It just gets weirder and fucking weirder with these lawmaker zealots here in Oklahoma. Are you embarrassed yet?

Back in April, a dozen of our duly elected Oklahoma State Senators met at the Capitol with a religious treasure hunter, who is seeking Moses-related bling in Israel. Apparently some even suggested the possibility of helping fund the project with state money. I’ve unearthed a video about it. That vid comes later after the background.

The treasure hunter is a man named Jim Barfield, who is after the Ark of the Covenant um Temple of Doom um Crystal Skull um Copper Scroll.

Actually the Copper Scroll - what many consider a hoax - was discovered in 1952 and this guy thinks he has cracked the code on it, which will lead him to sixty sites of buried treasure and artifacts. Yes, Barfield, who can't read early Hebrew was able to translate what real scholars have been unable to do.

According to his website “The Copper Scroll could lead to the discovery of vast amounts of Tabernacle items such as bowls, cups, and vessels of all kinds and could possibly point to the location of a buried cave that could contain the tent (the Tabernacle) that Moses used during the forty years he and Israel were in the wilderness. There is also a possibility that the Ark of the Covenant could be hidden in the same buried cave. The Ark is mentioned in 2nd Maccabees the 2nd chapter as having been hidden in a cave that was “buried.” The Copper Scroll does not mention the Ark but does name the “wine vessels of the Gleaming Chamber (the Holy of Holies)” and the “Ephod” the breastplate of the High Priest being buried in the same cave.”

Oh wait, I guess he is after the Ark of the Covenant. I hope he starts in the storage area of Area 51 in New Mexico. I hear it’s been there for years.

“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.””

The Copper Scroll doesn't even mention the Ark, but Barfield has had revelations.

Barfield, who was born in Anadarko and raised in Lawton, is a world renown and admired archaeologist on par with Indiana Jones. Oh wait, no he’s not. He’s a former heavy equipment operator and ex-cop/arson investigator with the Lawton Police Department. And he has a “personal study of Biblical Scriptures” – yeah him and every county jail prisoner hoping the Lord will get them a lighter sentence. I guess these are all the mandatory credentials one needs to be a religious treasure hunter and have state senators line up to give you money for a hunt.     

“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.”

Barfield is assisted by a fella named Chris Knight, who owns a used Japanese tractor import business in Dallas and is the founder of the Fellowship of the Ring Scrolls.

Now let’s get to a Barfield video where he talks about being invited (they asked him to come!) to our lovely State Capitol to discuss with several of our state senators the Ark and how this state can pay for finding it. We don't know the names of the specific senators involved at this point.

In the real world Barfield is considered a crackpot, which explains why our lawmakers are drawn to him and want to give him state money. This fool even had a brief relation with an old coot named Vendyl Jones, who has been in search of the Ark for decades. Vendyl claimed for years he was the inspiration for the Indiana Jones character, but those connected with the film first asked "Who?" then thoroughly dismissed his claims. Barfield is trying to steal the fedora now.

When not in the desert fighting Nazis and putting the smooch on Marion, Barfield resides in Apache, OK, which is near Lawton and known for its annual rattlesnake festival. See! Any real Indiana Jones would be scared of snakes, now wouldn't they?

I’m sorta hoping Barfield will take the state senators along and find the damn thing. Then open it.