Missing PHP extension

I am having problems with a WordPress website hosted on dreamhost. I am getting the following error.

Your PHP installation appears to be missing the MySQL extension which is required by WordPress.

I have tried the solutions to comment out the following lines in the htaccess file

#AddHandler php5-cgi .php
#Action php-cgi /cgi-bin/php-wrapper.cgi
#Action php5-cgi /cgi-bin/php-wrapper.cgi

But now I am no longer getting extension missing error. Instead I am now getting the following error

The theme has encountered a problem that it cannot recover from. Please use the following information to try to resolve the problem.

Error Code: php_code_error:64:themes/Builder/lib/layout-engine/modules/class.module.php:159:Call-time pass-by-reference has been removed Message: A fatal code error occurred.

Here is also the Debug Data

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [file] => wp-content/themes/Builder/lib/classes/it-error.php
            [line] => 121
            [function] => fatal
            [class] => ITError
            [type] => ::
            [args] => Array
                (
                    [0] => php_code_error:64:wp-content/themes/Builder/lib/layout-engine/modules/class.module.php:159:Call-time pass-by-reference has been removed
                    [1] => A fatal code error occurred.
                )

        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [file] => wp-content/themes/Builder/lib/classes/it-error.php
            [line] => 148
            [function] => handle_error
            [class] => ITError
            [type] => ::
            [args] => Array
                (
                    [0] => 64
                    [1] => Call-time pass-by-reference has been removed
                    [2] => wp-content/themes/Builder/lib/layout-engine/modules/class.module.php
                    [3] => 159
                )

        )

    [2] => Array
        (
            [function] => it_error_shutdown
            [args] => Array
                (
                )

        )

)

I am using the following

php version 5.4.37 Zend Engine 2.4