STEWART. I know people have been praying and I don't see any other reason why the hurricane would make such a drastic turn

".The winds and the waves shall obey my will, peace be still, peace be still; whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea or demons or men or whatever it be, no water can swallow the ship wherein lies the Master of oceans, of earth and skies." - excerpt from a great Christian hymn

How powerful is prayer?
In the absence of an explanation by weather experts, Christian ministers are contending that God responded to thousands of fervent prayers by redirecting Hurricane Ivan away from Jamaica at the 11th hour and thus sparing the island greater, perhaps inestimable damage.

ALBERT. we have to be ready at all times to see the presence of God in the daily events of life

Packing winds of 145 miles per hour and with Jamaica squarely in its sight, 'Ivan' wobbled and veered off within hours of the predicted arrival of the eye, as Jamaicans, many of them with vivid memories of Hurricane Gilbert's walloping 16 years before, breathed a collective sigh of relief.
When Monsignor Richard Albert of the Roman Catholic Church learnt that the hurricane was headed for Jamaica, he prayed that the island would not receive a direct hit, that it would be spared, and his thoughts were also on the poor and the most vulnerable who would be suffering.

"I believe that prayer accompanies our actions through life and I certainly believe in the power of prayer, but you can never know for certain," says Albert in an interview with the Sunday Observer.
"I think that an essential aspect of prayer is the abandonment to God's will and I am not saying that the hurricane is God's will, but what I am saying is that we have to be ready at all times to see the presence of God in the daily events of life."

MILLER. God, through the wind and the waters, has spoken again

Albert, who was once dubbed 'the ghetto priest' because of his work among Kingston's sprawling slums, adds: "I am now praying that we can bind together as a nation and be united in the effort to care for the poorest of the poor who have been hurt the most."
Reverend Al Miller, popular evangelist and pastor of Fellowship Tabernacle in Kingston, firmly believes that the hurricane was a warning for the nation to repent, against the background of raging crime and violence and the general sinfulness in the country.

"We believe that this was a sign to the nation that God's judgment will come upon the nation, if this nation does not turn from the path that it is on," he argues. "God, through the wind and the waters, has spoken again."
On the eve of the hurricane's arrival, Miller was one of several pastors and Christians who urged Jamaicans to repent or face the judgment of God through the powerful storm. However, Miller says it was indeed prayers that diverted the hurricane.
On the morning of September 10 - the day Ivan was due to hit Jamaica - he and other leaders from his church prayed that the category five hurricane would be reduced to a category two, he says.

"We asked God specifically to reduce the effect of the hurricane to a (category) two.... And by night we heard it was reduced to a four, but the storm's winds that affected Jamaica were only 95 miles per hour. That is exactly what we asked God for."
Miller suggests that "when we pray according to the will and the might of God with strong faith, there is absolutely nothing more powerful in the world", adding that God has given Christians the power to exercise authority over the elements in the name of Jesus.

"We spoke to the hurricane in the manner that Jesus spoke to the wind. We told it to advance to Jamaica, stop outside on the south-east and stand still there and watch this nation and then we commanded it to go to the south and go out to sea," he tells the newspaper.
"What we feel, without question, is that the nature of the hurricane for us here is an act of God's mercy that the eye didn't hit us and didn't hit us harder than it did. The nation could not handle the effect of the hurricane if the eye had passed over the island."

Custos of Kingston, Reverend Carmen Stewart, contends that it was not the first time that prayers had influenced the turn of events when disaster faced Jamaica.
"It has happened time and time again," Reverend Stewart says. "I know people have been praying and I don't see any other reason why it (the hurricane) would make such a drastic turn.... God hears prayer."
Stewart says her prayers were devoted to the island escaping the devastation of the hurricane. "I prayed that God would spare us from the ravage that would come if we received a direct hit.We should really give Him the praise," she urges.

But Stewart and Albert disagree with Miller that the passage of the hurricane was meant to show God's displeasure with the state of things in Jamaica.
"I would not say that is why it came," says Stewart. "We should use it as a sign that we need to wake up and realise that we have fallen and we are not doing what is right."

Adds Albert: "I don't believe that God uses natural disasters to punish us in that way. It is a natural phenomenon that happens. I don't see any supernatural explanation or aspect to it."
But Miller seemed to get support from Rev Clovis Foster who, during the National Labour Day service four months ago, told his congregation at Clifton New Testament Church of God in Kingston that Jamaica was rapidly becoming a "sinful nation" and appealed for Jamaicans to turn from their evil ways.
Foster also believes that the hurricane may have been a warning, though contending that it is because of prayer that Jamaica is not worse off.

"I have no doubt. I do not have concrete proof, but I have no doubt that it was prayer that saved us," he insists. "People constantly prayed that God would intervene and when we look at what would have happened if we were hit, it was divine intervention."
Reverend Foster says he now asks his congregation to be selfless in their prayers, focusing on persons who were disenfranchised as a result of the hurricane. "We should not just pray from our lips, but from our hearts," he suggests.
One pastor was willing to believe that prayer was not the only factor at work. Rev Dave Hazel of the Shortwood United Church in Kingston "prayed for the reduction of the intensity of the hurricane and a shift of direction". But there was something else.

"Yes, I believe that it was prayer, but I also believe that it wasn't the only factor. The level of destruction was reduced because people were prepared," he says.
Hazel also prayed that the persons who were affected by the onslaught of the hurricane would be able to recover easily. "I also prayed that Jamaica and the church would somehow see it as an opportunity to learn lessons that we should position ourselves to care for other people," he says.
"It is a message to the Church about the preparedness for God and to turn to God. We might be approaching the end of the earth as we know it."

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