Updated Book Review: 'Sex & The Saints' by Natasha David-Walker (Jones)

Originally published on Urban Intellectuals, January 5, 2019— Revised for Correction and Updates, July 2026

There are books that entertain, books that inform, and then there are books that crack open the sealed vaults of our collective silence.

Sex & The Saints, by local Columbus author, Natasha David‑Walker (Jones), is the latter — a raw, unvarnished excavation of the sexual chaos, spiritual confusion, and emotional debris that too often hides behind stained‑glass windows.

From the first page, David‑Walker does what few writers dare: She names the shadows we tiptoe around.

She writes with the kind of fearless clarity that makes you stop mid‑sentence and whisper, “So we’re really going there.”

And yes — she goes there.

The Shock of Recognition

I’ve always been a lover of complex stories — the kind that make people’s heads tilt and their assumptions wobble. Formula fiction never did much for me; I need that mental afterglow, that lingering ache of truth.

Reading David‑Walker felt like hearing someone speak aloud the thoughts that I and so many others had buried under years of polite silence.

She names the fear — not the trembling kind, but the spiritual kind: Fake Evangelism Appearing Real. The kind that keeps people performing holiness while drowning in private torment.

You Won’t Be Sex‑Shamed

Let me be clear: This book will not shame church folks out of their behavior. But it will haunt them. It will follow them into morning light with a thing called a “daymare”, also known as ‘the strength of their convictions’.

David‑Walker doesn’t waste time with polite euphemisms.

She cuts straight through the sanctified nonsense. She avoids explicit language, but she doesn’t avoid explicit truth.

As Emma Thompson’s character, Susan Stanton, said in Primary Colors: “”Oh, grow up, would you? There’s never been such a thing as a President who hasn’t had his pecker in some sorry trash bin."

Nobody’s trying to be perfect. But we are grown. Or at least we should be. Shock factors are now officially out of style.

Lust, Revolution, and the Myth of “Love Children”

One of the most compelling sections is her reflection on being conceived during the Civil Rights era — a time romanticized as revolutionary, righteous, and full of “love children.”

She dismantles that myth with surgical precision.

Her mother, like many women of the 60s and 70s, was spooned, lied to, and sexually ransacked by men who wrapped lust in with political rhetoric. Panties dropped on a dime, and consequences lasted a lifetime.

“If it feels good, do it?”

At some point, that’s a deal‑breaker.

The Enemy Has a Strategy

David‑Walker doesn’t shy away from naming the spiritual warfare at play. She writes:

“‘The enemy comes but for to steal, kill, and destroy…’ He is selfishly sexual. He is into relations, not relationships… His plan is simple; confound the words of God by making whores of the daughters of Zion.”

This isn’t about shaming women. It’s about exposing the strategy: Use men to break women, then shame them afterward. And yes — some women weaponize sex too. 

David‑Walker doesn’t spare them either — not in this book.

The enemy is an equal‑opportunity destroyer when it comes to the hidden sexual lusts of church-going people who want the world to think them chaste when they are anything but; all natures included.

The Story That Stops You Cold

Now comes the section that will make any reader sit up straight: the testimony of “Crooked Man,” who describes being demonically assaulted in a dream — an encounter with beings resembling Incubus, Succubus, and Mare.

Incubus, Succubus, and Mare are the three Trilogy entities (as opposed to The HOLY TRINITY) that are recognized as three parts of sexual temptation and the cause of lust, confusion, and despair.

His account is chilling:

“I heard the Holy Spirit say, ‘Watch out.’… They dropped me on the floor and began to try to rape me… They were demons… ‘Calm down and call Father with your spirit,’ was the last thing He said.”

Whether you believe in spiritual entities or not, the psychological reality is undeniable for Crooked Man. Childhood molestation of boys is far more common than anyone would dare to believe — and far less discussed than most people want to admit.

HIV/AIDS and the Silence That Kills

David‑Walker also confronts one of the Black community’s most persistent wounds: HIV/AIDS.

She isn’t into sensationalism, but with truth. The AIDS epidemic is not what it once was, but it remains prevalent — and fueled by secrecy, shame, and spiritual confusion.

The Church Is Not Always a Mighty Fortress

No church — none — is automatically safe from predators, adulterers, or manipulators.

The real crisis begins when ministers twist scripture to justify the very sins they condemn from the pulpit. David‑Walker calls out the ‘Saints’ for their selective blindness.

Some people condone sexual chaos in church because they’re not fully dispensed with it. Others keep their past tucked away like a spiritual insurance policy — a “forgiveness favor” that they might need later.

But, she reckons, paraphrased: “If you are called to honor the Name Above All Names, you cannot do what everyone else does.”

It is expedient to be free to discuss these matters.

It’s not a condemnation type of book, but a fact-finding one that interviews many who have been sexually abused within the confines of the church — too many by pastors and preachers.

If this is something you’re inclined to want to talk about, or someone who has just wanted to know about the experience of being ‘molested-while-believing’, read it.

You just may be very enlightened.

About Natasha David‑Walker (Jones)

Natasha David‑Walker-Jones, founder of House‑of‑David, is an Atlanta native with degrees in Biology and English from Oakwood College, Columbus State University, and the University of Memphis. She produces humanities‑based documentaries on the lives of women of color living with HIV/AIDS and lectures widely on sexual ethics, faith, and community healing.

More News from Columbus

• Ooohhh...Claude-Anthropic Telling On Itself: DATA CENTERS Are Coming We know that people in Columbus use AI, but it should be more than a whispered secret in Clique-ish Circles
• When Minor Children Run Their Own Parents Away OP-Ed.: When minor children push out non‑abusive parents, it’s almost never about the parent alone…