A biography of John Hagee

Born April 12, 1940, John Hagee is the fiery senior pastor and founder of the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas and the CEO of Global Evangelism Television (GETV). His evangelical telecasts are seen on networks throughout North America, Europe, Africa and Australia. He is also the author of 32 books including Devil's Island, Knowing the Secrets of God and From Daniel to Doomsday.

Early life

Overview
John Hagee was born in Baytown, Texas to Rev. William Bythel Hagee and Vada Mildred Swiek. In 1960, he married his first wife Martha and they had two children Christopher and Tish. Hagee originally studied Mechanical Engineering graduating with a degree in the subject in 1964 from Trinity University, San Antonio before going on to gain a Masters two years later from the University of North Texas.
He then went on to complete his theological training at Southwestern Assemblies of God University, where he graduated with a Diploma in Theology.
Trinity Church
In 1966, he set up the Trinity Church in San Antonio.
In 1975 he and Martha got a divorce and he married Diana Castro a year later. They have three children, Cristina, Matthew and Sandy.

Cornerstone church

Second church
In 1975, Hagee founded a second church known as the Castle Church at Castle Hills.
The success of the church meant that there was a congregation of 1,600 people in just two years, and in 1987, Hagee renamed the church Cornerstone Church.
It still retains its name today.
By 2010, the church had a congregation of 19,000 and 5,000 seat sanctuary. Hagee's son Matthew Hagee is the church's executive pastor.

Controversial beliefs

Controversy
Hagee has courted controversy during his professional career because of his strong personal beliefs.
He supports the right of Israel to exist, claiming that there was never a Palestinian state and in 2007, he set up the organisation called Christians United for Israel.
He is the National Chairman of this organisation.
He also believes in pre-emptive strikes against Iran to stop it from acquiring nuclear weapons, spoke out against the scientific reliability of global warming and called hurricane Katrina a punishment from god for homosexuality.
Final word
Hagee has also criticised the Harry Potter books calling them a form of witchcraft.