ORLANDO (FBW)—Think you've got it all figured out, huh?

Well, David Zanotti says, "think again."

"Be careful who you listen to and test everything you hear," Zanotti says. "Don't let Christian leaders sway you with their opinions or party affiliation."

And when Zanotti speaks, it would be a good idea to perk up your ears and pay heed. Zanotti is President & CEO of The American Policy Roundtable, an organization dedicated to restoring Judeo-Christian principles to American public policy.

Zanotti held a Town Hall meeting at First Baptist Church in Orlando in late November and is scheduled to lead several more this year. When it comes to voting, he is a proponent of Christians narrowing the spectrum of those from whom they receive advice. "Listen to your pastors—to those who teach you the Word of God— but be careful about listening to politicians and Christian 'celebrities,'" he says.

Zanotti certainly doesn't, nor does he follow conventional Christian thinking.

"I am not a 'values' voter. There are a lot of people who don't like me because of that, but it's true. Think about it, 'values' is a word that came out of the '70s when we were smoking dope. We used that word in the context of, 'You've got your values and we've got ours. I'm OK, you're OK - it's all cool.'"

Somehow, he says, believers, without realizing it, are doing the same.

"All of a sudden, Christians are supposed to stand for absolute truth by using the relativistic mores of the culture," he asserts. "How did that happen? Did some have a meeting, decide the term 'values' sounded cool and spin it to the media? It doesn't make sense."

Zanotti also confesses to being neither Republican nor Democrat. Though he is not advocating a like mindset for all Christians, he does encourage them to be independent thinkers, especially when it comes to selecting a candidate.

"I don't care what the Christian leaders are doing; you think for yourself. And by thinking for yourself, I'm talking about thinking biblically."

In addition, Zanotti warns Christians about buying into all the hype.

"During this entire year, everyone is going to be pumping up the presidential Elections. They will say, 'This will be the most important election ever.' No it won't."

And for some very practical reasons.

"The president doesn't collect your garbage," Zanotti points out. "He doesn't do zoning. He doesn't control tax policy. The president doesn't write the laws in America; Congress and the state legislature do."

Which is something Zanotti wishes all voters were aware of.

"The problem is, we've got a bunch of bone-headed ideas," he says. "We're thinking at the wrong end. If we're thinking right, then we'll realize that politics is local. If the Founding Fathers were here today, they'd say, 'What's the matter with you people? The president isn't that powerful. How did you ever come to believe that?'"

So then, the question is, what should we believe?

"The entire presidential race is overrated," Zanotti says. "When you vote for a president, what you are actually doing is hiring a CEO to run your company for four years. And if you don't like the guy, then throw him out."

And there's even more about the president that voters need to understand.

"He works for you," Zanotti states. "Stop bowing down to the president. Basically, he's got two very important things he does that can really mess us up."

Which is why, Zanotti says, we have to pay very close attention to who we vote for. "First of all, as you've already noticed, he has the authority to take us to war. War is expensive in every way—spiritually, economically and in human lives. Second, the president gets to appoint Supreme Court justices, district court justices and circuit court justices. This shouldn't be nearly as important as it is, but the courts have become too powerful. These are the two reasons we really need to watch who's running for president."

But, Zanotti says, the presidential race is not the only one we should be keeping an eye on.

"We should be watching Congress just as closely. If we were committed to watching the Congress and state legislature for eight years, we would see a radical reformation in this country."

However, America is not at this point in our thinking; we are consumed with the presidential elections, Zanotti says. So, with this in mind, he makes these observations about the 2008 race.

"Many Christian leaders are all over the board," Zanotti says. "Some are saying, 'Let's vote for so and so for one reason, or let's vote for this candidate for this.' Other Christian leaders are saying, 'You're both wrong; we've got to vote for this one.' Our leaders are all over the place and there's not a chance they will galvanize."

But, Zanotti says, that doesn't mean Christian voters have to be that way.

"You've got a decision to make. Don't pay attention to what the leaders say. See where the candidates stand on the issues and make up your own mind. What the [Christian] leaders say doesn't make any difference to me whatsoever. They're reading the same information that you are and don't know any more than you do."

So who should we be listening to?

"God is telling you personally what you should do. That's how it works; He's an amazing God, He has time for all of us. If we seek Him in this area, He will tell us what to do."

So, when all the hype, commercials, smear campaigns and speeches are over, how, in the end, do we decide on a presidential candidate?

"First, pray and ask God how you can strategically use your vote," Zanotti says. "Besides that, I can't make it easy for you. I can't say it's this party and it's this candidate. It's not that simple. There is not a savior coming on the ballot who is going to rival Jesus Christ. Jesus is not coming back to run for president in 2008. So, with that in mind, here's the best way to pick a candidate: Take all the issues that God has spoken to you about, write them down and say to yourself, 'These are the things that are really important to me and to our nation.' Then get all the information you can and see which candidate matches up. Find the person who most closely matches your list and who you can vote for with a clear conscience."

To learn more about David Zanotti and The American Policy Roundtable, visit www.aproundtable.org.

David Ettinger is the writer/editor for First Baptist Church in Orlando.