Being De Programmed

Being De Programmed.

Part 1 Kevin Dustow

I was visiting some friends recently and explained to them how I had changed my views and belief on many Christian teachings that I had been brought up on since a child, preached about them, advised people on them and thought it was truth. I was now questioning a lot of that teaching. I was feeling guilty, I felt I was going against a lot of the things I was taught. People I highly respected including my parents had told me one thing and I was now questioning their teaching. I knew they were wrong, but it was a struggle. My friends told me that I was being DE PROGRAMMED. They had gone through the same and are now free. This has helped me greatly to understand what is going on. I was and am still being de programmed by God.

Many Christians are influenced from what we are taught from our parents, (if we became Christians when we were young,) from Churches and Church leaders, from what we see and hear from others, from studying certain topics and from the Bible, amongst other things. I have learnt a lot from these sources but the question that often comes to my mind is whether I am right or they are right in these beliefs.

I have been a Pastor and still travel overseas ministering. I have been in leadership, written several books, spoke at conventions, a missionary in Japan for 12 years and generally “been there and done that.” I have held onto views that at the time I adamantly defended thinking I was right. I have offended people because I thought I had the “truth” only to discover that I was wrong.

There are fundamentals of the Bible that I know are truth and will defend to my dying day but there are other beliefs that I am realizing I may have to look into with more detail. I was dogmatic in most things but now understand that I should not have been. I am still sifting through a lot.

I am writing this blog because I know of many who are in the same situation as I am but are unsure what to do. We may have been brought up that what we were taught was 100 percent scriptural only to find that when we study the relevant scriptures and read the content and context that we could have been unwittingly mislead.

I was brought up in a Christian Home with my parents being saved when I was about 4 or 5 years of age. They had no Christian back ground so all they knew was what was told by others. There was no internet or a lot of books where they could get information. Most of what they learned was by reading the Bible but mainly by what they heard from Christian leaders they respected and thought knew what they were talking about. I do not disrespect them for their views or for some of the things they learnt and practiced. That is what they knew. The Church that we as a family went to was a fundamental Church. They took the Bible on face value and the Bible teaching in most part was great and formed my own beliefs and future. The fellowship with each other was excellent and it was like one big family. I have fond memories of my childhood. It was not until I got into my teens and as my “real” Christian journey began that I started questioning some things, yet when people gave me reasons as to why they disagreed with me and I had no answer I started to feel uncomfortable. I began searching for myself as Paul encouraged the Bereans to do and was finding out that what I thought I believed as truth was actually not quite right.

I was always taught that the “Pentecostal” movement was the devil’s movement and although there is a lot of excess and people going overboard, I also met some wonderful Christians who had a great relationship with God. I had been taught they had been deceived by the devil until I saw that their relationship with God was okay. I was starting to become DE PROGRAMMED but it was still a journey. As a young person we were not allowed to be associated with anyone or groups that was “Pentecostal” or “Charismatic”. Christians of this persuasion could not enter our church unless they had an interrogation at the entrance on what they believed. We had to pray using the “thees and thou” and had to use the KJV Bible. Anything to do with the “Gifts” of the Spirit was outlawed and if spoken about was quickly shut down. When I was preaching and praying, I felt like I was speaking a foreign language.

These blogs are not to criticize any Church, denomination or people. I have passed that stage in my life. It is my journey; it is my struggle to get the freedom in Christ I so desire. Having met many Christians over my life having the same fight and starting to become DE PROGRAMMED like me I know the struggles I have been going through are being experienced by many believers who do not know what is happening and how to react. I plan to explore this deeper.

This is Part 1 because I do not want to make these blogs long but there will be more coming.

Look forward to part 2 of being DE PROGRAMMED coming out very soon.

If you would like to discuss these things with me my email is

Tomakomai1977@hotmail.com