The Parable of the Bad Shepherd

I have a friend who is awfully good in making analogies and parables. So here's one contributed by him. I invite the reader to be your own Robert Langdon and interprete it as you will.
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There are some sheep in a field. The shepherd watches over them. He keeps the wolves at bay (most of the time). He leads them to green pastures and drinking holes. In return the sheep give him unquestioning obedience. But is the shepherd doing this because he loves the sheep? Is it because he knows, since God has gifted him with the ability, that it should be his duty to keep the sheep safe and fed?

No. The shepherd exacts a price. He takes the wool. He even chooses how the sheep breed so that they can give him better wool. But still the sheep follow him.He takes the lives of his sheep when he wants mutton. When he wants lamb chops, he takes the children of the sheep. But still the sheep follow him.

Generations have grown up under the shepherd. Through the years the flock has grown and the shepherd brought in sheepdogs, who bite and bark at the sheep, to make them obey the shepherd more quickly, more efficiently. The dogs are fierce and scary and their bites are painful. But still the sheep follow.

When the sheep are killed for mutton, these sheepdogs who torment them get the offal and the bones. But still the sheep follow.

One day there is a glut in the world wool and mutton market, because other countries are producing cheaper wool and mutton. The shepherd, not knowing what to do, goes to the fields and shouts at the sheep. "You sheep are to blame! You cost so much to feed and yet your wool and meat is not of high quality enough to command a premium! Why can't you work harder, use your brains to find a way to produce better wool and meat! I'm tired of being the one who has to do all the thinking around here!"

The sheep are only silent in response, because in the past, when the shepherd was in a bad mood, the sheep who bleated too loudly was the sheep who was on the dinner table at supper. So the shepherd, to increase productivity, sheared the wool from the sheep so close their skins were left nicked, cut and bleeding. The sheep shivered in the cold. But they still followed him.

To cut costs, the shepherd stopped supplementing the meagre grass from the fields with hay. The sheep were very hungry. Some of the older and weaker sheep could not cope with the cold and hunger, so they died. The shepherd sold their carcasses as pet food. And still the sheep continued to follow.

As time went by there were fewer and fewer sheep, until one day there were no more sheep left. But the shepherd was not worried, not yet. He could still eat the dogs.