What Is the “Eliphaz Syndrome”?

The “Eliphaz Syndrome” is the tendency to formulate vital doctrine based on visions/experiences rather than the rightly-divided Word of God. If you’re not familiar with Eliphaz (el-ee-FAZ), he was one of Job’s three “friends” whom the LORD accused of folly in what they said to their suffering friend (Job 42:7-8). Eliphaz was the one who made claims based on mysterious visions/experiences, as observed here:

12“A word was secretly brought to me,

my ears caught a whisper of it.

13Amid disquieting dreams in the night,

when deep sleep falls on people,

14fear and trembling seized me

and made all my bones shake.

15A spirit glided past my face,

and the hair on my body stood on end.

16It stopped,

but I could not tell what it was.

A form stood before my eyes,

and I heard a hushed voice:

17‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God?

Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker?

18If God places no trust in his servants,

if he charges his angels with error,

19how much more those who live in houses of clay,

whose foundations are in the dust,

who are crushed more readily than a moth!

20Between dawn and dusk they are broken to pieces;

unnoticed, they perish forever.

21Are not the cords of their tent pulled up,

so that they die without wisdom?’

Job 4:12-21

Observe Eliphaz’ glaring sensationalism to make his point. We can extend mercy to Eliphaz since there wasn’t much, if any, Scripture for him to rely on back then. But modern-day believers have ready access to the entire canon of God’s Word for the purpose of determining proper doctrine and correcting false doctrine (2 Timothy 3:16-17). So we have no excuse.

This is in line with the apostle Paul’s doctrinal rule: “Do not go beyond what is written” (1 Corinthians 4:6), which means that we are to stick to the Word of God to support doctrine, especially core doctrine. Those who must go outside the Judeo-Christian Scriptures to “prove” their pet doctrine must be viewed with serious skepticism. After all, if what they teach is truly biblical, they wouldn’t have to go beyond the Bible to prove it.

A Modern Example

Are there examples of the “Eliphaz Syndrome” today? Yes. Take, for example these people who claim to have gone to Sheol/Hades in a vision or literally in the spirit, like Bill Wiese and Mary Baxter. Please note that they don’t claim to have gone to the lake of fire — the real hell — since no one has been cast there yet, but rather Sheol/Hades, which concerns the intermediate state of the unsaved dead between physical decease and resurrection on the Day of Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15).

While evangelizing and genuine repentance are always good, these people who have supernatural experiences about Sheol/Hades beg the question: Why did the LORD wait almost 2000 years after the biblical canon was completed to reveal these horrifying details about the nature of Sheol? If their visions (or experiences) are to be believed, why aren’t there similar such descriptions of Sheol in the Bible, the Word of God?

Everything God wants us to know about Sheol — the intermediate state of the unsaved between death and resurrection — has already been clearly revealed in the Holy Scriptures, as detailed at length here. This, again, is in line with biblical rule concerning doctrine: “Do not go beyond what is written” (1 Corinthians 4:6).

To prove any doctrine we must rely on what God’s Word says on the subject from Genesis to Revelation and not on the dubious testimonies of people who claim to have sensationalist visions or experiences that just so happen to disagree with what the Word of God plainly teaches. It doesn’t matter if they go by the respectable label of “Evangelical” or not, nor does it matter if their intentions appear good, if their visions/dreams don’t line up with the Holy Scriptures, they must be rejected as error. It’s the Eliphaz Syndrome.

Let me leave you with a couple of relevant passages that come to mind:

Then the LORD said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds.”

Jeremiah 14:14

How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds?

Jeremiah 23:26

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