Huntsville Times Article

Rites and wrongs: 'God allowed us to be His puppets'

Sunday, October 16, 2005
By CHALLEN STEPHENS
Times Staff Writer

Couple maintain they acted after vision in dream

DECATUR - Just a few hours earlier Adam Turgeon said he had fully welcomed Jesus Christ into his heart. Then, he said, God showed him what to do.

Seated on the balcony outside a friend's apartment in Hartselle, the pivotal vision arrived between coffee and cigarettes.

The images lasted a few seconds. Turgeon saw himself. He saw his companion, Lisa Marie Wagner. They were tearing up a church. He told his girlfriend what he had seen. Wagner shared that she'd dreamt of the same scenario a few nights earlier.

The coincidence consumed the two of them. "I try to keep a low profile," said Turgeon. "But that was pretty much confirmation." God, they agreed, wanted the two of them to spread a message: Love Him without worshiping objects or "manmade religion."

Two days passed.

On Sunday, Oct. 2, Turgeon, Wagner and three friends drove into Decatur, where they wandered into ongoing services at the Annunciation of the Lord Catholic Church.

Turgeon and Wagner sat toward the front. "I didn't know what I was going to do," said Turgeon. "Nothing was going through my mind." The others stayed toward the back.

At a pause in the Mass, Turgeon and Wagner both rose and approached the altar. "It wasn't me and it wasn't Adam. It was Christ within both of us," said Wagner. Church members are still stunned and outraged by what happened next.

End Times

Last week, Turgeon spoke from behind glass and metal wire in the Morgan County Jail, his slim frame engulfed by a baggy jumpsuit striped black and white. He often closed his eyes as he attempted to make sense of what led him here, jailed until trial for want of $750 for bail.

He talked of being homeless, of being divorced, of being uncertain and then certain that God exists. He talked of the End Times. He pointed to signs of doom, to hurricanes and a tsunami. He cited the recent quake in Pakistan.

He said judgment is coming.

"It's terrifying to go through this. This is very frightening," said Wagner, during a separate interview with The Times last week.

Neither are from the area. And both say there isn't anyone they can call for bail, advice or help. But both say God meant for them to be here, meant for them to do what they did.

"We do not do drugs and we are perfectly sane, though it does not seem it, I'm sure," assured Wagner.

From New England

Turgeon, 27, said he was raised as a Christian in Manchester, N.H., and was baptized at age 5. Wagner, 26, said she was raised Catholic, the youngest of five brothers and sisters in Milford, Conn.

Both had been married and living in Franklin, N.H., when they first met. Both had two children. Wagner said she played the organ in a Methodist church. Later, when both were divorced and without a home, they met again. That was little more than a year ago. Wagner said they were living in the music shop where she worked when they decided to leave New England to stay with a friend in Decatur.

She said they arrived in March.

Turgeon got a job in a restaurant on the Beltline. Here they met 20-year-old Val Loughman and his 21-year-old wife, Emily. They later moved into their apartment in Hartselle.

On Oct. 2, the Loughmans remained at the back of the church with a fifth acquaintance who was not charged. Wagner and Turgeon rose and approached the altar.

In front of the church members, Wagner began to preach. "I do remember there was a lot of talk about idolatry," said Wagner.

Turgeon tilted the marble altar and toppled it to the floor, causing some $2,000 in damage.

Both say that God guided them.

For evidence, Wagner suggests that God elevated their abilities. "I don't like speaking in front of crowds and Adam cannot lift a 500-pound altar," she said.

'Not attacking Catholics'

Why would God want this?

Turgeon answers with talk of church members balancing checkbooks during service, of various religions worshipping only bits of the Bible. "My whole trip ... was they were bowing before objects," he said. "You don't need to bow before anything to get closer to God."

But both said they didn't know what they were going to do, and they didn't know what church or religion they would protest. "We're not attacking Catholics," said Turgeon.

Wagner said too many people revere objects instead of the Creator. She talked of people not understanding that God is all around. "He's in these bars that hold me." She talked of the need for forgiveness and salvation.

Wagner also talked of judgment upon Babylon. As a sign of the End, Turgeon said part of the stars in the night sky are suspiciously dimmer than they should be.

The church members grabbed and held all five until police arrived. Decatur police charged Turgeon, Wagner and the Loughmans with first-degree criminal mischief.

The Loughmans have declined all previous requests for interviews.

"I do feel bad for them," said Wagner. "They seem to have gotten caught up in this mix and I don't think they were quite ready. And for that I'm sorry."

In jail, both Wagner and Turgeon appear candid and calm, able to smile and eager to preach. Yet they are surprised by the enduring attention for their act. "I didn't really think it was that immense," said Wagner, adding that, personally, she wouldn't have done any of it. But it wasn't her choice. "God allowed us to be His puppets."

Turgeon said he wished there hadn't been so many children present. And he said he wished he hadn't toppled the altar.

"A simple lecture would have sufficed. If you are going to protest, just say the words."