A Florida pastor has credited her prayer group for sending Tropical Storm Isaac away from the Republican National Convention, Right Wing Watch reports.
As Isaac took a northwesterly track in the Gulf of Mexico, largely avoiding the Tampa Bay area, the Rev. Jesten Peters of Keys of Authority Ministries told the Christian Broadcasting Network that her prayer group had beseeched God to spare the RNC from harm.
“We have had lots and lots of people praying around the clock that it would move, and after you watch from the very beginning where they were saying it was coming and now where they say it is going, then it has really moved out of the way for us and we appreciate God doing that and moving it for us,” said Peters, broadcasted Monday on the religious lifestyle show hosted by televangelist Pat Robertson.
The pastor is said to be leading the "Pray Tampa Bay" group that's spearheading an effort to "cover the party conventions in prayer."
Tropical storm warnings were lifted in Tampa on Monday. The area saw some strong wind and rain, as well as minor flooding, before Isaac moved away from the city, gathering steam as it headed toward Louisiana, the Wisconsin Gazette reports.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Isaac had ballooned into a hurricane and is on its way to New Orleans almost exactly seven years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city.
According to the Christian Post, many "celebrities and concerned citizens" have taken to Twitter to "call for prayer in preparation" for the storm.
Phaedra Parks, celebrity attorney and star of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta," was cited as one such individual.
Right Wing Watch notes that this isn't the first time that prayer has been cited as the reason behind the evasion of meteorological disaster.
CBN's Pat Robertson said in 1985 that his prayer moved Hurricane Gloria away from Virginia Beach. The televangelist also said earlier this year that prayer could have prevented a string of deadly tornadoes from occurring.
View AP/Getty photos from Tropical Storm Isaac below:
