It was not Samuel with whom Saul communed, but a fallen angel. King Saul paid the penalty for his transgression.
A TRANSGRESSION OF GOD’S LAW
Those who surrender themselves to the working of the occult forces, transgress the command of God, align themselves with midnight paganism, and seal their own destiny. From Leviticus, chapter 20, verse 6, I read: “The soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, . . . I will even set My face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.” Spiritism has discarded the long-worn cloak of paganism, and stands before us clad as an angel of light. But underneath the angelic mask may be seen the “cloven hoof.” Every Christian fundamental is set at naught by this deceptive Antichrist. It repudiates the fall of man, the sinless incarnation of Christ, the atonement, and the gospel. It places Buddha, the god of pagan Hinduism, in a higher “sphere” than Christ. It teaches the abominable theory of the transmigration of souls. It commits the unpardonable sin of representing the work of Satan as that of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible is our only safeguard against the multifarious deceptions of these last days. The “giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” is one of the marked signs of the “last days.” And, assuredly, the powers of darkness are now being marshaled for the last stand against righteousness. The call of God to-day is a “back-to-the-Bible” message. If we stand upon this rock of truth, we can never be drawn10into the quicksands of occultism. If we let its wondrous light illumine our pathway, we can never wander near the precipice that rises above the valley of destruction. While philosophers and kings are consulting the ouija board and the familiar spirits, while the world of religion is being drawn into the confederacy of evil, we must consult God’s great Book of truth, and form a covenant with Him by prayer. May God help us in these unsettled days to forsake every false doctrine, to accept every Bible truth. And then, as Jesus comes in majestic power, as the righteous dead are raised to immortality, as the righteous living are transformed and taken with them to the mansions above, we shall be numbered with that victorious throng.
Next Week
By Editor
Angels
Next Week
IN our next issue we will begin a series of six articles on the angels and their work. Altogether too few people know just what the Scriptural teaching is concerning the angels. A thorough knowledge of this subject is vital in an age when the good angels do so much in aid of the Christian, and when the evil angels will play the part of deception and fraud. The articles are,—
ANGELS, THE MINISTERS OF GOD
IS THE EXISTENCE OF ANGELS INCREDIBLE?
WAR IN HEAVEN
THE WORK OF THE GOOD ANGELS
THE WORK OF THE EVIL ANGELS
WILL YOU EVER BE AN ANGEL?
These articles have been written for the SIGNS OF THE TIMES by Gwynne Dalrymple of Rochester, New Hampshire.
EXPLORING YOUR BIBLE
By Rose E. Boose
with the guidance of an expert Bible teacher
Miss ROSE E. BOOSE
The Second Coming of Christ
As you have followed the Bible studies during the past few weeks, you have read from the word of God that through the gift of Jesus Christ, and His death, God has made provision for a full and complete redemption for all mankind. Man is not redeemed to continue his existence in this present condition, with sin, sorrow, and death on every hand. God has better plans for him. Jesus expressed this in the last prayer uttered in the upper room before He went to Gethsemane: “Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedest Me before the foundation of the world.” John 17:24. This is the desire of God for His people; and man, who was created for His fellowship and glory, will be reunited with the family of heaven and be partakers of this glory. This reunion is about to be realized.
COMFORTING WORDS
After Jesus told His disciples that He must return to the Father, sorrow filled their hearts, and He comforted them by saying, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:1-3. And when for the last time He led them to the Mount of Olives, from which place He ascended into the heavens, the promise of His return was voiced by two angels. “Ye men of Galilee,” they said, “this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.” Acts 1:9-11. In Hebrews 9:28 we read: “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Christ will return to gather His people, for He has promised it. Then let us consider how He will come, and the events to occur when He returns.
The angels said, “This same Jesus . . . shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.” Acts 1:11. What was the manner of His departure? “While they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight.” Acts 1:9. It was a real, literal, visible ascension, and the promise is, He “shall so come in like manner” as He departed. John the revelator exclaimed: “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him.” Revelation 1:7. “I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud One sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for Thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And He that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.” Revelation 14:14-16.
CHRIST WILL RETURN
Thus we see that Christ will return to this earth. His coming will be a personal, literal, visible coming in the clouds of heaven. In the last scripture we read that He comes to reap “the harvest of the earth.” While Christ was with His disciples, He gave a parable regarding the harvest. It is the parable of the wheat and the tares, recorded in Matthew 13:24-30, 36-42. Of the wheat and the tares He said, “Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into My barn.” In His explanation of the parable Christ said, “The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; . . . the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.” Then, in harmony with Revelation 14:14-16, when Christ comes in the clouds of heaven to reap the harvest of the earth, that is the end of this present world. One more text on the purpose of Christ’s coming: “As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” “And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matthew 24:27, 30, 31.
Paul continues the picture of this wonderful gathering of the saints: “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17. No one is able to picture in his mind the glory, the wonder, the rapture, of that moment when the voice of Jesus, as He descends from heaven, with all His holy angels, reverberates through the length and breadth of this earth, calling the sleeping saints from their dusty graves! Then “the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and the grave delivered up the dead which were in them.” Revelation 20:13, margin. The angels, who are the reapers, hasten to the uttermost parts of the earth to gather the redeemed of all ages to meet the Lord in the clouds.
A COMPLETE RESTORATION
In 1 Thessalonians 4:16 we are told that only the “dead in Christ” are raised at this time; and then it adds, “We which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” Verse 17. On this point of translation of the living saints we read again: “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment,Twelvein the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-53. The righteous dead are raised with new, immortal bodies, the living saints are changed from mortality to immortality in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. A complete restoration will be realized. The image of God will be restored to them. It is stated, “Our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like13unto His glorious body.” Philippians 3:20, 21. In 1 John 3:1-3 we read in part, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. . . . Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.” Surely such knowledge and such a hope should prompt to holy living.
GLAD DAY COMING
For this glad day, God’s faithful ones in all ages have patiently waited. Job said, “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.” Job 19:25. One of Paul’s last statements was, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord . . . shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:8. Paul had ere this admonished the believers to “live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Titus 2:12, 13.
Isaiah pictures to us the joyous welcome the righteous will give their Lord as He returns in the clouds of heaven. With a shout of holy joy they exclaim: “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” Isaiah 25:9.
While to some the coming of Christ will bring unspeakable joy, to those who have rejected His mercy and loving-kindness it will be a day of terror and anguish. God, in His word, has faithfully presented both sides of the picture; and the effects of Christ’s second coming upon the ungodly will be studied next week.
Our Friend
By Robert Hare
ROBERT HARE
And art thou lonely, child of clay?
Our Christ was lonely too;
He stood in Pilate's judgment hall
With not a friend in view.
Alone! and yet the Lord and King;
Alone! yet all divine,—
O lonely heart, why fearful then?
He is a Friend of thine.
And art thou weary? See His steps
Falter with those unblest,
He toiled for bread and yet He calls
The weary to His rest.
Nor toil nor fitful fears can vex
The heart that trusts His will,
His love can charm and overpass
All that would work thee ill.
And art thou poor? His poverty
Was wider, deeper far;
He had not where to lay His head
‘Neath moon or glittering star.
The lonely night winds fanned His
brow,
While angels heard Him pray—
The dewy sod His altar shrine
After the close of day.
And now He lives a constant Friend
For every lonely heart,
With every weary toil-worn soul,
His Spirit bears a part,
Fitted to meet each need of life,
The great High Priest divine,
His love can measure every grief
That meets your life and mine.
Ask the B DOCTOR
“MEDICINAL” WINE
“I am enclosing a clipping from the ‘Open Forum’ column of a daily of this state. The statement is made by a doctor. It seems to make an extravagant claim as to the alleged virtue of liquor.”
It is not surprising that many doctors are opposed to Prohibition. When I went to school, there was a set of drinking medical students who were carousing a good deal of the time, and we know that in many cases there are doctors who are “pretty good” if you can find them sober. Now, of course, you naturally expect that such doctors are thoroughly opposed to Prohibition, and do all they can to discredit it.
And, naturally, men of this type find excuse for giving liquor to their patients. Moreover, there are many of them who make quite a living selling liquor, or at least selling prescriptions to men who want to get liquor that they consider better quality than bootleg liquor; and, very naturally, these “bootlegging” physicians are very much incensed that the law does not permit them to sell more than a small quantity of liquor to one patient within a limited time.
I do not mean to intimate that every man who prescribes liquor is a bootlegger, but many of them make quite a little profit by giving prescriptions for liquor to men who absolutely do not need it.
Another thing, there are many physicians who have no use for liquor, never prescribe it under any circumstances, and I think get along just as well as those who think they must have it.
TUBERCULOSIS?
“A girl has bad night sweats. Two doctors have examined her, and they say it is not tuberculosis.”
Sweats such as you describe are characteristic of tuberculosis. The average doctor cannot detect tuberculosis until it has advanced to a dangerous stage. That may seem a queer statement, but it is a fact. Did your doctors take an X ray of her chest? Did they examine her sputum carefully? There is great danger that the girl has tuberculosis, yet, in some cases, a neurosis will cause a sweat, and sometimes it may be a night sweat.
COAL TAR DRUGS
“Is acetanilide or acetidin harmful for a heart with muscular weakness? I am suffering torture from pleurisy.”
Acetanilide is hard on the heart, and may in some cases act suddenly when you least expect it. It is not a good drug for a bad heart. I suppose by acetidin you mean acetphenetidin, which is the same as phenacetin, a heart depressant. I am hoping that you had relief from your trouble. I hardly know how to direct treatment for your condition across the continent, when I know so little about it.
Fomentations or alternate hot and cold applications to the chest may benefit you.
Readers of the “Signs of the Times” who send questions regarding health, with two cents return postage, to Dr. Heald will receive prompt reply by mail. But, remember, he can not diagnose or treat disease by mail. Persons who are sick need an examination and the personal attention of a physician.
No questions will be answered direct through this column. The answers which appear here are selected from the doctor’s correspondence.
Send questions, with a two-cent stamp, to Dr. G. H. Heald, 140 Eastern Avenue, Takoma Park, D. C.
SLEEPING SICKNESS
“Is there any cure for sleeping sickness?”
There are two kinds of sleeping sickness, African and the one that is common in this country, which follows the “flu.” Sleeping sickness, however, is not the real name for this form. Some call it “sleepy sickness.” Very little is known about the treatment of this condition. It is evidently some infection in the central nervous system.
CHEST TROUBLE
“I had pleurisy three years ago. It hurts me now between shoulder blades, through chest, and from right side to left side. Is there any cure? Should I diet for it? I do not eat any unclean meats. Everybody who sees me says I am the picture of health. I am tall, and weigh 190 pounds.”
The only way to know the exact condition in your chest would be to have a complete examination, including X ray.
I think, however, you would feel very much better if you did not weigh so much, but not knowing more about you I cannot be sure. Even a six-foot woman should not weigh more than about 175 pounds, and even those weighing 175 would be better off not to weigh more than 160.
Perhaps these pains in your chest are caused by your diet. I would suggest a lighter diet, with no meat, no tea or coffee.
HAY FEVER
“Can hay fever be cured, and if so where can I get a cure?”
Hay fever is caused usually by the pollen of some weed or grass or tree. Such a hay fever is seasonal, coming at a certain time every year. Some are sensitized to one pollen, some to another. The best way is to get away from the pollen. One can sleep much better to have a fine muslin over the windows so as to keep out all pollen.
Hay fever that is not seasonal is often caused by some animal emanation,—the dander of horses and cows (one correspondent always had an attack after milking. Many have an attack after currying a horse or riding after a horse). Some have an attack when sleeping on a feather pillow.
There are preparations that can be injected into the body to relieve the condition, but it is not always successful, and usually has to be repeated every year.
BUNION
“Please give treatment, or perhaps cure, for bunion.”
The treatment for bunions is surgical, though you may be able to get a bunion pad from your druggist that will give some help.
Bunions are caused by poor-fitting shoes, such as so many of the women wear now.
EYE MUSCLES
“For the last three or four weeks my little girl, aged five, when she looks at me a certain way, is cross-eyed. It is mostly in the left eye. Can you explain this?”
You should take this girl to an oculist or else to a nerve specialist for examination. You should not delay it.
ASTHMA
“I have had asthma very severely for about two years. Sometimes I can do nothing.”
There is usually a definite cause for asthma, and if you can determine on that and take care of it, you will get the better of the asthma.
There are some doctors who specialize on asthma, and a doctor of this kind would do you very much more good than the doctor who has not made much study on diseases of this kind.
ADVERTISING REMEDIES
“Is it possible for the blood to be in a subnormal condition so that it cannot take up calcium? What would be the result if such a condition existed? Do you think Calcium S— would remedy such a condition?”
There may be a possibility for the blood to be in a subnormal condition so it cannot take up calcium, but I very much doubt that Calcium S— would be the remedy. In the first place, you should know from a reputable physician that such a condition is present; and in the second place, if you need such a remedy, you should get it from a reputable physician. No man who advertises remedies in this way is reputable. He is in the game for dollars. He says anything in the advertisement he thinks will compel you to give up your dollars to him. Remember that. Steer clear of all advertised remedies, and you will be better off.
VALVULAR HEART DISEASE
“I have valvular heart disease. It has involved three valves. How long can I live considering that I have had it for five years already?”
A person with valvular heart disease may live a long time. It depends upon other things that I could not know without making an examination. You may live ten to twenty years, or only five years, or six months. I cannot say. Take life easy; do not overdo or strain yourself, and do not worry.
