  In this note, we provide the first non-trivial examples of deformed
G_2-instantons, originally called deformed Donaldson-Thomas connections. As a
consequence, we see how deformed G_2-instantons can be used to distinguish
between nearly parallel G_2-structures and isometric G_2-structures on
3-Sasakian 7-manifolds. Our examples give non-trivial deformed G_2-instantons
with obstructed deformation theory and situations where the moduli space of
deformed G_2-instantons has components of different dimensions. We finally
study the relation between our examples and a Chern-Simons type functional
which has deformed G_2-instantons as critical points.
