Psychic ability: The power to manipulate energy through pure mental power. Psychic ability comes from within the individual(mind, soul, brain, whatever you believe to be the generator of our own thoughts and conscience.
Spirit ability: The power of outsiders to manipulate energy within our own universe.
Magic: The invocation of forces outside the individual's ability. Prayer would be "good" magic. Divination or Satan worshipping/contracts would be "bad" magic. Use of symbols and devices(using a holy artifact like the original cross on which Jesus was killed for example) to harness various forces of the universe would be "neutral" magic.
Actual individual abilities:
Transmutation: The ability to convert energy from one form to another. Bending spoons would be an example.
Telepathy: The ability to communicate with another being through thoughts alone.
Telekinesis: The ability to apply force to physical objects within our world through mental ability alone.
Astral Projection(Out Of Body experiences): The ability to leave the body without dying. I believe roughly 10% of the population involuntarily experiences this at least once in their lifetime. I've experienced it once, but it was brief so I wasn't able to retain much from it).
Hypersensitivity: The ability to "sense" things through your mind alone. Being prone to seeing ghosts or getting flashes from simply being near an area or an object that has been in the presence of strong emotions would be an example.
Clairvoyance: The ability to see into the past or the future. This is the ability most con artists claim to have when pretending to be "psychics".
Spontaneous Generation: The ability to create something from nothing. Only God has this ability.
Ok, now that I got a few conventions out of the way, let's get to the basics. First, why do I believe in psychic ability?
The answer is simple. It is the first force used by God Himself. It is part of Him. The ability to do things through pure will. When God said "Let there be life", there was life. He did not physically need to touch anything. There are many instances in the Bible in which God could have used spontaneous generation within the universe, but He does not. Why would God wait for the plants to grow by themselves ("Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, upon the earth.") when He could pop them into existance? Why would God need to transmute dirt into the body of Adam if He could pop it into existance? I believe the first law of thermodynamics is "Energy cannot be created or destroyed", and there is a good reason for it. I suspect that the universe God created for us cannot support additional creation within it, and such an event would likely result in a cataclysm if it were to occur. So God does not do it. However, if God wanted to affect things within the universe, He would require other means to do so. And thus comes Transmutation, the ability to transform. God can use His infinite power to rearrange the basic building blocks of matter(and I am 99% sure we still don't know what they are). To be able to safely do things within the universe, I suggest that God created "channels" of mental energy that are able to recieve input from adequately developed minds and act upon those wishes. Having infinite power automatically makes God capable of using them(it would be redundant to assume otherwise). I know the question that will pop up from this: We know God can use those channels, but how do we know people can do it too? Well, for starters, we know Satan can do it. When Moses told the pharaoh he could turn water into blood, the pharaoh asked his own priests to display their power(which they did). I highly doubt God would have given the priests his abilities, just as I doubt that anybody with the mental discipline(I will discuss this further) to commit such a feat of his own will would behave like the priests. Whether the power came from Satan or one of the Egyptian gods(which I suspect to be the nephilim, and likely in league with Satan, but that's another story) is irrelevant. What is relevant is that God is unlikely to have interfered on behalf of the Egyptian clergy. This leads to the conclusion that God is not the only entity which can work with the theoretical "Psychic Channels". There is a similarity between God and Satan(assuming it was Satan and not the nephilim) however: they are both outside the Universe in a sense. However, Jesus was not. Jesus did not always ask His father for help (He was God afterall). When He was arrested, He uttered the words "I AM" and knocked the soldiers to the ground. We already know Jesus's body was "enhanced" when compared to an average human being(His ordeal before the curcifixion should show that much), and I suspect the body had advanced psychic abilities as well. If Jesus was incarnated within the universe, then He must have had access to the Psychic Channels from within. Additional evidence are the number of people with Hypersensitivity(a 6th sense), OOBs, poltergeists, hauntings(there are a few very bizzare and thorougly investigated hauntings which were shown not to be hoaxes, look up the Faces of Belmez for more information), etc. Some might say "Satan did it", but I don't think so. My OOB experience was a great aid in strengthening my faith, and if Satan induced it, he did a very very bad job.
Spirit abilities:
I mentioned Spirit abilities before. The only difference is that a spirit ability accesses the Channel from outside the universe. The invocation of such forces would be considered "Magic". Selling your soul to Satan for the ability to spit fire would be an example. Praying to God to heal a sick relative would be another. Since the invoker isn't doing anything by himself(except maybe muttering), I usually classify it as different from psychic ability. In fact, for all I know, there might be separate channels for both psychic and spirit powers, but I won't get into that as it is irrelevant to the topic at hand.
Additional(and interesting) instances of use of the channels would be artifacts. I'm sure we've all heard stories of great weapons with supposed magical abilities(Cronos's diamond sickle, Krishna's magic arsenal, Excalibur, etc.) In fact, our own religion has a good dose of them (statues and pictures of mary healing people, Jesus's own cross healing, the Spear of Longinus(I think that's what it's called) which was used to stab Jesus to verify His death, and which is rumored to grant its wielder the power to rule the world). I am still unsure on whether inanimate objects may offer power, but have not dismissed it yet.
Mental Discipline
If you accept the possibility that my theory might be correct, then we must also assume that God would place certain "safeguards".
First, I do not believe the ability is limited only to Christians, and I do not believe the Devil has any bearing on whether you are naturally inclined towards it or not. The Devil doesn't give us the ability to lift a cup with our hand, and I don't see why we should assume that he would have anything to do with us having the ability to lift the cup with our mind. Since being a "natural" at it isn't an everyday occurance, it is likely considered "abnormal" and given humanity's tendancy to loathe anything that deviates from the majority, it is quite likely that people always did and always will have a bias against such individuals. I believe it is a gift from God(like the use of our arms). However, such a gift is dangerous. If God would have made certain individuals with thick armored scales and ten inch claws, they would certainly have an advantage over most of us. As such, anybody inclined to such abilities will likely not be able to make use of them without practice or training. Some people naturally develop into smart scientists, as others naturally develop into body building machines. Does that mean the bodybuilder cannot increase his knowledge and wisdom, or that a scientist can't have a sixpack? No! I believe that if God gave humanity as a whole an ability, it would be available to most people should they work hard at it.
Mind Over Matter and Mental Discipline.
The best way to test and see if your mind has the ability to manipulate matter is to do this: take an object and throw it.
Would this have occured without your mind giving the hand the input it required? If you had a mental problem and was unable to read my proposal, would you have done it? Probably not. So we know that the Mind has an effect on matter. Now, the first form of matter manipulation(God's) was without the need of an arm. As we were made in His image, I would suggest that it would include a small scale version of God's ability to manipulate through pure will. Obviously, since we are nothing compared to God, it is also reasonable to assume that our ability is also incomparible to that of God. I doubt any ammount of psychic training will give you enough power to fling the Moon into the Sun. Now, I previously mentioned mental discipline. Most cases of the use of psychic ability comes from very religious people. The religion will likely be either Christian or Pre-Christian(Since God did not extend His covenant to include all of us, I suggest He might have played a small part in guiding different faiths to ensure they don't go crazy). Buddhis monks often get the credit for such feats(I remember watching a paranormal show where there was one monk who layed down on a big block of ice, outside, in the middle of a snowstorm, melted the block and lived. The doctors and scientists present said he should have died five times over), but there are quite a few Christian monks who were also seen doing such things (my grandmother told me about a monk somebody walked in on while he was praying, and the monk was levitating during prayer). What most of these people have in common is usually mental peace. I'm sure you've all been touched by the Holy Spirit and know what it feels like to be under His influence, where nothing can bother or harm you. Christians can achieve this through total faith and love for God, while those who have not heard of Christ may still feel God's presence, and take some measure of peace in it(I suspect a lot of the eastern mystics, which are usually secluded and unlikely to get a good chance to hear of Christ would fall into this catheogry, a situation that atheist enforcing governments like that of China are likely to make sure it doesn't change, unfortunately). I suspect God would usually avoid allowing such power to fall into the hands of normal people(good thing in my opinion, I'd hate to see what a pyrokinetic Stalin wannabe atheist would do with it). The few individuals who usually exhibit such abilities automatically are usually teenagers who want it gone(a bit of reading on poltergeists would be a start if you're interested in the subject), and who don't voluntarily do any harm. The mental discipline most monks and hermits develop will prevent them from going postal on the rest of us (when was the last time you've heard on the news about a monk or a hermit walking into a bank dual wielding AKs demanding all the money?). I'm getting tired, so I might have left a few things out. Feel free to comment or make suggestions.
