A large, publicly traded company goes under, and thousands of people suffer. Life's savings are dissolved in an instant. Inheritances are lost. Investigations are launched.

While the world waits for facts to be determined, this much seems apparent: several people thought they could escape the relentless, often slow-moving giant called Consequences. How foolish an assumption that is.

This situation has played out recently in the news. Most people are familiar with the story.

But most people do not control large multi-billion dollar corporations. They do not have thousands of people counting on them to preserve and nurture fortunes, and so they may be missing the lesson.

Each person has a far more valuable inheritance to preserve in the mansions of our Father's kingdom, and, no matter who the person is — big or small, old or young — he or she has countless people affected by his or her actions. Nobody can afford to think the lumbering giant won't come, and nobody can afford to take advantage of the only weapon that will keep him from inflicting lasting punishment — repentance.

This lesson applies to all.

In the book, The Miracle of Forgiveness, President Spencer W. Kimball tells of a man he interviewed who had committed adultery. As he describes it, President Kimball said the man was "only a little sorry" and was "not sure that he wanted to cleanse himself."

President Kimball was unable to penetrate the man's stubborn and rebellious spirit. "I finally said, 'Goodbye, Bill, but I warn you, don't break a speed limit, be careful what you eat, take no chances on your life. Be careful in traffic for you must not die before this matter is cleared up. Don't you dare to die.' "

Then he quoted this scripture:

"Wherefore, if they should die in their wickedness they must be cast off also, as to the things which are spiritual, which are pertaining to righteousness; wherefore, they must be brought to stand before God, to be judged of their works. . . . And there cannot any unclean thing enter into the kingdom of God; wherefore there must needs be a place of filthiness prepared for that which is filthy." (1 Nephi 15:33-34; entire quote from Miracle of Forgiveness, page 145-146.)

Many sins are committed entirely in secret. That is the natural inclination of the sinner. He or she hopes to profit in some way by the act, but realizes that the light of day would bring shame, condemnation, the loss or reputation and stature, or worse. This cloak of secrecy may lead one to believe that no one is harmed by the act, or that no one will ever know.

But the Savior, in His Sermon on the Mount, made it clear that nothing is secret from the Lord. When admonishing people to refrain from outward displays of supposed righteousness performed in the hopes that others would see them, He said, "But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

"That thine alms may be in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly." (Matthew 6:3-4.)

In the Book of Mormon, the prophet Abinadi spelled out what would happen to people who think they can hide their sins, or who refuse to repent.

"But remember that he that persists in his own carnal nature, and goes on in the ways of sin and rebellion against God, remaineth in his fallen state and the devil hath all power over him. Therefore, he is as though there was no redemption made, being an enemy to God; and also is the devil an enemy to God." (Mosiah 16:5.)

The modern world offers many opportunities for people to do evil in what may seem like impenetrable secrecy. Through the Internet, cunning people can deceive in anonymity. People can view pornographic images in private and feel as if no one will ever know.

But for them, like the company executive who tampers with accounts or who hides debts and liabilities, the day of reckoning will come. Often it will come in this life, and many people will be hurt. But inevitably, it will come to all except those who confess their sins and forsake them.