Jim Barfield

Jim Barfield Biography

Jim Barfield was born on April the 27th in 1955 to Adam Abraham Barfield and Helen Jeanette (Castro) Barfield in Anadarko, Oklahoma.  Jim’s hometown was Lawton, Oklahoma where his Dad worked as a heavy equipment operator for construction companies until his death in April of 2008, just days before Jim’s fourth trip to Israel. 
Jim Barfield grew up in a largely African-American neighborhood in Lawton, Oklahoma and was among the first seventh graders to be bussed to the predominantly white school of Eisenhower Junior High in the late 1960s.  Jim witnessed first hand the affects of racial prejudice on both sides of the black and white fence and learned that racial hatred was a truly satanic curse upon our nation.  Jim’s Dad was a blond haired blue eyed Caucasian and his mother was a Mexican of Spanish decent.  He and his mother’s dark skin caused them both to ride in the back of the bus many times and forced Jim to sit outside of Lawton’s famous Doe Doe Park swimming pool while his cousins and blond haired brother swam the day away. 

Among Jim Barfield's many powerful memories as a young boy was sitting in the family church wondering why the preacher read the Bible in a language he did not understand?  The preacher kept saying strange words like “thee” and “thou.”  This vivid memory influenced Jim to promise himself that he would someday learn to study the Bible in its original language so that he could get the purest meaning. 

Jim Barfield Credentials

His youthful experiences taught him to reach for more without stepping on others to achieve his goals in life.  One of Jim’s many goals was realized when he become a criminal investigator for the City of Lawton, the only skill that would help explain his success in deciphering the Copper Scroll.  Jim became an investigator for Lawton in the year 2001 where his primary focus and training was as an arson investigator.  Mr. Barfield was required to sift through the remains of many structures to determine the origin and cause of many fires, some accidental and some criminal. His ability to determine the cause of a fire and follow through with the required documentation earned him the coveted “Arson Investigator of the Year Award for Oklahoma” and a short time later…the “International Arson Investigator of the Year Award” from the International Association of Arson Investigators.

Mr. Barfield won many other awards while serving with the City of Lawton as well as serving his country in the US Army as an artilleryman, a VIP crew-chief on the UH-1 helicopter, a Scout and test pilot for the 6th Air Cavalry Combat Brigade, and finally a Training and Advising Officer for the Ft Rucker Warrant Officer Candidate School, training pilots for service in the US Army. Truly, Jim Barfield has an odd combination of skills for a man to eventually discover the secret for understanding such an enigmatic document as the Copper Scroll, none-the-less he has done it.

It is clear that Jim Barfield possesses none of the training or degrees commonly associated with archeology or studies of the ancient Middle East.  However, his personal study of the Biblical scriptures, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the history of Israel and his skills as an award winning criminal investigator has made it possible for him to discover the key to understanding the mysterious Copper Scroll.  His has identified 59-60 locations of vast amounts of gold, silver and gems from the Tabernacle of Moses and the Temple of Solomon.  As he began achieving his goal to understand the Copper Scroll and its history, he found that his Jewish brothers were reading the Weekly Torah (Old Testament) Portion that contained the Day of Atonement duties of the High Priest the week that Jim was born.  If the buried cave that contains the Ark of the Covenant is where Jim believes it is that would be an interesting twist of fate.

As strange as this developing story may seem; “none” of the archeologists, rabbis, historians or anyone else that has seen Jim’s Copper Scroll research doubt that he has unlocked its mystery. 

JIm Barfield says, that If the items still remain at the locations, they will contain unbelievable amounts of treasures from the Tabernacle of Moses to include, the Ephod of the High Priest, vast quantities of gold and silver, massive amounts of Tabernacle service vessels and gems of tremendous value.  Most importantly, Jim has located what appears to be the buried cave that has the greatest hope “ever” to contain the Tabernacle of Moses, the Alter of Incense and “the Ark of the Covenant.”  This evidence will be laid out for examination during his presentations describing the discovery. 

Jim Barfield has been approached by the History Channel, National Geographic, and Bill McKay, the producer of “Against all Odds” and “Billy, the Early Years of Billy Graham” to do a documentary about his research.  The Managing Editor for the Jerusalem Connection Magazine (Shelley Neese) has requested and has been invited to accompany Jim and his team on the excavation in Israel.

Jim Barfield Family

Jim Barfield family that will someday inherit his legacy are his four children, Jimmy II, Shawn, Michael, and Heather his only daughter. He has one son-in-law Gerry, and two daughters-in-law Melanie and Violet. In addition, he has ten grandchildren, Seth, Jubilee, Gabriel, Josiah, Tamar, Ntzir, Nathan, Zekaryah, Shechem, and Phineas. All of which are the love of his life.

Jim Barfield and his wife Laurie have been married for the last 30 years. They have lived in several locations because of their connection with the Army, at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, Ft. Rucker, Alabama, Ft. Hood, Texas, and Ft. Hunter Ligget, California.   Currently Jim and Laurie are living in a small community near Apache, Oklahoma.

Jim barfield and the destiny of the Copper Scroll

One can readily see that Jim has no real qualifications for the discovery that he has made. Truthfully, Jim Barfield will tell you himself that there have been a number of unusual and even miraculous events that have made it possible for him to have reached the level of success that he has enjoyed while dealing with the challenges of uncovering and hopefully returning the treasures of the Copper Scroll to their rightful owners…the Nation of Israel.

The ruins of a burned structure tell a tale and reveal secrets that will send a criminal to prison for many years.  The treasures of the Copper Scroll have been held captive in a lonely desert location for centuries and in a polar opposite move, Jim’s skills may soon set those treasures free for the first time since the destruction of the Temple of Solomon. Oddly enough, the beginning line of the scroll reads like this, “Under the ruins in the Valley of Acor.” Now we all wait for the day that Jim Barfield will be allowed to sift through those ruins to solve his greatest case…the mystery of the Copper Scroll.