Benoist
Benoist said he had died in 1704. He had been a monk without belief. He entered religious life for status, misused power, corrupted others, and cruelly persecuted those who opposed him. He said prisoners in his monastery were left to starve, and some were killed to silence their cries. He appeared spontaneously to a medium in Bordeaux and said he was suffering horribly.
The medium’s hand begins writing...
MediumWhat were you in your lifetime?
BenoistA monk without belief.
MediumWas your lack of belief your only fault?
BenoistIt was enough to lead me into every other fault.
MediumCan you give us details of your life? A sincere confession will help you.
BenoistI had no money, and I was lazy.
BenoistI entered religious life, not from any calling, but to gain position.
BenoistI was intelligent, and I made a place for myself.
BenoistI had influence, and I misused power.
BenoistI was vicious, and I led into corrupt living those whom I should have led toward virtue.
BenoistI was hard-hearted, and I persecuted those who dared to blame my excesses.
BenoistThe dungeons of my monastery were full of people I left there to die of hunger.
BenoistIf hunger made them groan too loudly, I had them silenced by a violent death.
BenoistSince then, I have been paying for my crimes.
BenoistI suffer all the torments of hell.
BenoistMy victims stir up the fire that devours me without consuming me.
BenoistI am constantly chased by unsatisfied lust and hunger.
BenoistMy burning lips are tortured by thirst that not one cooling drop relieves.
BenoistAll the elements are unleashed against me.
BenoistPray for me.
MediumDo you not receive some relief from the prayers offered for all the dead?
BenoistDo you think they have much power?
BenoistThey have over me exactly the power of the prayers I only pretended to offer for others.
BenoistI did not fulfill my task.
BenoistSo the reward is refused to me.
MediumHave you repented?
BenoistOh, long ago...but only after I had suffered for a long time and horribly.
BenoistI was deaf to the cries of my innocent victims.
BenoistNow the Master is deaf to my cries.
BenoistJustice!
MediumYou admit that God is just. Put your trust in His goodness and call on Him for help.
BenoistThe howling of the demons is louder than my voice.
BenoistMy cries are choked in my throat, for they fill my mouth with boiling pitch.
BenoistI did it, great...
He could not finish writing the word God.
MediumAre you still too tied to earthly ideas to understand that the tortures you endure are completely moral?
BenoistI endure them.
BenoistI feel them.
BenoistI see my executioners.
BenoistTheir faces are only too well known to me.
BenoistEvery one of them has a name that pounds in my brain.
MediumWhat made you commit such atrocities?
BenoistThe vices that filled me...the brutality of my passions.
MediumHave you never begged good spirits to help you out of your misery?
BenoistI see only the demons of hell.
MediumWere you afraid of them during your life on Earth?
BenoistNo. I feared nothing.
BenoistAnnihilation was what I believed.
BenoistPleasure, at any cost, was what I worshiped.
BenoistThe gods of hell have not abandoned me.
BenoistI gave my life to them.
BenoistThey will never let me go.
MediumDo you see no end to your suffering?
BenoistThere is no end to what is infinite.
MediumGod's goodness is infinite. There is nothing that cannot end if He wills it.
BenoistIf only He would will it.
MediumWhy did you come to write here?
BenoistI do not know how it happened.
BenoistBut I wanted to speak, just as I would want to cry out to relieve my suffering.
MediumDo the demons try to stop you from writing?
BenoistNo, but they are beside me.
BenoistThey hear me.
BenoistThat is why I do not want to stop writing.
MediumIs this the first time you have written like this?
BenoistYes.
MediumDid you know that spirits could communicate with people in this way?
BenoistNo.
MediumThen how did you find it out?
BenoistI do not know.
MediumWhat feeling did you have when you came to me?
BenoistA calming of my terrors.
MediumHow did you realize that you were here?
BenoistIt was as if I had woken up from sleep.
MediumWhat did you do in order to communicate with me?
BenoistI do not understand it.
BenoistDid you not feel how it was?
MediumI am not asking about what I felt, but about what you felt. Try to see what you are doing now while I write for you.
BenoistYou are my thought.
BenoistThat is all I see of it.
MediumSo you did not choose to make me write?
BenoistNo.
BenoistIt is I who am writing.
BenoistI think through you.
MediumTry to see more clearly what you are doing. Good spirits around you will help you understand.
BenoistNo, good angels do not come into hell.
MediumYou are not alone. Look around you. Try to see.
BenoistI feel that I am being helped to think through you.
BenoistYour hand obeys me.
BenoistI do not touch you, and yet I hold you.
BenoistI do not understand it.
MediumAsk your protectors for help. We will pray together.
BenoistYou're going to leave me!
BenoistStay with me.
BenoistThey'll seize me again!
BenoistI beg you... stay! Stay!
MediumI cannot stay any longer. Come back every day. We'll pray together, and good spirits will help you.
BenoistYes...I want to ask pardon.
BenoistAsk for me.
BenoistI cannot ask for myself.
After the communication, guidance was given about his condition.
Mediums’ GuideCourage.
Mediums’ GuideWhat you ask for this spirit will be granted, but his atonement is far from over.
Mediums’ GuideThe atrocities he committed are unspeakable and countless.
Mediums’ GuideHis guilt is even greater because he had intelligence, education, and knowledge.
Mediums’ GuideHe sinned with full awareness of the evil in his conduct, and so his sufferings are terrible.
Mediums’ GuideBut with the help and example of prayer, they will be lessened, because he will know they can come to an end, and hope will sustain him.
Mediums’ GuideGod sees that he is on the road to repentance, and that is why he has been allowed to communicate with you, so that he may be encouraged and sustained.
Mediums’ GuideThink of him often.
Mediums’ GuideWe leave him in your care, so that with your guidance you may strengthen the good resolutions that will form in him.
Mediums’ GuideHis repentance will be followed by the desire to repair his crimes.
Mediums’ GuideHe will then ask for a new life on Earth, to practice goodness instead of the evil he has done.
Mediums’ GuideAnd when the Lord sees that he is sincere and firm in his good intentions, he will be helped to see the divine light that will guide him to safety, and he will be welcomed back like the returning prodigal son.
Mediums’ GuideBe confident of success.
Mediums’ GuideWe will help you in this task.
Allan places Benoist among repentant criminals even though human justice never punished him, because true criminality lies in the evil done, not only in the punishment given by earthly courts.