We have listened to many talks given by the General Authorities of the church and especially we have heard the warnings of President Hinkley about the pernicious power of pornography. He has warned many times for us to leave it alone not even to look at it. He has said, "Do not look at it. It will enslave you and carry you down."

This reminds me of some experiences that I have had. The family and I had ridden over from Trout Creek to Black Canyon to swim and fish. I decided to fish up stream to see a new part of the canyon and to catch a few trout.

It was a beautiful sunny morning and I was enjoying the walk up the canyon. The river was a clear rippling stream dancing over the rocks singing a pleasant song. The canyon widened out as I came around the bend into the wide stream bed where the water had left its mark at flood time. A red tailed hawk flapped awkwardly into the air and with difficulty flew a few yards before it fell again to the ground. I approached the hawk carefully. I could see it was in trouble and was gasping for breath and could not escape me. I caught the hawk holding it by his two extended wings. I could see the trouble he was in. A long Red Racer snake was entwined around the hawk. I pinned one wing with one foot and held the other wing while I commenced to unwind the snake from that young hawk. Grasping the tip of the tail of the snake I unwound around and around from the hawks neck, where it was buried beneath the feathers. I counted 13 loops around that poor birds neck. From there it went around the birds body and around one wing with the head securely buried under one wing. The snake seemed near death and was very limp. It had a few wounds in its middle. My imagination ran wild as to what had happened several days ago.

The young hawk probably had been flying over the canyon looking for food. He was probably very hungry since he was young and inexperienced. Seeing the long snake sunning itself on the rocks he decided to have an easy meal. He swooped down and took up the snake in his talons flying off to enjoy his meal. He was surprised as frightened as the snake wound itself around him. The hawk tried to pick viciously at the snakes body in his talons and in a panic tried to release the snake. When the snake was released from the talons it only wound itself tighter and tighter around the poor young Hawk. The young hawk found himself falling swiftly to earth. He flapped his wings with all his strength to break his fall and lighted on the ground in the canyon. There he had struggled against the ever tightening strength of the snake. It is difficult to know how many days and nights he suffered in panic with the terrible thing that was slowly taking him to his death.

After I unwound the snake completely I laid the limp snake to one side and released the wings of the young hawk. When he found that he was free he vaulted into the air and flew higher and higher calling koleeeeeo! koleeeeeo! koleeeeeeo! He flew higher and higher until he was lost in the distance of the blue sky. I am sure that he was enjoying his freedom from the clutching coils that had inpriosned him. I believe that from then on that he would not pick a snake for an easy meal.

He had been deceived by the innocent looking snake thinking that it was an easy meal. He was confident that he could swoop down and take the snake to a tall tree to enjoy his meal. We in like manner can be deceived by the temptations of Satan that look inviting and innocent. We may think that we are strong and can take care of ourselves but suddenly we find the strong silken cords of addiction winding around us to take us steadily down and down.

When I was working at Jacob Lake Uncle Harold had a beautiful Springer Spanial he called The Colonel. He was a beautiful dog with long ears and soft silky hair. Uncle Harold took very good care of him and petted and loved him. Every evening he would get a bowl of raw hamburger meat and mix a raw egg in it and feed it to the Colonel. Sometimes during the bright days he would ask me to take the Colonel out into the forest and let him run free for awhile. The dog would run happily around smelling all of the bushes and trees as he passed. One day he was far ahead of me when he came upon a porcupine who was waddling along in the forest. The Colonel ran to investigate this new interesting animal. The porcupine simply stopped and hid his head under his belly. The Colonel approached cautiously sniffing at the curious ball. Inspite of my warning shouts the Colonel got to close with his sniffing nose and suddenly the ball moved jabbing the quills into the tender nose. At the same time the deadly tail flipped up and buried many quills around the dogs eyes and head. With yelping howels of pain the colonel ran back to me trying to rub off the painful quills, only burying them even deeper with every move. I took him back immediately and told Uncle Harold what had happened. He got a strong pair of pliers and went out to help the Colonel. He had me hold the poor crying dog while he pulled out the terrible painful quills. He had to be very careful to not to break them off. That poor dog suffered dreadfully as each quill was laboroursly extracted. Each quill was covered with little barbs which made the quill work in deeper and deeper with every movement. The barbs also made them very diffucult and painful to pull out.

Finally all of the quills were out and we put the whimpering suffering dog in his kennel. It took him about a week to fully recuperate from his terrible ordeal. What seemed to him an innocent little animal turned out to be, in spite of my warning calls turned out to be a very dangerous and painful experience. Without our help the dog could have not removed the quills and they would embed themselves deeper and deeper to finally kill him.

When we get to close to the seeming innocent enticings of Satan we suddenly find ourselves caught in his snare and many times we need help to painfully get out of the situation we are in.

Just as that young hawk would have slowly died without my help to release him, we need help when we find ourselves addicted to dangerous addictions of Satan. It can be pornography or gambling, or alcohol or drugs or any other seemingly innocent enticements of Satan. They are all equally dangerous and will drag us down and destroy us. We can always ask for help from our Heavenly Father. He and his son Jesus Christ are willing to release us and lift us up onto the path of joy and happiness. The Saviour has paid the price for every one of those sins and dangerous addictions and is ready to pull us out if we will turn to Him in repentance. May we recognize that we are not immune to becoming addicted to these terrible things. Also we think that we are strong enough to not be affected by the sharp barbes or the strangling cords that Satan always has ready for us. It is much better to stay away as far as we can from these things and fill our lives with learning the ways of the Lord and serving our families and our fellow men.

We love you all and pray for your good health and joy and happiness through living the gospel of Jesus Christ.