Tate's Hell will be Heaven on Earth

A New Jerusalem, A New Eden, A New Bristol, A New Tate's Hell

I live between heaven and hell. That’s not just a theological statement—it’s also local legend. Here in the eastern panhandle of Florida, people talk about two places: the Garden of Eden and Tate’s Hell.

Within weeks of moving here, neighbors pulled me aside to tell me about the Garden of Eden Trail. The story goes back to E.E. Callaway, a lawyer who in 1956 argued that the land just north of Bristol was the original Garden of Eden. Why? Because the Apalachicola River has four headwaters, which he believed matched Genesis 2:10–14: “A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.” Callaway also pointed to the lush vegetation and rolling hills of the region as further evidence. He published his case in In the Beginning and drew curious visitors who wanted to see paradise for themselves.

Another legend that I just recently learned the meaning behind was a section of the Apalachicola National Forest referred to as “Tate’s Hell.” When I first heard locals mention this place, I was shocked by the name. I didn’t look into it until recently. The story goes that a man named Cebe Tate went into the swamp with his hunting dogs to track down a panther that had been killing his livestock. He lost his way and wandered in the wilderness for days. By the time he stumbled out, he was sick, bitten by snakes and insects, and barely alive. He is said to have gasped with his last breath, “My name is Cebe Tate, and I just came from Hell.” Since then, the swamp has carried that haunting name.

While I have theological doubts about Callaway’s arguments, I do know what is true: I live between heaven and hell. Right now on earth we have the joys of this world created by a good and loving God. Even in my small corner of the panhandle of Florida, I see the wonders and beauties all around me. Yet, writing this in the dog days of summer, I know that death has infiltrated this world. You can hardly walk outside for a few minutes without the threat of heat exhaustion, sunburns, mosquitoes, yellow flies, alligators, black bears, panthers, and more remind me that this scenic beauty is also a dangerous place to be.

Paul states in Romans 8:22, “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” This is the tension I feel daily.

I now live in a community filled with beauty and wonder. I step into heaven every single Sunday when I gather with the saints. I hear the heavenly echo, transposed down because of sin. I see the glory and wonder all around me. Yet I also live in the only taste of hell I will ever know. I see death and destruction around me. I see it in the eyes of my drug-addicted neighbor longing for freedom. I see it in the mosquito bites on my son’s arm.

Yet I know what is beautiful will remain, and what is evil will be cast out. For those in Christ, heaven will last and hell will be cast down. Freedom is found in Christ from the pains of this world. You can find the beautiful and see the signs all around you.

This groaning is the effect of sin, hell, and death infecting God’s beautiful creation. Yet I have a promise. Revelation 21:1–4 tells us that John saw “a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Christ will descend with the New Jerusalem and reunite heaven and earth. Hell and all of its wickedness will be cast into utter darkness.

There will be a new Jerusalem. There will be a new Bristol. There will be a new Garden of Eden park. There will be a new Tate’s Hell.

Tate's Hell will be heaven on earth.

I do not know what it will be called, but I know it will be completely renewed. All that is beautiful will remain. All that is evil will be purged.